Daniel 9.27-The Antichrist's Treaty with the Leadership of Israel (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday January 31, 2024

Day of the Lord Series: Daniel 9:27: The Antichrist’s Treaty with the Leadership of Israel Marks the Beginning of the Seventieth Week

Lesson # 8

Daniel 9:24 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. 25 “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (NIV 84)

Daniel 9:27 “Then, he will establish a firm covenant with the leaders, which will be one unit of seven years. However, he will cause the sacrificial offering to stop in the middle of this unit of seven years while between the wings which results in abominations, he will cause desecration. Indeed until a decreed complete destruction is poured out against the desecrater.” (Pastor’s translation)

Daniel 9:27 presents to the reader the next prophetic event that will take place after the three events recorded in Daniel 9:26, which will take place after the sixty-ninth week or in other words after the four hundred and eighty-third prophetic year.

In Daniel 9:26, we read that Gabriel informed Daniel that the first event, which will take place after the sixty-ninth week, will be the execution of the Messiah.

Consequently, the Messiah will possess nothing.

This was fulfilled in history with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

He did not establish His kingdom on earth at that time because He was rejected by the nation of Israel.

The second event is that the people of the coming leader will destroy the city of Jerusalem as well as the temple by waging war.

This was also fulfilled in history when the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Herodian temple in 70 A.D.

Then Gabriel tells Daniel that there will be war up to the end of the seventieth week.

Desolations have been decreed by God for Israel and its capital city which has been fulfilled in history as well.

Now, here in verse 27 Gabriel says that the coming leader from the people who will destroy Jerusalem and the temple will establish a covenant or treaty with the leaders of the nation of Israel for one week, which is seven years.

This treaty mentioned in Daniel 9:27 will mark the beginning of the seventieth week.

Therefore, Daniel 9:27 teaches that the seventieth week comes sometime after the rapture but does “not” begin with the rapture.

So, while the rapture will precede the seventieth week, it does “not” begin the seventieth week but rather the signing of the peace treaty between Antichrist and the leadership in Israel will begin it.

The third person masculine singular form of the verb gā·ḇǎr (גָּבַר), “he will confirm” (NIV) has sparked controversy among interpreters of Daniel 9:27.

The nearest antecedent is the prince who will come from the people who will destroy Jerusalem and the temple by waging war and it does not refer to Jesus Christ.

The rules of grammar would support the view that the nearest antecedent for the “he” in verse 27 is “the prince who is to come” in Daniel 9:26.

If one interprets the “he” in Daniel 9:27 as the Messiah, then one cannot reconcile the fact that the temple sacrifices continued until 70 A.D. over thirty years after the crucifixion of Christ.

Furthermore, the “he” in Daniel 9:27 breaks the covenant.

At what point did Christ make a covenant with the Jews and then break it?

There is nothing in the New Testament which would even suggest this.

Would Christ break a covenant He has made?

Thus the individual establishing the covenant with Israel is not a reference to Christ but to a prince who is yet to come, who we know is the Antichrist.

So the coming leader mentioned in Daniel 9:26 and here in Daniel 9:27 with the third person masculine singular form of the verb gā·ḇǎr (גָּבַר), “he will confirm” (NIV) is a reference to Antichrist.

It is not a reference to Jesus Christ since Jesus Christ was not a Roman and furthermore, the Messiah is said to be executed in the first statement in verse 26.

So this coming leader comes after the execution of the Messiah.

The coming leader is also not a reference to the Roman general Titus who led the siege against Jerusalem in 70 A.D. since the emphasis in Daniel 9:26 is upon “the people.”

It is stated this way because this prophecy would link the Roman destruction with the event which took place in 70 A.D. while simultaneously setting up Antichrist to be linked to the first “he” in Daniel 9:27 and the seventieth week.

The coming leader also cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes IV since he did not destroy Jerusalem or the temple.

Therefore, Daniel 9:26 makes clear that the people and the coming leader will not appear on the pages of history at the same time.

Daniel 9:27 also makes it crystal clear that the coming leader is the future persecutor of the nation of Israel during the seventieth week or seventieth unit of seven years.

The phrase “the people of the coming leader” in Daniel 9:26 simply means that this coming leader will originate from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Herodian temple in 70 A.D.

The coming leader is the nearest antecedent to the third person masculine singular form of the verb gā·ḇǎr (גָּבַר), “he will confirm” (NIV) in Daniel 9:27.

Thus, the latter is speaking of this coming leader who will come from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

History tells us that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D.

Thus, the Antichrist will be a Roman dictator.

Daniel 9:27 says that Antichrist will pretend to be Israel’s benefactor and make a treaty with her but will turn against her in the mid-way point of Daniel’s Seventieth Week and will persecute Israel and occupy Jerusalem for three and a half years.

He will make a seven-year treaty with the leaders of Israel, which will begin the final seven prophetic years called the seventieth week and during the middle of this seventieth week after three and a half years, he will break the treaty and stop the sacrifices in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and declare himself God.

Nothing in history corresponds to the events described during this seventieth week.

The Second Advent of Christ has yet to take place.

Daniel 7:23-27 describes the Antichrist.

Daniel 7:23 Thus, he said, “The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all these kingdoms in the sense that it will devour the entire earth. Specifically, it will trample it down so that it crushes it. 24 Also, the ten horns are ten kings who will arise from this kingdom. Then, another will arise after them. However, he will be different in comparison to the previous ones. Specifically, he will conquer three kings. 25 Furthermore, he will issue statements against the Most High. Also, he will make it his habit of persecuting the Most High’s saints as well as attempting to change the times, yes even the Law. Indeed, they will be given into his power for a period of a time, times and a half a time. 26 However, the court will be convened with the result that they will take away his governmental dominion by destroying, yes, by killing him at the end. 27 Then, the sovereignty, specifically, the governmental dominion, thus the greatness belonging to the kingdoms under all of heaven were given to a nation which is composed of the Most High’s saints. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom. Indeed, each and every one of the people belonging to these governmental dominions will serve Him as they make it their habit of obeying.” (Pastor’s translation)

Daniel 7:26 refers to the Supreme Court of Heaven, (God the Father) passing down the decision to remove the little horn’s power, which will take place at the Second Advent of Christ, which terminates Daniel’s Seventieth Week (See Revelation 19:11-20:6).

So the Antichrist will start off as an insignificant world ruler among ten other rulers of kingdoms but will defeat three of these ten kingdoms and emerge as a world ruler.

The eyes of the little horn speak of the faculty of careful observation implying that the Antichrist will be extremely intelligent.

The boastful speaking indicates that the Antichrist will be a great speaker who in the judgment of God is arrogant in his words.

The Antichrist will seek to prevent Christ’s rule on the earth by attempting to destroy God’s covenant people Israel but his reign will be short, only three and a half years and will be terminated with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ who at that time will establish His millennial reign on earth in fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel.

The prophecy in Daniel chapter seven concerning the little horn and the prophecy in Daniel 9:27 will take place in the future since no such Roman ruler has attained world-wide rulership over a one-world government, no such Roman ruler has subdued three of ten kings who were ruling at once and no such ruler has persecuted Israel for three and a half years and no such ruler has been destroyed by the return of Jesus Christ!