Daniel 9:24-27 Examined, Part 6: Do Verses 26b-27 Prophesy Future Events?
Daniel 9:26b “…and people of a leader/commander, the one coming in, he shall cause to destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end shall be with a flood of attackers, and unto an end of battle/warfare, desolations being decreed. 27 And he shall cause to prevail/confirm (or, shall make strong) a covenant for the multitude one week; and in the midst/middle of the week, he shall cause to cease blood sacrifice and offering. And upon/over a wing/corner shall be abominations/idols of a destroyer, even until a (the) consummation/complete end so having been decreed shall be poured out upon a desolator.”
These verses speak about a number of very specific events, and three specific people. An itemization:
1) A commander of a military force shall cause his army to destroy both Jerusalem and its Sanctuary.
2) That commander shall come/go in – in context, into the Land of Israel.
3) The Sanctuary shall be overwhelmed by a flood of attackers.
4) The commander shall cause his people to make or confirm some kind of covenant with a multitude of the people of Israel for seven years.
5) Either approximately or exactly (the Hebrew text allows for either) in the middle of the seven years, the commander shall be the cause of an end to blood sacrifice and other offerings.
6) “An intensive desolator” = “a destroyer” shall commit abominations, and/or bring idols over or upon a wing/corner of the Temple. Nothing indicates that this destroyer is the commander
7) That idolatry shall continue until a complete end, one having been decreed or determined at some point, shall be “poured out upon a desolator.” This water metaphor “poured out” hearkens back to verse 26ʼs words “its [the Sanctuaryʼs] end shall be with a flood.” Likewise, the ʻdecreed endʼ of verse 27 likely refers back to the ʻdecreed desolationsʼ of verse 26, at least in part.
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Most American commentators say that all of these events shall be fulfilled by “the Antichrist” sometime in the future. However, the secondary scriptures that they provide to actually support their assertions are few, and questionable at best. Instead, their arguments rely on a great deal of unsupported presumptions. Starting from the top of the list:
1) They can provide no scripture that prophesies the rebuilding of the Temple prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah. Also, they can provide no scripture that says Jerusalem will be destroyed in the End Times. (Damaged, yes; destroyed, no.)
Daniel 9:24-27 makes no mention at all of “end times,” “latter days,” or any similar term that unequivocally points to the seven events being fulfilled in OUR Latter Days.
2) Daniel 11:40-45 does say that an End Time commander/leader, “the King of the North,” shall enter and occupy the Holy Land. But nothing in that passage speaks anything about a Temple – a notable omission, if one were to actually exist.
3) Likewise, nothing in that passage says anything about the Sanctuary being overwhelmed and destroyed. And the proponents of “the Antichrist” theory can provide no other scripture that says that either.
4) Neither can they provide any secondary scripture that prophesies a 7-year covenant in the End Times, or even mentions any such 7-year event.
5) Plenty of presumptions are offered that string together two 1260-day prophecies (of which there are a number), which theories purport to prove there is a 7-year period broken exactly in its middle when “the Antichrist” reneges on his covenant. But, like the witnesses that testified against Jesus at his trial, “their testimonies [do] not agree” with each other. Mark 14:56
Also, they can provide no secondary scripture that speaks about blood-sacrifice [זֶבַח] being resumed before the return of the Messiah. Daniel 12:11 does not use this term; 9:27 has its only use in Daniel.
6) They can provide no secondary prophecy about idol worship taking place somewhere on the edges/extremities of a Latter-Day Temple or Sanctuary. (Within such a sanctified place, yes: Matthew 24:15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4. Outside of such place, no.)
7) There are scriptures that say the King of the North will “come to his end” in the End Times, as will 2 Thessalonians 2ʼs Son of Perdition, and also the Little Horn of Daniel 7. However, the context of Daniel 9:26b-27 indicates that “the one coming in” is a commander who causes an army of his people to overwhelm and pour out destruction on someone else who has already brought desolation. But nothing in the passage says anything at all about the commander himself being overcome. That, however, is what most proponents of “the Antichrist” theory claim to be the case.
Summary
Those that say Daniel 9:26b-27 prophesies future events concerning “the Antichrist” have no unequivocal evidence from other biblical texts which witness to an End Time fulfillment of 26b-27ʼs seven specific prophecies. What little they offer, mainly having to do with #7 above, is ambiguous and contradictory. So in sum, it is evident that this theory is based upon a great deal of speculation and presumption (sand), but lacks any solid scriptural foundation (rock).
The next article will examine the view that Daniel 9:26b-27 was fulfilled historically.
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