Note: Quotations are from the NASB.

In Daniel 9:24, seventy weeks are decreed for his people and the Holy City to:

   Dan. 9:25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the prince there ill be seven weeks and sixty two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.” (“moat” does not mean water in this case.)

   In 9:25, sixty nine weeks were to be used up by the time the Messiah appeared.

   Dan 9:26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood ; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”

   Verse 26 tells us that after (the word used for “after” allows for “not immediately”) the 69 week period the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. Historically we know that the Messiah was not cut off on the same day that He began His ministry, but 3-1/2 years later, so this all makes sense. The word translated as “nothing” is also used for “no one”. When Jesus was cut off and abandoned by everyone, the scripture “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” was fulfilled.

   Whereas the classic interpretation separates the entire 70^th week from the initial 69, it would be inconsistent not to utilize the break in the middle of the 70^th week as referenced in verse 25. The second half of verse 26 then goes on to describe the historical destruction of Jerusalem and the associated abominations.

   Dan 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

   It is first of all essential to establish who stopped the sacrifice. After the crucifixion of Jesus, any blood sacrifice was a stench in the nostrils of God, because it represented a blatant refusal to acknowledge the blood of Jesus. Jesus Himself removed all meaning from blood sacrifice, and made the act itself an abomination.

   Remember, that at this point God tore the veil in the temple from top to bottom. “by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh” (Heb.10:20) Clearly, Jesus stopped the sacrifice and grain offering in verse 27, and replaced them with the commemorative sacrament of wine and bread in communion. I do have to mention however, a reference to Daniel 11:31 where the Antichrist does away with the “regular sacrifice”. Now just whether this regular sacrifice” relates to the sacrifice mentioned in 9:27 or to liturgical practices of the current era I will not further debate.

Now consider the word “covenant”. In Daniel 11 we find the world system's final leader constantly at odds with a covenant, and “the people of the covenant.” I do not find any references relating the Antichrist And the covenant in a favorable relationship. Therefore it would be difficult to construe from verse 27 that the Antichrist is making a firm covenant.

   The second half of this verse refers to one arriving after the middle of the first half of this week “who makes desolate”. Grammar would need to be redefined to construe this second entity and the same one who made the covenant at the first of this verse.

   Taken together, it would seem most plausible that verse 27 is a repeat of verse 26 in both structure and content, but with a different details highlighted.

   So then, we are left with only 3-1/2 years to complete the list mentioned in verse 24. It is very fortunate therefore, that there is no seven year period mentioned in the book of Revelation, although a 3-1/2 year period is mentioned several times to highlight different aspects of this final chapter of history.