This is part three of my message on Daniel 9:27. I will cover three main points here.
Point one – no one is creating or making a covenant or peace treaty.
Point two – the many isn’t Israel.
Point three – the ‘he’ is not the same as the one who comes and makes desolate.
Point One
And he shall confirm. Let’s look at the Hebrew. Most say the anti-Christ creates or makes a peace treaty with Israel. Here is the ‘create’ and ‘make’ word.
Create brara 1254, bā·rā Examples: NAS: God created the heavens. KJV: God create the heaven. Is the ‘create’ word in Dan 9:27? No. No one is creating anything.
Make asah: 6213 Examples: NAS: God made the expanse. KJV: And God made the firmament. Is the ‘make’ word in Dan 9:27? No. No one is making anything.
The word in the verse is gabar. 1396, To prevail, to be strong, to strengthen. Example: Zech 10:12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD.
In the Hebrew Bible, gabar is frequently attributed to God, who empowers His people to overcome their enemies and challenges. I checked the Hebrew with some of my rabbi friends in Jerusalem and Judea. These are observant non-Christian Jews. They said the best English translation for gabar is to enhance. To enhance an existing covenant.
Create or make is not in the Hebrew. Strengthen or enhance is in the Hebrew. This is an existing covenant. No one is creating anything. The anti-Christ doesn’t have an existing covenant with anyone, much less Israel.
Point Two
The many. h7227. raḇ; abundant in quantity or size. This one is easy. It means exactly what it says. Example: Isaiah 53:11
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
The many in this famous verse is talking about the Christians. Justification by faith.
The many is not Israel. There are over eight billion people on the planet and seven million Jews living in Israel. There are around two and a half billion Christians on the planet and seven million Jews living in Israel. Israel is one of the smallest countries on the planet in both size and number. The Hebrew word for ‘many’ means abundant in size or quantity. Tiny Israel is ‘the many’? Hardly.
Other places in Daniel, Israel is called the ‘Beautiful Land’, or ‘Your people’, or ‘Your city’. When Daniel is speaking, he calls Israel ‘my people’. Never ‘the many’.
Point Three
Now for the last part of the verse.
“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.”
The ‘he’ that strengthens the covenant is not the same person as the ‘one who comes and makes desolate’. There are two different people in this verse.
The ‘one who comes and makes desolate’ takes place at the midpoint of the seventieth week. At the midpoint of the week, Satan is cast out of heaven and thrown to the earth. Rev 12. This event is what starts the tribulation. Satan persecutes the apostate church for the three-and-a-half-year tribulation. This is the discipline of Laodicea. The overcomer church, Philly, is kept from this persecution.
Conclusion: No one is making or creating anything. The ‘he’ is strengthening an existing covenant. This is the Messiah strengthening the new covenant at the end of the age. It is the latter rain.
The latter rain outpouring of the Spirit takes place at the beginning of the seventieth week. This is also the beginning of the final birth pangs of the church. The final birth pangs create the overcomer church of Philadelphia, those who keep the word of His perseverance. They go through the open door into the sanctuary. They are protected during the tribulation.
The final birth pangs are halted or diminished for those who compromise the truth and take the easy way out. This is the apostate church of Laodicea. They remain in the outer court. At the midpoint of the seven years, Jesus pulls the plug on Laodicea’s apostasy. He puts an end to their sacrifice and offering. Sacrifice and offering take place in the outer court, where Laodicea is. Notice that He does not put a stop to worship, which takes place in the sanctuary, where Philadelphia is. Laodicea is then disciplined, trodden under foot, for three and a half years. This is the purpose of the tribulation.
Daniel 9:27 summarizes the entire end time scenario of Daniel’s seventieth week. Why does Jesus strengthen the new covenant at the beginning of the week? To empower the saints for the final conflict! To prepare His great army for the final battle! The overcomers will be granted power and authority that has never been seen before in the history of the world. They will preach the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world as a testimony to them and then the end will come.
One final note. All references to the temple after the cross refer to the church. (Except in Acts when it says they were preaching daily at the temple.) Daniel 11 is describing the first Hanukkah story with Antiochus and the Maccabees. This is the natural fulfillment and took place around 167 BC.
The final fulfillment, at the end of the age, will be the spiritual Hanukkah with the anti-Christ and the church. Then, after God is done bringing the church back to Him during the tribulation, He will turn His attention to Jerusalem and bring the Jews back to Him.