Daniel9:27 Speaks of "the Covenant", Meaning It Existed Before That Material Time. Which Covenant Is This?
1) Direct Answer
It is the New Covenant—God’s everlasting covenant promised to the fathers and confirmed by the Messiah in His own blood. He began confirming it in His earthly ministry, was “cut off” in the midst of the week, and by His one sacrifice caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease before God.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Daniel 9:27 says, “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” It says confirm, not create. That points to a covenant already promised.
- Jesus identified it: “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many” (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). Notice the echo of Daniel’s “with many.”
- It is God’s own covenant—the New Covenant promised to Israel and rooted in the promises to Abraham.
- The prophets foretold this covenant: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). “I will give thee for a covenant of the people” (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8). “I will make an everlasting covenant with them” (Ezekiel 37:26).
- The New Testament states plainly that Christ came to confirm what God had promised: “Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Romans 15:8). And the covenant “was confirmed before of God in Christ” (Galatians 3:17).
- Galatians 3:17 speaks of “the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ,” showing this covenant already existed in promise form and is confirmed in the Messiah.
- “In the midst of the week” He caused sacrifice to cease by offering Himself once for all: “He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second… by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:9-14). Before God, that ended the temple sacrifices’ standing.
- Isaiah spoke of the “many”: “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). That matches Daniel’s “with many.”
And the remaining half-week goes back to Israel: the two witnesses prophesy 1,260 days (three and a half years) to that nation (Revelation 11:3). That completes the confirmation to the remnant of Israel.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Daniel says confirm the covenant, not make a new political treaty. So it must be God’s covenant already foretold.
- Only Christ’s death actually made sacrifice and oblation cease in God’s sight; that fits the “midst of the week.”
- “With many” lines perfectly with Jesus’ words, “shed for many,” and Isaiah’s “justify many.”
- Christ ministered about three and a half years to Israel, was cut off in the midst; the final three and a half years are completed to Israel under the two witnesses.
- Therefore, the “he” is the Messiah confirming God’s covenant, not an antichrist making a mere political agreement.
Short Reinforcing Statement
So the covenant in Daniel 9:27 is the New Covenant—everlasting, promised by the prophets, confirmed by the Messiah in His blood, ending the old sacrifices, and finished to Israel’s remnant in the last half of the week.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Abraham and his Seed after him
61-0416 §30
Now watch. Abraham was called by election. Nothing Abraham did. And now notice, the covenant in Genesis 12, see, the whole covenant was given to Abraham ... the whole covenant is completely grace, see. Not "Abraham, if you'll do a certain thing, I'll do a certain thing." It wasn't, "If you'll do this, I'll do this." God makes a covenant with a man, and man always breaks his covenant. He told Adam, "If you'll not eat from that tree, you'll live." But Adam ate from it. And He told them ... the covenant that He made w...
Jehovah-Jireh
56-1209E §33
So, death comes first. Then, hell was the next, the smoking furnace. Then, he saw a burning lamp, a light. Now, watch. And this lamp went between each one of those pieces, making a covenant, that God, some day, through the promised seed, would raise up the Lord Jesus Christ to confirm the covenant with all the peoples of the earth, which Abraham was a father of nations. Notice, he changed his name after that from Abram to Abraham. Now, notice the covenant. Now, in America when we make a covenant... You people here...
Joseph meeting his brethren
56-1230 §50
Notice, there He was, the covenant. Christ was to look upon at Jasper and Sardis stone in Revelations. That was the breaststone ... or, the birthstone, rather, from Reuben to Benjamin. That was the reflection of the Sardis and Jasper as they reflected together under the light of God, made the covenant around Christ, the rainbow. And what does it speak of? Reuben, the oldest; Benjamin, the youngest. From first to the last, He was the One that was, which is, and shall come; the root, the offspring of David; He's the...
Abraham's covenant confirmed
61-0210 §63
He said, "By this, you'll know what my covenant is, Abraham." Abraham, being spiritual, knowed it. Why? That's exactly what God did. He took his covenant seed, which the real seed was the promised One ... through faith come forth out of Isaac, come forth Christ. Christ was God's covenant. And what He did, He took him up to Calvary, just like Abraham did his own son a few days afterwards---or a few years afterwards, after he was born. What did He do? He took Him on Calvary, and He tore Him apart. Oh, my! Tore Him ap...
Jehovah-Jireh
58-0127 §35
Then beyond that, he saw a little white light. Now, watch what this little white light done: It passed between those cut pieces of the animal: God making His covenant with Abraham, foreshowing what He would do. Now, it's been my privilege to preach the gospel practically around the world, several times. Now, in America, if you and I make a covenant with each other, we might go down and have a little bite to eat, and then shake one another's hand. "I will agree to do that, brother; I will come to your church on a ce...