Explain the Meaning of Daniel 9:27?
1) Direct Answer
Daniel 9:27 speaks of Jesus the Messiah confirming God’s covenant, not an antichrist making a treaty. He confirmed the New Covenant with many; in the middle of that prophetic week He was cut off by crucifixion, which caused the temple sacrifices to cease in God’s sight; and the determined desolations fell on Jerusalem until its destruction.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: The “he” is the Messiah of verses 25–26. Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is shed for many” (Matthew 26:28). He came “to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Romans 15:8). Isaiah said Messiah would be given “for a covenant of the people” (Isaiah 42:6). So the covenant in view is God’s covenant, confirmed by Christ.
- In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease: After about three and a half years of ministry, He was “cut off, but not for Himself” (Daniel 9:26). By His once-for-all offering, the Levitical sacrifices lost all standing before God: “By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12–14). The veil of the temple was torn (Matthew 27:51). Even though animals were offered until A.D. 70, God no longer recognized them (Hebrews 10:8–10; Colossians 2:14–17).
- For the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation: Because of abominations and rejection of Messiah, desolation was decreed. Jesus linked Daniel’s word to Jerusalem’s fall (Matthew 24:15; Luke 21:20–24). That judgment ran its course “until the consummation,” exactly as “the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:26).
How the “one week” is fulfilled:
- The first half (about 3½ years): Jesus’ public ministry confirming the covenant to Israel with Word and signs (Acts 2:22).
- The midst of the week: the Cross—sacrifice and oblation ceased in God’s reckoning (Hebrews 9:26–28; 10:10).
- The remaining half (about 3½ years): is concluded by the two prophets of Revelations 11:3 who prophesy for one thousand two hundred and threescore days (3 1/2 years).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The passage names “Messiah the Prince” (v.25–26). He alone in Scripture is said to confirm God’s covenant by His blood (Matthew 26:28; Isaiah 42:6). Scripture never says a man of sin confirms God’s covenant.
- “Cause the sacrifice to cease” fits Christ’s once-for-all atonement (Hebrews 10:1–14), not a wicked ruler. God ended sacrifice by accepting the perfect Lamb; the later ruin of the temple only manifested what the Cross had already finished.
- The desolations fall because of abominations and rejection of Messiah (Matthew 23:37–38), fulfilled historically in Jerusalem’s destruction, as Jesus foretold (Luke 21:20–24).
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, Daniel 9:27 is the Messiah’s week, the Messiah’s covenant, and the Messiah’s sacrifice. The Bible says He confirmed it to many, He ended the offerings by His own blood, and the determined desolation followed. That’s the plain sense of the text.
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.
Daniel 9: Gabriel's instructions to Daniel
61-0730M §65
He revealed all the way until the kingdom was completely restored and the millennium set in. That was Gabriel's message. He said, "I've come to tell you that there is seventy of years ... seventy of weeks yet determined upon thy people, determined to the end of the Jewish generation. There's seventy of weeks." Now, watch what he said, that now from the going forth to restore... Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy ... city, ... Thy city. Babylon wasn't his city. Where was his city? Jerusalem.
Daniel 9: Daniel's Seventy Weeks
61-0806 §34
Now, I got some writing here that I'd like to read to you as we go by. Now, the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem, which was on the fourteenth day of March. If any of you want to put that down, in the Hebrew you'll find it called N-i-s-a-n---Nisan, which means "March." The issue was given on the fourteenth day of March, B.C. 445 the issue went forth to rebuild the temple. You understand it, as you people have read the Scriptures. Until it was completed, it taken forty-nine years to complete the te...
Daniel 9: The sixfold purpose of Gabriel's visitation
61-0730E §31
...e seven seals, then you'll just move right on through the church, through the seals, through the plagues, and know where we're standing. All right. Number two: "Make an end of sins." Now, let's read again, Daniel. "To finish transgression and make an end of sins." That's His second purpose of coming. First is to finish Israel's transgression, and to make an end of sin. Where did Israel sin? Where did they do their vital sin? Where did they separate themselves from God?
Daniel 9: Gabriel's instructions to Daniel
61-0730M §28
..., each star, each messenger, their nature, what they done, and brought it right down through history until the very last one---drawed right there on the picture on the side of the wall---and when we got finished, the Holy Spirit come in and made a circle of the same thing on the wall, and revealed it by Himself right here to all of us. Now, in doing this, I trust at the end of this He'll come with a tremendous something and show us again, that we are at the end time.
Daniel 9: Daniel's Seventy Weeks
61-0806 §64
Now, what's happened? The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar, which he interpreted. Said, "Another king shall come and be inferior to thee," which was Darius, the Medo-Persians, taking the Gentile kingdom over. Next come in, after the Medo-Persians, was what? The Greeks, Alexander the Great and so forth. The Grecians took that kingdom over. Then what took it over from the Greeks? The Romans. And who's ruled the Gentile world ever since? Romans. Romans. Now, that was iron. Then notice, Rome exists to the end, because i...