What is the meaning of Daniel 9:26? After the sixty-two weeks • Daniel had just spoken of 7 weeks and 62 weeks (Daniel 9:25), a total of 69 “weeks” of years that run from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2) to the public presentation of Jesus as King (Luke 19:37-40). • Galatians 4:4 reminds us that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son,” showing the precision of God’s timetable. • The wording “after the sixty-two weeks” leaves room for a brief gap between the 69th week and the climactic events that follow, paving the way for the church age hinted at in Ephesians 3:4-6. The Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing • Isaiah 53:8 foretold, “For He was cut off from the land of the living,” matching Daniel’s phrase. • On the cross “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50). He died violently, not for His own sins but for ours (2 Corinthians 5:21). • “Will have nothing” highlights that He was denied the kingdom immediately due Him; instead He owned no possessions (Matthew 8:20), was abandoned by most followers (John 16:32), and bore our reproach (Hebrews 13:12-13). • Yet His apparent loss secured our eternal gain (1 Peter 2:24). The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary • In A.D. 70 the Roman legions—“the people”—razed Jerusalem and the temple, exactly as Jesus predicted in Luke 21:20-24 and Matthew 24:2. • Their future leader—“the prince who is to come”—is the end-time ruler also called “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8) and “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). • Because he arises from the same people, a revived form of that empire will be his power base (Revelation 13:1-4). • God used Rome as a rod of judgment (Isaiah 10:5-6), yet ultimate accountability rests on the coming prince. The end will come like a flood • “Flood” pictures swift, overwhelming devastation; compare Isaiah 59:19 and Daniel 11:22. • Rome’s assault poured in suddenly, but the expression also foreshadows the future tribulation that will surge over the world (Matthew 24:21-22; Revelation 6). • God’s sovereignty remains evident: even a flood cannot overrun His purposes (Psalm 93:4). Until the end there will be war • Israel’s history since A.D. 70 has been marked by conflict, just as Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6). • Zechariah 12:2-3 foresees Jerusalem as “a cup that causes reeling” to every surrounding nation—an ongoing reality. • Peace will not arrive until the Prince of Peace returns to reign (Isaiah 9:7; Revelation 19:11-16). Desolations have been decreed • The phrase assures us that these hardships are not random; they are “decreed” by the same God who numbers the hairs of our head (Matthew 10:30). • Daniel later hears of an “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31; 12:11) echoed by Jesus in Matthew 24:15, pointing to a yet-future desecration during the seventieth week. • Even desolation serves God’s redemptive plan, preparing Israel to recognize her Messiah (Hosea 5:15; Romans 11:26-27). summary Daniel 9:26 sketches God’s precise timeline: after 69 prophetic weeks, Messiah appears, is executed, and seemingly left with nothing—yet His sacrifice secures salvation. Rome, the people of the coming antichrist, destroys Jerusalem and the temple, confirming Jesus’ warning. History since then has resembled a relentless flood of wars and desolations, all under divine decree, moving toward the final seventieth week when the risen Christ will return, end the conflict, and establish His everlasting kingdom. |
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