Finally, in verse 27 we have the one week of seven years. This week will be for Antichrist to make a firm covenant with the people of Israel.
Between the sixty-ninth week and the last week, there is a gap which has already lasted for nearly two thousand years. In this gap the church is being secretly and mysteriously built by Christ in His resurrection to be the Body of Christ and bride of Christ. Also, in this gap Israel has been suffering, having lost their fathers' homeland and having been scattered. Nevertheless, God has not forgotten His people Israel but continues to grant them some degree of mercy. Eventually, the last week of seven years will come.
Antichrist will make a firm covenant with the people of Israel, promising to be for them. The covenant he makes with them will be a peace agreement. However, in the middle of the seventieth week, Antichrist will change his mind, fight against God, and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease (v. 27b). This will be the beginning of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21), which will last for three and a half years. During the great tribulation, both the faithful Jews and the Christians still on earth will suffer Antichrist's persecution.
After he causes the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, Antichrist will replace them with the abominations (the idols of the Antichrist—2 Thes. 2:4) of the desolator (Dan. 9:27c). This desolator is Antichrist himself.
Eventually, the complete destruction that has been determined will be poured out upon the desolator, Antichrist (v. 27d).
What Daniel received regarding the seventy weeks was not only a vision but also a report. Daniel understood the seventy weeks, but because we are near the end of the gap, I believe that we understand this matter even better than Daniel did. By studying the vision of seventy weeks in relation to God's economy, we will be helped to know where we are, what we should be, and what we should be doing today.