Antichrist is also the prince in Daniel 9:26-27. If you read this chapter carefully, you will see that the prince refers to two people. Firstly, it refers to Titus who, with the Roman army, destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70. That destruction was the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy in Luke 21. In His last visit to Jerusalem, the Lord prophesied to His disciples that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that the temple would be torn down, with not one stone left upon another. That prophecy was fulfilled less than forty years after the Lord’s death. According to history, that destruction was terrible. Titus, however, was a shadow of the coming prince, Antichrist, and the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus was simply a shadow of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple under Antichrist. Between these two men who share one title, “the prince,” there is an interval of approximately two thousand years.
In Daniel 9:24-27 we have the prophecy concerning the seventy weeks. These seventy weeks are not weeks of days, but weeks of years. Daniel 9:25 says, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.” The seven weeks mentioned here are reckoned from the time the decree was issued by the Persian king to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. From the time this decree was issued until the rebuilding of the city was a period of forty-nine years. The sixty-two weeks are the period from the completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the day of Christ’s crucifixion. The crucifixion of Christ is referred to in Daniel 9:26, which says, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” Hence, from the completion of the rebuilding of the city to the crucifixion of the Messiah was four hundred thirty-four years. Therefore, of the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel 9, only the last one remains.
After the crucifixion of Christ, Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Between the time of the crucifixion of Christ and the beginning of the seventieth week is a gap of unknown duration. This interval has already been more than nineteen hundred years. This gap has encompassed the ancient Roman Empire, which expired in A.D. 476, and the Roman Church, which replaced the Roman Empire. It will also include the revived Roman Empire. The last Caesar of the revived Roman Empire will be Antichrist, who will make a covenant with the Jews for one week. Daniel 9:27 says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” In this covenant Antichrist will promise the Jews the liberty to worship God according to their religion.
However, after three and a half years, Antichrist will change his attitude. Daniel 9:27 continues, “In the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease” (Heb.). This breaking of the covenant will occur at a crucial time, at the time Satan is cast down to earth and stands on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea to stir up Antichrist. Antichrist will then exalt himself above all gods. He may say, “You Jews must not worship your God anymore. I am God! I command you to stop your sacrifices and to abolish your religious feasts. Furthermore, I will change your laws. You must forget everything about your God, the law of your God, and your feasts and turn to worship me.” At the time Antichrist exalts himself above all gods, he will also pollute the temple.