A Tale of Two Princes

Long ago, a man wandered the wilderness of Middle-earth. He wore no crown. Had no army. No throne. And so most dismissed him. But in truth, he was the heir to the kingdom. The only one who could defeat evil and restore peace. And even though he didn’t look the part. he was the one true king.

But, standing in his way was a man named Denethor. A steward, not a king. One who refused to step aside. As he sat on the throne of Gondor but had no right to it. He looked strong. He commanded many mighty men. He held influence. But he was the un-rightful king who used his throne not to defend his people, but to preserve himself. He refused to bow to the rightful king. And in the end, his leadership brought ruin, not redemption. In the Lord of the Rings,

Tolkien imagined a world where two men stood in stark contrast: One rejected, but royal. The other glittering, but not gold. A good and kindly prince who loved his people and sacrificially protected them, and a bitter steward who ruled from pride, dragging his people down with him. And that’s exactly what Daniel 9 gives us. A tale of two princes. One comes in order to serve. The other comes to deceive. One gives peace. The other brings ruin. And every soul will follow one or the other.

And so we must follow the right prince. Because only one has the right to rule. And only one was cut off to bring you in. And only one will return in judgment to rule and reign.

But to follow the right prince, we must understand: We must follow the right prince by understanding:

1. The Prince’s Peace
2. The Prince’s People
3. The Prince’s Plan

Last week, we began our study of Daniel’s 70 weeks. which is a prophetic countdown to the coming of the prince of peace. And we saw how each week represents 7 years, which comes out to 483-years for the first 69 weeks, and then 7 years for the final 70th week. And we saw how even though we can’t calculate the first 69 weeks down the very day, God can, and did, And Christ arrived on the exact day that the angel Gabriel said He would.

But after those 69 weeks: after the countdown brought us to the arrival of Messiah, something shocking happens. He wore no crown. Had no army. No throne. And so most dismissed him.

In fact, in verse 26, it tells us: “An anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.” That’s not what anyone expected. But it’s exactly what was foretold. He was betrayed by His own people. Tried. Mocked. Beaten. And crucified.

And Daniel adds: “He shall have nothing.” Or more literally - “there is nothing for Him.” No throne. No crown. No army. No support. He was deserted, rejected, and alone.

The rightful king was treated like a criminal. The anointed one was treated like a curse. And why? John tells us in John1:

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:9-13 ESV

This is how peace was made. Not peace through power. But peace through the cross.

This was the Prince’s plan all along. Not to conquer Rome. But to conquer sin. Not to take life. But to give His own.

And the prophet Isaiah spoke of this around 700 years before the crucifixion of Christ, saying:

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

This is the peace Daniel saw. A peace with God that was secured by a Prince Who was cut off. A peace that cost Him everything: so it could be given to you freely.

And yet, His people rejected Him. They mocked Him, Spit upon Him, and Crucified Him. And because they did, the people of the coming prince - those aligned with darkness, not light, swept into the city like a flood.

We must follow the right prince by understanding:

1. The Prince’s Peace

In the second half of verse 26, we read:

26 … And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

Daniel 9:26 ESV

So here’s our first big question. Who and when is this prophesy speaking of? Is this speaking of Antiochus Epiphanies? the Greek ruler who desecrated the temple in the second century B.C.? Is this speaking of the Roman General Titus? who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD? Or is this speaking of the future and final antichrist? who will rise in the last days to deceive the world?

And the answer is… None of the above. Well, sort of.

So first off, why are the liberal unbelieving theologians wrong who think this verse is speaking of Antiochus Epiphanies? It’s because Antiochus came before the Messiah, And Daniel is clear - these events happen after the anointed one is cut off. So he’s ruled out by the timeline.

So why do liberal theologians insist that this is Antiochus? it’s because they don’t believe in predictive prophesy. To them, Daniel isn’t a prophet writing of the future: he’s a pretender writing history in the form of prophecy. he’s a man living in the second century B.C., pretending to be a sixth-century prophet, writing after the fact to encourage Jews under Greek oppression.

That’s why they say this verse is all about Antiochus. Because they think Daniel was written after Antiochus did those things. In other words, their interpretation depends on denying the supernatural.

But if you actually believe Daniel is a prophet, If you believe God reveals the end from the beginning, Then this verse doesn’t point to Antiochus. It points forward to Christ’s day. It points to 70 A. D. and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Just 40 years after Jesus was crucified, The Roman armies - under General Titus - surrounded Jerusalem. They laid siege to the city. They starved the people. They breached the walls. They burned the temple. They tore the stones apart. Just as Jesus said they would.

In Matthew 24, we read:

¹ Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ² But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Matthew 24:1-2 ESV

And Daniel saw it coming 600 years in advance. He said: “The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”

This makes Daniel 9:26 one of the clearest, most staggering examples of long-range prophetic fulfillment in Scripture, right alongside Isaiah 53, which prophesied of the Messiah’s horrific death. And this remarkable truth shouldn’t just scratch our curiosity, it should cause us to tremble in awe before the God who sees the end from the beginning!

Because if God’s Word was right about this: If He foretold the coming of Christ, the rejection of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem, Then His Word will be right about what comes next, AND EVERYTHING ELSE it says.

Church, we do not serve a God Who guesses. We serve a God Who, as psalm 115 says, rules from the heavens and does ALL that He pleases!

Do you believe that? Does your life reflect that you believe this? Are you taking His promises and warnings seriously? Or… is studying predictive prophesy merely scratching your intellectual curiosity, instead of serving as a lightning bolt to the soul that wakes you up to eternity?

After having received this lighten bolt to his soul, The prophet Isaiah quotes God, who says:

9 … for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰ declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV

Make no mistake, God will accomplish all of His purposes. The only question is: which prince will we serve? The prince of peace, or the prince of destruction? Because you have to pick, and not picking is to actually pick.

And Israel picked. They rejected the Prince who was cut off. And God’s response upon them was utterly devastating.

Forty years after they shouted, “We have no king but Caesar,” So in response: God gave them Caesar, who was a cruel and wicked king who brought unspeakable destruction upon the Jewish people.

And in verse 26, it describes this for us: He’ll destroy the city and the sanctuary, it’s end will come like a flood - which means swift destruction. and after that, until the end, there will be constant war for the Jewish people, and then Daniel says: “Desolations are decreed.” What does that mean? “Desolations are decreed.” It means to be laid waste. To be emptied, ruined, stripped bare. And that’s exactly what happened to the Jewish people in 70 AD.

And that word “decreed” means that it came from Yahweh God. It wasn’t just allowed, it was appointed. it was issued from the throne of heaven. Not because God delights in destruction, But because He is holy. Because He keeps His Word. Because sin has consequences, And rebellion - especially against the Son of God - is no small thing!

Desolations are decreed means the clock ran out. The warnings were ignored. And so the judgment fell. Nnot by chance, But by decree.

But here’s something we need to see: Verse 26 doesn’t describe the 70th week. That comes in verse 27.

Which means there’s a gap in the prophecy. A pause between the 69th and 70th weeks. And that gap has now lasted nearly 2,000 years.

So why do I say there’s a gap between the 69th and the 70th week, and not between the 7 weeks and the 62 weeks? Because that’s literally what verse 26 says… “And after the 62 weeks…” Christ will be cut off, the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy, and to the end there shall be war.

It doesn’t say during the 62 weeks, it doesn’t say during the 70th week, It simply says AFTER the 62 weeks, these events will happen. And how long was it between Messiah’s death and the destruction of Jerusalem? Roughly 40 years Jesus was crucified around 30-33 A.D. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.

That’s a four-decade gap between the end of the 69th week and the destruction Daniel describes. Which means: these events take place outside of the 69 weeks, but before the 70th week begins.

So even within the structure of the prophecy, there’s room - and reason - for a gap. And that gap is what we’re living in now.

God’s prophetic calendar hit pause at week 69, NOT because God changed His mind or pivoted to Plan B. Daniel 9 order of events that much crystal clear. The pause came because Israel rejected their King. But in His mercy, God opened a window for the Gentiles before restarting the Jewish countdown to Christ’s return.

Which the New Testament calls “The Church Age.” which overlaps with: “The time of the Gentiles.” And why is it called the time of the gentiles? Because God’s Divine clock for the Jewish people has hit the pause button, because of their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah.

And yet, as the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 11:11-12

¹¹ So I ask, did they (Israel) stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

Romans 11:11-12 ESV

And then later in verse 25 Paul says:

²⁵ Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; ²⁷ “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Romans 11:25-27 ESV

So yes - God’s clock for Israel has paused. But it hasn’t stopped. And it hasn’t failed. That part of His schedule is waiting. Waiting for the full number of Gentiles to come in. Waiting for the Church to finish its mission. Waiting for the return of the King.

So what should we do with this? Not only should we gentiles - who Paul calls “wild branches” not boast over the natural branches - which are Israel, by thinking we’re better. more deserving. or somehow the new “main characters” in God’s plan for Israel.

Because Paul is crystal clear here:

¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Romans 11:18 ESV

We are here church by sheer grace. We are Grafted in by mercy. And if we forget that: if we treat Israel’s failure as our entitlement, If we respond to their failure as if we are superior, we are setting ourselves up for the very same fall.

So don’t waste this season as Israel did. Don’t waste the gap we’ve been graciously given. Instead, redeem the time. Live for the Kingdom that cannot be shaken! Let the predictive prophesy that God has revealed do more than scratch our curiosity, Let it ignite our heart’s with the passion of our Savior to seek and save the lost, by inviting all, regardless of ethnicity to be grafted into the root Who is Jesus Christ, Our Savior and King!

For the 70th week is coming! And the final prince will rise. just as verse 27 says it will.

We must follow the right prince by understanding:

In verse 27, Daniel moves us into the 70th week. The text reads:

²⁷ And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel 9:27 ESV

And now we come to one of the most controversial verses in the book of Daniel, In fact, after studying this verse, I’ve concluded it’s the hinge upon which all of Daniel 9 turns. Because if you misunderstand verse 27, you’ll misunderstand so many more things than just the 70th week. You’ll misunderstand God’s future plans, which includes Israel, You’ll misunderstand the church, and the return of the King and what that will be like.

So we need to slow down. We need to walk carefully. And we need to ask - who is the “he” is: Because the entire interpretation of verse 27, and much Daniel, hinges on that one pronoun. “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.”

So - who is he? Some say it’s Antiochus. Some say it’s Christ, Some say it’s the future and final antichrist.

So first off, let’s discuss why verse 27 can’t be Antiochus. Because it’s not just liberal theologians who hold this view, it’s Faithful, Bible-believing, Jesus loving Christians who also do. They believe that Daniel is speaking in broad theological categories, not future literal events. They don’t deny prophecy. They don’t deny inspiration. They simply believe these seventy weeks are not a chronological map, but a theological message of how God will bring redemption through suffering, judgment, and eventual restoration.

In their view, Antiochus Epiphanes is a type of future evil, but, the fulfillment isn’t tied to dates or a final seven-year period: it’s more like a prophetic parable. It’s about deeper meaning, not math. And that’s why they say the “he” in verse 27 refers not to a literal future figure, but to what Antiochus embodied: desecration, pride, opposition to God’s people.

This view is a serious one: held by brothers and sisters in Christ whom I love and respect, and so it deserves a serious response. But to do that, this is gonna get a little technical, but stick with me, because this really does matter. it shapes how we view so many things in the Bible.

So here’s the heart of the disagreement: Is Daniel 9 laying out a structured prophetic timeline? Or painting a theological mosaic of redemptive patterns?

So here’s why I believe it’s a structured prophetic timeline, and not just a symbolic prophetic pattern.

First off, This prophesy isn’t in vague or purely poetic terms. It comes with specific numbers with a clear sequence of events. 7 weeks, then 62, then 1. There’s no cycles or symbols here - it’s a timeline. And if the first 69 weeks were fulfilled in a timeline-like manner, Why is there a sudden shift with the 70th week, and that being fulfilled in a different manner? Because almost everyone agrees, the first 69 weeks are a literal countdown to Christ and the crucifixion. So why the shift?

And as we said before, Antiochus was much too early. He came way before the 69 weeks even finished. So while I agree that Antiochus is a type of antichrist - for as John tells us many antichrists have come, he can’t be the 70th week antichrist - because it just doesn’t fit. And for the record, a lot of theologians from different end times perspectives agree with me on this part.

Second - even if we grant that Antiochus was a real and horrifying type of what was to come, Jesus Himself in Matthew 24 says the “abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel” was still future in His day. That’s centuries after Antiochus. And Jesus doesn’t treat it as a symbol - He treats it as event. A future desecration. So if Jesus saw Daniel 9:27 as unfulfilled, then so should we.

Third - there’s no covenant-making in the Antiochus account that matches the structure of verse 27. Yes, some apostate Jews aligned themselves with Greek culture. Yes, temple sacrifices were stopped. But there’s no record of a seven-year covenant being made and then broken halfway through. There’s no midpoint abomination followed by decreed judgment on a personal “desolator.” You have to stretch the symbolism a long way to make that fit.

And here’s the danger with that approach: Just because someone in history foreshadows what’s coming, doesn’t mean the prophecy is fulfilled in them. Foreshadowing doesn’t cancel prophecy - it reinforces it. So if Antiochus prefigured something, then there must still be something to come.

OK, so that’s the first view, but what about the second view that this is speaking of prince Jesus? This end time’s view says that verse 27 is about Christ’s first coming. That He is the one who “makes a strong covenant with many for one week.” That the “week” is symbolic of His earthly ministry: and that halfway through that “week,” His death brought an end to sacrifice and offering.

Now at first glance, that might sound compelling. Because didn’t Jesus talk about the “new covenant in My blood”? Didn’t His death render the temple sacrifices obsolete?

In a sense, yes - Christ’s death did serve as the perfect and final sacrifice. The book of Hebrews makes that clear. But remember, “similarity does not equal identity.” This isn’t the same thing as what Daniel 9:27 is describing.

Because Daniel doesn’t say the sacrifices become fulfilled. He says they are stopped. Forcefully. Abruptly. And not by a priest - but by a profaner.

Christ didn’t interrupt temple worship. He didn’t desecrate the holy place. He didn’t break the covenant - He FULFILLED IT.

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:17 ESV

In stark contrast, the figure in Daniel 9:27 doesn’t just end sacrifices: he tramples them. He corrupts worship. He desecrates what is holy. And that’s why, in the second half of the verse, he’s called the “desolator” and a decreed end is poured out on him - which is God’s judgment.

Plus, if all of this was fulfilled with Christ’s first coming, we have a serious problem with verse 24.

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

Daniel 9:24 ESV

Christ absolutely did not accomplish all of this in His first coming. Yeah, He accomplished some of it. While He atoned for iniquity He didn’t finish THE transgression - which Israel continued in well past 70 AD. He didn’t put and end to all sin, He didn’t seal both vision and prophet - because the early church was chalk full of visions and prophets, and He didn’t bring in everlasting righteousness to the all the earth. Sure, He made US righteous through His shed blood, but Daniel’s mention of everlasting righteousness isn’t talking about that. It’s talking about the future day that the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said:

⁹ They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:9 ESV

So yes - Jesus atoned for sin once for all. But He didn’t complete everything Daniel 9:24 describes.

Instead of being Antiochus or Christ, The prince of verse 27 is the future and final antichrist - and the closest noun to this pronoun “he” - is the second prince in verse 26, which isn’t Jesus. So this He is the same figure Paul warns us about in 2 Thessalonians 2: the “man of lawlessness” who opposes God, exalts himself, and takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. He’s the beast of Revelation 13: the one who makes war on the saints, deceives the nations, and demands worship through signs and power.

And Daniel says that he will “make a strong covenant with many for one week.” This likely refers to a deceptive peace treaty, one that brings stability to the Middle East, and when this happens, the world will cheer. But the Jewish people will soon find out it is a trap.

Because halfway through that seven-year “week,” He breaks the covenant. He ends the sacrifices. He enters the holy place. And he unleashes abomination.

Daniel says: “On the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate.” That phrase - “wing of abominations” - is REALLY difficult to translate, But most commentators agree it has to do with the antichrist’s false worship. Where he pollutes what is sacred. He defiles the temple of God. He exalts himself as divine.

And that lines up perfectly with what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Matthew 24:15 ESV

Jesus is pointing forward - not backward. Not to Antiochus. But to a future desecration still to come. A defiling act that takes place in a rebuilt temple, by a man who sets himself against God. Which occurs midway through the 70th week.

This last week, I was wrestling with this, and at first... I was extremely confused. But it was because I was reading verse 26 backwards without even realizing it! It’s kind of embarrassing - but it happened. Instead of reading as it says: “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city.” I kept reading it as, “And the prince of the people who is to come shall destroy the city.” Which has a very, very different meaning. See, I kept trying to figure out why the commentators were seeing verse 27’s prince as different from the prince who attacked Jerusalem in 70 AD... Because I read that verse wrongly. But when you read it rightly, it says it was “THE PEOPLE of the PRINCE who is yet to come....” which means, this has to be AFTER 70 AD.

Remember, verse 26 is describing the people of the PRINCE who is yet to come... Which means that prince wasn’t around during 70 AD yet, was he? No. He would descend from those people - who are the Romans, Which is the fourth and final beast that Daniel spoke of in Daniel 7, Or the Legs of Iron, which eventually becomes the feet of iron and clay in Daniel 2. because that last empire has two stages. one without the antichrist, and on with.

So this can’t be 70 AD. For a host of reasons. Because while the Roman armies did destroy the temple, there was no seven-year covenant. No halfway betrayal. No single individual who exalted himself in the temple as God. No antichrist figure matching what Daniel, John, and Paul describe.

In fact, In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul described this future man of lawlessness, and he doesn’t connect it to Nero or Titus who were right around the corner and never made a covenant they broke with Israel. Plus, Titus wasn’t judged like verse 27 says, he was actually rewarded.

Instead, Paul directly connects this man of lawlessness to the second coming of Christ. And so does Jesus! Jesus says in Matthew 24:21-22

²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

Matthew 24:21-22 ESV

Does this at all sound like 70 AD? Does it sound like Jesus is speaking of a local event or a global one? It sounds like something far more terrifying. Something yet to come. Which means this prophecy isn’t ancient history. It’s God’s future plan for world., which results in our Savior’s return, where He will rule and reign as the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

But until then: There are only two paths. Only two kingdoms. Only two princes. And make no mistake: You will choose one. For even not choosing is making that choice.

It’s the same choice the crowd faced that day in Jerusalem: Jesus or Barabbas? The true Prince of Peace, or the man of violence, chosen because he fit the longings of their sin-darkened hearts.

It’s the same question Pilate asked: Shall I crucify your King? And they cried out: “We have no king but Caesar.”

So don’t be fooled by false rulers. Don’t give your allegiance to lesser lords. Don’t trade your soul to fit in with a world on a countdown to judgment.

The 70th week is coming. The final prince will rise. But so will the true King.

And when He comes, the world will see what true majesty looks like. Not as a meek and suffering servant But as the return of the true & rightful King.

In the Lord of the rings, Tolkien beautifully describes the coming of Prince Aragorn, Which I think serves as a beautiful reminder of the kind of king we should live and long for in Christ.

“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.”

The King is coming church. He will be crowned, He will reign, In a kingdom that has no end.

Let us pray.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.