Daniel 9:27 says: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” Does the word “he” refer to the Antichrist, or to Jesus Christ?
Amillennialists and preterists believe that “he” is a reference to Jesus Christ. They believe that the “covenant” described here is Christ’s salvation covenant established at the cross, and that by His death the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant.
However, it is highly doubtful that the word “he” could refer to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not confirm any covenant with many for one week, nor did He break that covenant in the middle of the week, that is, after three and one-half years. According to Hebrews 13:20, the blood of Jesus Christ established an everlasting covenant.
Our text goes on to tell us that “he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.” The death of Christ did not stop the sacrifices and offerings of the Jewish people. In fact, they continued until the time that the Romans destroyed the Temple some forty years after the death of Christ. Moreover, the death of Christ did not set up the abomination of desolation referenced at the end of Daniel 9:27, and also in Matthew 24:15.
It is much better, therefore, to understand the word “he” as referring to the future Antichrist. The Antichrist shall seek to confirm a future covenant with the Jewish people, but after three and one-half years he shall break this covenant, defile the future Temple, and bring great persecution upon the people of Israel. The New Testament parallel to this passage is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 where the Antichrist is described as the one “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” This is the abomination that renders the future Tribulation Temple unfit for worship and is rightly called “the abomination of desolation.”
When understood in this way Daniel 9:24–27, the “prophecy of the seventy weeks,” concerns Daniel’s “people,” and Daniel’s “holy city” (vs. 27). In other words, it concerns the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. The passage reveals the course of history to be a period of seventy weeks, divided into two major sections: the first sixty-nine weeks, and a yet-future seventieth week, a seven-year period of Tribulation which is yet to run its course.
The seventieth week ends with judgment upon the one who makes desolate. This is followed by “everlasting righteousness,” which are the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.