“The prince that shall come.” ―chapter 9:26.
WE have followed the course of this remarkable prophecy down to the rejection of the Messiah, the Prince, after the sixty-ninth week. We have noticed the prediction, already fulfilled, of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, which took place about A.D. 70. We have seen, too, that there is an undefined period of time following upon this.
No hint is given in the passage before us as to the length of this unreckoned stretch of time, nor are we here told what special work of the Spirit of God was to fill up this interval between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks. But the intelligent Christian will be in no difficulty. The calling out of the Church takes place during this parenthetical period.
Most readers of these pages are familiar with the thought that the history of the Church upon earth, reaching from Pentecost to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4), forms a break in God’s dealings with the earth. In the portion of Holy Scripture we are now considering, this parenthesis, though not enlarged upon, is yet most clearly foreseen. But it will come to an end, and that in a very solemn manner. The Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven into the air and remove His saints, and then once more will God take up the thread of His earthly dealings, and Israel will again become the special object of His interest.
The “city and sanctuary,” then, we have seen were destroyed by the Romans. They are not mentioned by name, but it is the Romans that we are to understand by the expression, “The people of the prince that shall come” (vs. 26), for they it was that history informs us destroyed the city of Jerusalem.
But this expression demands a closer attention. If “the people” are the Romans, who is “the prince”? It must be evident to everybody that this cannot be the same as “the Messiah, the Prince.” In no sense could the Romans have been called the people of Messiah. Nor are we to understand Titus to be that prince. Titus might have been spoken of as their prince at the time that the Romans destroyed the city, but here we are told, not that the people shall come, but that the prince shall come. He has not yet come, nor will he come until the time of the end of those desolations determined upon Daniel’s people, the Jews. In other words, the Roman empire is to revive, and will yet be seen under the control of this very prince.
Those who have followed us in our study of the book of Daniel will know that the last phase of the Roman empire, that of the division into ten kingdoms, has not yet existed. Some are in the habit of looking upon the present broken condition of what once was an undivided empire as the ten-toed period. But a passage in the Apocalypse already noticed will show that this is not the case. There we are told that “the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Rev. 17:1212And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. (Revelation 17:12)). Here by the expression “the beast” we are to understand not so much the empire in itself as its head. The Roman empire of the future will be dominated by one man, sometimes called “the beast” (Rev. 13:4, 17:12), also spoken of as the “little horn,” and here in our chapter “the prince that shall come” (Dan. 9:2626And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:26)). At the time of the end the ten kings will give their power and strength to this terrible prince, and they shall make war with the Lamb. Clearly this has not yet taken place. In the early days of the empire it was undivided, now it is broken up into incoherent fragments, each seeking its own interests at the expense of the others; alliances, too, being formed to maintain “the balance of power.” But in the coming day God will put it “in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast” (Rev. 17:1717For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (Revelation 17:17)). Little does the world now guess that all is moving on to the accomplishment of God’s will clearly foretold in the prophetic word!
It is this coming prince, the head of the Roman empire, that is spoken of in the last verse of our chapter. “And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week,” for thus should the verse be read. Here, then, is the last of the seventy weeks. It has not yet commenced. No clear or intelligent interpretation of this prophecy can be given unless this point is seized. Moreover, it is not until this last week begins that prophetic time will be counted again. Ever since the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ “times and seasons” have remained unreckoned; these have to do with the earth and God’s dealings with His earthly people, Israel. The Church period is outside these times and seasons, and hence all attempts to calculate the date of Christ’s return by reference to the 1260 days must end in failure.
Another line of things followed upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in answer to the question of the disciples, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” the risen Lord says — “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power (or authority). But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” &c. (Acts 1:6-96When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (Acts 1:6‑9)). This is the period, not of the kingdom for Israel, but of the Holy Ghost’s testimony to an earth-rejected but glorified Christ; this is the time for the calling out of the Church, composed of all, whether Jew or Gentile, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth.
But the Jews will be restored to Palestine — they have of late been going back in large numbers— yet sad to say, their return will be in unbelief; and then for political reasons they will enter into a covenant with the chief of the Roman empire. Whether this will take place immediately upon the removal of the Church at the coming of the Lord we do not undertake to say, but at any rate, it would seem to us the time will not be long.
This covenant will be made with “the many,” that is the majority; the remnant will not join in it, they will suffer at the hands of the ungodly nation, and the Psalms are filled with the expressions, prophetically given, that will be suitable to them in those days of oppression and persecution.
When the Roman prince confirms this covenant for one week, the Jews will imagine that he is their friend, but “in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Through his means their whole national system will have been restored, and even, it appears, their religious ceremonial.
But in the midst of the week all this will cease, and a period of most awful tribulation will follow. “The great tribulation” will take place during the last half of this week, it will last for three and a half years, or as elsewhere said, 1260 days.
Some may ask, Is this prince not the Antichrist? We do not think he is. The Antichrist will be reigning in Jerusalem as the false king of the Jews; he will no doubt be in league with this Roman prince, and it will be through his means that the covenant will be made. But it is of importance to distinguish between the three great instruments of wickedness and opposition to God and His people at the time of the end. They are all alluded to in this last verse. They are the Roman prince, the Antichrist, and the Assyrian.
No doubt all our readers are aware that since the time of the Babylonish captivity the Jewish nation have never fallen into idolatry. They are suffering now for a greater crime, even the murder of their Messiah; but since Nebuchadnezzar carried them away they have never fallen into the sin of idolatry. According to the parable of our Lord, the unclean spirit of idolatry departed from them as a nation, and has never found a place amongst them since, though their condition be but “empty, swept, and garnished,” in other words outwardly orthodox, though it were but a form without reality or power. But at the end this spirit of idolatry will return to them in sevenfold degree and their last state will be worse than their first (Matt. 12:43-4643When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 46While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. (Matthew 12:43‑46)). This will be when the Antichrist or man of sin will be worshipped as God in the temple once more rebuilt (2 Thess. 2).
It is to this that the somewhat obscure expression refers, “the overspreading of abominations.” Let us here give this verse in a slightly altered form, which will help to an understanding of the passage; it is a translation which all scholars will appreciate — “And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and on account of the overspreading (or protection) of abominations there shall be a desolator, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (vs. 27). The “overspreading of abominations” evidently refers to the idolatry under Antichrist, and “the desolator” appears to be an allusion to the Assyrian; Jerusalem herself is “the desolate.”
In order to ensure themselves against this “king of the north,” or Assyrian, the apostate nation will seek protection at the hands of the Roman prince and Antichrist, who will then be working hand in hand, a protection which they should have sought from God alone. They will say, “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge (i.e. the king of the north) shall pass through, it shall not come unto us,” &c. (Isa. 28:55In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, (Isaiah 28:5)). But this their covenant will not avail them in the day of their calamity nay, on this very account will the desolator be sent upon them — as the rod of Jehovah’s anger (Isa. 10:55O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. (Isaiah 10:5)).
How blessed it will be for the tried and persecuted remnant in that day to prove that Jehovah Himself has laid for them in Zion, the city of their tribulation, “for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, as sure foundation”! (Isa. 28:1616Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. (Isaiah 28:16)). Who this precious corner stone is, we, Christians, well know, even Jesus Christ, who is to us who believe, meanwhile, God’s preciousness (1 Peter 2).
(To be continued.)