Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Auth User
Company: GDC

© 2004 Joe Griffin		04-11-16.CC02-370 /

The Beast-Dictator & the False Prophet; the Pronoun “he” in Dan 9:27; the Abomination of Desolation in v. 27; 11:31; Matt 24:15

	More information on the Zealots at Masada in a.d. 73:
Scott, Bruce.  “Masada: Final Fortress.”  Israel My Glory, Sept./Oct. 2003, 20-22.

Revelation 13:1 -  I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.
v. 2 -	And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.  And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
Analysis of this passage gives us the final piece to the puzzle.  Again we quote the Colonel:
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Armageddon.  2d ed.  (Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 2002), 14-15:
The Beast.  Other passages refer to him as the feet of the image (Daniel 2:31-45), the little horn (Daniel 7:8), the “prince who is to come” (Daniel 9:26-27), the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10), and the “scarlet beast” (Revelation 17:3).  As the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire, the king of the West, is said to have “ten horns,” signifying the ten-nation confederacy which he rules.  He is depicted as rising out of the turbulent “sea” of nations.
“Horns” (Rev. 13:1) in Scripture denote power, which is given to the little horn, the beast, by the dragon and reveals that this dominating personality of the Tribulation is the agent of Satan.  Since Satan is a spirit, he needs earthly agents who agree to accomplish his will; he therefore operates through the minds and activities of men such as the king of the West to affect the affairs of the world.
That this beast is greater than any power of the past is indicated by the reference to the leopard (Graeco-Macedonian Empire of Daniel 7:6), the bear (Medio-Persian Empire of Daniel 7:5), and the lion (Babylonian Empire of Daniel 7:4).  The king of the West epitomizes all the brilliance of Alexander the Great, the massive power of Cyrus the Great, and the autocratic royalty of Nebuchadnezzar.
The beast’s empire is discussed in more detail in Revelation 17:2-12.  According to Revelation 17:14, the confederation of kings (the ten horns) under the beast makes war “against the Lamb.”  But Jesus Christ overpowers them, completing His glorious victory at the end of the campaign of the great day of God, the Almighty.
Conclusion: The “people”—the Romans, i.e., Vespasian, Titus, and the Roman army—of the “prince who is to come”—the Antichrist of the Revived Roman Empire—are those who “shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
It is this event that sealed the final fifth cycle of discipline for the Jews and they remain scattered until the Second Advent of Christ.
Consequently, the Jews will remain dispersed throughout the nations during the Church Age.  Many Jews presently reside in a portion of the land that is promised but by doing so they place themselves in jeopardy of satanic terrorism which will become unrestrained once Church Age believers are removed at the Rapture.  It is with this latter group of Jews that the Antichrist will initially strike a deal:
Daniel 9:27a -	Then he [ the Antichrist ] shall confirm a covenant with many [ Israel ] for one week [ u^Wbv* shavua‛: the 7 year Tribulation ] but in the middle of the week [ 3½ years; or 42 months; or 1260 days ] He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering [ he breaks the contract 3½ years into the Tribulation ].
The Antichrist will agree to let the Jews resume their sacrifices in a newly constructed Temple but voids the contract half-way through the Tribulation:
Daniel 9:27b -	And on the wing [ cosmic systems of protection from global ecumenical religion ] of abominations [ a statue of the Antichrist ] shall be one who makes desolate [ the Temple ], even until the consummation [ Second Advent ], and that which is determined [ lake of fire: Revelation 19:20 ] is poured out on this dictator [ The Antichrist ].”
The Antichrist and the False Prophet will be incarcerated in the lake of fire at the Second Advent:
Revelation 19:20 -	And the beast [ Antichrist ] was seized, and with him the false prophet …; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
In Daniel 9:27, the phrase “on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate” is restated in Daniel 11:31 as the “abomination of desolation.”  This latter description is quoted by our Lord in:
Matthew 24:15 -  “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place …”
The Lord is speaking of an event that takes place in the future.  He is not speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus and the Roman army but to the violation of the contract between the Beast-Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire and the False Prophet of Israel. Details are provided by:
Thieme, Armageddon, 18:
Early in the Tribulation the false prophet, the dictator and religious leader of Israel … enters into an alliance with the Revived Roman Empire for protection.  In return, the Roman dictator demands a share in the wealth of Palestine (Daniel 11:36-39).
For a time the covenant between the two dictators provides Israel with a false sense of security.  But in the middle of the seventieth week, the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire indwelt by an enraged and avenging Satan breaks his treaty, eliminates the Jewish sacrifices in the Temple, and demands that he be worshipped as God (Daniel 12:11).  At this point, a statue of the [Antichrist], the “abomination of desolation,” is set up in the Holy of Holies.  All who fail to worship the image are put to death (Revelation 13:15).
		There are quite a number of false interpretations developed from this passage in Daniel 9.  A helpful comparison between allegorical and literal systems of hermeneutics is provided by:

Walvoord , John F.  Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation.  (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), 232:
Although difference of opinion has been observed in the interpretation of Daniel 9:24-26, the divergence comes to a head in verse 27.  Here the choice is clearly between literal fulfillment, which requires a futuristic interpretation with a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week, or several other opinions which admittedly do not provide any clear fulfillment of verse 27.
In opposition to the futuristic interpretation other views have been advanced: (1) the liberal view that the seventieth seven is fulfilled in events following the Maccabean persecution [168-160 b.c.]; (2) the view of Jewish scholars that the seventieth week is fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70; and (3) the view that the seventieth week of Daniel is an indefinite period beginning with Christ but extending to the end, often held by amillenarians.
The issue that must be addressed by the expositor of Daniel 9:24-27 is when the seventieth week occurs.  The three solutions just mentioned do not correlate with other prophecies that clearly place the seventieth week just prior to the Second Advent.
The three solutions that are mentioned by Walvoord all must allegorize Scripture in order to arrive at these conclusions.  None provide a literal fulfillment of the prophecy.
The key to resolving this question is a personal masculine pronoun found in verse 27:
Daniel 9:26 -	“And after sixty–two weeks [ the 434 year period between the completion of Jerusalem and Palm Sunday ], Messiah [ j^yv!m* mashiach: the Anointed One ] shall be cut off [ crucifixion ], but not for Himself [ substitutionary sacrifice ].  And the people [ the Romans ] (of the prince [ dyg!n* nagith: the man at the top ] who is to come) [ prophetic of the Antichrist of the Tribulation ] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [ the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in a.d. 70 ] and the end of it [ the nation Israel ] shall be like a flood.  Furthermore, to the end [ of the dispensation, i.e., the Tribulation ] wars and desolations are determined [ decreed ]. 
v. 27 -	Then he shall confirm [ masculine gender of the verb rb^G* gabar: whose antecedent is the last preceding masculine gender in context: dyg!n* nagith: “prince” in verse 26 ] a covenant with many for one week [ u^Wbv* shavua‛: one group of seven ] but in the middle of the week [ 3½ years; 42 months; 1260 days ] he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.  And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, and that which is determined is poured out on this dictator.”
Walvoord, Daniel, 233-34:
The determination of the antecedent of he in verse 27 is the key to the interpretation of the passage.  If the normal rule be followed that the antecedent is the nearest preceding possibility, it would go back to the prince that shall come of verse 26.  This is the normal premillennial interpretation which postulates that the reference is to a future prince who may be identified with the Antichrist who will appear at the end of the interadvent age just before the second coming of Christ.
A number of other interpretations, however, have been advanced.  (James A.) Montgomery believes that the reference is to Antiochus Epiphanes [the Seleucid king who set up in the Temple at Jerusalem a statue of Zeus which he claimed to represent, calling himself “Theos Epiphanes” meaning “the manifest god”; the Jews altered the title from ™pifan»j, epiphanēs to ™piman»j, epimanēs: the insane; this event in 169 b.c. was the catalyst for the Maccabean Revolution.], in keeping with his [Montgomery’s] interpretation that the prophecy was fulfilled in the second century b.c.
A second view is that he refers to Christ.  This is supported by Philip Mauro (who) states, “If we take the pronoun ‘he’ as relating to ‘the Messiah’ mentioned in the preceding verse, then we find in the New Testament Scriptures a perfect fulfillment of the passage.  That pronoun (“he”) must be taken as referring to Christ, because (a) the prophecy is all about Christ; (b) Titus did not make any covenant with the Jews; and (c) there is not a word in Scripture about any future ‘prince’ making a covenant with them.”  (p. 233)
The difficulty with these interpretations is that there is no seven-year period marked off in any clear way in history which has fulfilled the last unit of seven of Daniel’s prophecy.
Ultimately, the question facing every expositor is what interpretation gives the most natural and intelligent exposition of the text.  If it is not necessary to consider this literal prophecy, and the time units are not literal, a variety of interpretation immediately becomes possible.  If the expositor desires to follow the text meticulously, however, there is really no alternative but to declare the entire seventieth seven future, for there has been no seven-year period fulfilling the events of prophecy, however labored the interpretation.
In summary, it may be concluded that Antiochus Epiphanes does not satisfy the passage for anyone who accepts it as Scripture.  Christ does not satisfy the description of verse 27 because there is no seven-year period related to Christ which provides fulfillment of the entire passage.  Under these circumstances, the normal antecedent of he is the prince that shall come, who is not to be identified with Titus but rather with a future enemy of the people of Israel who will bring them into the great tribulation anticipated as still future in the book of Revelation, which was written twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem.  (p. 234)
This final statement is critical.  The Apostle John clearly writes in an apocalyptic style in reporting what the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to him. 
Revelation 1:1 -	The Revelation [ 'Apok£luyij, apokalupsis: Apocalypse ] of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.
This is a message from Jesus Christ to the Apostle John to be passed along to the churches.  These “things” relate to Church Age believers and concern the historical trends that are to be expected to occur in local churches throughout the dispensation.  This takes up the first three chapters.

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