The Abomination of Desolation

The Prince Who Makes Desolate (Daniel 9:26–27)

Gabriel Identifies the True Desolator. Daniel 9:26–27 introduces a figure simply called “the prince that shall come.” This prince is not the same as Messiah the Prince. He appears after Messiah is cut off and during and after the city and sanctuary are destroyed. The book of Daniel shows that this prince stands behind the destroying force and then continues his work by making desolate what has already been destroyed. Gabriel is careful with his wording: the people destroy the city, the prince is behind them, the desolation continues until the consummation (end), and he makes desolate.

This prince is not identified as Roman, not tied to Titus, and not described as a human ruler. Daniel 9 leaves his identity open - but not undefined. Daniel later explains the nature of such “princes.”

The Book of Daniel’s Own Explanation: Spiritual Princes Behind Empires (Daniel 10:13, 20)

In Daniel 10, the prophet is shown that behind the visible kingdoms of Persia and Greece stand spiritual rulers: the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the prince of Grecia. These are not human kings. They are spiritual powers influencing earthly empires. This is the chapter's own framework. It distinguishes between: the people (human armies), the kings (human rulers), and the princes (spiritual powers behind nations). This is the key to understanding Daniel 9:26–27.

Why the Prince Cannot Be Human

Gabriel says this prince: acts after Messiah is cut off, acts after the destruction of Jerusalem, maintains desolation “unto the end” and is still active at the consummation. A human ruler cannot: span centuries, operate across multiple empires, or continue until his judgement at the end. But a spiritual prince - the kind the book of Daniel describes in chapter 10 - can. The book's own categories require this interpretation.

The Prince’s Work: Making Desolate (Daniel 9:27)

Daniel 9:27 says: “and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate…” This prince does not destroy the city and does not destroy the Temple. He makes desolate what is already destroyed. This is crucial. You cannot “make desolate” what is intact. You can only maintain desolation after destruction.

This prince is the one who: keeps the holy place desolate, prevents restoration, sustains the covenant rupture, and continues his work until the end. This aligns perfectly with the book of Daniel’s spiritual princes in chapter 10.

The book of Daniel distinguishes between the people who destroy Jerusalem and the prince who stands behind them. The Romans carried out the destruction, but the prince is not identified as Roman or human. Daniel later describes spiritual princes who influence earthly kingdoms, showing that the prince in Daniel 9 is of the same kind. This prince maintains the desolation after the Temple is destroyed and continues his work until the end. Scripture requires a desolator who is not bound to one generation and whose activity spans the entire period of desolation.

The Final Week and the Continuation of Desolation (Daniel 9:27)

Daniel 9:27 describes the final “week” - the last seven‑year segment of the seventy weeks. This final week does not begin with the destruction of Jerusalem. It begins after it. The destruction in verse 26 is past; the final week in verse 27 is future.

Daniel writes: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week…”

The “he” here is the same prince introduced in verse 26 - the one who appears after Messiah is cut off and during and after the destruction of the city and sanctuary. His activity continues throughout the final week.

Daniel then says: “…and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…” This is not the destruction of the Temple - that already happened in verse 26. This is the continuation of desolation. The prince prevents restoration. He stops any return to physical, sacrificial covenant worship. The destruction in verse 26 ended sacrifice; the prince in verse 27 prevents it from ever being restored. He maintains the breach.

Daniel 27 adds: “…and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate…” This is the same language Jesus uses when He speaks of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place. Daniel and Jesus are describing the same reality: the holy place remains desolate, abominations stand where holiness once stood, the desolator continues his work, and the desolation persists until the end.

Daniel 27 concludes: “…even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” This means the final week ends in judgment, the desolator’s activity continues until that moment, the desolation does not end early, and the consummation is the divinely appointed conclusion of both the desolation and the desolator.

The book of Daniel places the final seven years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The prince who appears after Messiah is cut off continues his work into this last segment. He prevents restoration, maintains the desolation, and stands behind the abominations that occupy the holy place. Daniel says this condition continues until the consummation, when the final judgment brings the desolation to an end. The final week is the closing period of the long desolation that began in A.D. 70 and continues under the prince who makes, and keeps, desolate.

The Consummation (Daniel 9:27)

The consummation is the final Act of God that ends the desolation forever.

Daniel 9:27 ends the seventy‑weeks prophecy with a single, decisive statement: “…even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” This is the final boundary of the prophecy. It tells us three things with absolute clarity.

1. The desolation continues until the consummation . The verse does not say the desolation ends early. It does not say it lifts gradually. It does not say it pauses. It says: the desolation begins with the destruction of the city and sanctuary, it continues under the prince who makes and keeps desolate, and it lasts until the consummation. This is the divinely fixed endpoint.

2. The consummation is an act of judgment. Daniel 27 says: “…that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” This is judicial language. It echoes the prophets: “the determined end” (Isaiah 10:23), “the decreed destruction” (Isaiah 28:22), “the indignation until the end” (Daniel 11:36). The consummation is not a human event. It is not political. It is not military. It is God’s final act against: the desolator, the abominations, the long desolation itself. The one who made desolate is judged. The desolation he maintained is ended.

3. The consummation completes the seventy weeks. The seventy weeks do not end with: Messiah’s death, the destruction of Jerusalem, or with the long desolation within the final week. They end with the consummation - the final, determined act of God. This is the true terminus of the prophecy. The book of Daniel’s structure is: Messiah cut off, city and temple destroyed, desolation begins, desolation continues, final week unfolds, and consummation ends it all. The consummation is the closing stroke of the seventy weeks.

Daniel 9:27 concludes the prophecy by declaring that the desolation continues until the consummation. This consummation is the final, determined act of God that ends both the desolation and the work of the prince who made it desolate. The seventy weeks reach their true completion not with the destruction of Jerusalem, nor with the long desolation that follows, but with the consummation itself. This is the divinely appointed end of the desolator and the restoration of what was left desolate.

The New Jerusalem: The City That Ends All Desolation

Daniel 9:27 ends with the consummation - the final act of God that ends the desolation forever. The book of Revelation shows what comes after that consummation: the New Jerusalem, the holy city that descends from God. The apostle John writes (Rev 21:2): “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This is not a rebuilt earthly Temple. This is not a restored old covenant system. This is the final dwelling place of God with His people, the fulfillment of every promise.

1. The New Jerusalem replaces the temple-desolated Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed and left desolate. The New Jerusalem descends from God and permanently replaces the city that was judged. The desolation ends because the old order passes away.

2. The New Jerusalem has no Temple. John says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” The entire physical, sacrificial system is fulfilled and forever set aside.

3. The whole city is the Most Holy Place. The New Jerusalem is a perfect cube (Rev 21:16), the shape of the Holy of Holies (1Kings 6:20). What was once restricted to one room is now the entire dwelling place of God with His people.

We have followed Daniel’s prophecy from the cutting off of Messiah, through the destruction of the city and sanctuary, into the long desolation that began in A.D. 70, through the work of the prince who keeps it desolate, into the final week, and finally to the consummation where God ends the desolation forever. What replaces the desolate Jerusalem is not another earthly Temple but the New Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies expanded to a city where God and the Lamb are the Temple and nothing unclean can enter. The journey ends where the abomination that makes desolate cannot stand anymore (Revelation 21:27).