Daniel 9:26–27 and the Astonishing Mystery of the 3.5 Years of Tribulation - Booty and Treasures fer All!

3.5 Years of Tribulation

Danial 9 and 3.5 years of tribulation introduces His earthly ministry and the fulfillment of the first 3.5 years of this 7-year covenant. 

“After the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off and will have nothing, and the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed by the people of the coming prince; and its end will come with a flood, even to the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.

“And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who causes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who causes desolation.”

The prophecy first says the Messiah will be “cut off and have nothing.” It then explains that the people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The ruler is mentioned, but he is not the one acting—the destruction is carried out by his people.

This sets the stage for Daniel 9:27, which says, “He will confirm a covenant with the many for one week.” The question is: who is the “he”? The Hebrew grammar points us back to the nearest singular subject of prominence, which is the Messiah. The pronoun does not naturally refer to “the people,” since they are plural, nor to the “ruler,” who is not the actor in the previous clause. The people of the ruler destroy, not the ruler himself. Thus, from a grammatical standpoint, the most natural and consistent reading is that the “he” is the Messiah.

For 3½ years, Jesus confirmed the New Covenant of grace through His ministry, death, and resurrection, and since then, Gentile believers have entered into its promises. What remains is the other half of the week — 3½ years reserved for the restoration of Israel in the New Covenant. Revelation shows this period comes during the Tribulation, when God’s wrath is poured out on the unbelieving world (Revelation 6:16–17; 11:2–3; 12:6,14; 13:5).

• After the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off. He will have nothing. ✔️
• The city and the sanctuary will be destroyed by the people of the coming prince. ✔️
• Its end will come with a flood, even to the end, there will be war; desolations are decreed.✔️
  Daniel 9:26
• He [Messiah] will confirm a covenant with the many for one week. ✔️
  God promised through Jeremiah that a New Covenant would come, one written on the hearts of His people so that He would be their God and they would be His people (Jeremiah 31:31–33).Isaiah revealed that the Servant Himself would be given as a covenant and a light for the nations (Isaiah 42:6), making many righteous by bearing their sins in His own body (Isaiah 53:11–12).Jesus confirmed this when He declared that His blood is the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28), and again when He said the cup is the New Covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20).The writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus is the mediator of this better covenant, established on better promises (Hebrews 8:6), and that by calling it new, He has made the first one obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
• In the middle of the week (3.5 years), He will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. ✔️
  By His offering we have been sanctified once for all through the body of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:10). Having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, He sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). By that single offering He perfected forever those who are being made holy (Hebrews 10:14).Where forgiveness of sins has been granted, there is no longer any need for offerings (Hebrews 10:18). At the end of the ages He appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26). Unlike priests who offered sacrifices daily, He did this once for all when He offered up Himself (Hebrews 7:27). When His work was complete, He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
• On the wing of abominations will come the one who causes desolation — even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who causes desolation. Literal translation of the Hebrew. “And upon the wing (or extremity) of detestable things (abominations) [comes] one making desolate.” Daniel 9:27 ✔️
  God surely viewed the mockery, beatings, and blasphemy hurled against His Son by the priests and Roman soldiers as the height of detestable things.

Jesus Before the High Priest and Sanhedrin Mockery of Jesus Begins

They spat in Jesus’ face, blindfolded Him, and struck Him with their fists; others slapped Him and mocked, saying, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who is the one who hit You?” And the men holding Him in custody continued beating Him, hurling many other blasphemous insults against Him (Matthew 26:67–68; Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63–65).

Jesus Before Pilate

They led Jesus into the Praetorium, where Pilate questioned Him. Then Pilate had Him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, placed it on His head, clothed Him in a purple robe, and kept coming to Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” while striking Him in the face again and again (John 18:28–29; John 19:1–3). The Praetorium at the Antonia Fortress was a military stronghold built onto the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, its courtyard serving as the place where Pilate’s soldiers scourged and mocked Jesus—literally on the “wing” of the sanctuary.

Jesus Before His Crucifixion

The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him, dressed Him in a scarlet robe, wove a crown of thorns and pressed it on His head, put a reed in His hand, and knelt before Him in mockery, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, struck Him on the head with the reed, and after ridiculing Him, they removed the robe, put His own clothes back on Him, and led Him away to be crucified (Matthew 27:27–31; Mark 15:16–20).

If we set aside the rigid idea that the Antichrist must stand in a rebuilt Jewish temple before Christ can return—a view that requires Israel to control the Temple Mount—we can see more clearly why Jesus commanded, “Watch, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). The true Temple has already come and was already struck. Jesus Himself declared, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”—speaking not of stone and mortar but of His own body (John 2:19–21). To insist on the necessity of another temple is not only unnecessary but runs against Jesus’ own words, for He has fulfilled the Temple, and He could return at any moment.

In Revelation, the only temple John describes is the one in heaven, which will be fully manifested on earth when Christ returns to reign. John is commanded to measure its courts, though not the court of the Gentiles (Revelation 11:1–2). How could he measure an earthly temple? Confined on the island of Patmos in prison, John was caught up in the Spirit and allowed to see into heaven. Much of what he sees centers on the heavenly throne of God. Further, at the time John writes his revelation, it is generally assumed that the Temple and Jerusalem had been destroyed.

But What About the Remaining 3.5 Years of Tribulation?

If we accept that Jesus fulfilled half of the “week” of seven years, then we should expect to find mention of the remaining half in prophecy—and we do.

42 Months (3.5 Years of Tribulation)

• “The nations will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” (Revelation 11:2)
• “The beast was given authority to act for forty-two months.” (Revelation 13:5)
• Significance: This shows a fixed period when the enemies of God are allowed to dominate outwardly — trampling God’s people (the Jews) and exercising blasphemous power — but only for a limited, divinely set time.

1,260 Days (3.5 Years of Tribulation)

• “I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:3)
• “The woman (Jews in Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished for 1,260 days.” (Revelation 12:6)
• Significance: Here, the same span is shown from heaven’s view — God’s people are protected, nourished, and empowered to bear witness during the very same time evil seems to reign.

Time, Times, and Half a Time (3½ years)

• “The woman (Jews in Israel) was given the two wings of the great eagle … to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.” (Revelation 12:14; echoing Daniel 7:25; 12:7)
• Significance: This phrase emphasizes God’s sovereign control. Even under pressure, persecution cannot last forever. God sets the boundary — “a time, times, and half a time.”

Daniel also speaks of this period. He refers to “time, times, and half a time” when the holy people are broken but not destroyed (Daniel 7:25; 12:7).

Daniel 12:11–12 adds something unexpected: from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days, and blessed are those who wait and reach 1,335 days. This extra span—forty-five days—has puzzled many. But if we understand the end of sacrifice and “abomination” as the mocking, scourging, and crucifixion of Jesus, the true Temple, then Daniel’s words come into sharp focus.

From the day of the crucifixion to the day of the ascension is about forty-three days, which Daniel may have rounded up to forty-five: common in prophetic writings.

The blessing that follows is witnessing Jesus going into the clouds in a way that foreshadows His return, and the anticipation of His Spirit being poured out on believers, sealing the New Covenant. In this way, Daniel’s final addition becomes perhaps the strongest evidence that the mockery of God’s Son was the abomination of desolation, Jesus end of sacrifice and offering is His death and resurrection, and that His earthly ministry is the fulfillment of the first 3.5 years of this 7-year covenant.