God’s Intricate Timetable
continued from previous page
Why should we understand these “weeks” as years and not
days? First of all, it would be irrational to think the
entire city, including the temple and perimeter wall
could be built in 490 days! This was simply a physical
impossibility at the time. Second, history records the
restoration of the city under the leadership of Ezra and
Nehemiah during the 5th century B.C. If we understand
these “weeks” as having days that equal a year, the
first part of the prophecy, speaking of the restoration
of the city, is fulfilled on schedule. When this is
combined with the symbolic nature of prophetic
literature, it is not unreasonable for us to assume that
these “days” are, in fact, years.
The “seventy weeks” that Daniel refers to are broken up
into three different phases.
1. Seven weeks or 49 years will elapse from the decree
to rebuild the Holy City until the wall of Jerusalem
would actually be restored. This was accomplished under
the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.
2. Following this first phase, 62 more weeks—434
years—will pass until the appearance and anointing of
“Messiah the Prince!”
3. During the last phase of this prophecy, which Daniel
indicates is one week, or seven years in duration, the
Messiah will be “cut off, but not for himself.”
Starting When?
We can see from this that it should be possible to
calculate the time when the Old Testament predicted the
Messiah would appear and accomplish His work. The only
historical fact needed is the date of the “commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem.”
There are four decrees that could be interpreted as the
“terminus a quo,” or starting date for this prophecy.
They are:
1. Cyrus’ decree in Ezra 1:1-4 dated 539 B.C..
2. Darius’ decree in Ezra 5:3-7 dated 519 B.C..
3. Artaxerxes’ decree in Ezra 7:11-16 dated 458 B.C..
4. Artaxerxes’ decree in Nehemiah 2:1-8 dated 445 B.C..
One of these four dates must serve as the beginning
date of the prophecy in Daniel.
Theologians have historically accepted three different
views of this prophecy, each employing a different date
as the proper “terminus a quo.”
1. Liberal scholars, who do not believe in the complete
trustworthiness of Scripture and doubt the supernatural
nature of
|
|
|
|
biblical prophecy,
interpret this passage as speaking of Antiochus Epiphanes, a political ruler
symbolically referred to in other prophecies by Daniel.
Antiochus Epiphanes—a blaspheming, decadent, Greek
ruler—hardly fulfills the messianic promises found in
this passage. Even if we accept him as the fulfillment
of this prophecy, the early date of 539 B.C., to which
the liberal scholars hold, makes the prophecy accurate
only within a few decades of Epiphanes’ career.
2. The second theory, popular among Bible believing
theologians, is held by many in the Church today. It is
based on the dispensational theory and sees a huge gap
between the 69th and the 70th week. The last week of
Daniel’s “seventy weeks” is translated as still future
and is perceived as “the great tribulation.”
Because this view usually accepts the date of 445 B.C.
as the beginning of the prophecy of the seventy weeks,
it is forced to place Christ’s death at 33 A.D. However,
this flies in the face of the historical evidence, which
indicates that Christ died in 30 A.D..
It also seems to be a very artificial and arbitrary
understanding of the text to place 1,970 years or more
between the 69th and 70th week. It is hard to understand
how such an interpretation could be the intended meaning
of this prophecy.
3. The traditional view accepts the first decree by
Artaxerxes in 458 B.C. as the correct starting point for
this prophecy. The reason for this is that the decrees
by Cyrus and Darius deal only with rebuilding the
temple, but Artaxerxes’ decree concerns the
reconstruction of the city. When one calculates the
prophecy from this time, we find that the 69 weeks end
in 26 A.D. with the Messiah being “cut off” in 30 a.d.
The traditional view which places the appearing of the
Messiah at 26 A.D. would seem to be the most rational
and clear understanding of this Old Testament passage.
It is very noteworthy, therefore, that it places the
appearing of the promised Savior and King of the Jews at
the same time as the baptism of Jesus. How do I know
this? Luke makes it very clear that Jesus was baptized
by John and publicly proclaimed to be the promised
Messiah on the “fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar” (Luke 3:1). Tiberius Caesar began his rule in 11
A.D. and therefore the fifteenth year of his reign would
be 26 A.D.
This, therefore, clearly dates the baptism of Christ
and His anointing by the Holy Spirit at the same time as
the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. It also places
Christ’s death on the Cross in 30 A.D., the very time
when Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would be “cut
off, but not for himself.” |
Prophecy
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall
be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And 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 9:24-26 (KJV)
|
Fulfillment
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
—Galatians 4:4 (KJV) |
The
Promised Messiah
This shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus of
Nazareth was, in fact, the promised Messiah of the Jews
and the Redeemer of His people. Through His death on the
Cross and His resurrection from the grave, He paid for
transgression, ended the power of sin, made
reconciliation for iniquity, brought in everlasting
righteousness, fulfilled the prophecies of the Old
Testament, and was the anointed Holy One.
Every person who reads and believes the Old Testament
should recognize Jesus as the true Messiah. Clearly, He
fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel exactly as God
prophesied hundreds of years before. Christianity is a
faith built upon the clear evidence that God is working
in history through Jesus Christ. Those who reject Christ
do so in the face of compelling facts and demonstrations
of God’s power.
 Adapted from Messiah:
Prophecies Fulfilled, by Dr. D. James Kennedy. To
learn more about how Jesus Christ precisely fulfilled Old
Testament Messianic prophecies,
order online today. |
|
|
<<Back
1
2
3
4 5
6
7
8
Next >> |
|