The Greatest
Fulfilled Prophecy
in the Bible
Ask
yourself this question: what if in the old testament
there was a prophecy that you could go and look at,
and the prophecy was given 538 years before Christ, but the prophecy
declared the actual date that Christ would enter
Jerusalem and be crucified? Would not such a
prophecy demonstrate the inspiration of the Bible
and the truth of Christianity? ...because only God
can "declare the end from the beginning" and
forecast to the very day "things that are not yet
done" (Isaiah 46:10).
The prophecy
is Daniel 9:24-26
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“ Seventy 'sevens' are decreed
for your people and your holy
city,
to finish the transgression,
to put an end to sin,
to atone for wickedness,
to bring in everlasting
righteousness,
to seal up vision and
prophecy,
and to anoint the Most Holy.
Know and understand this:
From the time the word goes
out to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah the Prince,
there will be seven 'sevens,'
and sixty-two
'sevens.'
The street shall be built again,
and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
And after the sixty-two sevens
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
Himself."
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In brief;
*The decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem
was in 444 BC, and is
documented in the old testament (Nehemiah 2:1-6) to
be in April.
*The seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens in years
add up to 483 years.
*Using a 360 day year (12 30-day months) the end of
the 483 years
falls
on Palm Sunday, just before the Lord's crucifixion.
Many Jews have believed on
Jesus because of Daniels prophecy, and it remains a
"stone of stumbling" for many Jews who still wrestle
with it. This is because the prophecy not only
states the time of Messiah's arrival to Jerusalem,
but also says "Messiah shall be cut off, but not
for Himself", leaving little debate of who it
could be speaking other than Jesus Christ.
When was the "decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem" issued?
Artaxerxes, a Persian king,
ascended to the throne in 464 B.C. Therefore, his
twentieth year would be 444 B.C.
Nehemiah, the Jewish
cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, was deeply concerned
with the reports about the ruined condition of
Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:1-4) and thus petitioned the
king: "Send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers'
tombs, that I may rebuild it. So it pleased the king
to send me" (Nehemiah 2:5,6). The exact date of this
decree to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem is given:
"in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king" (Nehemiah 2:1).
The Jewish calendar month
was Nisan, and since no day is given, it is
reasonable to assume that the date would be
understood as the first, the Jewish New Year's Day.
Hence, in the Julian calendar, the corresponding
date would be March 5, 444 B.C.
This was the day on which
the decree was issued to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem.
When did the "Messiah
the Prince" appear?
Jesus had previously, on
numerous occasions, forbidden his followers to make
him known as "the Messiah". He would frequently do
miracles and tell the disciples not to tell anyone
who had done the miracles because his "hour has not
yet come" (John 2:4, 7:6).
However, on March 30, 33
A.D., when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, he
rebuked the Pharisees' protest and encouraged the
whole multitude of his disciples as they shouted,
"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the
Lord". And Jesus said, "If these become silent, the
stones will cry out" (Luke 19:38-40).
This was the day on which Jesus was publicly
declared the Messiah.
How are the dates
calculated in Daniel?
Since Daniel states 69
weeks of seven years each, and each year has 360
days, the equation is as follows: 69 x 7 x 360 =
173,880 days.
In nothing more than a
simple mathematical demonstration, the number of
days in the period from March 5, 444 B.C. (the
twentieth year of Artaxerxes) to March 30, 33 A.D.
(the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey) will
be determined at this point. 444 B.C. to 33 A.D. is
476 years (1 B.C. to 1 A.D. is only one year). 476 x
365.2421879 (corrected for leap years) = 173,855
days. March 5 to March 30 = 25 days. Total = 173,880
days.
Why does Daniel use
"years" of 360 days each?
There is conclusive
evidence to show that the prophetic year of the
Bible is composed of 360 days, or twelve months of
30 days.
Daniel 9:27 mentions a
period of Jewish persecution at the hands of the
coming prince who will make a covenant with that
people. Since this persecution begins in the "midst"
of the seventieth week of years and continues to the
"end" of the week of years, the period is obviously
three and one-half years.
Revelation 13:4-7 speaks of the same great political
ruler and his persecution of the Jewish "saints"
lasting "forty two months". And this period is
further defined in Revelation 12:6 as "a thousand
two hundred and three score days", or 1,260 days. If
1,260 days is divided by 42 months or 3-1/2 years,
the result is a 30-day month and a 360-day year.
Therefore, it is clear that
the length of the year in prophecy is fixed by the
Bible itself as exactly 360 days.
Why does Daniel use the
phrase "weeks of years"?
In Daniel's writings in
Chapter 9 he used the Hebrew word shabua, which
means literally a "seven", but is usually translated
into English as "week of years". To the English ear
a week always means a seven of days, but to the Jews
shabua alone always meant a seven of years. Thus
Daniel was literally referring to weeks of years
here.
Daniel used the Hebrew word
shabua alone when referring to the well-known "week"
of years, a customary usage which every Jew would
understand; but in Chapter 10, when he speaks of the
"three weeks" of fasting, he specifies them as
"weeks of days" in order to distinguish them from
the "weeks" of years in Chapter 9.
What is the
significance of this prophecy?
The exact fulfillment of
this prophecy is sufficient to demonstrate the
accuracy of Daniel and also by implication the
inspiration of the Bible and the truth of
Christianity, because only God can "declare the end
from the beginning" and forecast to the very day
"things that are not yet done" (Isaiah 46:10).
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