“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years” Dan. 9:24-27 – Part #4

An examination of just one piece of evidence from the New testament should solidify forever the validity and accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy. In Luke 3:1 it is explicit and undeniable that Yeshua/Jesus’ ministry began in the 15th year of Tiberius Ceasar shortly before Passover, between August 29 CE and April 30 CE, that’s history! The Passover when Yeshua/Jesus was executed was 33 CE. Now according to John 12:1 Jesus went up to Bethany six days before Passover, which had to be a Sunday because Jewish people can’t travel from Jerusalem to Bethany on a Sabbath, v.9. So, He spent Sunday, the 9th of Nisan at Mary and Martha’s home at a supper prepared for Him with Lazarus and their guests. The next day being Monday the 10th of Nisan, He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt (Zech. 9:9) while the people waved palm branches and shouted, Psalm 118:26, “Hosanna, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the LORD,” and four days later the same crowd cried, “Crucify Him!” Crowds are so fickle, aren’t they?

What was the length of time from the decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, its streets and its walls unto the coming of, “Prince Messiah?” According to Sir Robert Anderson in his book, “The Coming Prince;” the decree of Artaxerxes was given on March 14th in 445 BCE and ‘Messiah the Prince’ rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, on Sunday April 2nd 32 CE, exactly 173,880 days from the decree. Even though I appreciate Sir Robert Anderson’s work, he has a few problems; The Jewish Passover must be celebrated on the 14th of Nisan and it must be a full moon, April 6th was neither. Also Anderson believes Jesus celebrated his meal on Thursday and not Friday to solve the Gregorian calendar conflict and it was not a Passover meal (trying to get 72 hours in the tomb I suppose but in Jewish culture any part of a day or night was considered a day and a night, Alfred Edersheim, let’s save that for another blog).  According to Dr. Harold Hoehner, in his book, “The Chronological Aspects of The Life of Christ;” the decree of Artaxerxes was given on March 4th 444 BCE and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, on Monday March 30th 33 CE exactly 173,880 days from the decree. However, Hoehner’s date for this meal is on the 14th of Nisan, it is a full moon, it is on a Friday and it is a Passover celebration with a lamb and it fits perfectly into Jewish culture, customs, chronology and time sequence. Or, as another Bible scholar put it, Daniel is prophesying in years not days. So, 483 years minus 444/445 brings you to 37/38 CE, minus the 5 year calendar problem which leaves you a date of 32/33 CE for “Prince Messiah’s” declaration and death, 37/38 years before the destruction of the Temple, the exact amount of time He lived on the earth. (Just trying to make it simple for you. 🙂

Now here is our evidence to solidify our prophecy in Luke 19:41-42 as Yeshua/Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, weeping, during His ‘Triumphal Entry” He says to the people waving palm branches and shouting, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in/on (Greek ev – in, on, upon) this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” He then goes on to tell them that they are going to be destroyed and that not even one stone will be left upon another in v. 43-44, because they knew not the time of their visitation. Four days after his ‘Triumphal Entry’ he was to be cut-off (karath) to die a horrible, violent, distasteful death and not for Himself, by crucifixion, Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Then 37.5 years later the same amount of time He spent on earth, the Temple and city of Jerusalem were destroyed like a flood by Titus the prince and his people, the son of Vespasian, Rome’s new Emperor, who took office 12/21/69 when Nero was murdered, making his son a prince, fulfilling Dan. 9:26 to the letter. (What a coincidence!) This prince of the people Titus, took over the Roman army and laid a siege to Jerusalem and a horrible battle began. Historians tell us the blood of the victims is what put out the fires in the city. On Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, on a Sunday morning when the first course or order of the priestly service was taking charge, the order of Jehoiarib, I Chron. 24:7 (Very important as you calculate Christ’s birth, another blog 🙂 They set fire to the Temple and burned it to the ground on the exact same day that Nebuchadnezzar burned it to the ground in 586 BCE (Coincidence or Providence?) The first was for disobedience, it lasted 7o years what was the second for, and it’s been 2,000 years? The fire melted all the gold, which ran down into the cracks of the stones, so the soldiers had to take iron bars and rip up all the stones to get all the gold out of the cracks, thus fulfilling Christ’s words, “Not one stone would be left upon another.” Luke 19:44.

I have a few questions for my skeptics: First; If Yeshua/Jesus was not Israel’s “Prince Messiah” then who else rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt, 173,880 days after Artaxerxes’ edict to rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem while the people cried out, “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD?” Second; If Yeshua/Jesus was not Israel’s, “Prince Messiah” who was cut-off (karath) on Passover, and died a horrible death that you could date things by, then who was? Third; If Yeshua/Jesus was not Israel’s “Prince Messiah’ who fulfilled, Ps. 16 & 22; Isa. 53; Zech. 9 & 12, and 300 other prophecies, then who was? Fourth; If Yeshua/Jesus was not Israel’s “Mashiach Nagid” who came promptly in “the fulness of time,” Gal. 4:4-5; Who proved His office by many wonderful works, John 10:37-38; Who presented His credentials by His genealogical records, Matt. 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38. Then who is He and why doesn’t history record His story? We know one thing for sure from Dan. 9:24-27, that Israel’s Messiah would come and be cut-off (karath) die a horrible death before the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 CE, of that we are certain!

So, we are left with two haunting questions or documented historical facts that demand an answer and I don’t care how you slice it, dice it, dissect it, bisect it, or trisect, you need an answer to these; One: The empty tomb! (Every person with an open mind who examines the resurrection becomes a believer, every person); Two: The barren mount (No Temple since 70 AD, its been 2,000 years and they have been a nation for 64 years, and have had Jerusalem for 45 years and every year it gets harder and harder). The Scriptures seem clear that “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” Jer. 30:7, also known as the “Tribulation,” Rev. 7:14, will begin with the signing of a covenant to permit the renewal of Jewish sacrifice on the Temple Mount, Dan. 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (of years); and in the midst of the week (of years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate;” It will be a time of unparallelled trouble and judgement and is described in Rev. 6-19 and will involve the whole earth, Rev. 3:10. In the middle of the tribulation the Beast will break his covenant with the Jewish people and show himself in their Temple demanding that he be worshiped as God, Matt. 24:15; II Thess. 2:4; showing that Temple worship has been re-established at that time and I don’t think it will be established until that time, the ‘Time of Jacob’s Trouble’ that is.

You need to read, “The Annals of the World” by James Ussher, ‘Appendix G:’ ‘The Seder Olam Rabbah – Why Jewish Dating Is Different.’ It is 2012 on our calendar about to be 2013 plus 4004 BCE which equals 6016 since creation. Their calendar says 5773, a difference of 243 years, why? Rabbi Yose ben Halafta set up their calendar and was a student of Rabbi Akiva who believed Simon bar Kokhba was the Messiah in 135 CE. You can also read the Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 14, 1972 ed, pg. 1092 quote, “The most significant confusion in Yose’s calculation is the compression of the Persian period, from the rebuilding of the Temple by Zerubbabel in 516 BCE to the conquest of Persia by Alexander, to no more than 34 years. Like other rabbinic scholars, he believed that Zerubbabel, (sixth century BCE) Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, (all fifth century BCE) and Simeon the Just (third century) were all contemporaries.” Rabbi Simon Schwab said, “Nothing but Divine Command could have prompted those ‘saintly men of truth’ to leave out completely from our annals a period of 165 years…” NO! The reason for this shortening by Rabbi Akiva was to point to Simon bar Kokhba in 135 CE as the Messiah and not to Yeshua/Jesus in 33 CE and to deliberately dislodge the Dan. 9:24-27 prophecy. Please, read James Ussher’s, ‘Appendix G:’ and the article in the Encyclopedia Judaica for yourself and draw your own conclusion, I have! Question: If, Dan. 9:24-27 wasn’t so predictive, precise, exact, and accurate, then why would the nation of Israel go to all that trouble to falsify historical records and documents to bury 165 years of history. So that one of their own prophecies could be dislodged or hidden like a dangling participle with no place to fit because it points to only one person, to only one time, to only one place and they will ultimately have to deal with Him, face to face. So, they claim, “Their saintly men of truth by ‘Divine Command’ left out of their annals of history 165 years of historical documents on purpose and kept it a secret,” and they admit that openly in their encyclopedia, amazing! Yet the fact remains that this is a dishonest attempt to conceal the truth with regards to the Dan. 9:24-27 prophecy.

If Yeshua/Jesus fits every prophecy to the literal day and is Israel’s, “Prince Messiah” who was cut-off (karath) and not for Himself, what are we going to do about it? Daniel read this prophecy in Jer. 25 near the end of the Babylonian captivity, “And set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes…” You need to find a quiet place to read, Dan. 9:3-19 on your knees, in a prayerful attitude, for your nation, your church, and yourself, your family before it’s too late! Prophetic study should lead us to a deeper spiritual life, and to a state of holiness for God, but does it? Has it? Will it? Can It?

Sir Robert Anderson said this in his book, “Much there is in Holy Writ which unbelief may value or revere, while utterly refusing to accept it as Divine; but prophecy admits of no half-faith. The prediction of the seventy weeks was either a gross and impious imposture or else it was in the fullest and strictest sense, ‘God-Breathed.‘ To believe the facts and figures here detailed, amount to nothing more than happy coincidences, involves a greater exercise of faith than that of the Christian who accepts the book of Daniel as Divine. There is a point beyond which unbelief is impossible, and the mind in refusing truth must needs take refuge in misbelief which is sheer credulity.” You can’t deny the historical and Biblical facts that have been laid out before you. You can’t just brush them off or paint over them, you have to accept them as Anderson said as, ‘God-Breathed’ and ‘Divine Inspiration’ or else a gross, impious, imposture, or a lie from the very pit of Hell and the devil himself!

Listen, you must choose, you must decide and your decision must not be an idle intellectual exercise and no decision is in fact a decision! This prophecy demands your attention and like the empty tomb, every man or woman who has investigated it with an open mind and a flash-light has come to believe Yeshua/Jesus is “Mashiach Nagid” who arose from the grave on the third day and ascended into heaven. There are 332 other precise, predictive prophecies fulfilled in Yeshua/Jesus, this is only one, but its mathematical accuracy is irrefutable, incontrovertible, indisputable and awaits your decision and remember, “No decision is a decision!”  173,880 days from the going forth of the command to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah on March 4, 444 BCE.  Go ahead, take your best shot at it, I did and I’m convinced! “…Between The Lines…”

“Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years”  Dan. 9:24-27 – Part #4  10/9/12