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CONTENTS
FOREWORD
References in chevron brackets, eg .<1177>, are paragraph
numbers Usshers' "The Annals of the World" revised and updated by Larry and
Marion Pierce. ISBN:089051-360-0, Master Books,
www.masterbooks.net
Due to discrepancies in secular dating, dates which are calculated from those given by historians might be a year or so out either way. Despite this drawback the fulfillment of the predictions, as outlined, below are astounding and cannot be discounted.
ITS CREDIBILITY
The book of Daniel was written well over 450 years before the Lord Jesus
was born. This book was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars about 300
years before Christianity [BC 277 <2775>] and included
in the Septuagint version of the Jewish scriptures, still long before
Christianity began. Also the Jewish nation does not accept that the Lord
Jesus is the Messiah. So they would not tolerate any attempt by Christians
to corrupt their sacred scriptures and definitely not in a way that would
favour the Christian claim that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. In fact such
is their veneration of the Hebrew scriptures that they make every effort
to maintain its integrity, word by word, letter by letter. So there is no
way that Christians could have been involved in this work. Christians cannot
be accused of collusion or of altering it to suit their claim that the Lord
Jesus is the Messiah..
Daniel 9:24 Seventy periods of seven* are determined on your people and on your 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. 25a Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to a Messiah Prince will be seven periods of seven, and sixty two periods of seven. [7+62 = 69 periods of seven. Editor]25b The street will be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. 26 then after sixty two periods of seven Messiah will be cut-off @, but not for himself: and the people of a prince who will arrive will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end of it will be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he will confirm the covenant with many for one period of seven: and in the middle of the period of seven he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and he will make it desolate for the overspreading of abominations, even until the consummation, and that determined will be poured on the desolate.
@[Hebrew KARATH cut-off, killed, executed. e.g. Exodus 12:15,19, 30:33, 38, 31:14]
Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, in which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
The seventy years desolation weighing heavily on Daniel's mind the angel Gabriel tells him about the sixty nine seven year periods culminating in the Messiah's appearance on the scene.
Some time before Darius came to the throne, a Persian Emperor named Cyrus had authorised the rebuilding of the temple, but the city of Jerusalem was still derelict. The restoration of the city was vital to the coming of the Messiah. Gabriel assures Daniel that the city's infrastructure will be restored and also tells about the Messiah's coming.
The phrase "periods of seven" is from the Hebrew word SHABUA which is usually translated "weeks" but literally means 'sevens'.
The Law of Moses (The Torah) divided time into periods of seven: seven days in a week the last day being a Sabbath [Deuteronomy 5:12-15], periods of seven years ending in a Sabbatical year [Leviticus 24:1-7]. Every 7th Sabbatical was a Jubilee year when prisoners were released and property returned to its original owners [Leviticus 24:8-55]. So Jubilees were at 49 year intervals. Sabbath means rest. Every Sabbath and Sabbatical was to be a time of rest. In the Sabbatical year, agricultural land was to rest. It was not to be plowed or sown. These intervals of 7 years and 49 years have great significance in the Jewish religious calendar.
HEBREW YEARS
Our yearly cycle of seasons is: Spring Summer Autumn winter. The Jewish year
straddles our year. Its yearly cycle is: Autumn Winter Spring Summer. The
dates given in the revised Annals of the World denote these by the letters:
a, b, c, d. In this article, for example, AD26/27 will represent
the Jewish year that started in autumn AD 26 and ended in
summer AD 27.
SEVENTY PERIODS OF SEVEN
The statement "Seventy periods of
seven" implies that the timing of the predicted events were
spaced out at Sabbatical intervals. The Messiah would come after 7+62 periods
of seven that is after 69x7=483 years [Daniel 24:25a]. The
Messiah would be introduced to the world in the 483rd. year after the decree
to rebuild Jerusalem. There were three decrees: one by Cyrus to rebuild the
temple, a later decree by Darius upholding Cyrus' decree [Ezra 1:1,
6:3,12] and a later one to Ezra to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
Daniels prophesy has to do with the one to re-build the city.
THE DECREE TO REBUILD JERUSALEM
The seventy periods of seven years starts from the year the decree to rebuild
the city of Jerusalem was given [Daniel 9:25a]. Artaxerxes
gave a decree to Ezra to take willing Hebrews to repopulate Jerusalem, to
progress with the worship and put God's laws into effect [Ezra
7:11-14]. This would require rebuilding dwellings and
infrastructure. Carrying that document, Ezra and a large party of exiles
returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign
Ezra 7:6 ... Ezra went up from Babylon ... 7 and some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims went up, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem ...11 ... this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra ...
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest ... 13 I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and of the priests and Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with you. 14 Forasmuch as you are sent by the king, and by his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem ... 23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven ... 25 And you, Ezra, ... set magistrates and judges ... 26 And whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
Artaxerxes succeeded his father, Xerxes (Ahasuerus) in the year BC465/464 *. So his seventh year would be BC 458/457 . The first year 'from' BC 458/457 is BC457/456. So the 483rd. year would be the year AD26/27. [457+26=483, 456+27=483]
*(Grollenberg :Atlas of the Bible p.100, Hamond: Atlas of Bible Lands, Elliott v.III p.459 and <1177>. BC465/464 was a Jubilee year <1213>)
The claim that seventy periods of seven years would start from the year of the decree given to Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 2:1 ... in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king ... 4... the king said to me, ... what do you request? ... 5... that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, so that I may build it ... 7 Also I said to the king, .. let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river, that they might convey me over until I come into Judah 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he might give timber to me to make beams for the palace house gates, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I willl stay in ... the king gave them to me ...
The letters given by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah are not called a decree. So they cannot be the decree refered to in Daniel 9:25. The word decree does not occur in Nehemiah.
The decree given to Ezra by Artaxerxes preceded the letters given to Nehemiah by several years. Nehemiah had received news that the workforce was in difficulty. The temple was by then operational, worship was in progress,* the work force had homes @ but the palace adjacent to the Temple, the city walls and infrastructure were still derelict. So Nehemiah obtained letters from Artaxerxes authorising him to obtain materials and to progress and complete the restoration of the city infrastructure and its walls. It is unlikely that he would be authorised to continue an ongoing work if that work was not already sanctioned by a decree. So the dating of the seventy periods of seven years would start from the year of the decree given to Ezra.
[* Ezra 6:15-22, 7:16,17 @ Nehemiah 2:11, 3,10,16,20,21,23,25,28,29]
THE SABBATICAL JUBILEE
The total period of seventy times seven years (490 years)
would have 70 Sabbaticals of which 10 would be Jubilees. The year
AD26/27 was a Jubilee <6281> and
the year when the Lord Jesus turned 30 years of age ["beginning to
be about thirty years" Luke 3:23]. It is estimated that he was born
in the year BC5/4.during the reign of 'Herod the Great'
<6059> (Matthew 2:1).
THE MESSIAH INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD
AD26/27 was also the year when John the Immerser started
preaching. Luke records that this was in the 15th year of Tiberius' reign
(Luke 3:1-2). Tiberius began his reign in AD 12.
<6197, 6283>. AD 12 was Tiberius' first
year of reign, so AD 26 would be his 15th. year. This was
the year when the Lord Jesus was immersed in the river Jordon, probably in
the Autumn of AD26.* That would mean the Messiah was
introduced to the world by John the Immerser in a Jubilee year, a
year when all bonded servants were to be released, debtors' land to be returned
to their original owners and the land was to rest !
[Leviticus 24:8-55]
* [Here I differ from Ussher who has 3.1/2 years between the Lord's immersion in Jordon and the beginning of his preaching in Galilee].
So that is why God decreed the laws of the Sabbaticals and of the Jubilees ! The Old Covenant is seen to make sense when fulfilled in the New Covenant.
THIS WAS IT !
THE LORD'S JUBILEE - WHEN THE MESSIAH WAS INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD
!
Note what the Lord Jesus did in that Sabbatical Jubilee year, the year when
all bonded servants were to be released, debtors' land to be returned to
their original owners and the land was to rest.
Having been immersed in Jordon, the Lord Jesus, on the Sabbath, he returned to his home town synagogue and to the amazement of the congregation chose to read these prophetic words written by Isaiah some 700 years before:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to announce the gospel (good news) to the destitute; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to liberate those who are shattered, 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. [Isaiah 61:1-2a]
Returning the scroll to the attendant he said:"'this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing - today !" [Luke 4:21]
Luke 4:22 .. all took notice of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
This was "the acceptable year of the Lord." This was the year for jubilation!
AN ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE FULFILLMENT OF AN ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE PREDICTION
Over 483 years between the prediction and its fulfillment. But that is not all. Carry on reading !
THE MESSIAH 'CUT-OFF' - THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST PERIOD OF SEVEN YEARS
Half of seven is three and a half. Autumn AD 26/27 plus three and a half years is Spring AD30. This is when, as predicted, the Messiah was "cut-off" and again as predicted, it was "not for himself" [Daniel 9:26]. John declared that the Lord Jesus is "the lamb of God who takes away the world's sins" [John 1:29,36]. The Lord Jesus was slaughtered like a sacrificial lamb and it was for your sins and mine.
Daniel 9:24 ... to make reconciliation for iniquity
John was the son of a priest having attained the age of 30 he was eligible to carry out priestly duties. The priests immersed the passover lambs in water to prepare them for sacrifice and handed them back to the head of each family for him to sacrifice them. In a figure John fulfilled that priestly role by immersing the Lord Jesus in water preparing him for sacrifice.
BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER COMMEMORATE THIS
HISTORICAL EVENT
Three and a half years later, in the night he was betrayed the Lord Jesus
handed his companions a cup of grapejuice asking them to drink from
it saying "...this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many
for sins to be forgiven - do this in remembrance of me whenever you drink
it." [Matthew 26:28, 1.Corinthians 11:25] Ever since them
his followers have gathered together each week on the day of the resurrection
to remember his death in this way. [Acts 2:42, 20:7*]. The
death burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are central to faith in Christ.
[1.Corinthians 15:1-4] In obedience to the Lord Jesus repentant
believers have themselves been immersed in water for their sin to be forgiven,
burying their old life to live a new life for Christ. In this immersion they
are seen to be buried and risen along with him. [Matthew 28:18-20,
Mark 16:15-16, Acts 2:36-39,Romans 6:1-8 and Colossians 2:12]
* This simple memorial is called 'the Lord's supper' and the breaking of the loaf [ 1.Corinthians 10:16-17,20]
Up until the Lord Jesus was sacrificed the previous sacrifices were symbolic of what would happen to him [Hebrews 9:8-14, 28, 10:1-12]. That is why sacrifices were offered ! The Old Covenant makes sense when seen fulfilled in the New Covenant.
His sacrificial death put an end to the reason for the offering of sacrifices.
Daniel 9:27 in the middle of the period of seven he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
AN ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE FULFILLMENT OF AN ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE PREDICTION
CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEVENTY "SEVENS" |
||||
| Start date: BC 458/457 | Ezra leaves Babylon in Artaxerxes 7th. year of reign. | Sabbatical BC 458/457 <cp1213> | The first year 'from' BC 458/457 is BC 457/456 | BC 457 (autumn) |
| The Lord's birth | Year BC 5 (autumn) | Luke 3:23 "beginning to be about thirty years" | BC 5 (autumn) | |
| Baptism | 69th."seven" when the Lord Jesus began to be 30 years old. | 30th. Jubilee - AD 26/27 <6281> | 69x7=483, 457+26=483 | AD 26 (autumn) |
| Crucifixion | 69.1/2th. "seven" | Year AD 29/30 | Autumn AD 26 plus 3.1/2 years | AD 30 (spring) |
Go to the 'Study in Daniel' for more on the " 70 'weeks' prophecy" in Daniel 9:24-27. |
||||
Over 483 years between the prediction and its fulfillment. But that is still not all. Carry on reading !
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND DEVASTATION OF JERUSALEM
Daniel 9:26b ... and the people of a prince who will arrive will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end of it will be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 ... and he will make it desolate for the overspreading of abominations, even until the consummation, and that determined will be poured on the desolate.
In the Spring of AD30, at the time of the Passover, when the Lord Jesus was on trial, the people who demanded his execution said, "His blood be on us, and on our children" [Matthew 27:26]. Little did they appreciate how literally, even within a few years, that would happen. By AD 70 the country was in turmoil, Jerusalem was devastated and the Temple destroyed by Titus' army. It is remarkable how literally this was fulfilled. 1) Titus was the prince of the Roman empire in that he would be the next Emperor. 2) Titus did not destroy the temple. His troops destroyed the temple against his wishes. Titus commanded his troops to spare the Temple but they went on a rampage, destroyed the temple and devastated the city. 3) Numerous Jews were slaughtered. The horrific gruesome details are recorded by Flavious Josephus.
The Lord Jesus predicted these things as he sat on the mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:35... on you might come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say to you, All these things shall come on this generation. [Compare with the article WHEN WOULD THE KINGDOM OF GOD COME?]
AN ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE FULFILLMENTS OF ASTOUNDINGLY ACCURATE PREDICTIONS
Over 483 years between the predictions and their fulfillment.
THE PREDICTION
More than 450 years before the Lord Jesus was born Daniel 4:24-27
predicted the exact year that the Messsiah would begin his work.
ITS CREDIBILITY
It is in the Greek Septuagint Version of the Jews' scriptures which was
translated more than 300 years before Chrisitanity.
Daniel 9:24 Seventy periods of seven* are determined ... to make reconciliation for iniquity ... 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince will be seven periods of seven, and sixty two periods of seven ... 26 then after sixty two periods of seven the Messiah will be cut-off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary ... 27 ... in the middle of the period of seven he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease ...
SEVENS *
"periods of seven" is
from SHABUA ( usually translated "weeks"). A
week has seven days and the last day is a Sabbath. Periods of seven years
end in a Sabbatical year. Every 7th Sabbatical was a Jubilee year
HEBREW YEARS
The Jewish year straddles our year. Its cycle is: Autumn - Winter - Spring
-Summer.
In this article, for example, AD26/27 is the Jewish year starting
in autumn AD 26 and ended in summer AD 27.
SEVENTY PERIODS OF SEVEN
The Messiah came 7+62 periods of seven years [483
years] after the decree to rebuild the city.
THE DECREE TO REBUILD
JERUSALEM
The 483 years starts from Artaxerxes decree to Ezra
to take willing Hebrews to repopulate Jerusalem. This would require
rebuilding dwellings and infrastructure. Ezra returned Jerusalem with that
decree in Artaxerxes' seventh year of reign.
Artaxerxes seventh year was BC 458/457 . The first
year 'from' BC 458/457 is
BC457/456. So the 483rd. year
would be the year AD26/27. [457+26=483,
456+27=483]
THE SABBATICAL JUBILEE
AD26/27 was a Jubilee and the year when the Lord Jesus
turned 30 years old ["beginning to be about thirty years" Luke
3:23].
THE MESSIAH INTRODUCED TO THE
WORLD
In that Jubilee year: John started preaching and immersed
Lord Jesus in Jordon.
THE LORD'S JUBILEE -
"the acceptable year of the Lord"
- The year for jubilation!
The Lord Jesus read
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to announce the gospel to the destitute; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to liberate those who are shattered, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.[Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2]
Then he said:"this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing - today !" [Luke 4:21]
THE MESSIAH 'CUT-OFF' - THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST
PERIOD OF SEVEN YEARS
Autumn AD 26/27 plus three and a half years is Spring
AD30. This is when the Messiah was
"cut-off ... to make reconciliation for
iniquity" [Daniel 9:24,26,27]
It was "not for himself" [Daniel
9:26]. John declared that the Lord Jesus is
"the lamb of God who takes away the world's
sins" [John 1:29,36].
BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER COMMEMORATE THIS
HISTORICAL EVENT
The Lord Jesus said "...this is my blood of the new testament, which
is shed for many for sins to be forgiven - do this in remembrance of me whenever
you drink it."
Immersion typifies the Lord's buriel and ressurection. [Romans 6:1-8
Colossians 2:12]
His sacrificial death put an end to the reason for the offering of sacrifices. [Hebrews 9:8-14, 28, 10:1-12]
Daniel 9:27 in the middle of the period of seven he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
A CHART - CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEVENTY "SEVENS" based on dates provided by Ussher and others.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND DEVASTATION OF JERUSALEM
Daniel 9:26b ... and the people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary ...
Titus did not destroy the temple. His troops destroyed the temple against his wishes and devastated the city.
Over 483 years between the predictions and their fulfillment.
See the article
"THE LORD'S 3 YEAR
MINISTRY - PETER'S KEYS WERE ALL WITHIN DANIEL'S 70th. SEVEN
YEARS"
Which shows how the Apostle Paul's and Cornelius' conversions relate to the
time when Aretus gained control of Damascus.
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