A
week before His resurrection on Easter Sunday, Jesus made, what is called, His
triumphal entry into Jerusalem among much pomp and fanfare. While the people
were happy and celebrating His entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:35-40), Jesus was
sad and wept over the city (Luke 19:41). At that point Jesus announced to the
people, "If you had know in this day, even you, the things which make for
peace" (Luke 19:42)! Our Lord prophetically described the judgment that
would come upon Jerusalem and her people because of their rejection of Him
(Luke 19:43-44a). Then He declared the reason for such judgment upon the city
of Jerusalem which He greatly loved. It would be "because you did not
recognize the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:44b). How was it that
Israel is being held accountable for "this day" (Luke 19:42) and
"the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:44b)? How were the Jews to
have known when her Messiah
was to visit them? Israel was to know these things because of prophecy.
Uniqueness of Biblical
Christianity
The
Bible is unique when compared to all the other "holy books" and
religions of the world because its truthfulness is based upon prophecy and
history. All the other religions of the world are based upon a person's
philosophy or ethical stipulations. Biblical Christianity has those elements,
but it has more. The veracity of the Bible is rooted and grounded in
history- whether or not certain events either prophesied or reported in
Scripture actually have taken place. It matters whether creation literally
took place; whether Adam's fall into sin occurred; whether the global flood
took place; whether Israel was delivered out of Egypt at the Exodus; whether
God made His covenant with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai; whether Jesus
was born, lived, died, resurrected and ascended into heaven. It matters
whether prophecy predicting the return of Christ is true and will occur in the
future. If any of these, and many other historical events, did not take place
then as Paul said of the resurrection "we [Christians] are of all men most
to be pitied" (1 Cor. 15:19).
Prophecy
is part of the historicity of the Bible. If prophetic prediction is not
fulfilled literally in history than God and His word could be proved to be
false. But God's record is 100%. This is one of the key areas that separates
biblical Christianity from all the other religions of the world is that God's
prophecy is 100% accurate. Let's look at the example of the seventy weeks of
Daniel.
Israel's Prophetic
Time Table
In
the instance of the seventy weeks of Daniel, the Bible is so specific in its
prediction that we see God giving a prophecy that is so accurate that it was
fulfilled down to the very day. Jews who were following the prediction of
Daniel 9:24-27 would have known that Jesus had to be the Messiah because of
this prophecies chronological accuracy. How did it work?
The
prophecy of the seventy weeks was given to Daniel by God while Daniel was in
the Babylonian captivity (Daniel 9:1; 2 Chronicles 36:21-23; Ezra 1: 6:3-5).
Daniel was concerned for his people who were nearing the end of their
seventy-year captivity. In Daniel's vision he was reassured that God had not
forgotten His chosen people. The angel Gabriel told Daniel that God would
bring Israel back into their land and would one day set up the messianic
kingdom. What was unexpected for Daniel, was the revelation that all of this
would not be fulfilled at the end of current seventy-year captivity in Babylon,
but at the end of the future seventy-week period described in 9:24-27. It is
as this point that the angel Gabriel reveals to Daniel God's time-frame of the
seventy weeks of years as a framework for Israel's history. (Note the chart
below that provides an explanation of this time-frame.[1])
Explanation of
Daniel' s 70 Weeks of Years
69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days
March 5, 444 b.c.
+ 173,880 = March 30, a.d. 33
Verification
444 b.c..
to a.d. 33 = 476 years
476 years x 365.2421989 days =
173,855 days
+ days between March 5 and March 30 = 25
days
Totals = 173,880 days
Rationale for 360-Day Years
1/2 week- Dan. 9:27
Time, times, 1/2 time- Dan. 7:25, 12:7; Rev. 12:14
1,260 days- Rev. 12:6, 11:3
42 months- Rev. 11:2, 13:5
Thus: 42 months = 1,260 days = time, times, 1/2
time + 1/2 week
Therefore: month = 30 days; year = 360 days
Daniel's
prophesied period of time was to begin with "the issuing of a decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem" (Dan. 9:25). The only decree that matches
this is the one that Artaxerxes, King of the Medio-Persian Empire, issued to
Nehemiah (Neh. 2:1-8). Nehemiah started rebuilding Jerusalem on March 5, 444 b.c. This began the countdown of the
first sixty-nine weeks of years that culminated in Christ's Triumphal Entry on
March 30, a.d. 33 (Luke 19:28-40).
The chart above provides the data and explanation of this prophecy. This is
why any biblically literate Jew would have to know that Messiah the Prince
would be cut off after the sixty-nine weeks of years (Dan. 9:25-26). Jesus was
crucified a few days later. Jesus of Nazareth is the only One who could have
fulfilled that prophecy. He did fulfill that prophecy just at the Bible
predicted.
This
is one of the dozens of prophecies that Christ fulfilled literally at His first
coming and we can know for certain that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the
Old Testament. Thus, we can trust God that Christ's work on the cross was what
it took to pay for the sin of those who believe on His name.
Future Prophetic
Fulfillment
In
the same way that every prophecy was literally fulfilled by Jesus of His first
coming, so will the hundreds of prophecies related to His second coming be
fulfilled literally. In fact that final week of years in Daniel's prophecy has
yet to be fulfilled. There has been, thus far, about a 2,000-year postponement
of the fulfillment of the final week of years in Daniel's prophecy. But it too
will be literally fulfilled just like the first sixty-nine weeks of years were
literally fulfilled.
The
seventieth week of Daniel is the basis in the Bible for a future seven-year
period known as the tribulation. This era follows the rapture of the Church
and will be a time of unparalleled suffering and turmoil. The seven-year period
of Daniel's seventieth week provides the time span to which a whole host of
items are associated. Some of those descriptive terms include: tribulation,
great tribulation, day of the Lord, day of wrath, day of distress, day of
trouble, time of Jacob's trouble, day of darkness and gloom, and wrath of the
Lamb.
Conclusion
Luke
tells us that at the time of Christ's first coming there was a group of Jewish
people in the temple "who were looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38). When Jesus the Messiah was presented to them,
even though a baby, they received Him. Yet the majority of the nation rejected
Jesus. Those who received Him were looking for Him, apparently, because they
knew His time was coming near.
Paul
tells Church Age believers that we are "to deny ungodliness and worldly
desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age."
But that's not all. He says that while we are doing that we are to be
"looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:12-13). Unlike the Jews of the Old
Testament we do not have a specific timeframe for when Messiah will return.
That is why the New Testament tells us to always be ready. We are to always be
ready by looking every day, every hour, every minute, and every moment for the
return of our Savior. What about you? Are you serving the Lord while at the
same time looking for the Blessed Hope? Maranatha!
