The 70-Week Prophecy – The Messiah Arrives Just on Time (15)

Bible prophecies, the predicting of the future, are the foundation (or seed) of the gospel of Jesus (its fruit); therefore rejecting the prophecies could jeopardise our salvation. This is especially true in relation to the 70-week prophecy, which points out and gives clear evidence that Jesus is truly the long awaited Christ, Messiah, and the anointed One. Not only will this be clear, but will we see how this adds to the Bibles full reliability. The prophecy is located in Daniel 9. Jerusalem is destroyed because of Israel’s sins and we find Daniel praying for its restoration.

In answer to Daniel’s prayer for forgiveness, how many weeks are determined for Israel to finish their transgressions and make an end to sin? Daniel 9:20-24
“20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. 24 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.”

History tells us this time period is symbolic, what does the Bible say a day in prophecy represents? Numbers 14:34
“34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” (See also Ezekiel 4:6, which confirms that 70 weeks is literal 490 years.)

Who among the reformers believed this to be true?
“John Wycliffe, John Knox, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Phillip Melanchthon, Sir Isaac Newton, Jan Huss, John Foxe, John Wesley” and many more. (S. Gregg, “Revelation: Four Views”, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub, 1997, p. 34.)

“Determined” literally translates to “cut off” (Strong’s Concordance). The Seventy weeks, representing 490 years, the angel declares, are cut off or allotted specially pertaining to Daniel’s people, the Jews.

How did Jesus in practice use the principles of this prophecy in teaching Peter about forgiveness? Matthew 18:21-22
“21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

Israel’s probation would close after 490 years; in order to find the end point, when was the starting point? Daniel 9:25
“25 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.”

The entire decree is written in Ezra 7:11-26, but when was it issued according to verses just previous? Ezra 7:7-8
“7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto 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.” (7th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, was Fall 457 BC, while his total reign was between B. C. 464 to 424. Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation 53.2.)

How many years would transpire from 457 BC until the Messiah the Prince would come and what year would that be? Daniel 9:25
“25 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.”

Sixty-nine weeks or 483 years, from B.C. 457, would reach autumn of 27 AD. Note there is no year 0. At that time this prophecy was fulfilled and the Messiah would come. “Messiah” means the “Anointed One.” ( Strong’s concordance). To be anointing is literally to be smeared, to be set apart and consecrated with oil. The Messiah was anointed with something else as we will see.

Was Jesus ever anointed and by Whom? Acts 10:38
“38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” (Therefor the full meaning of the word Messiah, is the act of God consecrating His Son Jesus to the great office of Redeemer. Christ means Messiah in Greek.)

At what event did His anointing take place? Luke 3:21-23
“21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed ) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,”

Did He understand the importance of His anointment? Luke 4:18
“18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

We saw that Jesus was baptised by John and anointed by God, at what point in time was this? Luke 3:1-2
“1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” (His baptism is found in verses 3:21-23.)

Tiberius reigned supreme between AD 14-37, but co-princeps (ruled) with His step father Augustus from August 12 AD. His 15th year of reign would therefore be from August AD 26 to August AD 27, the exact year Christ was anointed! (Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation, 243. See also Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Tiberius.)

What was Christ’s mission after His baptism? Mark 1:14-15
“14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (The time here relates to The 483 years that had expired at His anointing.)

Jesus was anointed and begun His work especially for the Jews, how does the prophecy refer to this work? Daniel 9:26-27
“27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Did Christ teach His disciples to focus on the Jews before the end of the 490years allotted to them? Matthew 10:5-6
“5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

What would take place half-way through the final week? Daniel 9:26-27
“26 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. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

To “be cut off” indicates to be “destroyed” (Strong’s Concordance). “Sacrifice and the oblation” means all the ceremonies that God had instituted to point to the sacrifice of our sins. “In the midst” or middle of the week, from AD 27, would bring us to Spring AD 31. Because the true Lamb of God had now been sacrifices, all ceremonies ceased to have any value, type had met antitype, that shadow met the original.  

Did Jesus confirm the end of previous ceremonies? John 19:30
“30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (See also John 1:29, the Lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the world.)

What event in connection to the exact time of His death confirmed beyond doubt the end of previous ceremonies? Matthew 27:50-51
“50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”

Why did the ceremonies have to cease? Hebrews 10:1-10
“1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

What did Christ become for us and how? Hebrews 7:26-27
“26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” (Christ made an end to sacrifices by His own sacrifice, and that exactly on time!)

The Messiah was to be cutoff or killed according to the prophecy, who was outrightly rejecting Him and therefore responsible for His death? John 19:14-16
“14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.”

By what means did Christ complete the last half of the final week working among and for the Jews? Acts 1:8
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

What event brought the 70 weeks to an end and would seal the Jewish rejection of the Messiah? Acts 7:51-60
“51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

What would happen to Jerusalem and the temple because of the Jews rejection of the Messiah? Daniel 9:26
“26 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.”

How did the predicted destruction of Jerusalem affect Jesus, and what did He say lead to that destruction? Luke 19:41-44
“41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” (The time here relates to the 70-week prophecy in which Christ was to visit them. They were not ignorant, for the Rabbinical curse below reveals their true motives.)

“May the curse of heaven fall upon those who calculate the date of the advent of the Messiah, and thus create political and social unrest among the people.” (Sanhedrin, 97b., Louis Newman and Samuel Spitz, The Talmudic anthology: tales and teachings of the rabbis (Behrman House, 1945))

What did God pronounce to be the outcome of their actions? Matthew 21:43
“43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

To whom was the kingdom of God committed instead of the Jews? Act 11:26
“And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” (See also Romans 11:17, which shows how the Gentiles were added to the church.)

How does God view the true Christians and what commission did He give them? 1 Peter 2:9-10
“9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

Friend,

The Jews missed the Messiah’s advent because they refused to study the prophecies. Can we make the same mistake as them? Is it your desire to continue to study the prophecies and learn more about Jesus?