The most remarkable prophecy
This will be my first post on Steemit. Since my faith as a Christian is central to my life, I decided to write a post about the most remarkable prophecy in the book of Daniel. This prophecy pertains to the coming of Jesus Christ, and it is so precise that it still blows my mind up to this day.
This will be a quick one, so strap in and hold on tight!
Before we continue, there is a time principal that needs to be understood. In both Daniel and Revelation, a principal called the day-year principal exists. All it means is, in prophetic terms, a day equals a year. Ezekiel 4:5-6 gives the Biblical backing for this principal:
Eze 4:5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Eze 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
If you are not convinced, read to the end. The proof is in the pudding.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's continue with the prophecy at hand:
Dan 9:20 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;
Dan 9:21 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.
Dan 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
Dan 9:23 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.
Dan 9:24 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.
Dan 9:25 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.
Dan 9:26 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.
Dan 9:27 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.
This is a time prophecy of 70 weeks, or using the day-year principle, 490 years. Now for any time prophecy to make sense, we need a starting point. Daniel 9:25 gives the start date. The prophecy starts when the commandments goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. When was this exactly? 457 BC. It is a topic on it's own, and I'm not going to cover it here, as many research articles are available. The problem is many commandments were given at different dates, so which one should we use? For a lengthy article on this topic, please read the following:
https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/prophecy/when-did-seventy-weeks-daniel-924-begin
Now that we know when the prophecy starts, let's go into more detail. Daniel 9:24 summarizes what the prophecy is about:
- Finish transgression
- Make an end to sins
- Make reconciliation for iniquity
- Bring everlasting righteousness
- Anoint the Most Holy
Mmm this sounds much like what the Messiah came to do? Bring an end to the transgression and sin problem? Reconcile humanity with God? Enable humanity to live with everlasting righteousness? If you have any doubt that this prophecy is regarding the Messiah, just read Daniel 9:25/26. The word Messiah is mentioned twice.
In fact, Daniel 9:25 tells us exactly when the Messiah will come! Seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. I know, that sounds very complicated. It is just old English, as I like to use the KJV version. Grab a new translation and you will see this equals to 69 weeks, or 483 years. What is 457BC + 483 years? 27 AD. Note that we don't count 0 as a year. What happened 27AD? The anointing of the Messiah. Jesus was baptized! His earthly ministry officially started. But hold on... Was Jesus not 30 when that happened? Yes, Jesus was 30. But Jesus was not born 1 AD. He was born 4 BC. It is a well known fact, and many scholars agree:
However amazingly accurate this prediction was, it is not the end of the prophecy. One week is left. Daniel 9:27 gives more detail. In the middle of the week (3.5 years), the sacrificial system will come to and end. All the ceremonial laws that pointed to the coming of the Messiah, was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross. How long did Jesus' ministry last? It is a well known fact that is lasted 3 years, give or take. Thus the prophecy even predicts when the Messiah will die for our sins!
But wait... There is even more. 3.5 days (years) are remaining. What happened at the end of the 70 week prophecy? There is much debate around this issue, but many scholars agree this is the stoning of Stephen. The church after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was ordered to proclaim the Gospel only to the Jews, as they were a 'peculiar' or 'special' people in the eyes of God. God wanted to give them first opportunity to hear the truth. However after the stoning of Stephen, they lost that privilege, and the church focused predominantly on preaching the gospel to the pagan world. Read the book of Acts to get this background.
Below is a sketch giving a summary of the prophecy.
Absolutely astonishing. It makes you wonder, did the Jews understand this prophecy? I believe many of them did, as it is not difficult to understand. So why did the church of that time reject the Messiah? Probably because they were looking for a 'Superman'. A supernatural David that will save them from the Romans.
For the skeptics out there, is all of this just coincidence? You have to decide for yourself. You will need a lot of faith to believe this happened all out of pure chance. If that is so, maybe the book of Daniel was written after the birth of Jesus? Nope it was not. Archaeological evidence dates the book appropriately way before the birth of Christ:
May your faith in Christ increase day by day
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