And we have the word of the prophets
made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light
shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about
by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the
will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21)
“Know and understand this: From the
issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,
the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It
will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the
sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.
The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end,
and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one
‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and
offering. And on a wing └
of the temple┘ he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out
on him. (Daniel 9:25-27)
One of the things that characterized the Jewish Scripture
was prophecy. God told the nation of Israel what was going to happen before it
happened as proof of Himself. These prophecies often included details that were
outside of the control of men. One source claims there almost as many
prophecies about Jesus as there are days in the year: (353 Prophecies About Christ).
Today, we're focusing on three in the briefest possible manner. References you
may want to explore will be provided in a footnote.[1]
According to Daniel, 483 years would
pass between the proclamation by Artaxerxes and the time when the Anointed One
would be cut off. This would take place before the city and sanctuary were
destroyed. That proclamation was made about 453 BC. Some of the research I have
read about this is more specific about this date but there is more than one
theory so I'm being a little vague in order to accommodate them all. These prophecies
then required that the Anointed One be cut off about AD 30.
The current research places the birth of Jesus in 4BC,
which means that when he began his ministry at age 30, it would have been about
26 AD (there is no "Year 0") and the crucifixion happened about three
and a half years later: 30 AD. The city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed
by the order of a Roman ruler and carried out by Roman soldiers in 70 AD. That
puts the time between the cutting off of the Anointed One and the destruction
of the Temple at forty years.
The destruction of the Temple had not happened when Peter
was writing this letter, but the Jews had access to the prophecies about the
Messiah. Those prophecies pointed to Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection
fulfilled, or made more sure, the prophecies. It makes clear and provides
strong reason for our faith.
There are some who give other supposed
examples of virgin births, deaths and resurrections, to try to make this
particular instance just one of many and just a literary type, but they tend to
focus on people who don't fit this timeline, if they can be placed historically
at all. Your faith can be supported by history, and because that history was
foretold, it is founded on good evidence for God
[1]
Jones, Dr. Floyd Nolen, The Chronology of the Old Testament (Floyd Jones
Ministries, Inc., 1993)
http://theos-sphragis.info/artaxerxes_timeline.html
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