Almighty God has ordained that this present age will wrap up around the nation of Israel, as laid out in the Daniel 9:24-27 prophecy. (See previous blog at prepare-bridgewell.com). The prophecy itself covers a period of 70 “weeks” or “heptads” of years. A heptad is seven. Seventy weeks/heptads are seventy “sevens”of years– for a total of 490 years (70 x 7).
Beginning in verse 25, God begins to give Daniel certain “benchmarks” contained within the prophecy. The first benchmark was when the prophecy would actually begin.
“Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem…”
Ezra 1:2-4 tells us that it was Cyrus of Persia who gave the command for the Jews to return to their land, following their exile in Babylon, and to rebuild the temple. The city of Jerusalem itself, however, still lay in ruins. It was not until the command of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see Nehemiah 2) that the edict to rebuild Jerusalem was given.
In Daniel 9:24 we learned that the prophecy was determined upon 3 conditions being in place: “thy people” – the Jews back in their land; “thy holy” – the temple; “city” – Jerusalem. So the prophecy was not launched with Cyrus’ command, but that of Artaxerxes.
“…until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”
The “seven weeks” or 49 years correspond from the time of Artaxerxes’ command through the finish of Nehemiah, when the street and wall of Jerusalem were rebuilt despite great opposition (“even in troublesome times”). The book of Nehemiah documents the history and struggle to rebuild Jerusalem.
This period of “seven weeks” was immediately followed by a “sixty-two weeks” period of 434 years. This period picks up from the finish of Nehemiah through the rest of the Old Testament period and up to Palm Sunday, when Jesus allowed Himself to be hailed as the Messiah of the Jews (“Messiah the Prince”).
So, the period of time from Artaxerxes’ command until Messiah the Prince was to be a period of seven “weeks” and sixty-two “weeks”, for a total of 69 “weeks” or 483 YEARS in all.
How accurate was this prophecy? The two men most famous as Bible chronologists are Sir Robert Anderson and Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones. Sir Robert gave the date of Artaxerxes’ command to be 445 B.C., using a 360-day prophetic year as his yardstick. His date for Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem– which was also the week of the crucifixion–was 32 A.D. This works out to be exactly 69 weeks of prophetic years!
On the other hand, Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones used a solar year for his calculations. Based upon intensive historical research, he determined the date of Artaxerxes’ command to be 454 B.C. and the date of Christ’s triumphal entry as 30 A.D. This works out to be exactly 69 weeks of SOLAR years! [Simple check: 454 B.C. + 30 A.D. – 1 (no year “zero”) = 483 years.]
If this is all too much for you, then there is an even simpler way: the Mountaineer method. This easy method goes like this: Sir Robert says 445 B.C.; Dr. Floyd says 454 B.C. Let’s just round it off to 450 B.C., then add the age of Jesus during Passion week.
450 + 33 = 483 years!
The point is– no matter what method you use– Daniel’s prophecy showing 483 years from Artaxerxes’ command until Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem PUTS US RIGHT OVER THE TIME IN HISTORY WHEN IT ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE! Someday, when we all see Jesus, we can ask Him who actually got it right– Sir Robert, Dr. Floyd, or the mighty Mountaineers!
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