A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
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.(Daniel 9:25-26a)
This information was given to Daniel in 538 BC
in response to a prayer asking God to release His people from their 70 year
captivity in Babylon. The Angel Gabriel visited Daniel with a message that has
become known as the 70
weeks of Daniel (Dan 9:24-27). The title is somewhat
confusing because the Hebrew word translated as “weeks” in the KJV and “sevens”
in the NIV actually describes a period of seven years. So 70 “weeks” is really 490 years, and the seven
“sevens” and sixty-two “sevens” referenced above combine to equal 483 years.
This passage is the single most important piece of prophecy in all of scripture
because it chronicles the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Romans, the coming of the anti-christ and the timing and duration of the
Great Tribulation. It is nothing less than the key that unlocks our
understanding of the end times, and so mastering it is critical for any student
of eschatology.
For our purposes today, the 2 verses of
Daniel’s prophecy I’ve quoted presents us with a very narrow window of time
into which we must fit the birth and death of anyone claiming to be the
Messiah. This window of time can be measured in secular history, opening 483 years after the
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (issued in March of 445 BC by the
Persian Emperor Artaxerxes Longimonus) and closing with the Roman destruction
of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Do the math and you only have a 38 year span of
time. In 6000 years of recorded history with millions of lives beginning and
ending, what is the probability of any man being born within this 38-year time
frame? Now factor in some of the unique aspects of the Messiah’s life. He had to fulfill over 300
prophecies written about Him hundreds of years before His birth, be recognized
as Israel’s Messiah by thousands of people, incur the wrath of His country’s
leaders, be falsely accused of a capital crime, make no defense though
innocent, and be publicly executed by crucifixion.
Where Was He Born?
To try and assess the odds against of all
this happening by chance, let’s review just 3 of these 300 prophecies. How about the place of His
birth? 750 years in advance the Prophet Micah learned from God that Israel’s
Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) even though it turns out
His family was from Nazareth, several days travel away. He also learned
that this Messiah would be unusual in that His origins would be “from of old,
from ancient times.” Literally translated this means His family descent is from
before time and perpetual. In other words He would possess eternal life.
Furthermore verse 3, the one that doesn’t make it to your Christmas card,
states that because of Him
Israel would be abandoned until all His brothers return to join those who’ve
accepted Him.
By the way, if you don’t believe the
generally accepted dating for these prophecies, consider this. The Old
Testament, from which they come, had been translated from Hebrew into Greek
beginning in about 275 BC and by 150 BC was substantially complete. Therefore events foretold
concerning the life of Jesus were a matter of public record at least 150 years
before the fact. How many years prior to their fulfillment must a
prophecy be given to have validity? Remember, prophecy is God’s way of authenticating Himself for us,
because only someone who exists outside the restrictions of time can describe
events before they’ve taken place with 100% accuracy. The fact
that sets the life of Jesus apart from all of humanity is not that He performed
miracles. It’s that so many details about His life were foretold 100s and even
1000s of years in advance.
What about His betrayal?
In Zechariah 11:12-13 we’re told that the Messiah would be
betrayed for 30 pieces of silver in the House of the Lord, and that the money
would be used to buy a field from a potter. Though Zechariah wrote these things
around 520 BC Matt
27:3-8 indicates
that’s exactly what happened. Here you see the Lord’s betrayer and His sworn
enemies fulfilling prophecies down to the last detail. If you happened to be
born at the right time and were trying to force fit yourself into Messianic
prophecy, we could understand getting your friends to cooperate, but how do you
go about getting your enemies to do so? The fact that He was betrayed by a close friend during a
meal was foretold in Psalm
41:9 and
confirmed in John
13:18 & 26-27.
How Did He Die?
The Jews were people of the Law and their
leaders prided themselves on their merciful application of justice. Yet in the
case of Jesus they consciously and maliciously violated their own laws
repeatedly. No one could be arrested with out formal charges being filed, yet
Jesus was. It took 2
independent witnesses to convict but they couldn’t get this required
collaboration, so they convicted Jesus on His own testimony, also forbidden.
Trials couldn’t be held at night, but His was. Death sentences required
unanimous consent of the Sanhedrin (ruling body) and a “sleep on it” rule
wherein they had to come back the next day and vote again. But in His case they didn’t
inform the Lord’s advocates among them of the trial thereby eliminating the
possibility of a divided vote and then waived the sleep on it rule. Much of
this was predicted in Isaiah
53:7-8 750 years
before the fact.
Jewish law required death by stoning, but
the Jews had lost the right to impose capital punishment, and so appealed to
the Romans, whose method of execution was crucifixion. This was a particularly
gruesome and painful method first used by the Assyrians in about 800 BC and
adopted by the Romans 700 years later. But in Psalm 22,
King David described in detail what it feels like to be crucified and then
foretold the activities of the Lord’s executioners, down to splitting up his clothing and casting lots
for His robe. David wrote this psalm over 1000 years before the fact.
So What’s The Point?
In Jesus we have someone who was born in
Bethlehem though His family was not from there, and lived and died within the
prescribed 38 years out of 6000. He was widely accepted as Israel’s Messiah but
betrayed by a close friend and though innocent of any crime made no defense and
was convicted and sentenced to death in an illegal trial. His enemies paid the
prophesied amount of money for His betrayal and then when payment was returned
to the Temple used it to buy a potter’s field. He was executed by a method
foretold before its invention and his executioners split up His belongings just
as predicted.
That’s
only 4 out of over 300 fulfilled prophecies we could explore. But even with
just these 4 the odds against them happening by chance are so astronomically
high as to be ridiculous. It’s true, as I stated in last week’s message
that these things are no longer taught in our schools, nor sadly even in many
of our churches. But if you take it upon yourself to study just a few readily
available reference books, you’ll find that you can prove the existence of Jesus,
and that He is Who He claims to be, with greater certainty than you can prove
that you are who you claim to be. No matter what standard you decide to use,
rules of evidence as used by an attorney, statistical probability as used by a
mathematician, or forensic logic as used by a debater, you’ll be persuaded
beyond reasonable doubt. You can take His word for that: “You will seek Me and
find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13).
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