Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Palm Sunday Special: One of the most astonishing passages in the entire Bible.
Sunday, March 24, 2002
The Book of Daniel was translated into Greek prior to 270 B.C., several centuries before Christ was born.
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem in 606 B.C. and returned home with a group of royal captives, including Daniel.
Daniel was elevated from the position of a captive slave to First Minister of this great Babylonian Empire which at the time ruled the world.
538 B.C. - Daniel knew the seventy years of Babylonian Captivity would end within two years, in 536 B.C. (606 B.C. to 536 B.C.) 606 - 536 = 70.
God answered Daniels prayer by sending the angel Gabriel to give him “skill and insight” about the future course of history.
Turn to DAN 9:20
This vision of the seventy weeks of years foretold to the precise day when Israel would reject and “cut off” their Messiah, and then looks forward to His Second Coming to set up His everlasting kingdom.
A “week” of years was common in Israel as a “Sabbath for the land” - the land was to remain uncultivated every seventh year, LEV 25:1-22; 26:3-35; Deu 15.
DAN 9:25 that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince comes there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; -
(7 + 62 = 69) - the 69 weeks refer to 69 weeks of years or 69 x 7 = 483 Biblical years, totally fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ to the exact day.
The Jewish year of Biblical times was lunar solar and had only 360 days.
Encyclopedia Britannica, Smiths Bible Dictionary on Chronology Abraham continued to use a year of 360 days in his original Chaldean homeland.
Turn to GEN 7:11
Flood - started in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month.
GEN 7:11 - the flood started on 17th day of the 2nd month; GEN 8:4 - it ended in the 7th month on the 17th day of the month.
150 days equals 5 30-day months, 30 x 5 = 150.
Sir Isaac Newton - “All nations, before the just length of the solar year was known, reckoned months by the course of the moon, and years by the return of winter and summer, spring and autumn; and in making calendars for their festivals, they reckoned thirty days to a lunar month, and twelve lunar months to a year.”
REV 11:3 three and a half years is twelve hundred and sixty days. 3 X 360 = 1,080 1/2 a year = 180 Total = 1,260
REV 12:6 - the three and a half years of the Tribulation period = one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Turn to Dan 9
Is the Bible the Word of God and does God keep His word?
decreed - chathak = determined or allotted. Seventy weeks = Shaabu`iym shib`iym = 70 X 7.
DAN 9:24 “Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city” (NIV) DAN 9:24 “Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city,” (RSV)
DAN 9:24 “The Lord has commanded 490 years of further punishment upon Jerusalem and your people.” (TLB)
This prophecy has to do with those two entities, the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem.
This decree was issued by the Persian King Artaxerxes Longimanus “in the first day of the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year” of his reign, NEH 2:1-8.
The 1st of Nisan in King Artaxerxes twentieth year was computed by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, United Kingdom, as Mar 14, 445 BC.
There will be seven weeks [7 X 7 = 49 years] and sixty-two weeks [62 x 7 = 434 years], - 69 weeks of years [69 x 7 = 483 Biblical years = 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days.
Turn to ZEC 9:9
Turn to Luk 19
483 years from this prophecy and exactly 173,880 days later on the tenth day of Nisan - April 6, A.D. 32, The Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem and presented Himself as the Messiah.
This took place exactly 69 weeks (483 years), or 173,880 days from the time of the decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
Our Lord emphasized that this day, the tenth day of Nisan, April 6, A.D. 32, was an incredibly important day for Israel.
Five days later this rejection concluded in the crucifixion of Jesus, and their promised kingdom has now been postponed for almost two thousand years.
DAN 9:26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off [karath = killed or destroyed].
When we examine the period between March 14, 445 B.C. to April 6, 32 A.D., and correct for leap years, it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!
From March 14, 445 B.C. (the date of the command to rebuild Jerusalem) to March 14, A.D. 32 is 476 years of 365 days each - 173,740 days.
The time lapse between 1 B.C. and A.D. 1 is only one year. There are no such years as 0 B.C. or A.D. 0.
From March 14, 445 B.C. (the date of the command to rebuild Jerusalem) to March 14, A.D. 32 is 476 years of 365 days each = 173,740 days.
Add the 24 days from March 14, A.D. 32 until April 6, A.D. 32 (Palm Sunday - the “cutting off” of Messiah) = twenty-four days.
Add 116 leap days which occurred during that period (calculated by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, United Kingdom) = 116 days.
(173,740 + 24 + 116 = 173,880) = the total of 173,880 days, the exact duration of Daniels 69 “weeks” of years = 173,880 days.
ISA 46:9-10 Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying,'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
Robert R. McLaughlin All Rights Reserved 2002