OLD TESTAMENT
PROPHECY
FULFILLED IN HISTORY
Chapter
6
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ne of the unique and fascinating aspects of the Bible is that in no other religious literature do we find the accuracy of fulfilled prophecy. Biblical predictions recorded sometimes hundreds of years in advance of their happening are fulfilled in minute detail. Following are a few of those predictions and fulfillments.
Cyrus
The prophet Isaiah, writing about 700 B.C., names Cyrus as the king who
will say to Jerusalem that it shall be built and that the Temple foundation
shall be laid (Isaiah 44:28; 54:1).
At the time of Isaiah's writing, the city of
Jerusalem was fully built and the entire temple was standing. Not until more
than 100 years later, in 586 B.C., would
the city and Temple be destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar.
After Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, it was
conquered by the Persians in about 539 B.C. Shortly after that, a Persian king named Cyrus gave
the decree to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. This was around 160 years after
the prophecy of Isaiah!
Thus
Isaiah predicted that a man named Cyrus, who would not be born for about a
hundred years, would give the command to rebuild the Temple, which was still
standing in Isaiah's day and would not be destroyed for more than a hundred
years. This prophecy is truly amazing, but it is not isolated. There are, in
fact, hundreds of prophecies which predict future events.
Daniel's Seventy Weeks
In Daniel 9:24-27, a prophecy concerning the Messiah
is given in three specific parts. The first part states that at the end of 69
weeks, the Messiah will come to Jerusalem. (Actually the 7 and 62 weeks are
understood as 69 seven-year periods. For the explanation see Hoehner
69/117ff.) The starting point of the 69 weeks is the decree to restore and
rebuild Jerusalem.
Concerning the first part of the prophecy (the coming of
the Messiah), Wilson explains:
Included in the prophecy of
the seventy weeks is the specific prediction that from the going forth of a commandment
to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, there would be sixty-nine
weeks. Those weeks are weeks of years. After four hundred and eighty-three
years Messiah was to come. 133/139
Daniel 9:24-27:
Seventy weeks have been
decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to
make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy
place.
So you are to know and
discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty two weeks; it will
be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the
sixty two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the
people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war;
desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for
one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and
grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes
desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out
on the one who makes desolate.
Beginning of Seventy Weeks
Several commandments, or decrees, in Israel's history have
been suggested as the tenninus a quo of the
483 years. These are:
1 The decree of Cyrus,
539 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-4)
2. The decree of Darius, 519 -
518 B.C. (Ezra 5:3-7)
3. The decree of Artaxerxes to
Ezra, 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-16)
4. The decree of Artaxerxes to
Nehemiah, 444 B.C. (Nehemiah 2:1-8) 68/121ff.
J.
D. Wilson comments on the starting point of this prophecy:
The next decree is referred to in
Nehemiah 2. It was in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. The words of the decree
are not given, but its subject matter can easily be determined. Nehemiah hears
of the desolate condition of Jerusalem. He is deeply grieved. The King asks the
reason. Nehemiah replies, "The city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers,
lieth in waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire." The king
bids him make request. He does so promptly, asking an order from the King that "I be sent to the city that I may
build it." And as we read, he was sent, and he rebuilt Jerusalem.
This decree then is the
"commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." There is no other
decree authorizing the restoration of the city. This decree authorizes the
restoration and the book of Nehemiah tells how the work was carried on. The
exigencies of their various theories have led men to take some other decree for
the terminus a quo of their
calculations, but it is not apparent how any could have done so without
misgivings. This decree of Nehemiah 2 is the commandment to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem; no other decree gives any permission to restore the city. All other
decrees refer to the building of the Temple and the Temple only. 133/141-42
Wilson
then gives the length of the year used in the calculation of the 483 years:
The only years whose length is
given in the Bible are of 360 days twelve months of 30 days each. Gen. vii 11,
vii 3-4; Rev. xi, 2-3, xii, 6, xiii, 5. It seems not unreasonable to
take the period designed as 360 days. In that case the 483rd year from 444 B.C. is A.D. 33, the
date of the Crucifixion. 133/143
If Daniel is correct, the time from the edict to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Nisan 1, 444 B.C.) to the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem is 483 years, each year equaling the 360-day year (173,880 days). Will these calculations match with history and time?
Day of Christ's Crucifixion
Hoehner demonstrates that the only logical day for
Christ's crucifixion is Nisan 14, A.D. 33, or according to our calendar, April 3, A.D. 33. See chapters IV and V of
Hoehner's Chronological Aspects of
the Life of Christ.
Calculation of 69 Weeks
Using the 360 day year, Hoehner calculates the
terminal day of the 69 weeks of Daniel's prophecy as follows:
Multiplying the sixty-nine weeks by seven
years for each week by 360 days
gives a total of
173,880 days.
The difference between 444 B.C. and
A.D. 33 then is 476 solar years. By multiplying 476 by 365.24219879, or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds, one comes to 173,855 days. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for
between 444 B.C. and A.D. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 B.C.), one comes to March 30 (of A.D. 33), which was Nisan 10 in A.D. 33. This is the triumphal entry
of Jesus into Jerusalem. 69/138
The terminal event of the 69 weeks is the
presentation of Christ Himself to Israel as the Messiah as predicted in
Zechariah 9:9. This materialized on Monday, Nisan 10 (March 30), A.D. 33. On the following Friday,
April 3, A.D. 33, Christ was crucified or
"cut off' (Daniel 9:26).
After the termination of the 69 weeks and before the
commencement of the 70th week, two events had to occur:
(1) The "cutting off" of the Messiah.
(2) The destruction of the city and the Temple.
The Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 by Titus the Roman.
Therefore, according to Daniel's prophecy, the Messiah had to come and be
crucified between March 30, A.D. 33
and A.D. 70. Christ was crucified
April 3, A.D. 33.
Verification of the prophetic calculations using our
calendar (Julian):
a. 444 B.C. to A.D. 33 is 476 years.
(444 plus 33 is 477, but 1 B.C.
to A.D. 1 is 1 year not two.
One must subtract 1 year from 477.)
b. 476 years x 365.24219879
days = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173,855 days
c. c. March 5 to March 30
= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 25 days
173,880
days
Historical Cities
1. Tyre (E/274-80)
Ezekiel 26 (592-570
B.C.)
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against
you, O Tyre, and
I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. "And they will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her debris from her and make her a bare rock" (verses 3,4).
For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I
will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of
kings, with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great army. He will slay your
daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against
you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up a large shield against you
(verses 7,8).
"Also they will make a
spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise, break down your walls and
destroy your pleasant houses, and throw your stones and your timbers and your
debris into the water (verse 12).
"And I will make you a
bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no
more, for I the LORD have
spoken," declares the Lord GOD (verse 14).
"I shall bring terrors
on you, and you will be no more; though you will be sought, you will never be
found again," declares the Lord GOD (verse 21).
Predictions
1. Nebuchadnezzar will
destroy the mainland city of Tyre (26:8).
2. Many nations will come
against Tyre (26:3).
3. She will be made a bare
rock; flat like the top of a rock (26:4).