The 70 Weeks of Daniel prove that Jesus is the Messiah

Daniel 9:24-25

“He (Messiah) will be revealed 7 weeks + 62 weeks ( = 69 weeks of years) AFTER the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls, THEN He (Messiah) will be CUT-OFF  (executed!) but NOT for Himself.”

Now, let’s break down this mathematical prophecy:

  • A week of years (shabua or shabu’im)  =  7 years
  • The “70th Week” (the last 7 years) of this prophecy is yet future … the “Apocalypse.”

The Jewish calendar is both Lunar and Solar.  It uses a 360 day lunar year and then adds a ‘Leap Month’ on specific years to accurately coincide with the Solar cycle we use on our ‘Julian’ calendar.  The Bible uses 360 day years for prophecies and expects us to add the appropriate ‘leap months’ on schedule.  The easiest way to unravel this prophecy is to first convert the years into days.

  1. Add 7 + 62 weeks of years  =  69 weeks of years
  2. Multiply 69 (weeks) x 7 (to get the total number of years in this prophecy) =  483 years
  3. Multiply 483 years x 360 (to get the total number of days in this prophecy) =  173,880 days

The prophet Daniel, who lived 500 years before Jesus (Yeshua), wrote that from the day of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls, until the coming Messiah would be 173,880 days.

Now let’s convert the 173,880 days into our 365.25 day solar year calendar, equating the .25 to adjust for leap years.

173,880 days ÷ 365.25 (days in a year)  =  476  years   (on our solar ‘Julian’ calendar)

The prophet Daniel told us it would be 476 years from the “commandment to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls” to the time the Messiah of Israel would first be revealed.

The Clock Starts

This prophecy of the coming Messiah is both remarkable and extremely precise.  There were other orders to rebuild the Temple, but, there was only one commandment to restore Jerusalem and its wall.  On March 14th, 445 BC King Artexerxes I of Persia issued the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem and specifically included its wall. Nehemiah 2:2-9

 

The Clock Ends with the Triumphant Entry

 

Now take the 476 years in this prophecy and start counting from March 14, 445 B.C. when the command to rebuild the city Jerusalem and its wall was given and you end on the exact year and the very day Jesus (Yeshua) rode ‘triumphantly’ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, being praised as King and Messiah by thousands upon thousands of Jewish people who had gathered from all over for the Passover.  Honored, yet lowly, riding on a donkey – exactly as another prophet, the prophet Zechariah, said He would:

 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion (Israel)! Behold, your King (Messiah) is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, yet He is lowly and riding on a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9, written approximately 500 B.C.

 

On the 10th day of Nisan (“Palm Sunday”) 32 AD, 476 years after the command was given to rebuild the city and its wall, Jesus made His famous “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey.  It was the only day that He ever allowed Himself to be honored as Messiah or King (Mark 11:1-12) as the people of Israel cried out and sang “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” Psalm 118

First Part of the 70 Weeks of Daniel Summarized

March 14, 445 B.C.       Commandment is issued by Artexerxes I to rebuild the wall to  April 6, 32 A.D. “Palm Sunday”, 10th of Nisan – Jesus welcomed as King and Messiah =  477  years- 1  year for no “0” A.D. or B.C. =  476  years