B. There’s another in Daniel that’s very interesting, but with the uncertain dates, it’s hard to be dogmatic about it. We read earlier where Isaiah and Jerimiah had prophesied about the Babylonians coming to destroy Jerusalem.
U. Yeah.
B. They also foretold that the Hebrews would serve Babylonia 70 years.
U. At least there was to be an end to the captivity. But 70 years is still a long time, in fact it could be a lifetime.
B. History places the fall of Jerusalem at about 600 BC although the temple wasn’t destroyed until about 587 BC. The exact dates in this time period are questionable for the same reason as we talked about before. So, when did the Babylonians free the Hebrews?
U. I don’t know, hope you do?
B. The correct answer is, they didn’t. Remember Daniel was still serving when the Medes and Persians conquered the city. But Isaiah 45:11 also said this about 200 years before it happened.
U. "This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty."
Who was Cyrus?
B. Cyrus was the king of Persia. Daniel lived in Babylon until he became king. In his first year, he said this as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:22.
U. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you--may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.' "
So when did this happen?
B. History says about 530 BC.
U. Let’s see, 587 until 530 was only 57 years. That’s not 70 years. Wait a minute, you’re dating this event from when Jerusalem was captured aren’t you.
B. Yep, and that was 70 years.
U. So what does all this have to do with when Jesus was coming?
B. Just establishing some dates so we can put the next prophecy into its proper time frame. In Daniel 9, we read about Daniel praying concerning the temple in Jerusalem. It had been destroyed, and Daniel wanted it to be rebuilt. While he was praying, the angel Gabriel came and told him this. Read Daniel 9:24
U. "Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
"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.
7 sevens and 62 sevens, what does that mean? Who is the Anointed One? Wait, you told me, Christ means anointed one.
B. Let’s suppose sevens means seven years. Then 7 + 62 is 69 times seven or 483 years. So if we can establish when the order to restore and rebuild the temple is given, we can estimate when the Anointed One, or Christ is to come.
U. OK, when was the order given?
B. In Ezra 4, we read about King Artaxerxes of Persia. Some of the Hebrews had already gone back to Jerusalem and were trying to rebuild the temple. They had opposition who wrote to King Artaxerxes. The king wrote back and told them to stop. He investigated and found that Darius had given the order to rebuild, so he sent another letter saying it should be done as soon as possible. This is the last decree we can find, and the temple was soon rebuilt. Artaxerxes assumed power in 465 BC, and died in 454. No one is sure exactly when this order was given, but say if was just before he died in 455. If we add 483 years to 454, we find the Anointed One being cut off in 29 AD.
U. And when did Jesus die?
B. His death has been dated anywhere between 25 and 33 AD with most people saying 29 AD.. Pretty close considering the questionable dates.
U. That’s so precise why didn’t the Jews figure out that date? Then they wouldn’t have killed Christ. Couldn’t they figure out the date, they must have kept track of the time since the king issued the decree.
B. There is room for confusion. Cyrus issued the first decree in 530 AD so 483 years from that day would be 47 BC. Maybe since nothing happened around that time, the priests and scribes decided they didn’t really know when the Anointed one would come. I just think it interesting that the dates come out anywhere close to Jesus’ time, particularly since the actual dates are so uncertain.
U. That is close. My mind is spinning a little now. Can you review what we have covered today?
B. We started out to see if there were any prophecies which would say when Jesus the Christ was to come. This is what we discussed.
· Daniel’s explanation of the king’s dream told of four kingdoms which would come before the rock broke them all into dust.
o Babylonian -
o Medes and Persian which became Persian
o Alexander the Great’s
o Roman empire which was weakened by civil wars, the last being about 40 BC.
o Jesus’ church came during the Roman Empire and has grown to fill the world. People who believe Jesus was the Son of God probably live in every country and represent the largest religion in the world. There are no world empires today and haven’t been since the Roman Empire.
· We also saw that Isaiah predicted at least 200 years before that Babylonia would capture Jerusalem and carry away temple treasures even while they were just a city under Assyrian rule.
· Jerimiah said the Babylonians would take the Jews away for 70 years.
o That happened about 600 BC
o Babylonia fell in 539 BC
o Cyrus, king of Persia, sent some Jews back to Jerusalem in about 530 BC., or 70 years later.
· The angel Gabriel told Daniel that it would be seven sevens and 62 sevens from the issuing of the decree to rebuild the temple until the Anointed One would be cut off.
o We assumed the sevens meant seven years and calculated that there were 69 sevens or 483 years.
o The decree by Artaxerxes came in about 455 BC so that would mean the Anointed one should have been cut off in 28 AD.
o Considering the inaccuracies of dating anything during these years, we said that was very close, since the date of Jesus’ death is somewhere between 25 and 33 AD.
So what do you think about all this?
U. I’m kind of blown away. I never knew about any of these prophecies and I’m wondering why.
B. They don’t teach this in universities or high school any more. It’s more fashionable to teach godless evolution.
U. You’re much more likely to find them making fun of the Bible. I wish I could get them to see this. I would like to hear their comments
B. You and me both.
U. I feel kinda bad about bring up another question.
B. Don’t. Let’s discuss it. What is it?
U. I just can’t conceive of Jesus being raised from the dead. That must have been a trick his disciples did to make it look that way. Does the Bible address that?
B. It sure does. We’ll look at that next time.
All of these blogs are on http://thinkersdiscuss.weebly.com/blog
U. Yeah.
B. They also foretold that the Hebrews would serve Babylonia 70 years.
U. At least there was to be an end to the captivity. But 70 years is still a long time, in fact it could be a lifetime.
B. History places the fall of Jerusalem at about 600 BC although the temple wasn’t destroyed until about 587 BC. The exact dates in this time period are questionable for the same reason as we talked about before. So, when did the Babylonians free the Hebrews?
U. I don’t know, hope you do?
B. The correct answer is, they didn’t. Remember Daniel was still serving when the Medes and Persians conquered the city. But Isaiah 45:11 also said this about 200 years before it happened.
U. "This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty."
Who was Cyrus?
B. Cyrus was the king of Persia. Daniel lived in Babylon until he became king. In his first year, he said this as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:22.
U. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you--may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.' "
So when did this happen?
B. History says about 530 BC.
U. Let’s see, 587 until 530 was only 57 years. That’s not 70 years. Wait a minute, you’re dating this event from when Jerusalem was captured aren’t you.
B. Yep, and that was 70 years.
U. So what does all this have to do with when Jesus was coming?
B. Just establishing some dates so we can put the next prophecy into its proper time frame. In Daniel 9, we read about Daniel praying concerning the temple in Jerusalem. It had been destroyed, and Daniel wanted it to be rebuilt. While he was praying, the angel Gabriel came and told him this. Read Daniel 9:24
U. "Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
"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.
7 sevens and 62 sevens, what does that mean? Who is the Anointed One? Wait, you told me, Christ means anointed one.
B. Let’s suppose sevens means seven years. Then 7 + 62 is 69 times seven or 483 years. So if we can establish when the order to restore and rebuild the temple is given, we can estimate when the Anointed One, or Christ is to come.
U. OK, when was the order given?
B. In Ezra 4, we read about King Artaxerxes of Persia. Some of the Hebrews had already gone back to Jerusalem and were trying to rebuild the temple. They had opposition who wrote to King Artaxerxes. The king wrote back and told them to stop. He investigated and found that Darius had given the order to rebuild, so he sent another letter saying it should be done as soon as possible. This is the last decree we can find, and the temple was soon rebuilt. Artaxerxes assumed power in 465 BC, and died in 454. No one is sure exactly when this order was given, but say if was just before he died in 455. If we add 483 years to 454, we find the Anointed One being cut off in 29 AD.
U. And when did Jesus die?
B. His death has been dated anywhere between 25 and 33 AD with most people saying 29 AD.. Pretty close considering the questionable dates.
U. That’s so precise why didn’t the Jews figure out that date? Then they wouldn’t have killed Christ. Couldn’t they figure out the date, they must have kept track of the time since the king issued the decree.
B. There is room for confusion. Cyrus issued the first decree in 530 AD so 483 years from that day would be 47 BC. Maybe since nothing happened around that time, the priests and scribes decided they didn’t really know when the Anointed one would come. I just think it interesting that the dates come out anywhere close to Jesus’ time, particularly since the actual dates are so uncertain.
U. That is close. My mind is spinning a little now. Can you review what we have covered today?
B. We started out to see if there were any prophecies which would say when Jesus the Christ was to come. This is what we discussed.
· Daniel’s explanation of the king’s dream told of four kingdoms which would come before the rock broke them all into dust.
o Babylonian -
o Medes and Persian which became Persian
o Alexander the Great’s
o Roman empire which was weakened by civil wars, the last being about 40 BC.
o Jesus’ church came during the Roman Empire and has grown to fill the world. People who believe Jesus was the Son of God probably live in every country and represent the largest religion in the world. There are no world empires today and haven’t been since the Roman Empire.
· We also saw that Isaiah predicted at least 200 years before that Babylonia would capture Jerusalem and carry away temple treasures even while they were just a city under Assyrian rule.
· Jerimiah said the Babylonians would take the Jews away for 70 years.
o That happened about 600 BC
o Babylonia fell in 539 BC
o Cyrus, king of Persia, sent some Jews back to Jerusalem in about 530 BC., or 70 years later.
· The angel Gabriel told Daniel that it would be seven sevens and 62 sevens from the issuing of the decree to rebuild the temple until the Anointed One would be cut off.
o We assumed the sevens meant seven years and calculated that there were 69 sevens or 483 years.
o The decree by Artaxerxes came in about 455 BC so that would mean the Anointed one should have been cut off in 28 AD.
o Considering the inaccuracies of dating anything during these years, we said that was very close, since the date of Jesus’ death is somewhere between 25 and 33 AD.
So what do you think about all this?
U. I’m kind of blown away. I never knew about any of these prophecies and I’m wondering why.
B. They don’t teach this in universities or high school any more. It’s more fashionable to teach godless evolution.
U. You’re much more likely to find them making fun of the Bible. I wish I could get them to see this. I would like to hear their comments
B. You and me both.
U. I feel kinda bad about bring up another question.
B. Don’t. Let’s discuss it. What is it?
U. I just can’t conceive of Jesus being raised from the dead. That must have been a trick his disciples did to make it look that way. Does the Bible address that?
B. It sure does. We’ll look at that next time.
All of these blogs are on http://thinkersdiscuss.weebly.com/blog