Part I
In Dan 9v20-27 we read that God's dealings with Jerusalem were to cover seventy times seven years, a period of 490 years. “Week,” “shabuwa,” (Strong’s OT:7620) literally means “seven,” either days, or as here, years. These 490 years divide up in the following way.
49 years from the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem, to Jerusalem being built
The following decrees were given to restore either the Temple or Jerusalem.
By Cyrus, in 538 to 536 BC: Ezra 1v1-3, 5v13-17, 2Chron 36v22,23
By Darius the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hystapes: Ezra.6v3-8. The Temple was rebuilt from about 520 to 516 BC.
By Artaxerxes Longimanus, in his 7th year 467 BC: Ezra 7v7,11-26. (There are about fifty years between Ezra 6 and 7.) It appears from Ezra 9v9, that permission was given to Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem's wall and city.
By Artaxerxes Longimanus, in his 20th Year 454 BC:
It was not until 13 years after Ezra set out for Jerusalem, that the actual rebuilding took place, when Artaxerxes Longimanus in his 20th. year, 454 BC, commanded Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls. Neh 2v1-8. The wall itself was quickly rebuilt in 52 days, Neh 6v15, but it was doubtless made more secure over the years, for the prophecy of Dan 9v25, suggests that it took 49 years for all the rebuilding of the city and wall to be finished. Usher, after 37 years of study, dates the accession of Artaxerxes as the year 474 BC, and the date of 454 BC, for the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem in Neh 2v1-8.
434 years from the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem to the death of Jesus. Dan 9v24-26
Christ was “cut off, but not for Himself,” His death was “to make reconciliation for iniquity,” Christ was to die to bring in the New Covenant and make salvation available for all who would receive Him. Heb 7v22-28, 9v11 to 10v39, 1John 2v1,2, 5v9-13. God showed Daniel that the coming of the Messiah was over 500 years away. It was this prophecy of Daniel that made godly Simeon, praying Anna, and many others expect the coming of the Messiah in their day. Luke 2v25-38.
S. P. Tregelles and Ussher say that Jesus died in 29 AD. However, the following Jewish calendars give considerable force to the viewpoint that the Lord Jesus was crucified in 30 AD. In 30 AD the first day of Passover Feast was on Thursday April 6th, Nisan 15th, and the last day of the Passover Feast was on Wednesday April 12th, Nisan 21. Whereas, according to the calendar of 29 AD, the first day of the Passover Feast was on Saturday April 17th, Nisan 15th, and the last day of the Passover Feast was on Sunday April 23rd, Nisan 21st. The crucifixion was most certainly in 30 AD, on Thursday, April 6th., Nisan 15th, not on Friday, for according to Matt 12v40Jesus was raised from the dead “after three days and three nights.” See “the third day,” “after three days,” etc., in Matt 16v4,21, 17v23, 20v19, 27v40,63,64, Mark 8v31, 10v34, John 2v19, 19v42, 1Cor 15v4, Eph 4v9,10. Jesus was raised from the dead in the night of the third day. Christ’s enemies, sadly, unlike Christ’s disciples, remembered well that Jesus promised that He would be raised from the dead on the third day.
So we can see that there was a quite remarkable literal fulfilment of the first part of the prophecy of Dan 9v20-27; and in Matt 24v15-31 the Lord Jesus tells us that there will be a literal fulfilment of the prophecy of Dan 9v27, and that this will be clearly seen by all. Matt 24v32,33. Paul reminds the Thessalonian Christians of this fact in 2Thess 2v1-5. The desecration of the holy of holies at Jerusalem by Antichrist will inform us that the second coming of Christ and the millennial kingdom is only 3½ years away. Christ said that the day and hour of His coming was only known by the Father, but He definitely tells us that we shall know the week of His coming by Daniel's prophecy, and that when the signs He gave come to pass, His coming will be “near, even at the doors.” Matt 24v33,36. The Jews should have known by the prophecy of Daniel the year that Christ was to die, and as soon as the treaty is signed we shall know the year of Christ's second coming. Oswald J Smith writes about this, “we shall be able to say, “Thank God the hour has struck. Within seven years at the longest Jesus will return to reign.”
Part II
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