Christian reading

Does Jesus fulfill the prophecies about Messiah? (part 2)

Daniel details the time of the coming of the Messiah: «Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself» (Dan 9:24-26).

According to Dan 9:25, «from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven "sevens", and sixty-two "sevens"»: (7+62)*7=483 years. The decree about restoration of Jerusalem was passed by Artaxerxes Longimanus, the king of Persia, around the year of 457 BNE. Adding 483 years (69 "sevens") brings us to 27-28 NE. On the whole, this dating fits well with the testimony of Luke about the time when the ministry of Jesus Christ began «in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar» (Lk 3:1).

(to be continued)