      Daniels 70 weeks and Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem

   While Daniel is praying, God sends the angel Gabriel to inform him of 
something that he could not have known from Jeremiah's prophecy:  Divine 
judgment upon Israel will not be complete at the end of the 70 years.  
The 490 years of disobedience will be paid for in an additional way.  
That length of time must be endured once more by Israel before the 
Messaih will setup His kingdom.

   Another period of precisely 490 years (70 weeks of years) lies ahead 
for the people of Israel and for Jerusalem before Messiah will ascend to 
David's throne.  It will include "the time of Jacob's trouble     
(Jeremiah 30:7), the climax of God's judgment upon Israel immediately 
preceding the Second Coming. Thus an understanding of these 70 weeks of 
years is essential if we are to gain insight into the timing for the 
Rapture and the Second Coming.

   To interpret this prophecy correctly, we must not forget that the 70 
weeks of years are specifically stated to be "determined upon thy
people (Israel) and upon thy holy city (Jerusalem)."  To attempt to
apply this 490-year period in any other wan that that which is so
plainly stated---to the Church, for example---would do offense both
to the Bible and common sense.

   The Church did not come into existence until 483 of the 490 years
had already passed.  Thus this period of time and this prophecy could
not possibly have applied to the Church.  The end of the 490-year
period would have come a mere seven years into the Church's history had
the last week run its course immediately following completion of the 69
weeks which ended with Christ's prophesied curcifixion.  By that 
recokoning, the 490 years ended  more than 1900 years ago and could have 
no more significance for Israel today than for the Chruch.  The 
matematics seem quite simple.  Yet Christ did not ascend to David's 
throne at His first advent, nor has He returned to do so.  Nor did the 
next seven years following Christ's ascension to heaven see the 
culmination of the prophecies that were to be completed in the last 
week.

   The 490 years could not possibly have ended without the Messaiah 
establishing His millennial kingdom.  If it has ended, then a major
part of Bible prophecy has been proved false.  No Christian can accept
that for a moment; not because our faith in the Bible is blind, but
because we have carefully examined it and know it to be the infallible
Word of God.  There can be no mistakes or failed prophecies.  We must,
therefore, seek another interpretation.

  Inasmuch as the relevant prophecies have not been fulfilled, we can 
only conclude that the 490 years (70 weeks of years), for some reason,
have not yet ended.  Clearly this important prophetic period was 
interrupted after Christ's death so that the last week (of years) has 
yet to run its course.  In face, Daniel does divide the 70 weeks into 
segment: "From the commandment to restore and to build jerusalem unto 
the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two 
weeks...and after threescore and two weeks shall Messaiah be cut off."
The last week of the 70 is left hanging.

ESTABLISHING A PRECISE DATE

   So the 70 weeks are divided as follows: 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 
week.  Why?  The first 7 weeks of years (49) is most likely
distingushed from the rest because it was that exact period of time
(from the beginning of the 70 weeks) until Malachi, in 397B.C.,
penned the last of the Old Testament.  To understand the 62 weeks
(which added to the 7 makes 69) and the one week remaining, it is
necessary to go back to the time when these 70 weeks began.

   Daniel is very specific.  The 70 weeks (490 years) was to be
measured "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem."  So this period begins, not with the rebuilding of
the temple under Zerubbabel, but from the later authorization
Nehemiah received to rebuild Jerusalem.  The Bible itself
establishes for us with exactitude this most important date.

   Nehemiah was in the service of King Artaxerxes in the winter
palace of the Persian monarchs at Shushan.  This was the same place
where Daniel received one of his most important visions (8:2).  The
reconstruction of the temple had been completed about 70 years
before, yet nothing had been done to rebuild the city.  The people
living in its ruins were poor and few in number.  Concerned for his
homeland, Nehemiah asked some friends who had just returned from
Jerusalem how the Jews were faring there.  We pick up the story in
his own words:

   "And I asked them concerning the Jews...and concerning Jerusalem.
And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity
there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall
of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned
with fire.  And when I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and
mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of
heaven" (Nehemiah 1:2-4).

   Nehemiah asked God to give him favor with the king to grant the
request that was on his heart.  That prayer was answered.  He even
tells us when that occurred and thereby gives us the date we need to
apply Daniel's prophecy:

   "And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year
of Artaxerxes the king...I said unto the king, If it please the
king....that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my
fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it...And the king granted me"
(Nehemiah 2:1-8).

   There was more than one Artaxerxes, but only one whose monarchy
exceeded 20 years.  He was Artaxerxes Longimanus and his reign began
in 465 B.C.  That Nehemiah did not specify another day in the month
indicates, as was the custom, that he was referring to Nisan 1,
445 B.C.   Counting 483 years (69 times 7) of 360 days each, the
Hebrew and Babylonian calendar of that time (173,880 days), from
that date brings us exactly to April 6, A.D. 32.  That was the very
day when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem!

   For the investigatio of the facts pertaining to both dates and
for the calculations of the time elapsing between them we are
indebted to Sir Robert Anderson.  The data is given in detail in his
book, The Coming Prince.  As head of the criminal investigation
division of Scotland Yard, Anderson was certainly a man
well-qualified to conduct and accuracte investigation into this
prophecy.

   What an incredible prophecy!  The God who watches over history
declared 500 years in advance not only that a specific event would
occur but that it would happen on a particular day!  Try to imagine
the many related circumstances and happenings which also had to fit
into place!  That Daniel foretold 500 years in advance the precise
day when Christ would make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem has
been fully established.  That amazing fact requires the most
stubborn skeptic to become a believer.  No honest person can deny
the evidence.


Taken from How Close are we?
  Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ
      by Dave Hunt.

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