Fulfilled Prophecy a Potent Argument for the Bible 77
it may mean “years.” What then is meant here, seventy times seven days or seventy times seven years? I t is evident that the “sevens” mean year weeks, seven years to each prophetic week. Daniel was occupied in reading the books and in prayer with the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity. And now Gabriel is going to reveal to him something which will take place in “seventy sevens,” which means seventy times seven years. The proof that such is the case is furnished by the fulfillment of the prophecy itself. First we notice in the prophecy that these 70 year-weeks are divided in three parts. Seven times seven (49 years) are to go by till the commanded rebuilding and restoration of Jerusalem should be accomplished. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem. I t was in the year 445 B. C., exactly 49 years after the wall of Jerusalem and the city had been rebuilt. Then 62 weeks are given as the time when Messiah should be cut off and have nothing. This gives us 434 years (62 times 7). Here is a prediction concerning the death of Christ. Has it been ful filled? Chronology shows that exactly 483 years after Arta xerxes gave the command to restore Jerusalem (445 B. C.), 434 years after the city had been restored, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ took place. To be more exact, on the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem for the last time, the number of years announced by Gabriel expired and the Lord was crucified that week. The proof of it is perfect. But there is more to be said. As a result of the cutting off of Messiah something else is prophesied. “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” The prince that is to come (and is yet to come) is the little horn of Dan. 7. He arises out of the Roman Empire. The people of the prince that shall come are there fore the Roman people. They have fulfilled this prophecy by destroying the temple and the city.
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