When I say prophecy, what do you think of? Edgar Cayce, Jean Dixon, Nostradamus? You may even think of the prophets of the Old Testament, but I doubt you’d think of Daniel. We may not think of him, but Gabriel gave Daniel the most pinpoint accurate prediction ever given to man. Why was Palm Sunday so important? Most do not fully understand what this was all about. It was the day when Jesus proclaimed Himself Messiah the King; according to the prophet Zechariah. Which brings us back to Daniel. Gabriel told Daniel the exact day that Jesus would do this very thing.
In Daniel chapter 9, Gabriel gives him four verses that are key for most end-time studies. We will examine verse 25 more closely. Daniel 9:25 says"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". The idiom for “week” of years was common in Israel. In verse 24, Gabriel tells Daniel, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people…" That would be 490 years. Verse 26 lets us know that there is a break in time between the 69th and 70th week. This is later described in The Book of Revelation as the seven-year period in which the great tribulation is implemented in the second half of it.
This prophecy, although just words, is mathematical in nature. If we want to know the exact date, we simply need to know when the decree to rebuild the city was put forth. Keep in mind that Jewish and Babylonian years were 360 days back then. If you multiply the 69 weeks of years X 360 days you get 173,880 days. On March 14, 445 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus gave the order to rebuild the city. The way you distinguish between this and the rebuilding of the temple is in verse 25, Gabriel says “the street ” and “the wall ”. There were no streets in the temple.
Zechariah 9:9 says "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass". At what point did Jesus fulfill this prophecy and proclaim Himself as King? All throughout His ministry, there were different times where people tried to make Him king. He would often say “My time is not yet come”. However, there was on time when He not only allowed it; He meticulously arranged it. Anytime we fail to see what is going on in the scriptures, the Pharisees always help us out. The crowd laid down palms and sang a quote from Psalm 118:24 "This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it". The Pharisees thought the crowd was blaspheming by claiming that Jesus was the Messiah. They knew that Psalm 118 was a Messianic Psalm.
Jesus fulfilled the prophecy given to Daniel by Gabriel, on April 6, 32 AD. This date is historical and can be verified. If you do the math and account for leap years, it is exactly 173,880 days between March 14, 445 BC and April 6, 32 AD. It is amazing that Gabriel predicted to the very day when Jesus would proclaim Himself Messiah the King. Even more amazing is that it was given to him 800 years in advance. Every detail of the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ, our Messiah!
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