Messiah’s Birth

Sixty three years after Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian and Assyrian forces at Carchemish, and took control of Judah, the combined Medo-Persian forces captured Babylon, and Darius the Mede became the official ruler.  During the first year of his reign, Daniel was studying Jeremiah’s prophecies and realized that Jeremiah had said their captivity would only last seventy years, as Daniel 9:1-2 says.  “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

Realizing the captivity was the result of Judah’s sin, Daniel began to seek the God’s forgiveness for the nation and ask his blessing in Daniel 9:3-19.  “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.  O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.  To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.  Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.  As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.  Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.  O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.  Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.  O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.”

In Psalm 34:18, David stated, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”  Daniel clearly demonstrated a broken heart, and a repentant, contrite attitude or spirit, and God blessed him accordingly, as Daniel 9:20-23 makes very clear.  “And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;  Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.   And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.  At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. “

God doesn’t usually reveal himself to those who are not interested in what he has to say, knowing they won’t pay attention anyway.  He does reveal himself to those who love him, as Jesus said, in John 14:21-23.  “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”  

The proof of our love for him is our obedience.  When we love him enough to obey him he reveals things to us that he doesn’t show the rest of mankind.  Because of Daniel’s love for God, he was given an understanding that most people never received.  The same principle still holds true today.  God doesn’t reveal his secrets to those who do not love him enough to obey.  As a result, many who claim to be Christians have difficulty understanding the scriptures, and especially prophecy.

God then revealed a time frame to Daniel in which he would work especially with Israel, in Daniel 9:24.  “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.”  The Hebrew word for seven is also translated week, as it is in this passage.  God chose Israel as his special people, and he has designated a certain amount of time for dealing with Israel especially.  The way it is translated, the seventy weeks clearly refers to a time period, of seventy sevens or four hundred ninety units of time. 

The Jews had hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah coming, with some dating clear back to Genesis 3, shortly after creation.  Gabriel gave Daniel timeframe for Messiah’s coming, in Daniel 9:25.  “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.”

He described the time as being broken into two parts, seven weeks, and sixty two weeks from the date of the command to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah would come.  The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when compared with the Persian records from Babylon show that the rebuilding of Jerusalem took forty nine years or seven weeks, as described in the prophecy.  Sixty two weeks or four hundred thirty four years after the reconstruction was complete, Messiah would come. 

Traditionally historians have dated Cyrus’ command to rebuild Jerusalem as being around 535 BC, but recently translated records from Babylon place it around 485-495 BC.  That would make the completion of Jerusalem about 436-446 BC, and Messiah’s birth about between 2 BC and 12 BC.  We know our Gregorian calendar is off by at least four years, but we don’t know how much more, nor are we sure exactly how far off our translation of the Persian records may be, since the records are not complete.  There is considerable evidence that Christ was born sometime between 5 BC and 7 BC., fitting neatly into the prophecy as to the date of his coming.  This prophecy explains why the wise men were able to identify what the star that they followed meant.

The prophecy continued, describing the crucifixion of Christ to pay for the sins of the world and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  Daniel 9:26 states, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

From 70 AD until 1948, there was no nation of Israel.  At the end of time there will be a period know as the Tribulation or Great Trouble, when the satanic world empire will rule the world for a period of seven years, led by a person known as the Antichrist.  Daniel 9:27 gives a brief description of that period.  “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” 

Since the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, there have been constant attacks and efforts to destroy it.  During the seven years of Tribulation, the world government will make a treaty with Israel which will be broken half way through the period, and the entire world will attempt to destroy Israel and those who support her, driving the people out of Jerusalem until the Messiah’s return, when that world Government and its leaders will be destroyed.