It Didn't Add Up!
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
In
Daniel 9:25, the prophet Daniel was told that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore Jerusalem "unto the Messiah" would be 69
weeks of years (cf. Gen. 29:27; Lev. 25:8). Frankly, this very specific
prophecy baffled Bible students for many years, for the predicted time
of 483 years (69×7) "unto the Messiah" did not match up with the time of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then,
in his book The Coming Prince, a Bible teacher named Sir Robert
Anderson realized the problem lay in the different ways Jews and
Gentiles mark time. We number our years using a solar calendar wherein
each year has 365 1/4 days, but the Jews used a 360-day lunar calendar,
with each year consisting of 12 months of 30 days each.
Evidence
of this is found in Genesis 7:11, where we read that the deluge began
"in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month," yet exactly "an
hundred and fifty days" later (v. 24), "the ark rested in the seventh
month, on the seventeenth day of the month" (8:3,4). The only way an
exact period of five equal months can end 150 days later on the same day
of the month is if each of those months has 30 days. Further evidence
of this is seen when we remember that the last half of Daniel's
seventieth week is sometimes said to last "forty and two months" (Rev.
11:2), and sometimes it is said to last "a thousand two hundred and
threescore days" (v. 3). The only way 42 equal months can work out to
1260 days is if each of those months has 30 days.
Once Sir Robert recalculated the prophecy using lunar years, he found that the 69 weeks "unto the Messiah" worked out to the very day
the Lord Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem and made an official
presentation of Himself to Israel. No wonder the Lord lamented later
that day, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" (Luke 19:42).
The point? When you are asked why men should trust the God of the Bible, why not give the reason God Himself gives--fulfilled prophecy!
(Isa. 42:8,9; 44:7,8 cf. John 13:19). To those who would tout the gods
of the world's other religions, God says, "Produce your cause…bring
forth your strong reasons…let them bring them forth, and shew us what
shall happen…shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may
know that ye are gods" (Isa. 41:21-24).
The God of the Bible alone is God!
i Kow Whom I Have Believed
The Preserved and Living Word of God
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