THE BIBLICAL TIMELINE

THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL 9

On January 10 we saw that the secular data eliminated A.D. 36 for the crucifixion and left us with 1 April 33. We now wish to show that Scrip- ture, i.e., the seventy weeks of Daniel 9, backs up our choice of 33:
²⁴Seventy weeks (shābûa, translated nineteen times as "week" and once as "seven") are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make re- conciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. ²⁵Know 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 (shābûa) and threescore and two weeks (shābûa): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. ²⁶And after threescore and two weeks (shābûa) 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. ²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (shābûa): and in the midst of the week (shābûa) 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 (Daniel 9:24-27).

To reconcile these verses with our timeline we have to figure out when this commandment was given to restore and to build Jerusalem (in verse 25). The date begins the seven weeks (or sevens) and threescore and two weeks (or sevens) unto the Messiah the Prince. We then have a week added in verse 27 for a total of 70 (= 7 + 60 + 2 + 1) weeks (or sevens).

The Messiah of course is Christ; so we suspect this 70 weeks ends at some significant date in respect to Him. If we ask when did Jesus finish the transgression, and…make an end of sins, and…make reconciliation for iniquity (in Daniel 9:24), we know this verse refers to the cross. At that time He showed how he paid for the sins of the elect and cause(d)  the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. All previous animal sacrifices couldn't save anyone; they only pointed to the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The cross made any further sacrifices unnec- essary (see Colossians 2:16). We explain this closure more fully on Jan- uary 21.

If we were to take Daniel 9:24-27 literally and consult our Biblical cal- endar, we would find two possible dates for rebuilding the city (if that's how we are to understand the phrase, to restore and to build Jerusalem in Daniel 9)

10474….The Jews return to Jerusalem
               to rebuild the temple….....…............……537
10568….Artaxerxes I grants Nehemiah permission
               to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall.…445

We see from our Biblical calendar that in B.C. 537 the Jews begin to re- build. In Ezra 1 Cyrus commands the Hebrews to ³…go up to Jerusa- lem…and build the house of the LORD…in Jerusalem. ⁴And…let the men…help him with silver, and…gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God…in Jerusalem (Ezra 1; see December 15). So we have here in Ezra 1 a commandment to build the house of the LORD…in Jerusalem that seems to satisfy the com- mandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (of Daniel 9:25).

To check if B.C. 537 might possibly satisfy Daniel 9:25, we look at the number of years between B.C. 537, and the crucifixion—either A.D. 33 or A.D. 36—to see if they somehow relate to the 70 weeks (or sevens).

We have, |-537 – 33| – 1 = |-570| –1 = 569 and
we have,  |-537 – 36| – 1 = |-573| – 1 = 572

(For an explanation of the arithmetic here see December 8.)

The number 569, a prime number (i.e., it's divisible only by itself and 1), doesn't have anything to do with 70—or for that matter anything else.

The number 572 = 2 x 2 x 11 x 13 appears to contain significant (para- bolic) factorization that would have metaphoric meaning in other circum- stances, but it still doesn't have anything to do with the seventy-weeks or sevens of Daniel 9. If A.D. 37 is not the correct date for the crucifixion—and it's not—then these factors of 572 leave us only with a meaningless coincidence. 

We can also look at the inclusive numbers: 573 = 3 x 191 and 570 = 10 x 57 = 2 x 5 x 57. The Bible uses the numbers 2, 3, 5, and 10 to signify spiritual content; but in no way do the numbers 57, 570 or 191 have anything to do with the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 or anything else. We can now reject B.C. 537 as a year that might satisfy Daniel 9:25.

The next possible date from our Biblical calendar is B.C. 445, when Ne- hemiah, cup bearer to the king, Artaxerxes, gets permission to return to Judah and begin rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. But note that Daniel 9:25 reads,...from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince. Neither the king nor anyone else commanded Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem. Nehemiah sought per- mission and Artaxerxes granted him leave (Nehemiah 2:5-6; see De- cember 15). Therefore we have to reject B.C. 445 as a date for satisfying Daniel 9.

We now appear at a dead end. Indeed, many previous theologians couldn't reconcile Daniel 9 with anything. But instead of noting the dif- ference between a date and the crucifixion, then trying to relate that to the 70 weeks, we recall that the transliteration shābûa can mean sevens as well as weeks. The Bible is its own dictionary (Corollary 3c; see June 11) and Ezekiel 45:21 defines shābûa as seven: ²¹In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven (shābûa) days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Since seventy sevens (rather than seventy weeks) is 490, we first look at, |a – 36| – 1= 490 → a = -455. When we check our Biblical calendar we find no significant event occurring in B.C. 445 and have no way of satisfying Daniel 9:25.

So we look at |a – 33| – 1= 490 → a = -458 and wonder what's with -458. From December 15 and our calendar we get,

10555….Artaxerxes 1 commands Ezra to return to

reestablish the law in Jerusalem...458
             

Interesting. Note that we have a command that could refer to that in Dan- iel 9: ²⁵…from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. We find this commandment in Ezra 7: ¹²Artaxerxes…unto Ezra…¹³I make a decree, that all they of…Israel…which…of their own freewill to go…to Jerusalem, go with thee…^14…23Whatsoever is commanded by…God…let it be… done for the house of…God…²⁶And whosoever will not do the law of…God, and the law of the king, let judg- ment be executed…upon him, whether…death, … banishment…con-fiscation of goods, or…imprisonment.

Some readers may object that Ezra didn't go to Jerusalem to rebuild any- thing; rather he returned to reestablish the law. But Scripture is para- bolic (see June 14); rebuilding the wall represents constructing God's eternal church (Matthew 16:18). By bringing God's law, the Gospel, to Jerusalem the elect hear the Word and, according to Romans 10:17, become saved to make up the temple of God in Revelation 11:2. We ex- pand this metaphor on January 14. For now we can scratch out 36 as the year of the cross and accept A.D. 33. As we showed on January 10, 3793 Nisan 14 converts to 1 April 33 for the crucifixion.

Leviticus 23 regards the feast of Pentecost: ¹⁶Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Fifty days after the Sabbath following the cross puts us on May 22, 33 for the first Pentecostal Sunday (= 28 (days in April) + 21 (days in May) and one more day to make 50).

Though we havn't figured out much of Daniel 9:24-27, we still have its confirmation for the crucifixion on 1 April 33 and the first Pentecost on May 22, 33. But we still need to show how the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25) equates with reestablish(ing) the law in Jerusalem. On January 14 we look at two definitions of Jerusalem in Galatians 4:24-26.

THE TWO JERUSALEMS

On December 15 we saw that in B.C. 458 Ezra went to Jerusalem to re- establish God's law. On January 12 we discovered that the interval be- tween Ezra reestablishing the law in Jerusalem and the cross satisfies the seven sevens of Daniel 9: i.e., the interval from B.C. 458 to A.D. 33 is 490 years. In B.C. 458 and Daniel 9:25 we have the king's commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, which reminded us of B.C. 537 and B.C. 445, when Nehemiah went to rebuild the physical wall. In order to reconcile Daniel 9:25 with B.C. 458 we eventually want to equate reestablishing the law in Jerusalem with the king's commandment in Daniel 9:25 to build Jerusalem.

Since 458 concerns us rather than 537 or 445, we should inquire as to what Daniel 9:25 means by the term, Jerusalem? It makes little sense that God would place much importance on the physical temple that Rome destroyed anyway in A.D. 70. So rebuilding the wall must only represent something God does consider important.

When we search Scripture for definitions of Jerusalem we come to Gala- tians 4:24-26. While Galatians 4:26 defines Jerusalem as the elect, Gala- tians 4:24-25 defines Jerusalem as the non-elect: ²⁴Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar (Abram's second wife). ²⁵For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

On Mount Sinai God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. This law, the whole Bible, gendereth to bondage because we can't obey it perfectly to become saved. The law finds us guilty (without it there's no transgres- sion). For ²³…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Ro- mans 3). So we're entirely under God's mercy.

We can obey to a limited extent. Man doesn't suffer total depravity, as taught in some denominational doctrines. Even the Pharisees, whom Christ condemned, left the room, conscience-stricken and tails between their legs, when Jesus told them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (the adulterous woman in John 8:7-9).

But no one can keep the law perfectly; and God demands perfection: ¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2). Besides, all obedience to God's law is a work that we do; and we can't become saved by any work: ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith (i.e., the faith of Christ—not our faith); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2). Galatians 2:16 says it all: ¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And believing is a work as defined in 1 Thessaloni- ans 1: ³Remembering without ceasing your work of faith.

This Jerusalem that is in bondage with her children defines those whom God does not save from sin and death (because ²³…the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)). Consequently the covenant…from…mount Sinai (God's law, the Bible) condemns this Jerusalem to execution. We read of this Jerusalem in Matthew 23: ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chick- ens under her wings, and ye would not. Here God talks to the unsaved, not just that ancient city by the Mediterranean.

Now we'll look at another Jerusalem defined in Galatians 4:26—those whom God does save (by Christ paying the penalty for sin in their place before the foundation of the world). ²⁶But Jerusalem which is above is free… i.e., free from God's law that condemns the unsaved to death.

We read of this latter Jerusalem in Revelation 3: ¹²Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God (the temple of…God: the saved) and…the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh…out of heaven… And again in Revelation 21: ²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (which is Christ). So this latter Jerusalem (the bride of Christ) represents the elect whom God saves. As with any metaphor, the content tells us which Jerusalem Scrip- ture refers to.

In noting how these verses define Jerusalem and the elect as a bride (of Christ), we can see how the Bible develops its parabolic language. The unsaved are married to the law of God, which condemns them to death for spiritual adultery (sin). But when God saves someone, that person in effect dies (with Christ) to the law and therefore in principle becomes free to become married to Christ. That's why in Romans 7: ²…the woman which hath an husband (i.e., is married to the law) is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband…. Wherefore…ye (the elect) also are be- come dead to the law by the body of Christ (in principle the elect die along with Christ on the cross); that ye should be married to another, even to him (Christ) who is raised from the dead… So we can see why God does not permit divorce for any reason; only the death of a spouse can end a marriage.

Looking again at Daniel 9:25: the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem equates with reestablishing the law in Jerusalem once we de- fine the Jerusalem in Daniel 9:25 with that of Galatians 4:26; i.e., all the elect. That 458 satisfies the 490 years to the cross makes sense in that Ezra typifies Christ in bringing the Gospel, allegorized by rebuilding the physical temple (in 537 and 445) that represents the elect. God concerns Himself not with the actual physical Jerusalem but with His salvation program. We expand this theme on January 17.

TO BUILD JERUSALEM IS TO REESTABLISH THE LAW

On January 12 we looked at Daniel 9 to show how Scripture backs up A.D. 33 as the year of the crucifixion. In verse 25 we read, ²⁵Know 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 (shābûa, sevens) and threescore and two weeks (shābûa): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

We determined that shābûa means seven; and the period from 458, when Ezra brought the law to Jerusalem, to the cross in A.D. 33, satisfies the seventy sevens of Daniel 9; i.e., the 490 years. That equivalence posed the issue on January 14 of how to equate reestablishing the law in Jeru- salem with the king's commandment in Daniel 9:25 to build Jerusalem. But first we needed to know what we were talking about; i.e., what Daniel 9:25 meant by Jerusalem.

On January 14 we saw that Galatians 4:24-26 defines two concepts of Jerusalem: the elect and the non elect. Therefore Daniel 9:25 must refer to the former, since it'd make no sense for Ezra to bring the Gospel to the latter. In conclusion we speculated that Ezra typifies Christ bringing the Gospel to the elect, and rebuilding the physical temple in 537 and 445 allegorizes Ezra's mission. Therefore, for the sake of a coherent picture, we surmised that the physical temple represents the elect. We now must back up our speculation with Scriptural evidence; i.e., that the physical temple does indeed refer to those God saves from spiritual death.

In John 2 Christ ²¹…spake of the temple of his body and in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul asks, ¹⁶Know ye (the elect) not that ye are the temple of God… By comparing John 2:21 and 1 Corinthians 3:16, we can define those whom God has saved as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Scrip- ture uses this metaphor in Romans 7:4, 1 Corinthians 10:16, and Ephe- sians 4:12. So we can define those whom God saves as the new Jerusalem or the body of Christ or the temple of his body. And 1 Corinthians 3 re- fers to them as ⁹…God's building.

As we saw on June 30, God refers to the saved as "precious stones:" and in 1 Peter 2: ⁵Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. Ephesians 2 refers to them as building blocks in the temple of God. ²⁰...(the saved) are built upon the foundation of the apostles and proph- ets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (the apostles and prophets don't make up the foundation; Christ does, as in 1 Corinthians 3: ¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:20 simply says that the salvation of the elect is the same as that for the apostles; i.e., there's only one baptism and one salva- tion plan.) To continue Ephesians 2: ²¹In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Building the physical temple over there by the Mediterranean twenty-five hundred years ago represents Christ building the temple of his body by saving His elect. Besides going to the cross, Christ built this holy city by bringing the Gospel to the world via the churches because ¹⁷…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10). In Ezra 7: ¹⁰…Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Therefore Ezra, as a picture of Christ, came to restore and to build Jerusalem (God's elect) be- cause he went there…to reestablish the law….

In Ezra 9 rebuilding the city compares to set(ting) up the house of…God…, i.e., the body of Christ. ⁹For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us…to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the deso- lations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

We can equate Ezra bringing the law to Jerusalem with building the body of Christ or Christ building the temple (of the elect) that the physical Je- rusalem represents. That's why in Isaiah 60:14 we read, ¹⁴…they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. And Isaiah 62:12 reads, ¹²And they shall call them, The holy people, The re- deemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

And in Acts 15: ¹⁶After this I will return, and will build again the taberna- cle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins there- of, and I will set it up. Here God builds the tabernacle of David, His elect, during a different time period than that of Ezra.

We conclude that in bringing the Gospel Ezra typifies Christ saving His elect. Rebuilding the physical temple in 537 and 445 allegorizes this sal- vation of those the temple represents. Daniel 9:25 uses the phrase, to re- store and to build Jerusalem, as a picture of the Lord's Gospel plan. The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem equates with reestab- lishing the law

When we skip ahead fourteen years (458 – 444), they dedicate the temple and ²…Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation…upon the first day of the seventh month (Nehemiah 8). The first day of the seventh month (Tishri) is a Jubilee day in a Jubilee month, the same one in which the Jews honor the feast of harvest (from the 15^th to the 22^nd). The seventh month ties in with the rapture of the elect and ending of the world. We look at the Jubilee more closely on January 19.

As we'd expect with Divinity, everything in Scripture interconnects. The 7^th month relates to the completion of the temple and the final harvest at the end of the year, not just agriculturally speaking, but with the harvest of God's elect, i.e., the body of Christ, and the consummation of God's plan for creating the world. In Exodus 23: ¹⁶…the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

The dedication of the temple in the seventh month represents the final harvest of the elect defined as the end of the year. The temple's comple- tion points to the ending of God's salvation program. Therefore they com- plete the temple in the 7^th month (September/October) and, as we'll see, God ends the world on the last day of the feast of harvest. On January 19 we continue on with Daniel 9.