Saturday, September 17, 2016

Calculating Gabriel's Formula of 483 Years - Time of Messiah's Arrival

Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. After those 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. (Daniel 9:25-26a HCSB)

The decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
There are four decrees to consider:
  1. The decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-4);
  2. The decree of Darius I to rebuild the temple (Ezra 6:1-12);
  3. The decree of Artaxerxes I to rebuild the temple (Ezra 7:12-26);
  4. The decree of Artaxerxes II to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8).
Coming of Messiah the Prince
How to define the arrival of the Messiah?
  1. Date of birth (Matthew 1:25, Luke 2:6-7);
  2. Date of baptism, filling by the Holy Spirit and commencement of His ministry;
  3. Date of the Messiah's entry into Jerusalem
  4. Date of His crucifixion (cut off).
Calculating Gabriel's Formula
According to this blog "Reasons To Believe : Was Jesus’s Arrival Accurately Predicted in the Bible?" from the day Artaxerxes issued his decree mentioned in Nehemiah 2:1-8 to the day of Jesus's humble entry as Messiah on a donkey at Jerusalem would be 483 years.

QUOTE
Now we're ready to do some math to determine if Gabriel did in fact predict Jesus's arrival. We'll start by determining how many days are in 483 lunar years: 360 x 483 = 173,880 days. Next, we'll convert those days back into solar years: 173,880 ÷ 365.2422 = 476.068 years. After converting the decimal part (0.068) to days (0.068 x 365.2422 = 24.8 days), the time prophesized for the Messiah to arrive comes out to be 476 years and 25 days.

Adding this number to March 5, 444 BC - the date on which the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued - brings us to March 30, AD 33, the very day of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Is this match not remarkable? The remarkable accuracy of the predictions in the prophecy in Daniel [assuming the estimates are correctly interpreted and accurate] supports the truth of the prophecy, which in turn builds confidence in the authority and reliability of the Bible.
UNQUOTE

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