173880 DAYS

173880 Days

 

 

483 years from the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. From the decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in 487 BC brings you to the very day in which Christ was presented publicly to the nation. He rode in on the donkey and palm-branches were laid down. (Matt. 21:8-9)

"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."

"And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strowed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest."

By 537b.c. Daniel realizes that Jeremiah's prophecy about a 70 year captivity (Jer 25:11) was nearly complete, so Daniel prays for the Jew's Divine release and Gabriel brings him the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 which reveals the rest of Jewish history and predicts Messiah's first coming.
 See Neh 2:1-8 The 20th year of Artaxerxes, the first day of the month of Nisan, March 4, 445 BC when he commanded that Jerusalem be rebuilt.
 These are Gabriel's words to Daniel. These are to happen in the next 70 weeks. Daniel's prophecy of the seventy 'sevens' (weeks) (vv. 24-27) provides the chronological frame for Messianic prediction from Daniel to the establishment of the kingdom on earth and also a key to its interpretation. Its main features are as follows:
(1) The entire prophecy is concerned primarily with Daniel's "people" and their "holy city" - i.e. Israel and Jerusalem.
(2) Two princes are mentioned; the first is named "the Anointed One, the ruler" (i.e. Messiah, the Prince) (v. 25); the second is described as "the ruler who will come" (v. 26), a reference to the little horn of ch. 7:8, whose "people" would destroy the rebuilt Jerusalem after the cutting off of the Messianic Prince (v. 26).
(3) The "seventy-sevens" of the prophecy are weeks of years, an important sabbatical time-measure in the Jewish calendar. Violation of the command to observe the sabbatical year brought the judgment of the Babylonian captivity and determined its length of seventy years. Cp. Lev 25:1 - 22; 26:33 - 35; 2 Chr 36:19 - 21; Dan 9:2. Compare also Gen 29:26-28 for use of "week" to indicate seven years.
(4) These 490 prophetic years are each 360 days long. This is proved by the Biblical references to the seventieth week of seven years, which is divided into two halves (v. 27), the latter half being variously designated as "a time, times, and half a time" (Dan 7:25; cp. Rev 12:14); forty-two months (Rev 11:2; 13:5); or 1260 days (Rev 11:3; 12:6). In this connection it should be remembered that, in the grand sweep of prophecy, prophetic time is invariably so near as to give full warning, so indeterminate as to give no satisfaction to mere curiosity (cp. Mat 24:36; Acts 1:7).
(5) The beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed as "the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" and its wall (v. 25). The only decree in Scripture authorizing the rebuilding of the city and its wall is recorded in Neh 2:1-8; dated in "the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes" (i.e. March 14, 445 B.C.), it is well attested in ancient history. From this date as a beginning, the first sixty-nine weeks reach to "the Anointed One, the ruler."
(6) At a later time, after the "sixty-two 'sevens' " which follow the first "seven weeks" (i.e. after sixty-nine weeks), two important events will take place: (1) Messiah will be "cut off " and will have none of His regal rights ("will have nothing"). And (2) the rebuilt city and sanctuary will again be destroyed, this time by "the people" of another "ruler" who is yet to come. It is generally agreed that these two events were fulfilled in the death of Christ (A.D. 29) and the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70. Both events are placed before the seventieth week of v. 27. Hence a period of at least forty-one years between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem must intervene between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks.
(7) The main events of the final "one 'seven' " (v. 27) are as follows: (1) There is a seven-year "covenant" made by the future Roman prince (the "little horn" of 7:8) with the Jews. (2) In the middle of the week there is a forcible interruption of the Jewish ritual of worship by the Roman prince who introduces "abomination" that renders the sanctuary desolate. (3) At the same time he launches persecution against the Jews. And (4) the end of the seventieth week brings judgment upon the desolator and also brings "everlasting righteousness" (v. 24 - i.e. the blessings of the Messianic kingdom).
The proof that this final week has not yet been fulfilled is seen in the fact that Christ definitely relates its main events to His second coming (Mat 24:6, 15). Hence, during the interim between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks there must lie the whole period of the Church set forth in the N.T. but not revealed in the O.T. The interpretation which assigns the last of the seventy weeks to the end of the age is found in the Church Fathers. When this seventieth week was referred to during the first two and one-half centuries of the Christian Church, it was almost always assigned to the end of the age. Irenaeus places the appearance of Antichrist at the end of the age in the last week; in fact, he asserts that the time of Antichrist's tyranny will last just one-half of the week, three years and six months. So likewise Hippolytus states that Daniel "indicates the showing forth of the seven years which shall be in the last times."