( Matthew Chapter 24, Verse 15)
” When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) ”
Chapters 8-12 of the Book of Daniel deal with this subject inclusively. These chapters are used to foretell the first coming of Christ as well as the second and thus are very important in proving the legitimacy of Christ’s claim as the Messiah of His age.
In these chapters Daniel prophesies that from the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the time the Messiah shall be cut off (crucified) there are appointed 70 weeks (490 years).Daniel Chapter 9, Verse 24-27” 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Simple Math: 70 weeks = 72 weeks = 490 days
Or,
7 Weeks + 60 Weeks (threescore) + 2 Weeks + 1 Week = 70 Weeks = 490 Days Determining when the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued can thus arrive at the first appearance of the Messiah. History shows that three different Persian kings issued a total of four decrees.
Cyrus issued the first in 536 BCE but it was not fulfilled (1st chapter of Ezra).
Darius issued a second in the year 519 BCE. The Temple was rebuilt under this decree but not the city.
Artaxerxes issued a decree in 457 BCE (7th chapter of Ezra) and reissued the same decree in 444 BCE, which was finally fulfilled (2nd chapter of Nehemiah). Biblical scholars regarded the first decree of Artaxerxes as being the decree, which fulfilled the prophecy - the second decree merely extended the validity of the first. Four hundred ninety years subtracted from 457 BCE gives a date of 33 CE, for the year in which the Messiah would be ‘cut off’. 33 CE is the traditional year in which Christ was crucified.
Now, according to the Gospels, His birth took place before the death of Herod. Many historians calculated the death of Herod to have taken place in the month of April in the year 4B.C. Some said it was the year 5, some 6, some as early as the year 8 B.C. Therefore, some of these scholars maintained that Christ was only 28 or less at the time of His death.
The fulfillment of the second half of Daniel’s prophesy was to come about at the end of the ‘abomination of desolation’. Daniel Chapter 8, Verse 13-14 says, "How long shall the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the abomination of desolation, to give the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The Messiah would return and restore the faith of man at the end of 2,300 years.
Taking the same basis as used for computing the time of the first coming, the second can be determined. Since the year 1 BCE and 1 CE are essentially the same (the dividing point is the day of the Birth of Christ - the day before is BCE and the Birthdate is CE) the subtraction of 456 (Artaxerxes’ first decree to rebuilt Jerusalem) and 2300 (Daniel’s 2,300 days) leaves 1844 as the year of the return. The first promise was fulfilled by the year 1844. The second promise was fulfilled in the year 1844 and the third was to be fulfilled in the year 1844. As another example of the exactitude of God’s prophesies the first decree of Artaxerxes was signed on the 1st of Nisan in 457 BCE and the Edit of Toleration of the Sultan of Turkey was issued on the 1st of Nisan in 1844 CE, 2,300 years to the day.
