Roman soldiers brought back a Menorah and other holy relics from the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
By David Cook
The Mäshiach had to come before 70 AD. Let me explain why. In the Tanakh we read prophecies about the suffering, death and resurrection of Yeshua our Lord; the promised Mäshiach. [1] In Daniel chapter 9 we read about important events that were predetermined in heaven for the benefit of the Jewish People;
Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Daniel 9:24 HSV
The angel Gabriel brought an important communique from heaven to Daniel, foretelling that sin would be atoned for in the future and that everlasting righteousness is available for those who have faith like Abraham. Gabriel prophesied that the Mäshiach would make an end of sin and finish transgression, and be put to death. Yeshua our Savior redeemed us from the debt of our sin with His own blood. The prophet Isaiah wrote extensively of the suffering and crucifixion of God’s Righteous Servant, Yeshua the promised Mäshiach in Isaiah chapter 53. Gabriel gives Daniel these significant points in Daniel chapter 9 verse 24;
To finish transgression.
To make an end of sin.
To atone for iniquity.
To bring in everlasting righteousness.
To seal up the vision.
To seal up prophecy.
To anoint the most Holy.
Then Gabriel explained that a decree would be made to restore and rebuild Jerusalem;
Therefore know and understand that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Yerushalayim until the Mäshiach Prince there will be seven ‘sevens’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’. The streets will be rebuilt, and the wall, despite treacherous times. Daniel 9:25 HSV
From the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Mashiach comes there will be a certain period of time. The period of time is given in weeks of years, similar to a decade only in seven year periods. There will be seven ‘sevens’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’, for a total of sixty-nine ‘sevens’. Sixty-nine ‘sevens’ or sixty nine weeks of years is equal to 483 years. So after the decree is issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there will be 483 years and then the Mäshiach will come.
From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC by Artaxerxes Longimanus until Yeshua arrived and was presented in Jerusalem riding on a donkey as the Messianic King on April 6, 32 AD. This is celebrated by believers of Yeshua the Messiah on Palm Sunday. We discover that when we calculate 69 weeks of years (or 483 years and correct for leap years) it figures out to be 173,880 days to the day. [2]
How is this possible, to announce the coming of the Anointed One, the Lord’s Mäshiach, the King of Zion; almost five centuries before the historical event transpires in precise detail? The Tanakh is an amazing collection of books, our awesome God orchestrated it. YHVH our Elohim is omniscient, the future is as clear to Him as the present and the past; He knows the beginning from the end.
After sixty-two ‘sevens’ the Mäshiach will be put to death, and will have nothing. The people of the prince that will come, will destroy the city and the temple. The end will come with a flood. War and desolation are determined until the end. Daniel 9:26 HSV
So after the sixty-two ‘sevens’ and the before mentioned seven ‘seven’s (483 years) the Mäshiach will be put to death. Then the people of a future prince will come and destroy the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. YHVH Elohim sent Gabriel to tell His people that an Anointed Prince, who is the promised Mäshiach must come, atone for sin and be put to death before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. The destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple occurred in 70 AD, during the siege of Jerusalem; when the Roman legions fought under Titus Vespasian and the Roman army leveled the city. The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the catastrophic and crucial event of the First Jewish-Roman War. [3] The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus and Tiberius Julius Alexander second-in-command, along with the enlisted soldier legionnaires in Judaea, conscripted provincial soldiers from Syria, other soldiers from Alexandria and in collaboration they besieged, destroyed and conquered the city of Jerusalem. [4]
Josephus wrote that “Vespasian sent his son Titus [who], came by land into Syria, where he gathered together Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood.” [5] Josephus goes on to give us these details; “Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horseman, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well as horsemen and footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand.” [6]
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman senator and historian. He wrote extensively on the history, of this period of the Roman empire. Tacitus includes the Roman attack on Jerusalem and gives details of the specific legions and the peoples that comprised the attacking army: “Titus Caesar . . . found in Judaea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th . . . To these he added the 12th from Syria, and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, who he had withdrawn from Alexandria. This force was accompanied . . . by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the usual hatred of neighbors.” [7]
The siege ended with the sacking of the city and the destruction of the Second Temple. The destruction of both the first and second temples is mourned each year at the Jewish fast Tisha B’Av. The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem and the Temple, still stands in Rome. The Arch of Titus, was built in 82 AD by his younger brother Emperor Domitian to commemorate Emperor Titus’ victories, including in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Photo by J. E. Howard, “The Arch of Titus”; built in 82 AD to commemorate Emperor Titus’ victories; including in the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The Jewish People Did Not Recognize the Visitation of the Mäshiach
Tragically, most of the Jewish people did not recognize the time of their visitation by Yeshua the Mäshiach, God’s promised Messianic King. As the Mäshiach King approached Jerusalem, He wept over the city and He gave the reason why the city of Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed as predicted by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:26;
41When He approached Jerusalem,
He saw the city and wept over it,
42saying, “If you had known in this day,
even you, the things which make for peace!
But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43″For the days will come upon you
when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you,
and surround you and hem you in on every side,
44and they will level you to the ground
and your children within you,
and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-44 NASB
Both God’s envoy the angel Gabriel and Yeshua the Son of God, the promised Mäshiach prophesied the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. In the Bible we see both the severity of God’s judgment and the mercy and love of our Father who is in heaven. Yeshua the Mäshiach explained God’s plan for our redemption and salvation, and how to receive eternal life.
14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:14-18 NASB
In the fullness of times, Mäshiach did come and was presented as King in Jerusalem. In the Gospel of John we read how God blesses all those who believe in and receive His Son, Yeshua the promised Mäshiach.
11He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name,
13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:11-13 NASB
In the book of Daniel 9:26 we read how God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel in response to his fasting, repentance and contrite prayer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Gabriel told Daniel that the Mäshiach will come and be put to death before the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the city of Jerusalem. We know from history that the siege of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus happened in 70 AD; and this is when the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed. So the Mäshiach had to come before 70 AD. Why then are so many Jewish people still looking for the coming of the Mäshiach?
Is it because they put more faith in the oral traditions of the Talmud taught to them by the rabbinic community; rather than the Word of YHVH Elohim in the Tankh?
[1] Suffering of the Mäshiach, Isaiah chapter 53, Psalm 22:1-24; death of the Mäshiach in Daniel 9:26, Isaiah 53:8-9, resurrection of the Mäshiach Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53:10-12.
[2] Missler, Chuck, “Daniel’s 70 Weeks”, Koinonia House, 2004. (Also, the recording of “Expositional Commentary on Daniel”)
When thinking about Moshiach, Jewish people generally find the idea of the Messiah both suffering and also achieving glory, hard to cope with. If he suffers he can’t be Moshiach, he must have failed! But is this really the case?
As Hannukah ended, and with Christmas approaching, I was reading about Jacob and Esau in the Torah. I reached Genesis 35:16-20, about what Jacob did after escaping from Esau and then returning to Bethel, heading towards Eprath:
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni [Son of Sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [Son at my Right Hand]. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Genesis 35:16-20 ESV
Interestingly, on the way to Bethlehem, a son is born, who is named Son of Sorrow, but is renamed by the father as “Son at my Right Hand.” Isaiah 53 speaks of a “man of sorrows” acquainted with grief, yet later on in the chapter we are told that God will give him a portion among the great. Elsewhere, Psalm 2 promises the future king of Israel and Son of God that he will sit at God’s right hand.
Here early on in Genesis, we see a fusion of these ideas already, before Isaiah and David are even alive!
At this place, on the way to Bethlehem, death gave way to life. The death of Rachel facilitated the life of Benjamin. In a way, we can think of Yeshua, who had to die to bring us life.
The prophet Micah (verse 5:2) tells us that a ruler will come out of Bethlehem Ephrath, though the place is “small among the tribes of Judah.” This ruler will be “from eternity”:
This ruler, Yeshua, would eventually be the Son at God’s Right Hand. Like Benjamin, He was also a Son of Sorrows, and also to be born in Bethlehem. He would be renamed, in effect, also by his father, “Son at the Right Hand.”
So there you go, if you were wondering how Moshiach could both suffer and be glorified, and also be born in Bethlehem, well – your answer is already in the Torah!
God gave His people the Tanakh, made up of the Torah, known as “the Law”; the five foundation books written by Moses, and the Neviim and Treisar, known as “the Prophets”; the prophetic writings of the major and minor Hebrew prophets, Ketuvim, “the Writings”; the Psalms of David, the Wisdom of Solomon, the sufferings of Job and the Megilot which includes these five books; Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. The Tanakh, known as the “Old Testament” in the Christian Bible; is a most unique and amazing collection of literature. The triune Almighty God — Elohim (a Hebrew plural noun for Almighty God) who is revealed in the Torah, is a unique unified one. Elohim has been actively involved in the Biblical story line throughout history, from the beginning until now; as well as working in and through each writer. The Creator of the heavens and earth, the King of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has given His people light, truth, revelation, and insight to understand His prophetic plan for humanity. The central character of God’s plan of redemption is the promised Messiah foretold by the prophets.
First and foremost we learn from the scriptures written by Moses in the Torah, to love the LORD your God with all your, heart, soul and strength;
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today
are to be upon your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes
of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV
Our second priority is to love people, loving your neighbor as yourself. If we love our neighbor we won’t covet what belongs to our neighbor, his house, his car, his fine threads or his wife. These two priorities, loving God with our all and loving all of our neighbors sums up the writings of the Torah and the Hebrew prophets.
8Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another;
for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,
YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL,
YOU SHALL NOT COVET,”
and if there is any other commandment,
it is summed up in this saying,
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
10Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10 NASB
If only we could do this each day, to love the Lord our God and to love every person in every instance. But let’s be honest, not every day nor in every way; have we loved God with our all and loved all of our neighbors as ourselves at all times, at least I know I haven’t. The prophet Isaiah tells us that I’m not alone.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
Isaiah 53:6 NASB
Who is this righteous suffering Servant spoken of by Isaiah? Who is this sacrificial Lamb who the Lord causes all of our iniquity to fall on? All of us need a redemption. We need a Redeemer, a Deliver, all of us need a Savior. We need someone to redeem us, to deliver us, to save us from our all of our iniquities. When there is no repentance, when there is no faith in God and His provision for our sin, then judgment comes. Our sins have consequences, when God’s people refuse to listen, repent of sin and heed His Word, then the consequences are severe.
We read in 2 Chronicles chapter 36;
15 The LORD, the God of their fathers,
sent word to them through his messengers again and again,
because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.
16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words
and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD
was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,
who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary,
and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged.
God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.
18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God,
both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple
and the treasures of the king and his officials.
19 They set fire to God’s temple
and broke down the wall of Jerusalem;
they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant,
who escaped from the sword,
and they became servants to him and his sons
until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
2 Chronicles 36:15-20 NIV
God’s own people mocked His messengers, despised His word and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against His people and there was no remedy. Why do we do this? Why such contempt of the Almighty, who is both our Father who is in heaven and a righteous Judge executing justice? Since Adam in the garden after the fall of man, the sin problem has spread from one generation to the next, without remedy until God’s plan of atonement by His righteous suffering Servant was revealed as foretold by Isaiah. How would God solve the “sin” dilemma, the problem that all people of all time have sinned, (except one) and bring redemption for those He chose and those He loves? God’s people despaired when they arrived in Babylon, it seemed no hope was to be found, and they were in captivity for many years. The first temple and much of Jerusalem including the wall were burned and destroyed. Many men and women, young and old were killed with the sword by the Babylonian army, but a remnant of Israel survived and were carried off to Babylon in exile for seventy years.
The Tanakh is a collection of scriptures inspired by God, when we read it or hear it read your faith may commence and increase. God gave His people an amazing prophecy in the book of Daniyel chapter 9 about the arrival of an anointed Prince who would atone for our iniquities, His advent is paramount for Israel;
“You are to know and understand
that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until one anointed, the Prince,
there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
it will be built again, with plaza and moat,
even in times of distress.”
Daniel 9:25 HSV
What important message was Gabriel sent to earth to communicate? Gabriel was sent to Daniel to let God’s people know when the Messiah the Prince would appear in history. Gabriel informed Daniel that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince is presented, would be a specific period of time, “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks”.
When was the decree issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem?
We read in the book of Nehemiah chapter 2,
1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,
when wine was brought for him,
I took the wine and gave it to the king.
I had not been sad in his presence before; 2 so the king asked me,
“Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?
This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king,
“May the king live forever!
Why should my face not look sad
when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins,
and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king,
“If it pleases the king and if your servant
has found favor in his sight,
let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried
so that I can rebuild it.”
Nehemiah 2:1-4 NIV
We read in this scripture that Nehemiah asks permission of the ruler of the Persian Empire, King Artaxerxes; if he may go and rebuild Jerusalem in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of the reign King Artaxerxes. As we read further into the chapter we find out that permission was granted, with protection for safe passage to return to his homeland and building materials were provided as requested by Nehemiah. So the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C. [1] Other mandates were issued by Cyrus King of the Persian Empire, we read of one in the book of Ezra chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild the Jewish Temple, but since Gabriel stipulates in Daniel chapter 9 verse 25, “with plaza and moat” to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem (not the temple), therefore we can conclude that the decree issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus is the starting point to calculate the 69 weeks.
Israel’s hope and future is intimately intertwined with the advent of the anointed Prince, the promised Messiah. From the beginning God knew He would redeem His people, so that our sin would not separate us from knowing the true and living YHVH, the self existent God; who is the first cause of all. Out of God’s great love for His people it was His purpose to send His righteous Servant to atone for all our iniquity. The Hebrew prophets foretold that God’s promised Messiah, the anointed Prince would die a sacrificial death as a scapegoat for all sin.
Moses gives us a foreshadowing of this concept through the father of faith, our father Abraham. As you know, Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children but God gave him a promise that he would have a son, whose birth was a miracle. Our father Abraham, a loving father was tested, he was asked to sacrifice his beloved son on the altar, although God stopped him. [2] This is known in Hebrew as the Akedah. Because Abraham obeyed Elohim’s voice, God gave Abraham the promise that one of his “Seed” or offspring would bless all the nations of the earth.
“In your seed
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,
because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:18 NIV
Who is the promised Seed who will bless all the nations of the earth? This is a promise by God about the Messiah who would come to earth, in the fullness of times. God gave us the Akedah, the account of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice in the Torah, in order to see what He Himself would be required to do for His people in the future. The Lord our God would provide a sacrifice for sin, His own beloved Son of promise, whose birth was a miracle, is the innocent Lamb who atoned for all our sin. God did provide for Himself the perfect Lamb, this was His plan for redemption for His people, to deliver us from our sin.
While Israel was in exile in Babylon, in response to Daniels contrite confession of his sin and the sins of his people God sent Gabriel with a special communiqué from the Almighty about the advent of an anointed Prince who would atone for the iniquity of us all – the promised Messiah.
24“Seventy weeks have been decreed
for your people and your holy city,
to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin,
to make atonement for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy
and to anoint the most holy place.
Daniel 9:24 NASB
Some say we should look for the anointed Prince after 7 weeks (or 49 years), although when we look 49 years after the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there is not an anointed Prince in Jerusalem who came to atone for sin. But when we look in history 69 weeks after the decree we discover who the anointed Prince is. So let’s go figure. When we think of a “week” we think of 7 days, but in Daniel 9:25 a “week” refers to seven years instead of seven days. A “week” of years is similar to a decade. A decade is ten years; but a “week” of years is seven years. So we have 7 ‘sevens’ and 62 ‘sevens’. If you add 7 weeks plus 62 weeks there is 69 weeks of years.
69 weeks of years is 69 times 7 years which equals 483 years.
The U.S.A. currently uses the Gregorian calendar that is a 365-day year, based upon the Anno Domini system that counts years from the traditional incarnation of Yeshua the Messiah. Ancient calendars by the Hebrews, Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Chinese, Mayans and other civilizations were based on a 360-day year. These ancient calendars usually were based on twelve 30-day months. [3] We see this reflected in Bible prophecies in both the Tanakh (Old Testament) and New Testament with a 30-day month and a 360-day year, referred to by some Biblical scholars and theologians as a “Prophetic Calendar” [4]
So 69 times 7 years equals 483 years,
and 483 years times 360-days equals 173,880 days.
Gabriel gave insight to Daniel that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed Prince there will be seven seven-year periods plus sixty-two seven-year periods of time; which equals 483 years. Then when we multiply 483 years times 360-days this equals 173,880 days. This anointed One, the Mäshiach, who is the anointed “Prince of Peace”, the “Prince of princes”, the King of kings; came to redeem God’s people and atone for our sins; “the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” [5]
The English word “prince” used here in Hebrew is “nagid” – a leader, ruler, prince, commander-in-chief, or king. [6] Isaiah tells us that Mäshiach is “Mighty God”, “Prince of Peace”. [7] He is also the “Commander of the host” of heaven, the “Prince of princes”, [8] He is the anointed “King of kings” and Lord of lords. [9]
When did the anointed One, the Mäshiach, the anointed King come to Jerusalem? Yeshua the Mäshiach rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey and was presented as King on April 6, 32 A.D. [10]
The Hebrew prophet Zachariah prophesied under the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord;
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zachariah 9:9 NIV
We read in chapter 19 of Luke’s account about an important event of the ministry of Yeshua the Mäshiach;
35They brought it to Jesus,
and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.
36As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road.
37As soon as He was approaching,
near the descent of the Mount of Olives,
the whole crowd of the disciples
began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice
for all the miracles which they had seen,
38shouting: ”BLESSED IS THE KING
WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him,
“Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
40But Jesus answered,
“I tell you, if these become silent,
the stones will cry out!”
Luke 19:35-40 NASB
From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 B.C. by Artaxerxes Longimanus until Yeshua arrived and was presented in Jerusalem as the Messianic King on April 6, 32 A.D.; we discover that when we calculate 69 weeks of years (or 483 years and correct for leap years) it figures out to be 173,880 days to the day. [11]
How is this possible, to announce the coming of the Anointed One, the Lord’s Mäshiach, the King of Zion; five centuries before the historical event transpires in precise detail? The Tanakh is an amazing collection of books, our awesome God orchestrated it. YHVH our Elohim is omniscient, the future is as clear to Him as the present and the past; He knows the beginning from the end. YHVH our Elohim is the A & Z, the beginning and the end, the Creator and the Judge. Our Father in heaven wanted His people to know exactly when His Son, the Prince of princes and King of kings; would arrive on earth and step forward as the Messiah. God is faithful, He keeps His promises, He is not like men, nor is He like the sons of men who do not fulfill their word. [12]
In Daniel 9:24 God’s angelic messenger Gabriel communicated that it had been our heavenly Father’s plan to redeem us by paying the debt of sin, in order to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. The penalty for sin was paid for. Messiah’s sacrificial death on the cross was not for his own transgressions, but His suffering and excruciating execution on the cross were for our sin; His life was given as an atonement for our transgressions. His human body was “cut off”, he was crucified. Yeshua is the perfect sacrificial Lamb who is without sin, the day of His death on the cross was God’s provision for all sin for all time; it was the day of atonement. He is the one who came to save His people from all of our sins.
The city of Jerusalem and the glorious second temple were destroyed as foretold by Gabriel to Daniel in chapter 9 verse 26;
After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off,
but not for Himself.
The people of the prince that will come;
will destroy the city and the temple,
the end will come with a flood
and desolations are determined until the end of the war.
Daniel 9:26 HSV
YHVH Elohim sent Gabriel to tell His people that an Anointed Prince, who is the promised Messiah must come, atone for sin and be killed before the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple which occurred in 70 A.D., when the Roman legions fought under Titus Vespasian and the Roman army leveled the city. Tragically, most of the Jewish people did not recognize the time of their visitation by Yeshua the Mäshiach, God’s promised Messianic King.
“because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
As the anointed King approached Jerusalem, He wept over the city and He gave the reason why the second temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed as predicted by Gabriel in Daniel 9:26;
41When He approached Jerusalem,
He saw the city and wept over it,
42saying, “If you had known in this day,
even you, the things which make for peace!
But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43″For the days will come upon you
when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you,
and surround you and hem you in on every side,
44and they will level you to the ground
and your children within you,
and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-44 NASB
Both God’s messenger the angel Gabriel and Yeshua the Son God, the promised Messiah prophesied the destruction of the second temple and Jerusalem. In the Bible we see both the severity of God’s judgment and the mercy and love of our Father who is in heaven. Messiah Yeshua explained God’s plan for our redemption and salvation, and how to receive eternal life.
14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:14-18 NASB
In the fullness of times, Messiah did come and was presented as King in Jerusalem. In the Gospel of John we read how God blesses all those who believe in and receive His Son, Yeshua the promised Messiah;
11He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name,
13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:11-13 NASB
The seventieth week is a seven-year period of time that soon will be upon us, known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. This seven-year period of time is revealed to us prophetically by the Lord our God in much detail by the prophets. [13] At the end of God’s prophetic 70th week, there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. [14] Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of the living God will come on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect people from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. [15] Then God’s righteous wrath will be poured out on the earth [16] and then Messiah will return as promised and fight the wars of God [17], set up His messianic millennial reign of peace; [18] where He will rule the nations in the strength of His might with a rod of iron from Jerusalem. [19] Blessed are those who long for His appearing!
Source Notes:
[1] Anderson, Robert, The Coming Prince, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1894. The classic work on the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.
[2] Genesis 22:1-19
[3] Missler, Chuck, “Hidden Treasures in the Biblical Text”, Koinonia House, 2001, Page 43.
[6] New American Standard, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Holman, Nashville, TN.
[7] Isaiah 9:6
[8] Daniel 8:11 & 25.
[9] Revelation 19:16
[10] Luke 3:1, Tiberias appointed in A.D. 14; 15th year, A.D. 29; the 4th Passover occurred in A.D. 32. Also, read the thought provoking book by author: McDowell, Josh, “The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict”, Thomas Nelson, 1999, page 199.
[11] Missler, Chuck, “Daniel’s 70 Weeks”, Koinonia House, 2004. (Also, the recording of “Expositional Commentary on Daniel”)
[12] Numbers 23:19
[13] Jeremiah 30:1-24, Matthew 24:15-35, Revelation chapters 6 to chapter 19.
Omnipotent God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.
His government and peace will increase and go on for eternity.
He will rule on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
He will establish, sustain and defend it,
with justice and righteousness;
from its origin throughout all eternity.
The zeal of the self-existent One, the cause of all,
the LORD of the armies of heaven will accomplish this.”
Isaiah 9:6-7 HSV
By David M. Cook
During the Advent season this prophecy of the promised Messiah is a predominant scripture seen on many Christmas cards. A promise that a child would be born, that a son would be given who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Omnipotent God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace and that His government and peace will increase and go on for eternity! This is a Messianic prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah found both in the Tanakh and the Bible.
This anointed King will rule on the throne of David and over his kingdom, He will establish, sustain and defend it, with justice and righteousness; from its origin throughout all eternity. Many hundred years after this prophecy was given Magi from the east followed a bright star and traveled to Palestine. Following the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea, and during the reign of Herod the king, something extraordinary came to pass; Magi from the east arrived at Jerusalem and asked; “Where is the One who was born King of the Jews? Seeing as we saw His star in the East, we have come to adore Him.”
Advent of Messiah 