Messiah 2030 ~ The Prophetic Messianic Timeline - Part 3 of 3 (Part 4 in production)

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This video offers centrical interpretations of biblical Messianic prophecy and patterns. Despite the implied confidence in the following presentation, these interpretations are in no way definitive and could be subject to alternative explanations.

This presentation proceeds with the assumption that the viewer has recently watched Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, Part 1 and Part 2, and that the related key interpretive timing principles and resulting conclusions are already adequately understood.

In Part 1 and Part 2 of Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, we revealed 52 prophecies and patterns that constructed a beautiful and perfect 7-day or 7,000-year Messianic plan. Like pieces to a Master Plan Divine puzzle, these 7,000 years or 7 days then proceed into the Eighth Day or biblical year 7,000 and represents eternity.

In this macro Messianic timeline, we revealed that the Messiah was scheduled to arrive near the end of the fourth day, which was in 26 CE. More importantly, we see that the Messiah was also scheduled to be our Passover sacrifice at the very beginning of the fifth day, which was also the precise year of the 80th Jubilee and biblical year 4,000, as demanded by biblical prophecy. Once again, we saw that the Messiah did exactly that and right on time, on the very day and year of Passover in 30 CE.

Then, in Part 2, we offered a short presentation that revealed that both Messiah and Paul taught us that we will, in fact, know the day and hour of His coming, contrary to popular Western eschatology that suggests that we will not know the day in advance. Lastly, we demonstrated that these same prophecies and patterns that accurately predicted the precise timing of the Messiah's first coming in 26 CE and death and resurrection in 30 CE also appear to predict the first resurrection and Messiah's second coming to be on the 3rd and 7th day, which is also the 120th Jubilee and biblical year 6,000, as demanded by biblical prophecy.

More specifically, through the 777 of the Lamic prophecy and other prophetic thematic connections, we determined that the first resurrection and Messiah's second coming is scheduled to be on the Day of Trumpets or Yom Teruah in biblical year 6,000. This day and year on the biblical calendar directly translates to the Gregorian date of the evening of September 27th to the evening of September 28th, 2030, which is 2,000 years, 40 Jubilees, or two prophetic days after the Messiah's first coming, as also demanded by biblical prophecy.

It is time to awaken. In scripture, we are commanded to stay awake. Mark 13:37: "And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!" It is now time to wake up. We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by His truth.

According to the 10 Virgins Parable, up to nearly the moment of our Messiah's return, all of us have been sleeping. All of us, whether wise or foolish. Matthew 25:5: "As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept."

In the very next chapter, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Messiah issued us the same warning, generously coupled with the Messianic timeline pattern that should now be much more obvious. We are told to remain and watch. Matthew 26:38: "Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.'" The Messiah ascended, and we remained. During this time, we are instructed to watch.

And now, the familiar prophetic Messianic timeline pattern. Matthew 26:40: "And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour?'" Watch number one equates to day number one, and we are sleeping.

Matthew 26:42-43: "Again for the second time he went away and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.' And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy." Watch number two equates to day number two, and we are all sleeping.

We know that when the Messiah returns, that He will fulfill the Sabbath day prophecy, and we will rest on the 3rd and 7th day. Thus, after watch one and watch two, we are then told that we can rest. Matthew 26:45a (LSV): "Then he comes to his disciples and says to them, 'Sleep on from now on and rest.'" And the rest we are promised to enter is coupled with the first resurrection, in which those in the faith will rise from the graves first, and then those who are alive will be changed and caught up to the Messiah. Matthew 26:46a: "Rise, let us be going." Watch one, watch two, rise, and take our rest.

The parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew chapter 25 teaches us that not all will wake up in time. Half will be wise, and half will be foolish. Thus, now that we are perhaps exiting Day 2 and entering Day 3, it is imperative that we all wake up. Luke 12:38: "If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants."

Let's wake up and wake up others. Consider sharing these presentations with others as often as you can and wherever you can, as time may be short.

Sound the Alarm! Joel 2:1: "Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near." The alarm is intended to wake us up before the Day of the Lord. However, how many also know that waking up with an alarm is not always the most enjoyable experience?

Those that currently subscribe to the common understanding of Daniel chapter 9 found in Western eschatology may experience some cognitive dissonance because of this presentation. Cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it. Cognitive dissonance can often cause resistance to new information. Should that occur, and instead of allowing that to be an obstacle, take this presentation slow, pray about it, watch it multiple times, and test everything that we present to the Word. Focus not on what others say and teach, but what we show you.

The Bible teaches. In the following presentation of Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, Part 3, we will now reveal in detail the prophetic micro timeline of the Messiah's first coming that spanned from Fall of 26 CE to Spring of 30 CE. We will review multiple ancient witnesses that not only all impressively confirm this timeline but also demonstrate how the first 3 and 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th week was fulfilled in the Messiah's first coming and how the final 3 and 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th week connects to His second coming.

What this means is that the midpoint of the 70th week paused when the Messiah was cut off, creating a 2-day, 40 Jubilee, or 2,000-year Messianic timeline gap, and it will resume at the coming abomination of desolation, kickstarting a 3 and 1/2 year timeline culminating and ending at the first resurrection and Messiah's return. The concept that the Antichrist begins a 7-year timeline after making a peace treaty is consequently rendered invalid.

The birth of the Messiah. There are countless conflicting opinions in determining the precise timing of the Messiah's birth, the start of His ministry, and the year of His death and resurrection in His first coming. We would suggest that the ability to accurately determine all the critical timestamps for the timeline of the Messiah's first coming can only be understood if all of the best available calendrical evidence harmonizes in powerful agreement. Not only are we going to attempt to accomplish such in this presentation, but we will also find that the micro timeline of the Messiah's first coming directly impacts the micro timeline of end times. They are intrinsically linked.

When King Herod learned of the birth of the Messiah, Herod immediately considered the Messianic kingship prophecies a threat to his leadership. Consequently and disturbingly, King Herod ordered all male children in Bethlehem, age two and under, to be killed in an attempt to impede the prophecies of the Messiah's kingship.

According to the Torah, the Messiah was to be a prophet like unto Moses. It should then come as no surprise that there are dozens of Messianic patterns and parallels in the Exodus account of Moses. One interesting connection that appears to be relevant to the timing of the birth of the Messiah is that the Pharaoh also ordered all Hebrew male children to be killed. Moses escaped this fate by being safely placed in the Nile River at the age of 3 months and consequently his identity was then hidden in Egypt, thus preserving his life.

Likewise, consistent with the prophetic foreshadowing, King Herod ordered all male children under the age of two to be killed in the town of Bethlehem in a failed attempt to target the Messiah's life. As a result, like Moses, the Messiah's identity was hidden in Egypt, thus preserving His life. According to the detail provided to us in these events, and if we are to expect consistency and precision in this prophetic pattern, then we would likewise expect that the Messiah may also have been exactly 3 months old when He was safely hidden in Egypt.

This also fits with the mentality of King Herod. King Herod had a reputation of being rather paranoid. He knew that if the child was only 3 months old, then executing every child under two would certainly include the Messiah. However, if the Messiah was greater than a year old and perhaps up to 2 years old, King Herod would have found it more reasonable to kill every male child up to 3 or 4 years old to ensure that the death of the Messiah would have been included. He would have left no chance for error.

Because of this, and because of the pattern of Moses, we have a reasonable expectation that the Messiah was most likely 3 months old and certainly no older than a year at the time He was brought to Egypt. We know that the Messiah could not have been born after the death of Herod. Obviously, King Herod must have been alive in order to try to kill the Messiah. So, when did King Herod die?

We know that King Herod died shortly after this decree, and there are only two years proposed for his death: either 4 BCE or 1 BCE. There are a couple of solid reasons why the 4 BCE date has prevailed over 1 BCE. First, Josephus informs us that Herod died just before a Passover. We are also told there was a lunar eclipse shortly before Herod died. There is only one lunar eclipse that fits the possible timing of Herod's death, and it also occurred just before a Passover. That lunar eclipse occurred on March 13th, 4 BCE, and thus places King Herod's death in March of 4 BCE.

Second, Josephus writes that Herod reigned for 37 years from the time of his appointment by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE, and 34 years from his conquest of Jerusalem in 37 BCE, using so-called inclusive counting. This too places Herod's death in 4 BCE. Via the witness of both timelines, and certainly eliminates 1 BCE as a viable option. While there was also a lunar eclipse in December of 1 BCE, it occurred nowhere near a Passover and is not consistent with the length of King Herod's reign, according to Josephus. Both of these inconsistencies are unreconcilable and thus force us to discard 1 BCE as a year of the Messiah's birth.

The Messiah had to be born at least 3 months and no more than one year prior to the death of King Herod in late March of 4 BCE. Thus, the Messiah would have been born sometime between March of 5 BCE and December of 5 BCE.

We may be able to further narrow down the window of the Messiah's birth in 5 BCE. Macrobius, one of the last pagan writers in Rome, in his book Saturnalia, wrote: "When it was heard that, as part of the slaughter of boys up to 2 years old, Herod, King of the Jews, had ordered his own son to be killed, he, the Emperor Augustus, remarked, 'It is better to be Herod's pig than his son.'"

Mobius may have given us a rather useful chronological key. If he was referring to the death of Antipater in 4 BCE, the killing of children in Bethlehem may have been the last, if not the last, brutal killings of Herod before he died. Thus, we are to understand that Antipater was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death around the same time Herod attempted to kill the Messiah. And if we can determine when Antipater was sentenced, then we would know the approximate month in which the Messiah would have been brought to Egypt.

In 5 BCE, Antipater was brought before Publius Quinctilius Varus, then Roman governor of Syria, charged with the intended murder of his father, Herod. Antipater was found guilty by Varus. However, due to Antipater's high rank, it was necessary for Caesar Augustus to approve of the recommended sentence of death. After the guilty verdict, Antipater's position as exclusive successor was removed and granted to Herod Antipas. Once the sentence had approval from Augustus in 4 BCE, Antipater was then executed.

This provides us an interesting timeline. Antipater's trial was in late 5 BCE. He was found guilty and then ordered to be killed. In 4 BCE, Antipater was killed 5 days before the death of King Herod in March of 4 BCE. It is then reasonable to conclude that Antipater's trial with Publius Quinctilius Varus may have been late December of 5 BCE, since the approval from Augustus for the Antipater's death sentence occurred soon after in 4 BCE and was then carried out in March of 4 BCE.

Since we know that Antipater was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death around the same time Herod attempted to kill the Messiah, and now we know about when Antipater was sentenced, and we know that the Messiah was likely 3 months old, now we know the approximate month in which the Messiah would have been brought to Egypt. Three months earlier from late December of 5 BCE would be late September or early October, which would be exactly when we would expect the Feast of Tabernacles would occur, and that is contextually significant.

Many scholars believe the Messiah was born during the Feast of Tabernacles. Matthew Henry states: "It is supposed by many that our blessed Savior was born much about the time of this holiday. Then he left his mansions of light above to tabernacle among us, and he dwelt in booths, and the worship of God under the New Testament is prophesied of under the notion of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles."

The Bible does not specifically say the day or month of the Messiah's birth. While sheep may still graze in the fields in the winter in Israel during the day, the sheep are less likely to be in the field during the night in winter. Thus, the Messiah's birth was unlikely during the winter months because the sheep were still in the pasture at night.

A study of the time of the conception of John the Baptist reveals he was conceived in the third biblical month, when Zechariah was ministering in the Temple during the eighth course of Abijah, which is believed to be the early course. He received an announcement from God of a coming son. The eighth course of Abijah, when Zechariah was ministering, was the ninth and 10th week of the year. Adding 40 weeks for a normal pregnancy reveals that John the Baptist was born on or about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th day of the first month.

We know 6 months after John's conception, the Messiah was conceived. Adding 40 weeks for a normal pregnancy reveals that the Messiah may have been born on the first day of Tabernacles, the 15th day of the seventh month. It is not likely a coincidence that John the Baptist and the Messiah were born exactly 6 months apart, and the only prophetic feast days that are also exactly 6 months apart are the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Messiah would have been conceived 9 months earlier, in the ninth biblical month. The 25th day of the 9th biblical month is Hanukkah. It is not unreasonable to consider that the Messiah, as the light of the world, was conceived on the Festival of Lights. In fact, the scriptures note the season of Hanukkah in John 10:22, and just before that, in John 9:5, is when our Messiah refers to Himself as the light of the world. Perhaps that is not just a coincidence.

Hanukkah, which means dedication in Hebrew, is also known as the Feast of Dedication and lasts for 8 days. It is a celebration of victory over God's enemies and the dedication of the temple. Likewise, in the end, we see that Messiah is victorious over God's enemies and is also called the Temple of the New Jerusalem on the eighth day. Thus, Hanukkah is a prophetic Messianic celebration of what the Messiah still must do.

Starting at Hanukkah, which begins on the 25th day of the 9th month and continues for 8 days, and counting through the 9 months of Mary's pregnancy, one arrives at the approximate time of Messiah Yeshua's birth at the Festival of Tabernacles. Thus, Sukkot is a prophetic celebration of the birth of the Messiah. This should not be too surprising, as all of God's holidays in Leviticus 23 relate back to the work of the Messiah in some way or another. These days help us to focus and remember what the Messiah accomplished and what He must still do.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, all males are instructed to journey to Jerusalem. With so many coming to Jerusalem for the festivals, the crowds would spill over to the surrounding towns. Bethlehem, as one of those nearby towns, is only about 5 miles from Jerusalem. It's possible that Joseph and Mary were unable to find a room at the inn because of the influx of so many arriving to Jerusalem for the feast. They may have been given shelter in a Sukkah, which is built during a 7-day period each year, accompanying the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Due to the difficulties during travel, it was common for the officials to declare tax time during a temple feast. The fields would have been dotted with Sukkot during this harvest time to temporarily shelter animals. The Hebrew word stable or manger is called a Sukkah, and the plural form is called Sukkot or Sukot. Genesis 33:16: "But Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth."

Luke chapter 2:7: "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Therefore, if the Messiah was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, not only would Messiah have been circumcised on the eighth day after He was born, but He would have also been circumcised precisely on the eighth day of the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles, which also syncs with the prophetic and thematic purpose of the eighth day for both Tabernacles and circumcision, as we covered in Part 1 of this series. Luke 1:59: "And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child."

In summary, because of Josephus, we know that King Herod died on March 4 BCE, and that the Messiah had to be born no earlier and no later than 5 BCE. Using the documentation from Macrobius, the timeline of the Priestly courses connecting back to Luke 1:5 and the conception of John the Baptist, the events and unique circumstances surrounding the birth of the Messiah, the reference to the eighth day, and the prophetic and Messianic connections to Hanukkah and Tabernacles, it is also reasonable to conclude that the Messiah was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in 5 BCE, which would place the birth of John the Baptist near or on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, just 6 months earlier.

Now we can simply continue building the micro timeline of the Messiah's first coming and test whether it agrees with available ancient historical evidence.

The Ministry of Messiah. Luke 3:23: "Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry." Joseph was 30 years old when he entered into service and had the gift of prophecy. Genesis 41:46: "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt." David was 30 years old when he began to reign as king. 2 Samuel 5:4: "David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years." Also note how David reigned for 40 years. This is consistent with how we already know that it will be 40 Jubilees or 2,000 years after the Messiah's death and resurrection until He reigns on Earth as king.

A priest began his duty in service of the Tabernacle or Temple at 30 years old. Numbers 4:30: "From thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall list them, everyone who can come on duty to do the service of the tent of meeting." Jewish tradition historically demands 30 years of age for rabbinical leadership, often citing this reference. Pirkei Avot 5:26: "At age thirty one receives strength."

All of these prophetically point to the four roles of the Messiah: Prophet, King, High Priest, and Rabbi. The Messiah fulfilled three of the four roles. Note the prophetic three and four pattern, by the way, that we covered earlier in the series. The Messiah being crowned King has not yet occurred; that must still happen. That particular timing is given to us as well.

Each of these four roles are connected to 30, and 4 * 30 = 120. The Messiah will be crowned King on the 120th Jubilee year, which is biblical year 6,000, or Gregorian year 2030. Each of these roles are connected to being 30 years of age. Because each of these roles are connected to being 30 years old, it's highly reasonable to suggest that the Messiah was also going to be 30 years old at the start of His ministry to highlight all of His imminent prophetic connections to all of these Messianic roles. In fact, Luke documents that this was indeed the case. Luke 3:23: "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age."

However, it must be noted that Luke was careful to note that Messiah was "about" 30 years of age. Why? Why would Luke have felt it necessary to emphasize that the Messiah was "about" 30 years of age, which would imply that He had not yet arrived to His 30th birthday? Luke chose his words here rather carefully and intentionally. Luke was likely aware of the four prophetic connections to Messiah being 30 years of age at the start of His ministry. We can only conclude that Luke's point was that while the Messiah was not yet exactly 30 years old at the start of His ministry, He was so close to 30 years old that it should not be perceived as a problem.

We can reasonably surmise that if the Messiah was 30 years old or greater, then Luke would have said He was exactly 30 or greater than 30 years old, not "about 30." In order to emphasize the prophetic connections demanding the Messiah to be 30 years of age at the start of His ministry, if Messiah was 31 or older, then Luke would have had no problem giving His exact age because He would have definitively qualified to be a rabbi by tradition. However, if Messiah was 31 or older, then that is distancing the Messiah's age a tad too far from the prophetic connections of 30 years of age. So that leaves us with just one conclusion: we are then to understand that the Messiah was not yet 30, but He was so close to 30 years of age that it satisfies both the prophecies and Jewish tradition.

But can we know how close the Messiah was to 30 years old at the start of His ministry? Maybe we can. Just before the Messiah is baptized by John the Baptist, we find that John is saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). What's interesting to note is that there is a very specific time of repentance in Jewish tradition called the Season of Teshuvah, meaning repentance or turning back to the Torah, and it lasts for exactly 40 days. It begins on the first day of the sixth month on the biblical calendar and ends on the 10th day of the seventh month, which is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and is connected to fasting.

Was there a notable 40-day period that began at the time John the Baptist began his push for repentance? There certainly was, and perhaps not coincidentally, it is also connected to fasting. It is at this moment that we see the Messiah baptized, and He then enters into the wilderness and fasts for 40 days and 40 nights, where He is tested by the adversary. During the Season of Teshuvah, obviously being sinless, the Messiah has no need for Teshuvah. Thus, in recognition of this, the adversary attempts to encourage the Messiah to break the Torah or law of God.

Just like the 40 days of the Season of Teshuvah, it should also be noted that there are exactly 40 Jubilees between the Messiah's death and resurrection and His return. This is the world's season of Teshuvah, or calling to repentance. The last opportunity for the world to repent will be during the 3 and 1/2 year tribulation, which will also end on the Day of Atonement. This is why the word "repent" is mentioned at least 10 times in the Book of Revelation.

After the 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, we see the Messiah active in ministry from that day forward, which would have begun on the Messianic prophetic Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. If the Messiah's ministry began on the Day of Atonement in 26 CE, and He was born on the first day of Tabernacles or Sukkot in 5 BCE, that would mean that the Messiah was not yet 30 years of age, but 29 years of age. Is that a problem? Not at all. The Messiah's 30th birthday on the first day of Tabernacles would have been just 5 days after He started His ministry on the Day of Atonement. Thus, He would only be 5 days from being exactly 30 years of age, which completely justifies Luke emphasizing that the Messiah was "about" 30 years of age at the start of His ministry, meaning not exactly 30 years of age.

It is also perhaps interesting to note that the Messiah was 5 days shy of His 30th birthday at the beginning of His ministry, and that He also died and resurrected on prophetic Day 5 at the end of His ministry. Thus, the Messiah was as close to "about" 30 years of age as one can be while still not being at least 30 years of age. Luke 3:23: "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age."

The Ministry of Messiah. Luke 3:1: "Luke provides us an additional and highly useful chronological detail. Luke declared that our Messiah was baptized in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." Luke 3:1: "So when was the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar?" Tiberius takes full reign after Augustus dies in 14 CE. This would place the start of Messiah's ministry in 28 CE, and He would have been 32 years old, which is not really "about 30 years old." 28 CE conflicts with all the evidence we have reviewed so far regarding the Messiah's ministry starting in 26 CE.

Fortunately, this difference of 2 years is easily explainable and is supported by archaeological evidence. After taking full reign in 14 CE, Tiberius began to mint his first coins and refer to that year, 14 CE, as his second year of his reign, not his ascension year. Once Tiberius acquired power, it was conventional during that time to date a longer reign than from 14 CE, because this is what Tiberius himself promulgated. This means that Luke would have adopted the same timeline as declared by Tiberius. The alternative is that Luke would have directly opposed Tiberius in his regal reckoning. Luke would have had no motive to contradict Tiberius, and in fact, it would have been dangerous to do so.

So why did Tiberius appear to inflate his reign by exactly 2 years, as evidenced by the minting of these coins? Augustus Caesar became gravely ill and immediately began prepping Tiberius to take reign in 12 CE. Tiberius was appointed as co-regent with Augustus. Augustus died in August of 14 CE, and Tiberius immediately appoints Gratus as prefect of Judea to replace Rufus, who had been Augustus's appointee. And in the same year, Gratus is already minting coins with Tiberius Caesar's image that have the "lb" inscription, meaning the second year of Tiberius Caesar's reign.

The main point is this: Tiberius wanted his reign to be reckoned from 12 CE, beginning with his co-regency with Augustus, not 14 CE after Augustus died. Even though much later, not everyone reckoned according to Tiberius Caesar's wishes, especially not every later historian. When interpreting regnal years, we must do so as a subject inside of the Empire, rather like Luke, rather than as a historian looking from outside the Empire. Luke was living in the midst of this marketing scheme of regnal years for Tiberius and would not have had any reason to contradict Tiberius. Thus, according to Luke and Tiberius Caesar himself, the start of the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar would have been in 26 CE, and thus agrees with and supports all evidence we have reviewed so far regarding the start of the Messiah's ministry.

The Ministry of Messiah. Tertullian. Tertullian, born in 145 CE, is known in history as the Father of Latin Theology, as he was the first leader in the faith to write his works in Latin. Most of his writing was in defense of Christianity against external persecution or heresy from within. He had an enormous influence, and much of that influence can still be seen today. Tertullian stated: "The Lord has been revealed since the 12th year of Tiberius Caesar." This is contrasted against Luke, who said, "in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." Clearly, Luke and Tertullian are calculating the start of Tiberius Caesar's reign differently.

The careful historian would note that this apparent discrepancy of exactly 2 years, when using the Ascension calendar year method, is exactly the same length of Tiberius Caesar's co-regency with Augustus Caesar. Is that just a coincidence? Not likely. We understand that Luke calculated the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar in the same way that Tiberius Caesar promulgated his reign, which would have placed the 15th year in 26 CE. It's well understood that there's not a prescribed method for the dating of emperors; a variety of methods were used for reckoning leaders' reigns in antiquity. Historical documents seldom explicitly state which method they're using, and it has to be pieced together from contextual clues.

It appears that Tertullian is using the Ascension calendar year method, since monarchs seldom die on the last day of the calendar year. The new monarch would be confirmed, but year one of the new monarch's reign would not be counted until the new calendar year, whenever that was for a given culture. The advantage of this system is that a given calendar year will always be identified with one and only one monarch, specifically who was reigning on the first calendar day of that year. Augustus died in 14 CE, so according to Tertullian, the part year of 14 CE would have been considered Tiberius's ascension year, and the last year of Augustus, and 15 CE would have been year 1, and so on. Thus, according to Tertullian, and in agreement with Luke, the Messiah's ministry would have also begun in 26 CE.

Tertullian's difference with Luke's regnal reckoning should be an expected possibility. Luke lived in the time of Tiberius Caesar, and Tertullian did not. If Tertullian was basing Tiberius Caesar's ascension year based on the now 100-plus-year-old death records of Augustus Caesar and was not aware of Tiberius Caesar's marketing campaign to include his co-regency years, as evidenced by the coins minted then, it would be expected that Tertullian would use 15 CE and not 12 CE as the start of Tiberius Caesar's reign. In this way, both Luke and Tertullian agree that the Messiah's ministry began in 26 CE.

The Ministry of Messiah. The Rebuilding of the Temple. According to Josephus, Herod the Great began to build the Jerusalem Temple in the 18th year of his reign. Herod the Great's reign, according to Josephus, began in 37 BCE when Jerusalem was captured, as evidenced in his writings. There are several ways to figure this, and for those who are interested, the following references will be helpful: 27 years from Pompey to Herod, 107 years before the temple fell, and the seventh year of Herod. Thus, the 18th year of Herod's reign was in the year 20 BCE, using ascension reckoning.

According to the testimony of the Jews, as recorded in John 2:20, when the Messiah attended the first Passover of His public ministry, we are told that the temple had been in the process of being built for 46 years. 46 years after 20 BCE is 27 CE. Thus, 27 CE would be the year of the Messiah's first Passover following the start of His ministry. Therefore, the beginning of the Messiah's ministry would have been in Fall of 26 CE. Thus, so far, we have Luke, Tertullian, and Josephus all in agreement that the Messiah's ministry began in 26 CE.

Do we have any evidence as to when the Messiah died?

The Ministry of Messiah. 40 Years of Strange Temple Activity. In the ancient Jewish writings, we can find several witnesses all agreeing to the exact year the Messiah died: 40 years before the destruction of the temple, the Western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open.

The Babylonian Talmud states: "Our rabbis taught: During the last 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, the lot did not come up in the right hand, nor did the crimson-colored strap become white, nor did the westernmost light shine, and the doors of the Heichal would open by themselves."

So, what exactly does this mean? This is referencing a practice on the Day of Atonement in which the High Priest was to present two goats before the Lord. He would then cast lots over the goats to determine which would be offered to the Lord and which would be led into the wilderness as the scapegoat. The goat on which the Lord's lot fell was offered as a sin offering. There was an equal chance for the lot of the Lord to appear in the right hand. However, beginning in 30 CE, according to traditional Jewish writings, for 40 years prior to the destruction of the Temple, the lot for the Lord only appeared in His left hand. The odds of this happening are just over one in a trillion. As you can expect, statistically, this is basically impossible.

This, of course, absolutely dumbfounded the priesthood and was the subject of much discussion. This was such a deal that it was documented in multiple ways. The only thing that they knew was that something was seriously different in the Day of Atonement sacrifice, something very spiritually profound happened in 30 CE, specifically related to sacrifices and the Temple and the Jews' spiritual state before God. In the book of Hebrews, which focuses on the Day of Atonement sacrifice, we learn that it's what the Messiah accomplished on the cross that was causing all of these strange events to occur. It was the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE that caused these events to stop.

Given that these events lasted 40 years, we then know that these events started in 30 CE. Thus, as you can likely guess already, it was in 30 CE that the Messiah died on the cross. But there's more. As two to three witnesses establish a matter, we want to bring several witnesses to the table as it relates to 30 CE.

The next miracle, which the ancient Jewish authorities acknowledged, was that the Temple doors swung open every night of their own accord for 40 years. This was the case beginning in 30 CE. The leading Jewish authority of that time, Johanan ben Sakai, declared that this was a sign of impending doom and that the Temple itself would be destroyed. The Jerusalem Talmud states: "Said Rabban Johanan ben Sakai to the Temple, 'O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed, for it has been said, 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.'" Johanan ben Sakai was the leader of the Jewish community during the time following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, when the Jewish government was transferred to Jamnia, some 30 miles west of Jerusalem.

The next miracle was that the most important lamp of the seven-candlestick Menorah in the Temple went out and would not shine every night for over 40 years, over 12,500 nights in a row. The main lamp of the Temple lampstand, the Menorah, went out of its own accord, no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against this event. Ernest Martin states: "In fact, we are told in the Talmud that at dusk, the lamps that were unlit in the daytime, the middle four lamps remained unlit, while the two eastern lamps normally stayed lit during the day, were to be relit from the flames of the western lamp, which was a lamp that was supposed to stay lit all the time. It was like the eternal flame that we see today in some national monuments. This western lamp was to be kept lit at all times for that reason. The priests kept extra reservoirs of olive oil and other implements in ready supply to make sure that the western lamp, under all circumstances, would stay lit. But what happened in the 40 years from the very year Messiah said the physical Temple would be destroyed? Every night for 40 years, the western lamp went out, and this in spite of the priests each evening preparing in a special way the western lamp so that it would remain constantly burning all night. Again, the odds against the lamp continually going out are astronomical. Something out of the ordinary was going on. The light of the Menorah, representing contact with God, His Spirit, and His presence, was now removed."

This special demonstration occurred starting with the crucifixion of the Messiah. And now for the most interesting documented event written in Jewish history, noted to be from 30 CE (Messiah's death) to 70 CE (the destruction of the Temple), and it has further been taught: "For 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, the thread of scarlet never turned white, but it remained red."

This miracle concerns the scarlet strip or cloth tied to the Azazel goat. A portion of this red cloth was also removed from the goat and tied to the Temple door each year. The red cloth on the Temple door turned white, as if to signify the atonement of another Day of Atonement was acceptable to the Lord. This annual event happened until 30 CE, when the cloth then remained crimson each year to the time of the Temple's destruction. This undoubtedly caused much stir and dismay among the Jews.

This traditional practice is linked to Israel confessing its sins and ceremonially placing this nation's sin upon the Azazel goat. The sin was then removed by this goat's death. Sin was represented by the red color of the cloth, the color of blood, but the cloth remained crimson. That is, Israel's sins were not being pardoned and made white, as God told Israel through Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah 1:18: "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

The clear indication is that the whole Jewish community had lost the Lord's attention in relation to something that occurred in 30 CE. The only thing that makes any sense whatsoever is the year of the Messiah's death and the Jewish leadership's rejection of the Messiah. Concerning the crimson strip on the Day of Atonement, though not mentioned in the scriptures and long before 30 CE, during the 40 years Simon the Righteous was High Priest, a crimson thread which was associated with his person always turned white when he entered the Temple's innermost Holy of Holies. The people noticed this also. They noted that the lot of the Lord, the white lot, came up for 40 straight years during Simon's priesthood. They noticed that the lot picked by the priests after Simon would sometimes be in the left hand and sometimes in the right hand, that the crimson thread would sometimes turn white and sometimes not. The Jews came to believe that if the crimson thread turned white, that God approved of the Day of Atonement rituals and that Israel could be assured that God forgave their sins. But after 30 CE, according to multiple witnesses and accounts, the crimson thread never turned white again for 40 years, eventually leading to the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of all Temple rituals.

Thus, on Wednesday, April 5th, 30 CE, the 14th of the first Hebraic month, the day of the Passover sacrifice, the leadership of the Jews rejected Messiah Yeshua. He then offered Himself as a sacrifice, consequently substituting His death for our death, and death then passes over us. Through this, according to the author of the book of Hebrews, the Messiah also points to Himself as the Day of Atonement sacrifice, while the murderer Barabbas acted as the prophesized scapegoat that was to be led free. But unlike Temple sacrifices or the Day of Atonement events, as already detailed, where sin is only covered over for a time, the Messianic sacrifice is covered for all time.

There were exactly 40 Day of Atonement sacrifices between the Messiah's death and resurrection in 30 CE till the Temple's destruction in 70 CE. These 40 years, of course, are also connected to the traditional 40 days of repentance or Teshuvah that end on the Day of Atonement. This also prophetically signifies that God was demanding repentance or Teshuvah from the Jews during these 40 years that began with their rejection of the Messiah. Of course, we know that their repentance did not occur, and consequently, the Temple was destroyed, further solidifying God's rejection of sacrifices and offerings from the house of Judah because of their punishment status, as revealed in the years of punishment prophecy in Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, Part 2.

The house of Judah, or Jews, were not receiving atonement because of their rejection of Messiah Yeshua in 30 CE, thus beginning their years of punishment as prophesied by Ezekiel 4. This punishment period for the house of Judah is scheduled to expire in 2030, and the punishment period for the house of Israel as an independent timeline is also scheduled to expire in 2030. Both of these expiration dates are also 2 days, or 40 Jubilees, or 2,000 years from the death and resurrection of the Messiah and His return, which is consistent with the prophesized two-day gap mentioned numerous times in biblical prophecy. This, of course, is further evidence that the Messiah died in 30 CE, as 2030 minus 2 days, or 2,000 years, is in fact 30 CE.

Thus, not only do we have Luke, Tertullian, and Josephus all in agreement that the Messiah's ministry began in 26 CE, but we now also have incredibly powerful, multiple ancient Jewish testimonies that the Messiah's death and resurrection occurred in 30 CE. This ancient Jewish testimony from multiple witnesses unintentionally revealed the year of the death of our Messiah. Perhaps more importantly, their continued rejection of the Messiah makes their testimony conveniently unbiased, thus more trustworthy, and despite all Jewish intent to reject the Messiah, actually proves that He was indeed the prophesized Messiah.

From Day of Atonement 26 CE to Passover 30 CE is 3 and 1/2 years. This 3 and 1/2 year timeline of the Messiah's first coming until He was cut off and its impact on sacrifices and offerings will also be more important later as we review the 70-week prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 later in this presentation.

The Ministry of Messiah. Eusebius. Eusebius of Caesarea is known as the Father of Church History. He was the first to write a comprehensive history of the early church. Eusebius stated: "Messias suffered in the 19th year of the reign of Tiberius." It appears that Eusebius was conveniently calculating the start of Tiberius Caesar's reign in the exact same way as Luke. This would place the year of the Messiah's death, according to Eusebius, to be in 30 CE.

In summary, here is the available timeline evidence: Josephus states that Herod died 37 years after he was appointed as king of the Jews by the Roman Senate and 34 years after Herod captured Jerusalem and began his reign, placing Herod's death in 4 BCE. Josephus informs us that Herod died just before a Passover. We are also told there was a lunar eclipse shortly before Herod died. This places Herod's death in March of 4 BCE. The death of Herod in 4 BCE and the prophetic parallel of Moses suggests that the Messiah was born in Fall 5 BCE. The descriptive language, prophetic connections, and circumstances surrounding the birth of the Messiah suggests that He was born on the first day of the Messianic prophetic Day of Tabernacles.

Luke 3:1 places the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE, 15 years from the start of Tiberius Caesar's co-regency with Augustus Caesar. Augustus Caesar dies in 14 CE, making that Tiberius Caesar's ascension year. Tertullian also places the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE, being 12 years starting from Tiberius Caesar's first full year, using the Ascension calendar method for regal counting. Josephus and John 2:20 place the Messiah's first Passover in 27 CE, 46 years after Herod began Temple construction, which would also make the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE. This would make the Messiah either 29 or 30 at the start of His ministry, depending on what month He was born and what month His ministry began. 26 CE. Luke 3:23 states that Messiah was about 30 years of age at the start of His ministry. Since the traditional requirement was that a rabbi should be...

30 years old, and the multiple instances of prophetic foreshadowing also suggest that the Messiah should be 30 years old. It appears that Luke was emphasizing that Messiah was very close to 30, but not yet 30.

We discovered that the Messiah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. This appears that it could have been during the same 40 days of the period of Tashua, which ends on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Teshuvah means repentance, which might explain why John was preaching, teaching repentance right before Messiah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.

John 3:3: "And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."

If Messiah was born on the first day of Tabernacles, then that means that Messiah was just 5 days shy of being 30 years old at the start of the Messiah's ministry on the Day of Atonement, which explains why Luke could not say that Messiah was 30, but he could certainly say and should say that he was about 30.

Uus stated that the Messiah's death was in the 19th year of Tiberius Caesar, which was in 30 CE. The 40 Years of the Four Temple Miracles that ended at the Temple's destruction in 70 CE also confirms that the Messiah's death was in 30 CE. Thus, the Messiah was clearly born in the year of 5 BCE and likely born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

With the overwhelming agreement of multiple converging points of evidence, we can only conclude that the start of the Messiah's ministry was from the Day of Atonement in 26 CE till his death on Passover in 30 CE, and was 3 and 1/2 years in length.

This brings us to Luke 4, the start of the Messiah's ministry, and this is where things really begin to get interesting.

The Ministry of Messiah: Luke 4

In a Jubilee year, two events are supposed to occur. In Leviticus 25:13, we find the first Jubilee requirement: that the land is restored to each of the 12 tribes.

Leviticus 25:13: "In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property."

This is also Messianic prophecy. When the Messiah returns, He will bring us all into the land, including grafted-in Gentiles.

Ezekiel 47:21-23: "So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God."

When the Messiah returns, the land will also be returned to us, and all will settle in their respective tribe and the tribes' allotted division of land. For those of us who do not have a tribe (i.e., grafted-in Gentiles), whatever segment of land we settle into becomes our tribe, and we shall be as the native-born.

This particular Messianic prophetic requirement has not yet been fulfilled by the Messiah, as revealed by the Exodus prophecy in Part One of this series. This will be fulfilled on the 120th Jubilee, which is biblical year 6000. This, of course, was to be prophetically understood by the fact that we are told that Moses was 120 years old when he died, and then Joshua, or Yeshua in Hebrew, took God's people into the land.

In Leviticus chapter 25:40, we find the second requirement of a Jubilee year: that the servants are to be set free on the Jubilee year. This is also Messianic prophecy.

Leviticus 25:40: "He shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the Jubilee."

According to the aforementioned Exodus prophecy, the Messiah was to fulfill this Jubilee requirement by freeing us from eternal death on Passover in the 80th Jubilee year, which was also biblical year 4000. This, of course, was to be prophetically understood by the fact that we are told that Moses was 80 years old at the time that God's people were saved from death through the Passover and consequently set free from slavery in Egypt. The Messiah has fulfilled this Messianic prophetic requirement, and right on time.

Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death."

Galatians 5:1: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

How and when did the Messiah fulfill the Liberty requirement of the prophetic Jubilee? At the very start of the Messiah's ministry, which we determined to be the Day of Atonement in 26 CE, He actually told us that He was going to fulfill the Liberty requirement of the prophetic Jubilee and exactly how long it was going to take Him to do it.

The Day of Atonement is the day in which the next Jubilee year is announced.

Leviticus 25:9-10: "Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property, and each of you shall return to his clan."

At the start of the Messiah's ministry, which we showed was likely on the Day of Atonement, the Messiah likewise announces the next Jubilee and its Messianic prophetic significance for His first coming.

Luke 4:16-21: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"

It should be noted that this is the first time that the Messiah mentions that He has been anointed. That is what Messiah, or Mashiach in Hebrew, means. Mashiach means "an anointed one." This means that it is precisely at this time and for the first time that the Messiah is presenting Himself as the Messiah, as the prophesied anointed one that was to come at the start of the 69th week of years, which is 483 years.

Daniel 9:25b: "...until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks..."

The 3 and 1/2 year timeline of the Messiah begins here, at the exact completion of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th week. That will be critically important as we review the 70-week prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 later in this presentation. For now, it must be understood that here in Luke chapter 4, the Messiah is proclaiming that Liberty will be His first prophetic fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee.

The Messiah is going to now proclaim, in hidden form, the exact year that this Liberty is going to occur. We'll reveal how He does just that in a moment.

As an interesting side note, the Messiah was reading from Isaiah chapter 61. He actually stopped in mid-sentence regarding this prophecy, dividing this prophecy in half. If He would have continued, He would have also read: "and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn."

According to the Exodus prophecy, the Jubilee prophetic requirement of Liberty is to be fulfilled at the 80th Jubilee, which is biblical year 4000. The Messiah stopped reading mid-sentence and did not continue the prophecy about the Day of Vengeance. Why? Why would the prophecy timeline be interrupted in mid-sentence? What does this signify?

As revealed in the Lamech prophecy of Part Two of this series, the Day of the Vengeance of our God is not in the 80th Jubilee year and biblical year 4000, but He instead in the 120th Jubilee year, which is biblical year 6000. Even though these two prophecies are found in the same sentence, the Messiah purposefully interrupted Himself, reading the prophecy. Why? Because the future Day of Vengeance was not to be prophetically fulfilled the same year as the Year of Liberty, and the Messiah knew that there was going to be a prophetic gap in the Messianic timeline, a 2,000-year gap to be precise. We'll even see this 2,000-year gap present itself in the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9.

Regardless, through the Messiah's reading of Isaiah 61, we are to understand that the prophecy of Liberty was to be fulfilled in His first coming, and the prophecy of the Day of Vengeance was to be fulfilled in His second coming. This is one of the many evidences that demonstrate that prophecy, even if it's found in the same sentence, can be fulfilled thousands of years apart, as obviously the Day of Vengeance of the Lord has not yet occurred, nor is it supposed to.

Our focus of Isaiah 61, and more importantly, the Messiah's focus of Isaiah 61, is how the year of the Messiah's sacrifice relates to the year of Liberty that fulfills one of the two prophetic requirements of the Jubilee.

Luke 4:18-19: "He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Was 26 CE the Jubilee year? Some suggest that it was, based on the Messiah's words here, since He quotes Isaiah at the start of His ministry. The Messiah even goes on to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." But when were we given Liberty? That is the context here and gives us the chronological key for the referenced Jubilee year. Were we given Liberty at the start of the Messiah's ministry or at the end of the Messiah's ministry? How we answer that question determines the answer to the timing of the referenced Jubilee year.

We were not set free from the bondage of sin and death until the Messiah's death and resurrection in 30 CE, 3 and 1/2 years later. Thus, Luke 4 cannot be the Jubilee fulfillment of Liberty on the 80th Jubilee, but simply the proclamation of the upcoming fulfillment. While the Messiah stated that "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," what He fulfilled was the proclamation of the Liberty that we would receive through His death and resurrection. The proclamation is a declaration of what is to come, not what has come. The Messiah proclaimed the year that we would receive the prophetic Jubilee fulfillment of Liberty.

So when was it to come? When was this Jubilee year of Liberty? The year of 30 CE, 3 and 1/2 years later, was the year of the Messiah's death and resurrection, and the year that we were freed from the law of sin and death.

The author of Hebrews states the same conclusion as the Messiah, speaking of the Messiah's sacrifice.

Hebrews 9:22: "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."

Jubilee, the Greek word *aphesis*, is the word translated as "forgiveness of sins" in ESV. *Aphesis* is the same word used for Jubilee in the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. There is no Greek word for "sins" present in this text. It could literally read as follows:

Hebrews 9:22: "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no Jubilee."

It was the Messiah's sacrifice that afforded us freedom from sin and death. Romans 8:2: "For freedom Christ has set us free." Freedom from sin and death is the first prophetic fulfillment of the Jubilee prophecy. The Messiah died and resurrected in a Jubilee year, the 80th Jubilee, to fulfill the first prophetic elements of the Jubilee prophecy. This occurred at the end of the Messiah's ministry, at His death, not at the beginning of His ministry. It was the whole point of the cross.

So how did Messiah proclaim the Year of the Lord's Favor in Luke 4? When did the Messiah tell us when He was going to give us Liberty? You just need to keep reading.

Luke 4:25-27: "But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

After the Messiah proclaims the prophetic fulfillment of Liberty in an upcoming Jubilee year, the question then becomes: When? When will this occur? Here, Messiah makes a cryptic reference to Elijah, intentionally and specifically calls attention to 3 and 1/2 years, and connects the 3 and 1/2 years to the widow in Zarephath. Why? What does this have to do with anything? What does this have to do with the death and resurrection of the Messiah on a Jubilee year that gives us Liberty from sin and death?

The Messiah's blatant and obvious message in His words is that God's people have a history of being stubborn and refusing to believe. When those in the synagogue heard the Messiah's words, the message was clearly received, and they reacted with anger, even attempting to kill Him. In essence, their anger proved His point.

Luke 4:28-30: "When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away."

In their passionate anger, they missed an important thematic chronological connection in the Messiah's words. Unless we are to believe that the Messiah's words were simply a contextual coincidence, in His hidden message, the Messiah brilliantly connects His earlier proclamation of the upcoming Jubilee with the precise timing of when God's people would be set free from the bondage of sin and death. In other words, right here, the Messiah told us exactly when His death and resurrection would be, and thus proclaiming the precise timing of when He would fulfill the aspect of Liberty for the prophetic Jubilee.

In the reference to the widow of Zarephath, the Messiah was actually stating how and when He would set us free through His death and resurrection on the third day, which was delivered in the context of the 3 and 1/2 years of Elijah.

To find the story the Messiah is referencing, we need to go back to First Kings.

First Kings 17:17-24: "After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill, and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, 'What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son.' And he said to her, 'Give me your son,' and he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, 'O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn by killing her son?' Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, 'O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again.' And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, 'See, your son lives.' And the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.'"

Elijah resurrected the son and is connected to the number three and our sin. That should sound familiar.

Luke 24:46: "and said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.'"

Have you ever wondered where it's prophesied in Scripture that the Son of God should rise on the third day? There is no explicit prophecy that directly says what Luke is claiming. However, according to Luke, "it is written" in the scriptures. But where is it written? It is written to only those with eyes to see and ears to hear. It is hidden in prophetic patterns, such as this.

This is how most prophecy works in the Bible. Just as we showed in the 52 other prophecies detailing macro-Messianic timeline (the first and second coming in Part One and Part Two), most prophecy in the Bible is not explicitly said but hidden in ways such as this, to the dismay and confusion of many. This is intentional so that only the wise will know when they are supposed to know, and the wicked will be surprised by what is coming. For example, the Messiah knew that Jonah being three days and three nights in the great fish was a Messianic prophecy for Him being in the grave for 3 days and three nights. How did He know that? He knew that because biblical patterns are biblical prophecy, and most biblical prophecy are biblical patterns. Until that is understood and applied, any student of biblical eschatology is at a severe and embarrassing disadvantage.

Do you see it? In Luke 4 and the related verses in First Kings 17, on the Day of Atonement, we are told that it will take 3 and 1/2 years for the Messiah to stretch Himself on the cross and die for the remembrance of sin, and on the third day, He will be resurrected back unto life. On the first day of His ministry, He told us how long His ministry was going to be and exactly how it was going to end. Is that not amazing?

Another interesting connection is that the Messiah said this on the Day of Atonement, which is, in fact, the day that is the remembrance of sins according to the Torah, the law of God. The Messiah said all of this on the Day of Atonement in 26 CE. Just 3 and 1/2 years later, as accurately predicted, as the son, He died and was resurrected on the third day. That is the timing of the fulfillment of the first part of the Jubilee Liberty.

But the Messiah does not stop there. He gives us so much more. He also gives us the timing of the fulfillment of the second part of the Jubilee: us being returned to the land. How does He do this? He also connects the contextual 3 and 1/2 years to Naaman. What exactly happened with Naaman?

The Messiah's reference of Naaman brings us back to Second Kings.

2 Kings chapter 5:14: "So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. And he was clean."

What does this mean? Naaman was healed on a seven in the Jordan. The Messiah is declaring that there is going to be another 3 and 1/2 year period, and we will be resurrected and cross the Jordan to enter the land. We already know this, as so many other prophecies in this series have revealed this. This is why the end times is 3 and 1/2 years in length, seen specifically in the Book of Daniel and Revelation, and concludes with the return of the Messiah, the first resurrection, and us entering the land.

Thus, in Luke 4, the Messiah gives us two separate macro-Messianic timelines by proclaiming a three-and-a-half-year period that would consist of His ministry leading to His death and resurrection, granting us Liberty, fulfilling the first prophetic element of the Jubilee. The Messiah said this in Fall of 26 CE, and 3 and 1/2 years later was Passover in 30 CE, in which this was fulfilled. Just as He revealed in hidden form what was proven true for the first 3 and 1/2 years, in hidden form, it must then also be true for the connection to the second 3 and 1/2 years that is also in hidden form.

The Messiah also declared a second 3 and 1/2 year period that will end on the Seventh Day, biblical year 6000, and we will cross the Jordan into the promised land after the resurrection, fulfilling the second and final prophetic element of the Jubilee. This is expected to begin in Spring 2027, and 3 and 1/2 years later is the Day of Trumpets in 2030.

Where did the Messiah find these two divided periods of 3 and 1/2 years of the Messianic timeline in the prophets? It can be found in multiple places. However, the most obvious prophecy is found in Daniel 9, also known as the 70 Weeks of Daniel.

The Ministry of Messiah: Daniel's 70th Week

Daniel chapter 9 contains one of the most profound Messianic prophecies in all of scripture and is prefaced by one of the most remarkable prayers that man may have ever prayed. Unfortunately, the 70-week prophecy is also one of the most misunderstood prophecies, despite being one of the most studied chapters in the Bible. Daniel chapter 9 was written in about 539 BCE, well before the Messiah's first coming. Daniel chapter 9 not only predicted the exact year that Messiah would be anointed, but we also have fragments of Daniel chapter 9 that are also dated well before the Messiah's first coming, thus providing us with absolute prophetic proof of the divine nature of this biblical Messianic prophecy. For example, there's a fragment referencing Daniel 9:25 from Cave 11 of Qumran, the scroll is called the 11Q13 MMT document, with a date of about 100 BCE, well before the arrival of the Messiah. Daniel 9:25 gives us the exact year that the Messiah was expected to arrive, and He was right on time. If you have ever had any doubts on the validity of the Messiah's first coming, Daniel chapter 9 should serve well to eliminate such doubt.

Before we can begin discussing the 70-week prophecy, we need to discuss Daniel's prayer, as it is contextually connected to the 70-week prophecy.

Daniel chapter 9, verses 1-2 (New King James Version): "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."

Here, Daniel mentions that he's reflecting on the 70 years of exile prescribed to the house of Judah. Daniel knows that the 70 years of exile is ending. Daniel has an expectation that when the 70 years of exile ends, that the desolation of Jerusalem also ends. Why? Likely because of Jeremiah 29:10-14: "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."

While God does promise to bring His people back into the land, the desolations are not yet over. Daniel does not yet know that, but he's about to.

That brings us to Daniel's prayer. In the interest of time, we're not going to read the whole prayer, but we will refer to it in the interest of pointing out some critical contextual connections. For example, Daniel's prayer specifically mentions the covenant, the city of Jerusalem, Israel's sin and iniquity, God's righteousness, the transgression, and the sanctuary. All of these are mentioned once again as part of the six objectives of the 70 weeks answering Daniel's prayer and connecting the covenant mentioned in Daniel 9:4 with the covenant that is strengthened for a period of 7 years in Daniel 9:27.

Daniel's prayer is interrupted by the visit of the angel Gabriel. It's interesting to note that the angel Gabriel is also the one who announces the coming conception of the Messiah and the conception of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is critically connected to the arrival of the Messiah as the anointed one, as he happened to be the person to anoint the Messiah and announce His coming.

In a fascinating connection back to the conception of Messiah on Hanukkah, we see that Luke is careful to note some important timing as it relates to Gabriel's visit. We see that Gabriel arrived in the sixth month, and that Mary remained with Elizabeth for about 3 months before returning home. That would mean that she arrived home in the ninth month, which happens to be the same month we determined earlier in the presentation that the Messiah was conceived during the time of Hanukkah. Perhaps it's simply a coincidence, but surely there's a reason that Luke felt compelled to document the timing of Mary arriving home in the ninth month, which happens to be just after Luke also mentioned Gabriel's visit that announced the coming conception of the Messiah.

When was the last time we saw the angel Gabriel in the scriptures? Perhaps not so coincidental. Finally, the last time we saw the angel Gabriel was in Daniel 9:21, who just happened to be the giver of the 70-week prophecy that announced exactly when we should have expected the coming Messiah. Thus, Gabriel is thematically connected to the prophecy that declared the timing of the first coming of the Messiah that lasted 3 and 1/2 years and the conception of the Messiah, further validating that Daniel 9 is intended to be a Messianic prophecy for Messiah Yeshua.

Lastly, the only other place we see Gabriel in the scriptures is not related to Messianic prophecy, but instead related to a type of foreshadowing of the final Antichrist, specifically the prophecy of Antiochus Epiphanies in Daniel chapter 8. We also know that the second coming of the Messiah is also prefaced by another 3 and 1/2 year period that begins with the abomination of desolation by the final Antichrist. Gabriel is then not only associated with the prophecy of the 3 and 1/2 years of the first coming of the Messiah, but also the prophetic final 3 and 1/2 years leading to the second coming of the Messiah. That appears to be Gabriel's angelic role, and perhaps it's not unreasonable to consider that we may see Gabriel again as we near the second coming, just as he was seen just prior to the Messiah's first coming. It appears that Gabriel's sole scriptural role is as a messenger for the two comings of the Messiah.

This is perhaps highly fitting for another reason. We are going to now present a fascinating connection of the angel Gabriel to Daniel 9:27. This will be rather compelling for those who are already familiar with this verse and believe it to refer to the Antichrist. For those that are not intimately familiar with the debates of verse 27, what we briefly reveal here will be covered in much more depth later in the presentation. It's not necessary to understand any of this just yet, but you will later.

The Hebrew name Gabriel comes from the Hebrew verb *gabar*, which is the most important and most misunderstood word found in verse 27 as it relates to the respective covenant. *Gabar* simply means "to strengthen." Thus, it should be better understood that the covenant of Daniel 9:27 refers to a covenant that is to be strengthened for a period of 7 years. Since *gabar* means "to strengthen" and *El* is the Hebrew word translated as "God," the Hebrew name Gabriel is understood to mean "God is my strength" or "God strengthens." Note how Gabriel is intentionally named "God strengthens" and not coincidentally is the chosen angel to deliver the message about a covenant being strengthened for 7 years. Understand the importance of this. Do you see the intended connection?

What is this connection telling us? This is Gabriel answering the debate before the debate even started: Who strengthens the covenant in Daniel 9:27? God or an Antichrist? The angel's name of Gabriel teaches us that verse 27 is about God strengthening the covenant, unless we are to assume that Gabriel's name given to us in Daniel chapter 9 is simply an unrelated and confusing coincidence. Daniel in Daniel 9:4 was praying for a fulfillment of the covenant. In verse 27, we are told that this same covenant will be strengthened for 7 years, and this prophecy is given by an angel whose name literally means "God strengthens." Gabriel only appears once again to announce the coming conception of the Messiah, highlighting Gabriel's Messianic role and the start of the strengthening of the covenant. Gabriel was perfectly named for this role, as he was the one who gave the Daniel 9:27 prophecy regarding the strengthening of the covenant for 7 years by God through Messiah Yeshua. As revealed earlier, Gabriel's role is thematically and prophetically connected to the two 3 and 1/2 year Messianic periods that equate to a strengthening of the covenant for a total of 7 years. Therefore, it is God who strengthens the covenant, not an Antichrist. This was just an early introduction to the debate of Daniel 9:27. There is so much more. Remember all of this as we present the Messianic connection to verse 27 as it relates to the covenant in much greater depth later in this presentation.

And now, the 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel Chapter 9.

Daniel 9:24a: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your Holy City to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."

We are told that there will be 70 weeks to complete this prophecy. This prophecy arrives on the heels of Daniel recognizing that the 70 years of exile have nearly expired. The 70 weeks of years is a response to Daniel's prayer about the 70 years of exile. They're related. It's undebated that the 70 years of exile were a literal 70 years on the biblical calendar. The 70 weeks, as a 7 * 7, in similar context, would also have been understood by Daniel as literal years. The 70 weeks, or 70 * 7, equates to 490 years. The 490 years resulting from a multiplication of 7 times the 70 years of exile as punishment will be important later.

A biblical year can range from about 350-385 days, depending on the correct application of the cyclical patterns of the sun as days, moon as months, and stars as years. Thus, a biblical year is not a preset number of days. That is a common and understandable misunderstanding of those who have not studied the Torah, and not studying the Torah places a person at a severe and almost impossible disadvantage to properly understanding biblical prophecy. And how many know that the best way to study something is to do it? There's a lesson in there somewhere.

A biblical year is what the sun, moon, and stars declare as the heavenly witness, coupled with the sinking of aiv as the earthly witness. In biblical history, the sun, moon, and stars produced 360-day years regularly, as evidenced in the time of Noah, but that changed after the flood and/or during Hezekiah. The biblical calendar always syncs up with the annual solar cycle. It must, or the fall feasts will eventually be in the spring, and the spring feasts will be in the fall, which are agricultural and prophetic calendric markers. Obviously, Passover cannot occur in winter.

We must state this because some like to make each year of the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9 to equal 360 days or so-called prophetic years, based on a clear misunderstanding of how to calculate God's calendar over a period of 70 years. The biblical years would average to just over 365 days per year, as every few years there are 13 months to make sure the biblical feasts stay in their respective seasons. By the way, this change from a 360-day solar cycle to a 365-day solar cycle was likely prophesied by the 365 years of Enoch just before Noah's flood. This is how we can know for certain that the 70 weeks of Daniel cannot use 360-day years because the contextually related 70 years of exile in Babylon were also based on real biblical years based on the observance of the sun, moon, and stars. We cannot have an inconsistency of the 70 years of exile using biblical years and the 70 weeks prophecy using 360-day years in the same chapter.

As another side note, it's interesting to see that when the tribes of Israel are listed in scripture, sometimes it's 12 or 13. This frequency or ratio of occurrence in the scriptures is about 2/3 for 12 and about 1/3 for 13, which is the exact same ratio one would see for 12 or 13 months per biblical year over a stretch of years. It should also be noted that there were 12 disciples, and then later a 13th was added to replace Judas. These are all prophetic indications that for at least a stretch of time, there would be 12 or 13 months in a biblical year. In the end, we believe the sun, moon, and stars will once again produce a perfect 12-month, 360-day calendar. We'll cover more problems with applying a 360-day year to Daniel's 70 weeks later in the presentation.

Daniel chapter 9, verse 24a: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your Holy City to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."

This prophecy contains six objectives that directly connect back to Daniel also mentioning the city, God's people, transgressions, sins, iniquity, righteousness, prophecy, and the sanctuary in his prayers earlier in the same chapter. The future fulfillment of these six objectives appears related to the coming Messiah, which is the subject matter of the next verse, verse 25, and contains an important Messianic chronological detail.

Unfortunately, Daniel 9:25 is rather ambiguous in the Hebrew and has resulted in two common translations. Each translation is trying to deal with the fact that there is a mention of 7 weeks or 49 years and 62 weeks or 434 years. One way to translate it is like the ESV. It states that in verse 25, the Messiah will arrive at 7 weeks or 49 years, and that it will take another 62 weeks or 434 years to rebuild Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a Prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time."

One of the problems with this verse is that it states that it will take another 62 weeks of years or 434 years to rebuild Jerusalem either after the decree or the initial 7 weeks of years or 49 years. It most certainly did not take 434 years to rebuild Jerusalem after the word went forth to restore and build Jerusalem, which immediately should disqualify this translation. Another problem with this is that verse 26 says that the Messiah will be cut off after the 62 weeks of years or 434 years after arriving at 49 years. So, either the Messiah is expected to live for 385 years, or there are two Messiahs.

Well, it's a possible interpretation that Daniel chapter 9 is referring to two different Messiahs. That interpretation is unlikely for at least two reasons: One, it would be highly odd to mention a Messiah arriving in verse 25 and that is all the Messiah does, simply arrive and does nothing of any notable prophetic importance, and then in the very next verse, we would have another unrelated Messiah that comes out of nowhere and simply dies. The logical flow of the two Messiah narrative is rather awkward to say the least. Two, later in this presentation, we'll reveal how verse 25 actually predicted the exact year of the anointing of Messiah Yeshua and the exact year that He would die. Unless that is simply an absurd coincidence, then it makes the most sense to consider that the Messiah mentioned in verse 25 and verse 26 are one and the same, which also makes sense from a logical flow perspective.

Thus, the other way to translate Daniel 9:25 is similar to the New King James Version. This way to translate Daniel 9:25 states that there will be 7 weeks and also 62 weeks, and then the Messiah will arrive. This would amount to 69 weeks or 483 years until the arrival of the Messiah.

Daniel 9:25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times."

In this way to translate Daniel chapter 9:25, we discover that an anointed one or Messiah will appear at the 69th week or 483rd year. Later, we'll show how this did in fact happen exactly as prophecy demanded. The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, translates this verse in a similar way. This translation predates the arrival of the Messiah in the first century, thus there cannot be any argument of Christian bias in this translation of Daniel 9:25.

When studying this verse and this particular translation, the question has always been: Why are the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks separated in the prophecy? What sense does that make? The mention of "to restore and build Jerusalem" appears to relate to the initial 7 weeks or 49 years. It is also indicated that the rebuilding process is inclusive of rebuilding the street and wall. We'll reveal what that means in the Hebrew and how it was indeed completed in exactly 49 years later in this presentation.

As Daniel's prayer mentions the city of Jerusalem and sanctuary are currently desolate, the 70-week prophecy states that a word will go forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. When this decree goes forth, the prophetic clock of 69 weeks starts, bringing us to the coming of the Messiah. There are four possible decrees: the decree of Cyrus, the decree of Darius, the first decree of Artaxerxes, and the second decree of Artaxerxes. We are told that there will be 7 weeks and 62 weeks for a total of 69 weeks or 483 years till an anointed one or Messiah appears. Thus, exactly at the end of the 483rd year, the anointing must occur.

We know that the Messiah was not anointed until He was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. The Messiah said this in His own words:

Luke 4:18a: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me."

The disciples also agree that the Messiah's first coming began at His baptism.

Acts 1:21-22: "So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection."

Based on the plethora of witnesses we already covered, we already know that Messiah Yeshua was anointed in Fall of 26 CE. In addition, consistent with the requirement of Daniel 9:25, we also know that it was the Fall of 26 CE in which the Messiah appeared as the anointed one. If we were to subtract 483 years from Fall of 26 CE, we arrive to the Fall of 458 BCE.

We can now cross-check that date with four available decrees. For the decree to be valid, it not only needs to be a chronological match of 458 BCE, but the decree needs to include the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem.

The Decree of Cyrus (in 538 to 537 BCE): Cyrus issued a decree in which he announced: Ezra 1:2: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem.'" This decree allowed the Jews to return to Judea and rebuild the Temple. By implication, it also allowed them to rebuild Jerusalem, but we don't see any evidence in Scripture that this decree restored Jerusalem back to the Jews. Thus, it does not appear to allow the Jews to govern themselves under the Torah; they were still ruled directly by only Persian laws. Because of this, as expected, the math does not agree with the prophecy: 538 BCE + 483 years = 55 BCE, which is incompatible with the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9.

The Decree of Darius: In response to Cyrus's edict, the Jews slowly began to return, but they did not rebuild the Temple. When Zerubbabel and Joshua began to rebuild the Temple 17 years after Cyrus's decree, they experienced resistance from the Samaritans, who complained to the Persian authorities. This also confirms that the city was still under Persian jurisdiction and has not yet been restored to the Jews. In response, Darius affirmed Cyrus's decree by means of an additional edict around 520 BCE. Darius's decree mentions only the restoration of the Temple and simply confirmed and expedited Cyrus's order. Once again, we do not see any evidence in Scripture that this decree restored Jerusalem back to the Jews. Thus, it does not appear to allow the Jews to govern themselves under the Torah. Therefore, it still did not restore Jerusalem. Because of this, as expected, the math does not agree with the prophecy: 520 BCE + 483 years = 37 BCE, which is incompatible with the 70-week prophecy of Daniel chapter 9.

The First Decree of Artaxerxes: The first decree of Artaxerxes can be found in Ezra 7:12-26. This was in the seventh year of his reign, specifically in the Fall of 458 BCE to Fall of 457 BCE. Artaxerxes' first decree, for the first time, restored the city to the Jews. For the first time in scripture, we witness the establishment of the Torah as part of Persian law and granted authority to the Jews to govern themselves based on the law of God, thus finally restoring Jerusalem back to God's people, just as the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9 demands. While the Jews were still under Persian law (as that is what the Persians did), this is the first time that the Jews are permitted to rule themselves under the Torah, and consequences are also assigned to not following the law of God. Ezra 7:26: "Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment." Ezra received this decree and, noting its special significance, then later departed for Jerusalem on the first day of the first month, which would equate to early spring of 457 BCE on the Gregorian calendar. He arrived in Jerusalem exactly 2 months later. Given the amount of time Ezra would have needed to prepare for this long journey and all that was involved with such travel, it is expected that the decree was issued early in the 7th year of Artaxerxes, in the Fall or Winter of 458 BCE. Because of this, as expected, the math does agree with the prophecy: Fall 458 BCE + 483 years = Fall 26 CE, which agrees with the 70-week prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 and all historical witnesses we have reviewed so far. It directly lands on exactly when the Messiah was anointed and when He began His ministry, just as Daniel 9:25 predicted.

Some suggest that the first decree of Artaxerxes in 458 BC was not the right decree because it did not specifically authorize the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It is claimed that Artaxerxes' second decree was the first to authorize the rebuilding of Jerusalem. However, we know that cannot be true. The previous decrees by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, by allowing the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple and to govern themselves, implicitly allowed the Jews to rebuild their cities. However, Nehemiah is most certainly the point person responsible for the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the first decree of Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes' first decree fits the description in Daniel 9:25 better than his second because it: one, chronologically agrees with ancient testimony as to the year the Messiah appeared and was anointed; two, restored Jerusalem as a judicial capital to the Jews by making the law of God part of the government; and three, implicitly authorized the Jews to rebuild the city, and archaeological evidence confirms rebuilding occurred.

The Second Decree of Artaxerxes (in 444 BCE): Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes I, received a report that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. He then requested and obtained permission from Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem and

rebuild The City. The second decree of arXerxes is disqualified in several ways. ArXerxes' second decree did not restore the city because: one, his first decree already did that; two, the decree said nothing about the right of Jews to rule themselves; and three, it only dealt with the physical construction of the walls of the city. Thus, there's no sound reason to consider the second decree to be the start of the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9. Because of this, as expected, the math does not agree with the prophecy. 444 BCE plus 483 years equates to 40 CE and overshoots the ministry and death of Messiah by at least 5 years.

By almost any standard, considering this, as we mentioned earlier, some have chosen to interpret the 483 years as what has been called prophetic years. This creative method takes each of the 483 years and multiplies it by 360 days to arrive to 173,880 days, arriving to approximately 33 CE. It is understood that this is too late to be the year the Messiah was anointed and also the year that the Messiah appeared. So, in an attempt to ignore that prophetic requirement of the timing of the Messiah's anointing, it's usually said that this lands on the Messiah's triumphant entry just before he died. The value of this is that it allows for a reasonable year for the Messiah's death. However, beyond the fact that this decree is not consistent with Daniel 9:2, this counting method is loaded with a number of insurmountable problems:

One, Messiah would have been 32 or 33 years of age at the start of his ministry. That is not necessarily incompatible with Luke 3 verse 23, but it is certainly a less appealing fit, as he would have been well beyond about 30 years of age.

Two, this is 3 years off from the date Josephus gives us for the first year of the Messiah's Passover in 27 CE, which places the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE. There is no way to reconcile this and makes Josephus's testimony to be false.

Three, this is 3 years off from the date that Luke 3:1 provides us for the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE. There is no way to reconcile this and makes Luke's chronology out to be false.

Four, this is 3 years off from the date that Tertullian provides us for the start of the Messiah's ministry in 26 CE. There is no way to reconcile this and makes Tertullian's chronology out to be false.

Five, this is 3 years off from the date that Eusebius provides us for the death of the Messiah in 30 CE. There is no way to reconcile this and makes Eusebius out to be false.

Six, this makes all of the Jewish testimony surrounding the 40 Years of strange Temple activity that ended in 70 CE and thus points to the Messiah's death in 30 CE to be false. There is no way to reconcile this.

Seven, the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 states that an anointed one will appear at the conclusion of 69 weeks or 483 years. By the time we arrived to 33 CE, the Messiah was anointed and appeared years earlier, regardless of chronological perspective. What that means is this: interpreting the 483 years as prophetic years brings us close to the Messiah's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but that was only a few days before his death. In other words, that was the end of his ministry. In contrast, the implication of Daniel 9:25 is that the Messiah's ministry will begin at the end of the first 483 years, when he became an anointed one. By the Messiah's own words, Messiah's ministry began about 3 years earlier when he was anointed. We already revealed how the Messiah declared in Luke 4 that he arrived at his anointing following his baptism. The disciples also agree the Messiah did not arrive at the triumphal entry, but instead arrived at the time of his baptism (Acts chap 1:21-22): "So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection."

Eight, lastly, and as already covered earlier in the presentation, the 70 years of Exile in Babylon mentioned in Daniel chapter 9 were clearly understood by Daniel to be literal Biblical years, which is thematically connected to the 70 weeks of years also mentioned in Daniel chapter 9. It would make no sense for the 70 years to be literal Biblical years while the related 70 weeks are suddenly so-called 360-day prophetic years. One would expect consistency in the counting method for both prophecies, especially since that would have been Daniel's expectation as well.

Now that we've established the starting point of the 70 weeks of Daniel as 458 BCE and validated with all available ancient witnesses that the Messiah did indeed arrive on time in 26 CE, we can reveal the prophetic importance of the first 7 weeks or 49 years of the 70 week prophecy.

Daniel 9:25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince, there shall be 7 weeks and 62 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall, even in in Troublesome times."

Why are the 49 weeks and the 62 weeks separated in the prophecy? The mention of "to restore and build Jerusalem" appears to relate to the initial 7 weeks or 49 years. It's also indicated that the rebuilding process is inclusive of rebuilding the street and wall. It was brought to Nehemiah's attention that the wall needed to be repaired (Nehemiah 1:3): "And they said to me, 'The remnant there, there in the province, who had survived the exile, is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.'" Before he asked the king's permission to rebuild Jerusalem's walls, Nehemiah prayed and God granted his request. As he was leaving Babylon, he met some Arab men who mocked him for what he was about to do. Nehemiah's response proved that at this moment, Nehemiah was taking responsibility for the continuation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:20): "Then I replied to them, 'The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.'" Nehemiah and his workers faced many similar challenges, consistent with the prophecy that said that the street and wall would be rebuilt even in Troublesome times. And indeed, it was. Despite the challenges, the wall was rebuilt in astonishing time (Nehemiah 6:15): "So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 days." The wall was finished around 444 BCE.

The fact that Daniel 9:25 focuses on a wall being rebuilt as a critical part of rebuilding Jerusalem, and also the fact that Nehemiah took ownership of this process during documented Troublesome times, appears to indicate that it would become Nehemiah's role to finish out this 49-year rebuilding period after the first decree of ArXerxes. Obviously, the rebuilding of Jerusalem is more than just walls and OT, but who is to say when it's finished? How do we know when the 49-year rebuilding process is complete? If it was Nehemiah's responsibility to complete the rebuilding, then it is certainly finished when Nehemiah dies. Wouldn't it be amazing if we discover that Nehemiah dies exactly 49 years after the decree? Nothing is known as to when or where Nehemiah died. It is certain, however, that he was no longer governor in 47 BCE, for at that time, according to the Aramaic letter written from Elephantine to the priests of Jerusalem, Bagohi was occupying the position of governor over Judea instead of Nehemiah. One of the last acts of Nehemiah's government was the chasing away of one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, because he had become the son-in-law to Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. As this Joiada was the father of Johanan (Nehemiah chapter 12:22), who according to the Aramaic Papyrus was high priest in 407 BCE and according to Josephus was high priest while Bagohi was general of ArXerxes' army, it is certain that Nehemiah was at this time no longer in power, reasonably suggesting that Nehemiah had died by this time. Since the decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem went forth in 458 BCE, 49 years later would be 409 BCE. The completion of Nehemiah's rebuilding work in Jerusalem is likely the significant development that occurred in 409 BCE. The forementioned Elephantine papyri mentions the man who replaced Nehemiah as governor of Judah in 407 BCE, indicating that approximately 409 BCE may have reasonably been the conclusion of Nehemiah's rebuilding work in Jerusalem, thus precisely fulfilling the initial 7 weeks or 49-year requirement of Daniel's 70 weeks.

We can now proceed to verse 26, in which we are told that this coming Messiah would be cut off.

Daniel 9:26 (New King James Version): "And after the 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself." Hebrew: "Being cut off" was a very serious matter. It meant being without protection, without interaction, without provision, and without God. It often meant death, and it most certainly did in this case (Matthew 20:28): "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

But when was the Messiah to be cut off? When in the 70th week was the Messiah supposed to die? Consistent with the prophecy of Daniel 9 verse 25, the Messiah appeared and was anointed at the conclusion of the 69th week or 483 years, which occurred in 26 CE. Daniel 9:26 states that the Messiah will be cut off after the 62 weeks, and this is exactly what occurred. We are told that the Messiah is cut off after the 62nd week. The 62nd week occurs after the initial 7 weeks, thus the Messiah is cut off after the 69th week, as 7 + 62 = 69. After the 69th week is the 70th week, as obviously the 70th week comes after the 69th week. Therefore, the Messiah is cut off or dies during the 70th week.

Why is this important? What does the Messiah's death have to do with the 70 weeks prophecy? What we will discover, and it really shouldn't be much of a surprise, is that the Messiah's death and resurrection is quite literally the centerpiece of the 70th week. At the moment of the appearing and anointing of the Messiah in 26 CE, 69 weeks have expired, beginning in 26 CE. That leaves us with exactly 1 week or 7 years remaining to complete all 70 weeks or 490 years. That is the common understanding of Daniel chapter 9, that we still have one week or 7 years to go. But do we really? Why does the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 mention the death of the Messiah if the death of the Messiah has nothing to do with the 70 weeks count? Would that make any sense? Somehow, the Messiah's death must relate to the 70 weeks, but how? Perhaps more importantly, what does that mean for the 70th week?

What we will soon find is it is the death and resurrection of the Messiah that enables the six objectives to be completed, and we will also discover that the Messiah's death occurred precisely in the middle of the 70th week. That answer may now already be obvious, but let's walk through the rest of the prophecy.

Recall the six Messianic objectives that are to be completed during the prophesied 70 weeks: Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your Holy City to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."

From the time that the Messiah appeared in 26 CE to the time that he died and resurrected in 30 CE, did the Messiah accomplish any of these objectives? Let's find out.

Did the Messiah finish the transgression by being cut off? Hebrews 9:15: "Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." Isaiah 53:5: "But he was pierced for our transgressions." We are told that his death on the cross is what finished the transgression. John 19:19: "And Jesus, when he had received the vinegar, said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." So yes, the Messiah did indeed finish the transgression. The Messiah finished the transgression by being cut off, which connects this objective directly back to the timeline of Daniel chapter 9.

Did the Messiah make an end of sin by being cut off? Hebrews 9:26: "But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." So yes, the Messiah did indeed put away or make an end of sin. The Messiah made an end of sin by being cut off, which connects this objective directly back to the timeline of Daniel chapter 9. John the Baptist announced him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Messiah died for our sins, and he appeared in order to take away sins. This end of sins was accomplished at the cross. All of this does not mean, of course, that right at this point men quit sinning. The point is that for those in the faith, our sin has been removed and forgotten, thus making an end of sin.

Did the Messiah make reconciliation for iniquity by being cut off? Romans 5:1: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. So yes, the Messiah did indeed make reconciliation for us. The idea of reconciliation for iniquity is related to the Day of Atonement. It's the day that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to atone for the iniquity of the people. This, in fact, is the subject matter of Hebrews chapter 9-10. Hebrews 9:6: "These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people." This, of course, refers to the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. Hebrews 9:11-14: "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Three and a half years after the 69th week, or in the middle of the week, the Messiah put an end to the offering of sin as it relates back to the Day of Atonement sacrifice and offering. Hebrews 10:8-10: "When he said above, 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.' He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

But for those who have repented because of Messiah's sacrifice, our sins are reconciled. Our sins are no longer remembered. Hebrews 10:17-18: "then he adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.' Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin." This will all be important when we cover Daniel 9:27.

Daniel 9:27b: "and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering." In this translation, it sounds like the sacrifice and offerings only cease for 3 and a half years and then they resume. However, that is likely an output of translator bias, conflating this verse with the fact that the future Antichrist will set up the abomination of desolation. However, when we look at the Hebrew from a more literal translation, in an effort to remove translator bias, we find that the sacrifice and offerings cease in the middle of the 7 years, meaning 3 and a half years into the 70th week.

Daniel 9:27b: "and in the midst of the period of seven he causes sacrifice and present to cease." And that is exactly what the Messiah did. Three and a half years into the 70th week, or in the midst of a period of seven, in 30 CE, there was no longer any offering for sin. Hebrews 10:17-18: "then he adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.'" The argument is straightforward: God takes no pleasure in sacrifices for sin. Despite that, the sacrifices for sin are demanded through his law. Instead, his delight is in perfect obedience, and in this case, the obedience of Messiah unto death. Therefore, God does away with the first (the sacrifices and offerings related to sin) to establish the second (perfect obedience to the Father through the Messiah).

Messiah's sacrifice is so effective in the complete forgiveness that it provides that it actually causes us to cease sinning. It puts away sin, meaning that our sins are not only forgiven, but also, and ultimately, that our sinning is promised to cease. This has been the promise of restoration since the beginning, but it was made possible by the Messiah's work on the cross in 30 CE. Because of the Messiah's resurrection, we can now also be resurrected. At the coming resurrection, we will be given new bodies with a spiritual nature instead of a sinful nature. This is the promise of the New Covenant. This is how it will be possible for the law, the Torah, to be written on our hearts and minds. It's just another way of saying we will have a spiritual nature instead of a sinful nature. At the resurrection, just before we are brought into the land, we will be given a heart that wants to keep the law of God. This is all part of biblical prophecy about the New Covenant. Ezekiel chap 36:24-28: "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

So, this final and complete forgiveness that Hebrews 10:8 is talking about comes at the moment when our bodies are made new at the resurrection. From then on, we will no longer be conscious of sin because we will not sin. And again, this process began at the Messiah's sacrifice in 30 CE and connects directly back to Daniel 9:27. We will cover the connection to Daniel 9:27 more soon, but for now, after reviewing the scriptural evidence, the point is established that the Messiah in his first coming has certainly completed three of the six objectives for the 70 weeks: one, to finish the transgression; two, to make an end of sins; three, to make reconciliation for iniquity. This still leaves three objectives for the Messiah that are reserved for the second coming and will be covered in part four of this series: four, to bring in everlasting righteousness; five, to seal up vision and prophecy; and six, to anoint the most holy.

As already mentioned, it's an all too common belief that there are still 7 years remaining for the 70th week of Daniel, but now we know that cannot be true. There can only be 3 and a half years left of the 70th week to fulfill. But why? Why must that be true? Based on the Messianic fulfillment of Daniel 9:24-26, we now know the following: We know that there are 70 weeks established to complete six Messianic objectives. We know that the Messiah was scheduled to arrive at the completion of the 69th week or 483rd year. We know that the Messiah has completed none of the six Messianic objectives by the time of his appearance. This leaves the Messiah just 7 years after the 69th week, beginning in 26 CE, to complete all six of the Messianic objectives. We know that in Daniel 9 verse 26, that the Messiah will be cut off after the 69th week, and therefore we are to understand that the Messiah being cut off is somehow related to the Messianic objectives of the 70 weeks. We know that the Messiah arrived in Fall 26 CE and was cut off in Spring 30 CE, which equates to a 3 and a half year timeline of the first coming. We know that the death of the Messiah, 3 and a half years into the 70th week, fulfilled three of the six objectives: one, to finish the transgression; two, to make an end of sins; three, to make reconciliation for iniquity. Thus, the answer is simple: we can clearly see that the Messiah used exactly 3 and a half years, or half of the 70th week, from 26 CE to 30 CE, to accomplish exactly half of the Messianic objectives that are determined for the 70th week. 7 years minus 3 and a half years equates to 3 and a half years remaining.

There are only 3 and a half years remaining of the 70 weeks of Daniel. By Spring of 30 CE, when the Messiah was cut off and resurrected, the 70th week then pauses here, precisely at his death and resurrection. Note where this pause in the 70th week is occurring on the Messianic timeline. This pause is exactly where we would expect it to be based on all other Messianic timeline prophecies we have already reviewed in this series. In this light, Daniel chapter 9 does not stand alone, nor does it create a new and odd gap in the Messianic timeline, but it's in complete agreement as another witness in a long list of witnesses of the Messianic timeline gap that we should already expect. The Messianic timeline gap starts when the Messiah was cut off and resurrected in 30 CE. For those that have a difficult time accepting a gap in the 70th week, because some do, consider the fact that we exhaustively covered 52 prophecies that reveal a blatant 2,000-year gap between the death and resurrection of the Messiah and his return in Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, Part 1 and Part 2. Daniel's 70th week details the Messianic timeline, and thus not only should we find a gap agreeable, but it is mandated by all other Messianic timeline prophecies in the Bible. Daniel chapter 9 should not be any different, and it's not.

Daniel chapter 9 is then the answer to how the Messiah knew in Luke 4 that there would be a 3 and a half year period for his first coming and a 3 and a half year period leading to his second coming. As we continue through Daniel, the reality of this remaining 3 and a half years for the time of the end will be even more apparent. At the conclusion of this presentation, we'll show how Daniel chapter 9, using Leviticus 26 in the same way used for the years of punishment prophecy in Part 2, amazingly connects the 70 years of Exile to the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9, and then the 70 weeks of Daniel extend directly to 2030 as one seamless prophetic chronological thread.

Now we'll continue with Daniel 9:26.

Daniel 9:26: "And after the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed."

Who are the people of the prince who is to come? To answer that, we need to be able to answer who is the prince.

Daniel 9:25 (New King James Version): "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince, there shall be 7 weeks and 62 weeks."

The prophecy gives us the answer: the prince to come is Messiah the prince, that is declared to appear at the completion of the 69th week. Who then are the people of the Messiah that destroy the city and the sanctuary?

Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your Holy City to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."

This 70-year timeline for the Messiah is given to a particular people, who are the Jews, which also includes Daniel, a Jew. Thus, in context, the people of the Messiah are the Jews. The prophecy once again gives us the answer. What does this then mean? "And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70 CE, 40 years after the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Did the Jews destroy the city and sanctuary? Yes, they did, according to the Messiah's own words (Matthew 23:37-39): "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

The destruction of the temple was a punishment, not a blessing. Those who were being punished through the destruction of the temple was the house of Judah, the Jews. This is the only reasonable conclusion. The temple was destroyed because of the Jews' rejection of Messiah. Thus, it is the Jews who are responsible for the destruction of the temple. The Romans were not responsible for the destruction of the temple; they were simply the tool that God used. The Jews brought the punishment upon themselves, and thus they were punished accordingly through the Romans. In fact, in a rather interesting dose of irony, the leadership of the Jews attempted to state that the Messiah was not their King, contradictory to Daniel 9:26. Yet, the Jews were not permitted to make that claim. John 19:19-22: "Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.' Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, 'Do not write, "The King of the Jews," but rather, "This man said, I am King of the Jews."'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

That was not an accident, but is a fulfillment of prophecy. The Jews were the people of the prince. The Jews rejected and thus killed the Messiah, as the prophet like unto Moses, to whom they were commanded to listen to in the Torah, thus breaking Deuteronomy 18:15. As we learned in the "Years of Punishment" prophecy in Part 2 of Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, this rejection of the Messiah began the punishment period prophesied in Ezekiel 4. Because the house of Judah failed to repent in those 40 years, the destruction of the temple in 70 CE solidified their punishment and their punishment period. And the punishment period of the house of Israel are both now set to expire in 2030, thus, as declared by the Messiah in Matthew 23, Jerusalem was made desolate by the house of Judah, as was also decreed in advance long ago in Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9:26b: "its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed." This is how the Messiah knew, as revealed in Matthew 24:1-2, that the temple was going to be destroyed after his death. Notice how the 70 weeks prophecy is all about the Messiah. It is a Messianic prophecy, after all.

With that being said, let's continue with Daniel 9:27.

Daniel 9:27: "And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

Who is the "he" that makes a covenant for many for one week? Just as we have observed several times already, the prophecy gives us the answer. As many rightfully say, context is everything. Daniel 9:27 refers back to Daniel 9:26. In the context of the prior verse, we only find the reference of the Messiah and the people of the Messiah.

Daniel chapter 9:26: "And after the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed."

The Messiah, who is established as the prince to come in verse 25, is singular, and the people of the prince are plural. Thus, the "he" being referred to must be the Messiah. Did the Messiah make a covenant for many for one week? No, he did not. But that is not what is said in the Hebrew. No one makes a covenant for one week according to the Hebrew of Daniel 9:27. The Hebrew word often translated as "make" in Daniel 9:27 is "gabar." It literally means to prevail. It means to strengthen or confirm something that already exists. Some translations get this nearly right, such as the NASB, NIV, KJV, and translate "gabar" as "confirm." Translations that emphasize a literal reading of the Hebrew as much as possible to avoid translator bias translate this verse perfectly. For example, consider the Literal Standard Version: Daniel 9:27a: "And he has strengthened a covenant with many for one period of seven." A covenant is strengthened for a complete period of 7 years. To "make a covenant" literally means to "cut a covenant." If a covenant was made in Daniel 9:27, we would perhaps see the Hebrew phrase "karath b'rit," meaning "to cut a covenant." However, the Hebrew phrase "karath b'rit" is not found in Daniel chapter 9:27. Or we would see the Hebrew words "kum," meaning "to establish a covenant." We would see the Hebrew word "natan," meaning "to give a covenant." A covenant is not made, established, or given in Daniel 9:27, according to the actual Hebrew. A covenant is strengthened.

The specific language of "cutting a covenant" originates from ancient Near East customs and is related to the cutting of an animal in half and walking through it. The idea being communicated with such language and action is that should either party violate the covenant, then what happened to the animal is what is to happen to the violator of the covenant. The violator is to be cut off. That is why serious transgressors of God's covenant are instructed to be cut off. This is also why the Messiah was to be cut off when he took our transgressions that were against the covenant upon himself. This will be more important later, but we even see this exampled in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15. And if you read it, you will see that only God walked through the animals that were cut in half, making it an unconditional covenant on our part. But what we certainly do not see in Daniel 9:27 is a covenant being cut, made, established, or given. Again, "gabar" in Hebrew means to prevail, and in this context, it means to strengthen or confirm a covenant that already exists, and this strengthening or confirming occurs for exactly one week or 7 years. It is God who strengthens the covenant through Messiah Yeshua. As already mentioned in this presentation, that is why it is the Angel Gabriel who is the one who delivers this prophecy to Daniel. The name Gabriel literally means "God strengthens" and is contextually relevant.

This is important to understand because some eschatological doctrines suggest that the "he" of Daniel 9:27 is the future Antichrist. In such an understanding, this Antichrist supposedly makes a covenant, which already exposes a critical misunderstanding of the Hebrew word "gabar." Perhaps more importantly, it's taught that this future Antichrist breaks the covenant in the middle of the seven years, instead of what the prophecy requires, which is a confirming or strengthening of the covenant for a 7-year period. The breaking of a 7-year covenant happens to be the exact opposite of strengthening or confirming a covenant for a 7-year period. Even if we were to ignore all the context we have already established, the Hebrew word "gabar" alone disqualifies the future Antichrist from being the "he" of Daniel chapter 9:27. The central theme of the prophecies of Daniel is God's covenant with his people, not a covenant with an Antichrist. "The Lord is the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant." "The Lord confirmed the words of the Covenant in bringing the curses on Judah and Jerusalem." "The high priest was the prince of the Covenant." "The willful king would turn his heart against the Holy Covenant." "He would be enraged and take action against the Holy Covenant." "He would seduce with flattery those who violate the Covenant, but those that were wise would stand firm." The Messiah would confirm or strengthen the Covenant for seven years. The whole central theme of the end times prophecies of Daniel is God's covenant. For now, we simply need to understand that "gabar" means to prevail. It means to strengthen or confirm a covenant that already exists, as you cannot strengthen or confirm something that does not yet exist. In this case, the existing covenant needs to be strengthened for exactly 7 years.

Is there a covenant that the Messiah strengthened or confirmed with many? Matthew 26:28: "for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." As part of the 3 and a half years of the Messiah's first coming, it is through the New Covenant with many that the already existing Abrahamic Covenant was strengthened. Galatians 3:29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." What we will find is that because of what the Messiah did as a part of the New Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant was strengthened for 3 and a half years in the Messiah's first coming and will be strengthened for the final 3 and a half years leading up to his second coming.

What does this mean exactly? How was the Abrahamic Covenant strengthened? The Abrahamic Covenant comprises of two parts: one, the nations, as the many would begin entering into covenant with God, and thus many nations would be blessed. That began in the Messiah's first coming, and it took the Messiah the first 3 and a half years of Daniel's 70th week to accomplish it. And two, God's people will enter the land. That will be fulfilled at the second coming, immediately following the final 3 and a half years of Daniel's 70th week. Remember Daniel's prayer earlier in chapter 9 is seeking a conclusion for 70 years of Exile in Babylon. Daniel wanted his people to go into the land, which is the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant, and exactly why Daniel mentions the Covenant in verse 4. This is the context: Daniel wanted God to answer the Covenant and bring them back to the land. Daniel 9:4: "I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, 'O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.'" Thus, the Covenant of many, as the Abrahamic Covenant, of which fulfillment is made possible through the New Covenant, is strengthened for 3 and a half years in the first coming plus another 3 and a half years leading up to the second coming. 3 and a half years plus 3 and a half years equates to 7 years. At the seventh year, Daniel's prayer regarding the Covenant is answered, and we go into the land.

Daniel 9:27a (LSV Literal Standard Version): "And he has strengthened a covenant with many for one period of seven." And in the midst of the period of seven he causes sacrifice and present to cease. We already showed how the author of Hebrews understood and taught how the Messiah fulfilled putting an end to sacrifice and offering in the middle of the 70th week. Hebrews 10:8-10: "When he said above, 'You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.' He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Which leads into Hebrews 10:17-18: "then he adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.'"

Daniel 9 Chronology Unlocked. And now we're ready to reveal the full chronology of the 70 weeks of Daniel. In Part 2 of Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, we revealed two independent timelines in the "Years of Punishment" prophecy. These two timelines connected to Ezekiel 4 and have two different starting points: one is for the house of Israel, and one is for the house of Judah. Both of the termination points for both of the timelines both expire in 2030, or biblical year 6000, which is when the Messiah is expected to return and the house of Israel and the house of Judah are finally reunited as one in the land according to Ezekiel 37.

In the "Years of Punishment" prophecy, it might be questioned why the 40 years of punishment according to Ezekiel 4 does not begin till 30 CE for the house of Judah. That is a good question, and the answer is astounding. The answer connects all the way back to the 70 of Exile, the 490 years of Daniel, and leads once again to biblical year 6000, which is Gregorian year 2030. How does it work? Here's how: When Daniel saw that the 70 years of Exile were nearing expiration, he was hopeful that the punishment period was over and that they would return to the land as promised. Following the 70 years of Babylonian exile, there appears to be about an 80-year gap till the first decree of ArXerxes. Whether or not it's of any significance, this reminds us of the 80-year period from the time that Jerusalem was declared the capital of Israel in 1950 and the return of the Messiah and us entering the land again in 2030, as covered in Part 2 of this series.

Following the Babylonian exile, the house of Judah did indeed return to the land. However, there was a problem. The prophets stated that the house of Judah would not and did not return with her whole heart (Jeremiah 3): "Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord." So, the house of Judah was permitted to enter the land, and if they were fully repentant, there should have been constant peace and self-rule according to the rules of punishment according to Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26:5-6: "And you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. But that did not happen because the house of Judah, the Jews, did not return with her whole heart. Thus, while they were permitted to enter the land once again, they did not escape some of the due punishments according to Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26:17: "I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you." The Jews were still ruled over by the Persians; they had horrendous issues with the Greeks, then they were ruled over by the Romans. This all happened during the 70 weeks of Daniel, despite them being allowed into the land. The heart of the Jews returned to God only in part.

In an interesting twist, while God returned the Jews to the land, he held back all the other blessings that should have also come with it. And according to Leviticus 26, that period was to be a multiple of seven. Leviticus 26:18: "And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins." So, instead of being disciplined in exile for 70 years, the Jews are now being disciplined in the land. That is why Daniel's 70 weeks is 490 years. It's a seven-fold punishment in the land: 70 years * 7 equals 490 years. It's also why the Jews had so many problems during this period. The 70 weeks of Daniel are a punishment period while in the land. This period is also often called the 400 years of silence because of the lack of prophetic activity and is likely related to this particular punishment period. The 70 weeks of Daniel detailed the first coming of the Messiah. To perhaps the surprise of many, the 70 weeks of Daniel also detail exactly when the second coming will be, and we'll get to that shortly.

As the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 demands, the Messiah arrived at the 483rd year, leaving 7 years or one week left of Daniel's 70th week. Then, the Messiah's ministry was for 3 and a half years after the 69th week, leaving just three and a half years left of Daniel's 70th week. It was at this time that the Jews rejected the Messiah and caused the 40-year punishment period of Ezekiel 4 to begin for the house of Judah. Daniel chapter 9 mentions the same scope of 40 years of Ezekiel 4 as a sequence of events, with the scope being the year of the Messiah's death till the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

Daniel 9:26: "And after the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing." This, of course, occurred in 30 CE. "And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed." This occurred in 70 CE. 70 minus 30 is 40 years. Thus, Daniel 9:26, in hidden form (if you know what you're looking for), refers to the same 40-year period mentioned in Ezekiel 4 and begins a new punishment period, interrupting the punishment period of Daniel 9 from when the Messiah was cut off. The Ezekiel chapter 4 years of punishment period for the house of Judah continues to cycle from 70 CE until its conclusion in 2030 CE. Thus, the punishment period ends for the house of Judah in 2030. See the "Years of Punishment" prophecy in Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline, Part Two, for reference. We still have 3 and a half years of the punishment period left for Daniel chapter 9, and that must then also expire in 2030, just like the Ezekiel 4 punishment period.

Just as the first 3 and a half year period of the 70th week told us when the Messiah's first coming would be, the final 3 and a half year period of the 70th week will tell us when the Messiah's second coming will be. The 70 weeks are paused when the Messiah is cut off, and the Ezekiel 4 punishment period begins. Just as Daniel 9:26 gave us the chronological scope of 40 years from the Messiah's death to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, Daniel chapter 9 gives us one final chronological scope leading to the Messiah's second coming.

Daniel 9:26b: "and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed." This occurred in 70 CE.

Daniel 9:27b: "and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." But when does this occur? We know that the one who causes the final abomination of desolation is the final future Antichrist. Daniel 12:1 also states that this is a 3 and a half year period, which also conveniently agrees with our understanding of Daniel chapter 9. We also find that the "decreed end is poured out on the desolator." What is the decreed end of the Antichrist? The Messiah comes and kills the Antichrist at his second coming. That is the decreed end of the Antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2:8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming."

This is how Daniel chapter 9 brings into context the Messiah's second coming, which we know is related to the final 3 and a half years of the 70th week. The Antichrist is killed at the end of this 3 and a half year period. But how are we to understand the chronology of this prophecy of the final three and a half years of the 70th week? As mentioned earlier, the 490 years of the 70 weeks is a seven-fold punishment extension stemming from the 70 years of

Babylonian exile. Leviticus 26:18. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins. This is said exactly four times in Leviticus 26. Four times this seven-fold punishment is mentioned.

Also, note the new numerical connection to the repeating four and seven pattern revealed earlier in this series. The reason that the seven-fold punishment period is mentioned four times in Leviticus 26 may then relate back to the 70 weeks or 490 years. 490 years * 4 equal 1,960 years. The time stamp we're looking for is the time from when Jerusalem and the temple is destroyed in Daniel 9:26b and the destruction of the Antichrist in Daniel 9:27b.

Daniel 9 verse 26b: "And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed." This occurred in 70 CE.

Daniel 9:27b: "And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." Thus, we simply take 70 CE of Daniel 9:26b and add the 1,960 years, and we arrive to Gregorian year 2030 for when the Antichrist will be destroyed.

Thus, the timeline of Ezekiel 4 for the house of Judah is in complete sync with the timeline of Daniel chapter 9 for the house of Judah. It's a perfect match. How likely is this to be a coincidence? And now we know when the final 3 and a half years of the 70th week will end in 2030. And thus, the final 3 and 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th week must begin 3 and 1/2 years earlier.

Just as Leviticus chap 26 revealed the conclusions of the years of punishment prophecy of Ezekiel 4 for both the house of Israel and the house of Judah to end in 2030, we also now find that Leviticus 26 also unlocks Daniel 9 and reveals that the punishment period of the 70 weeks also expires in 2030. All end times prophetic clocks point to biblical year 6000 or Gregorian year 2030.

And now knowing that we have just 3 and a half years left for the 70th week, we're ready for the final sentence in Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9 verse 27b: "And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes death it until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." At this point in time, this is all Daniel is told about the final 3 and a half years of the 70th week.

Instead of Daniel being told that God's people will be brought into the land after the Babylonian exile and fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant, he's told that all will be made desolate one final time by a particular individual, which must have been absolutely devastating, especially after such a profound and heartfelt prayer. The 70 weeks prophecy leaves Daniel with some obvious unanswered questions. He knows that the Messiah is cut off after the 3 and a half years in the middle of the 70th week, but how is he to know what occurs in the final 3 and a half years and how will it finally fulfill his prayer about God keeping the Abrahamic Covenant that allows all of Israel to finally enter the land? And who is this person that causes another desolation and how is it related to this final three and a half years? Daniel still needs to know what is going to occur in the latter days.

Daniel chapters 10-12 becomes the answers to these questions. Daniel 10-12. Daniel is told that he would receive some understanding of the latter days.

Daniel 10:13-14: "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision is for days yet to come."

Daniel chap 11 goes on to accurately predict the events leading up to and through the Maccabean period with astounding detail. It's so historically accurate that some scholars simply cannot believe that this was written before that time. It's also reasonable to believe there are aspects of Daniel 11 that are cyclically relevant to the time just before the Messiah's second coming.

Daniel chapter 9 not only leaves us with 3 and a half years remaining, the last sentence of the 70 weeks prophecy states that it begins with another final desolation of Jerusalem and that it ends when the desolator is destroyed. Daniel still needs an answer to this and clarification regarding the timeline. Thus, it is of no coincidence that Daniel 12, as the last chapter in the Book of Daniel, focuses on the remaining 3 and a half years of the 70th week and even confirms that it is just 3 and a half years left that remain, as inferred from Daniel chapter 9.

This time of 3 and a half years is a time of Great Tribulation, and then the resurrections follow. Daniel 12:1-2: "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

According to Daniel chapter 9, once the desolation occurs, there are 3 and a half years remaining. Daniel 12 agrees.

Daniel 12:7: "And I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream. He raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, one time, two and a half a time, one half, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished."

More specifically, the 3 and a half years from the time of the abomination of desolation until the resurrection mentioned in Daniel 12:2. There are to be 1,290 days.

Daniel 12:11: "And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the Abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days." In this, we learn that once again the sacrifices will cease, which must mean that someday before spring 2027, they would have to resume.

The Messiah also agrees that when the final abomination of desolation occurs, it will begin the 3 and a half year Great Tribulation. Matthew 24:15 and 21: "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, for then there will be a Great Tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will."

In Daniel chapter 7, we see that Daniel is given a vision of the Beast kingdoms of the world unto the coming of the Messiah. The final kingdom is that of the fourth or non-descript beast having 10 horns. Out of these 10 horns comes a fourth and a little horn. This little horn makes war with the saints and overcomes them. The period of persecution is a time, times, and half of a time, that is 3 and a half years. Note how 3 and a half years of Daniel 7 is not 7 years or 1 week. It's significant that this period of 3 and a half years of tribulation on the saints is given to Daniel before he was given the 70 weeks prophecy, since the 70th week also leaves us with 3 and a half years remaining, beginning with a final desolation.

Lastly, this remaining 3 and a half years mentioned in Daniel 7 and Daniel chap 9 is the centerpiece of Daniel's final prophecy in Daniel 12, covering the time of the end. There is no 7-year tribulation mentioned anywhere in the scriptures.

Lastly, we are told that there is a mysterious 1,335 days in which we are told that is a day in which we are blessed. Daniel chapter 12 verse 12: "Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days." And that is what Daniel is waiting for, as it connects back and answers his prayer in Daniel chapter 9 regarding the Abrahamic Covenant. This is the day that the Abrahamic Covenant is completely fulfilled, as Daniel 12:12 states, "it is the day that all are blessed."

Genesis 12:2-3: "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all the peoples on Earth will be blessed through you."

Returning to the land is then not only related to Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 while he was in the 70-year Babylonian exile (Jeremiah 25:8-14), but we also see this clear connection and massive emphasis of all being blessed. And of course, being blessed is the only thematic connection that the 1,335 day timeline gives us. Or is it?

How old was Abraham when he received the Abrahamic Covenant? Abraham was 75 years old, as we discover in the very next verse. Genesis 12:4: "So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran." Why is that important? Well, not only is the theme of the Abrahamic Covenant about all being blessed, and the end of the 1,335 day timeline is also about being blessed, but if you take the 1,335 days and subtract the time of the 1,260 days of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3) and the 1,260 days that the woman is protected in the wilderness, we arrive to exactly 75.

The 1,290 days will also end on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur 2030, which is the day of judgment over God's enemies. 75 days after Yom Kippur is the time of Hanukkah, which is perhaps not so coincidentally the prophetic template in which we celebrate overcoming God's enemies and the dedication of the temple. The end of the 1,335 days is the last timeline mentioned in the Book of Daniel, answers Daniel's prayer, and when the Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled. But these connections and more will be covered in much more detail in Messiah 2030: The Prophetic Messianic Timeline Part Four, in which we present the micro timeline of the Messiah's second coming and the last half of Daniel's 70th week.

In Part Four, we'll sync up all end times timelines and show how Messiah Yeshua will fulfill the final three Messianic objectives as still demanded by Daniel's 70-week prophecy: one, to bring in everlasting righteousness; two, to seal up vision and prophecy; and three, to anoint the most holy.

This concludes the presentation of the micro timeline of the Messiah's first coming. The purpose of biblical end times is a call to repentance, and not much time may be left. If you are knowingly not walking right with God, then there is no time like the present to learn how to walk in the whole word of God and walk as our Messiah walked. And to do it, we have all sinned by breaking the law of God (1 John 3:4) and thus deserve eternal death by God's perfect standards. If you have not yet accepted God's promise of eternal life through His grace, then we encourage you to begin to know Messiah Yeshua and learn how and why He died for you and what His resurrection means for us in the faith.

If you believe this video should be urgently shared with all in the faith, then we encourage you to share it relentlessly, as time may be short. And perhaps it's been noticed that things are moving quickly. To join the community discussion about Messiah 2030, please visit our website forum at messiah2048.people. Please see our website for more information or contact us at contact.

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