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Jesus died for us at the right time.
The time of his death had been foretold hundreds of years in advance. Mathematically we
can prove from history that Jesus was the promised Messiah, who died on time, came back to life, went to heaven, and
will soon return to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
500 years before Jesus was born God revealed to the prophet Daniel the year that Jesus would be anointed
as the Messiah and the year he would be crucified on the cross. The accuracy of this prophecy is amazing. It is found
in the ninth chapter of Daniel.
In answer to Daniel's prayer for wisdom God sends the angel Gabriel to explain the 2300 year
prophecy. ----
Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly,
reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have
now come forth to give you skill to understand.
At the beginning of your supplications the command went out,
and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: Daniel
9:21-23 NKJ.
Then Gabriel begins to outline the coming events in the salvation plan for all mankind. It is history in
advance. It is the longest time prophecy in the Bible, 2300 years. He starts out with the 70 week period for the Jewish
nation.
"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. " -- verse 24
The Revised Version reads: "70 weeks of years" and the Living Bible reads: "490 years" In other words 490
years is a special period of grace extended to the Jewish nation. The word "determined" comes from a Hebrew word
that means "cut off" and you can only cut off 490 years from a longer period of time which naturally would be the 2300 years
that Daniel was asking about.
No doubt Daniel understood the rule that "one day" in symbolic prophecy represented "one
year" in historical time. That is why he fainted and was sick when he first heard about there being 2300 years before
a cleansing would come. The angel told him that he would die ("rest ") but the vision would be shut up until "the
time of the end" "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."
A wise person will study verse 24 and search out the meaning of the 6 events that will happen
within the 70 weeks.
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The next verse tells us when to
start counting these prophetic time periods
25.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah
the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous
times.
The word Messiah means the annointed one. The Living Bible uses that word. Jesus was annointed by the Holy
Spirit at his Baptism in the fall of 27 AD exactly 483 years from King Artaxerxes command to restore Jerusalem.
25. Now listen! It will be forty-nine years plus 434 years from the time the command is given to rebuild
Jerusalem, until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem's streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times.
26.
``After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed,
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The decree of King Artaxerxes copied in
Ezra 7:11-26 was given in 457 BC the seventh year of the king's reign.
No doubt Ezra read the copy to the people at the first national assembly after he arrived in Jerusalem. That date would have been the 10th day of the 7th month
of the religious calendar.
Today it is called Yom Kippur, the Jews most sacred day of the year. It was the Day of Atonement
and like an end of year Judgment. In
1844 millions of people thought the end of the world might come on Yom
Kippur, October 22 in that year. They thought Jesus would come in glory but they were greatly disappointed.
They were wrong about the event that was to happen but they were right
about the time periods as we will see.
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26. And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: . . 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many
for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease . . .
The last week of seven years was divided in half by the cross
of Jesus. He was cut off, crucified, not for his sins but for us. He was the true Lamb of God that all the animal sacrifices
pointed to. When he died he caused those ceremonies to cease.
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The amazing thing about this prophecy is that it not
only foretold the year Jesus would die but it told the time of the year
it would take place.
More amazing yet is the prophecy that foretold
the month, the day and the hour of the day that Jesus would die. It is
found in the history of the Jewish Passover that celebrates the time the
lamb was slain and the story of their deliverance from slavery.
Before the tenth plague of death
fell on all the firstborn children in Egypt, God told the Israelites to protect their children by killing a lamb and
putting his blood on the door frame of each house. When the destroying angel flew by and saw the blood it passed over that house and the child was spared. That is where the name Passover comes from. But not only was it a memorial of the past deliverance but it was a prophecy of the
future deliverance by the Coming Lamb of God. This prophecy along with that of Daniels proves without doubt that Jesus
is the true Messiah and the Bible is the inspired word of God.
Exodus 12: 1.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2. This month shall be unto you the
beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3.
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb,
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:. . . 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male
of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6. And ye shall keep it up until
the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (margin = between the two evenings) 7.
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they
shall eat it.
Israelites had two evenings. They had the evening
of the morning or 12 o'clock noon, and they had an evening of the afternoon at 6 pm. The Passover lamb was always slain
at 3 o'clock on the 14th day of their first month.
Gray's Commentary
on Ex.12:6 reads:
(6)? At what time should all the lambs be killed simultaneously? The
"evening" here means sometime between the time of the sun's beginning to decline and that of its setting, say about 3:00 p.
m.
When did Jesus die on the cross?
Mark 15:25-39 LB -. It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.
A signboard was fastened to the cross above his head, announcing his crime.
It read, ``The King of the Jews.''. . The people jeered at him . . The chief
priests and religious leaders were also standing around joking about Jesus. ``He's quite clever at `saving' others,'' they
said, ``but he can't save himself!'' ``Hey there, Messiah!'' they yelled at him. ``You `King of Israel'!
Come on down from the cross and we'll believe you!'' . . . About noon, darkness fell across the entire land, lasting until three o'clock
that afternoon. Then Jesus called
out with a loud voice, ``Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?'' (``My God, my God, why have you deserted me?'') ... Then Jesus uttered
another loud cry, and dismissed his spirit. And
the curtain in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom. When the Roman officer standing beside his cross saw how he dismissed his spirit, he exclaimed, ``Truly,
this was the Son of God!''
Mat.27:45-52 LB. That afternoon, the whole earth was covered with darkness for three hours, from noon
until three o'clock. About three o'clock, Jesus shouted, ``Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?''
which means, ``My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'' . . . Then Jesus shouted out again, dismissed his spirit, and died.
And
look! The curtain secluding the Holiest Place in the Temple
was split apart from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and rocks broke, and tombs opened, and many godly men and women who
had died came back to life again.
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 Henry's Commentary applies the
lamb of Ex,12 to Jesus:
The Passover was to be kept every
year, both as a remembrance of Israel's
preservation and deliverance out of Egypt, and as a remarkable
type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not a reward of their own righteousness, but the gift of mercy. Of this
they were reminded, and by this ordinance they were taught, that all blessings
came to them through the shedding and sprinkling of blood. Observe, 1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our Passover,
1 Cor. v. 7. Christ is the Lamb of God, John i. 29; often in the Revelation he is called the Lamb. It was to be in its prime;
Christ offered up himself in the midst of his days, not when a babe at Bethlehem.
It was to be without blemish; the Lord Jesus was a Lamb without spot: the judge who condemned Christ declared him innocent. ..
It was to be slain, and roasted with fire, denoting the painful sufferings of the Lord Jesus, even unto death, the death of
the cross. The wrath of God is as fire, and Christ was made a curse for us. Not a bone of it must be broken, which was fulfilled
in Christ, John xix. 33, denoting the unbroken strength of the Lord Jesus.
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Ellen G White commentary --
When the loud cry, "It is finished,"
came from the lips of Christ, the priests were officiating in the temple. It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb
representing Christ had been brought to be slain. Clothed in his significant and beautiful dress, the priest stood with lifted
knife, as did Abraham when he was about to slay his son. With intense interest the people were looking on. But the earth trembles
and quakes; for the Lord Himself draws near. With a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom
by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled with the presence of God. In this place
the Shekinah had dwelt. Here God had manifested His glory above the mercy seat. No one but the high priest ever lifted the
veil separating this apartment from the rest of the temple. He entered in once a year to make an atonement for the sins of
the people. But lo, this veil is rent in twain. The most holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred. {DA
756.5}
All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops
from his nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God's Son. The great sacrifice has been
made. The way into the holiest is laid open. A new and living way is prepared for all. No longer need sinful, sorrowing humanity
await the coming of the high priest. Henceforth the Saviour was to officiate as priest and advocate in the heaven of heavens.
It was as if a living voice had spoken to the worshipers: There is now an end to all sacrifices and offerings for sin. The
Son of God is come according to His word, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God."
"By His own blood" He entereth "in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Heb. 10:7; 9:12.
{DA 757.1}
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"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth
his Son." . . . --- Christ saw
that the time had come when Satan's power over mankind must be broken. Before the fall of man, the Son of God had united with
his Father in laying the plan of salvation. God was to be manifested in Christ, "reconciling the world unto himself." And
now, thousands of years later, the fulness of time came for the infinite sacrifice to be made. Divinity was to be communicated
to humanity through a divine-human Saviour. The great Life-giver was to purchase the whole world by giving his own life as
a ransom. {RH, September 13, 1906 par. 4}
When the fulness of time came, the windows of heaven were opened, and upon the world was poured a flood of heavenly grace.
God made to our world the wonderful gift of his only begotten Son. In the light of this act, it could never be said by the
inhabitants of other worlds that God could have done more than he did to show his love for the children of men. He made a
sacrifice that defies all computation. To save a fallen race he poured forth the whole treasure of heaven in one gift.
{RH, January 3, 1907 par. 11}
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 As the ceremonial sacrifices made
by Abel, Abraham, Isaac and others pointed forward to Jesus on the cross, so the ceremonies of the Lord's Supper and Baptism
point back to the cross and forward to the second coming of Jesus.
The crucifixion of Christ took place at
the celebration of the Passover. . . . The tidings of Christ's death were carried by strangers to every part of
the world. {ST, January 4, 1899 par. 4}
This is the vital, all-absorbing truth on which
God would have men in all ages fix their attention. He would have the death of His Son the great center of attraction. . .
. {ST, January 4, 1899 par. 5}
Nearly two thousand years ago
a voice of mysterious import was heard in heaven, from the throne of the Highest, "Lo, I come." "Sacrifice and offering Thou
wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. . . . Lo, I come, . . . to do Thy will, O God." In these words is announced
the purpose that had been hidden from eternal ages. Christ was about to visit our world, and become incarnate. {ST,
May 17, 1905 par. 13}
Who is this that thus announced His purpose of visiting a guilty world?
{ST, May 17, 1905 par. 14}
We ask Isaiah, and he answers, "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a
Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." {ST, May 17, 1905 par. 15}
We ask John,
the beloved disciple, and he replies: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .
. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." {ST, May 17, 1905 par. 16}
We ask Him, "Who
art Thou?" and the answer comes, "Before Abraham was, I Am." "I and My Father are one." "As the Father raiseth up the dead,
and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son." {ST, May 17, 1905 par. 17}
We ask Paul, and he breaks forth into words of
adoring transport: "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." {ST, May 17,
1905 par. 18}
"In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers; all things
were created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." {ST, May 17, 1905 par.
19}
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