God\'s Old Math

Daniel 9:24-27

For most of Jesus\' life and ministry, He kept His true identity a secret. Many times Jesus directly commanded people not to reveal what He had done or who He was.

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Why was this? Because timing is everything. At other times the people had tried to come and make Jesus their king, like in John 6:15 after the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus was their king, but it was not time for Him to take the throne.

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On Palm Sunday, the time had come for Jesus to reveal Himself-but was not yet time to be lifted up to a throne. No, He was first going to be lifted up on a cross. This was a date certain in God\'s calendar of events leading to the cross event. This was to be one unmistakable sign of who the Messiah was. This was the only time during His time on earth that Jesus allowed Himself to be worshiped as Messiah.

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Most of the time, Palm Sunday is like the little step child to Easter, or Resurrection Sunday. And though in many ways that is right - the cross event is clearly the most important event ever to occur in human history - Palm Sunday plays a crucial role you may not have considered. In the end it\'s all about math. Now, I am not a math person, just ask my high school calculus teacher. But when it comes to Palm Sunday, a little math goes a long way. You\'ve heard of the new math, well this is the old math.

Math is all about specificity and, as it turns out, so is the Bible. The Scriptures predict the coming of someone later identified as Messiah. The Hebrew word (mah-shee\'-ahck) means \"anointed one.\" The word savior is also used, which means \"to free\" (Isaiah 45:15, Isaiah 60:16, Isaiah 63:8). Many of us know the general prophecies about this Messiah.

Here is a limited list of prophecies from http://www.allabouttruth.org/messianic-prophecy.htm:

• Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23)
• A descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16)
• Of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33; Hebrews 7:14)
• Of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1)
• Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7)
• Taken to Egypt (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14-15)
• Herod?s killing of the infants (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18)
• Anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16-17)
• Heralded by the messenger of the Lord (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 3:1-3)
• Would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 9:35)
• Would preach good news (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:14-21)
• Would minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:12-16) Would cleanse the Temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12-13)
• Would first present Himself as King 173,880 days from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25; Matthew 21:4-11)
• Would enter Jerusalem as a king on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9)
• Would be rejected by Jews (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7)
• Die a humiliating death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) involving:
  1. rejection (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:10-11; 7:5,48)
  2. betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:3-4; John 13:18)
  3. sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:14-15)
  4. silence before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-14)
  5. being mocked (Psalm 22: 7-8; Matthew 27:31)
  6. beaten (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:26)
  7. spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 27:30)
  8. piercing His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16; Matthew 27:31)
  9. being crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
  10. praying for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
  11. piercing His side (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
  12. given gall and vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21, Matthew 27:34, Luke 23:36)
  13. no broken bones (Psalm 34:20; John 19:32-36)
  14. buried in a rich man\'s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)
  15. casting lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24)
• Would rise from the dead!! (Psalm 16:10; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:31)
• Ascend into Heaven (Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9)
• Would sit down at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3)

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The characteristics of the Messiah were generally understood, at least the kingly characteristics. It was the timing no one knew.

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But the Bible actually contains a secret mathematical formula that can pinpoint with incredible accuracy the exact date this \"Messiah\" would appear on the scene in Israel. In geometry they taught us about proofs. A proof is a way you can show you got the right answer. A proof is meant to take the reader from a hypothetical to a conclusion. This formula takes the hypothetical Messiah to a proven conclusion. Palm Sunday is God\'s proof that Jesus is the Messiah.

It all comes from a much-maligned prophet named Daniel. Daniel served in as an administrator in the courts of several Persian kings during the Babylonian captivity about 2,500 years ago (give or take). In his later years, Daniel was given a blueprint for human history that was so accurate that scholars later claimed that Daniel must have been written after the fact. For a discussion go to: http://www.allabouttruth.org/bible-prophecy.htm

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Some of Daniel\'s predictions: the four kings that followed Darius I, Alexander the Great and his successors, the world governments through the Roman Empire, major battles and political changes and even the Antichrist.

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One of the visions given to Daniel was this little tidbit of the future of the people of Israel:

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Daniel 9:24-26 \"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and? your holy city, to finish? the transgression, to put an end to sin,? and to atone for iniquity,? to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and? to anoint a most holy place.? 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. 26 And after the sixty-two 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.

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It really is a matter of date-math from then on to decipher this prophecy. Figure out what this \"decree\" is and when it happened, figure out what \"weeks\" are, then simply do some addition.

The \"decree\" happened on March 14th, 445 B.C. by King Artaxerxes. We read how it came about in Nehemiah 2:1 where Nehemiah approached the king with sadness and the king granted his petition to restore and rebuild, not just the temple, but Jerusalem itself.

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Now we need to figure out what a \"week\" is. A \"week\" (shaw-boo-ah) means a week of years, so sixty two + seven weeks of years from March 14, 445 B.C. (483 years) something amazing should happen in Jerusalem.

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The math goes this way: the Jews used a 360 day lunar calendar, so we need to adjust for our 365.25 solar calendar.

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483 years x 360 (to get the total number of days in this prophecy) =? 173,880 days

173,880 days ? 365.25 (days in a year)? = ?476 years?? (our solar \'Julian\' calendar)

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Looking forward, 476 years later, the day was the 10th of Nisan (Nee-sawn\'), 32 A.D. God was really putting it all in because unless His Messiah actually showed up on that date, then why bother looking for Him at all?

So what did happen on that date? Oh, nothing much, except that an itinerant preacher from Nazareth came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as the people waved palm branches and laid their clothing down on the ground singing a song that welcomed the Messiah. Look at John 12:12 - 16.

Could Jesus be the one promised half a millennium earlier? Just do the math.

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Why were the events so important?

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Jesus rode in on a donkey

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Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!? behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he,? humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

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The singing:

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Psalms 118:26-27 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!

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Son of David (King of Israel)

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2 Samuel 7:12-14 O I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

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Though not all meant it, some certainly were calling Jesus their king and Messiah!

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What does it all mean?

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Most \"prophecies\" from other religions are nowhere near as specific because it would be so easy to prove them wrong. But if there was one so exacting that there could be no mistake, it would go a long way towards showing that the words and actions of this particular person should be looked at and considered very carefully.

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What does it mean to me today?

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1.????? You can rely on the Scriptures - they are not myths but the written speech of God.

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2.????? You can rely on Jesus - He wasn\'t just a wise advisor but is truly the king of kings, and the events of the next days after Palm Sunday take on even more significance.

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3.????? God doesn\'t always reveal His purposes when we want, but waits until the right time. Maybe you\'ve been waiting on God for a while. Daniel waited way more than 173,880 days. You won\'t have to wait that long, but waiting is okay until God\'s right time.

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Footnote:

http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/mathprophecy1.html

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