Jesus Died on the Day of Daniel's Prophecy

Luke 23:33-34 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Luke 23:44-46 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.'" Having said this, He breathed His last. Key Points: - The prophet Daniel predicted the exact day of the Messiah's death. - According to Daniel chapter 9 there would be 69 (62+7) weeks or sabbatical years (7 year periods) after the proclamation of Artaxerxes Longimanus (ruler of Persia) for the Jews to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and on Passover the Messiah would be "cut off." - According to history Artaxerxes Longimanus ascended to the throne of the Medo-Persian empire sometime around July of 465 B.C. and uttered the decree on Passover for the Jews to return home to Jerusalem to rebuild their city. - 69 weeks of years = 476 years or 173,880 days - The Decree of Artaxerxes: Neh 2:1-8 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?" Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. - Daniel also predicted the rise and fall of many world governing empires that would appear after Babylon, namely Persia, then Greece, then Rome, and sometime far into the future (the last days) there would be a second Roman Empire. - Daniel also spoke of the Kingdom that would ultimately one day rule the world: Dan 7:13-14 "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." - There is a sort of parenthesis between the 69th and the 70th week of Daniel, known as the Church Age. At some point the church will be complete and the 70th week of Daniel will begin, which is also known as 7 years of tribulation. The "great tribulation" takes place in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel.