Seven weeks (49 day-years) for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and another threescore and two weeks (62 weeks or 434 day-years) brings us to "the Messiah the Prince." Beginning in 457 BC and applying the day-year principle, we can determine the passing of 483 years from 457 BC which brings us to 27 AD (allowing for the conversion from BC to AD being one extra year).
In 27 AD, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit on the occasion of His baptism which marked the beginning of His ministry (
Luke 3:21-23). This baptism marked the event in Daniel’s prophecy “unto the Messiah the Prince.” When Christ proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled” (
Mark 1:15), He was referring to this part of the prophecy.
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The end of the prophecy is 34 AD, 7 day-years after the baptism:
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease (
Daniel 9:27).
Christ would confirm the covenant made with Israel for one prophetic week (7 years), but oblation (offerings) would cease in the middle of the week (3 ½ years after 27 AD). This mid-point brings us to 31 AD—the year Christ was crucified. It was at His death that he put an end to the system of offerings practiced by Israel for so many years. "
The 70-Week Prophecy | Daniel 70 Weeks Prophecy
Here is a portion from John MacArthur's sermon on Daniel 9 - "The arrival of the King", code 1293 on the grace to you website. The decree was not in 457BC but was actually 445BC. Nehemiah. And the baptism of Jesus did not make Him the Messiah prince (or king), but it was the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
"Now, let me show you that decree - Nehemiah, chapter 2 and – listen - verse 1. “It came to pass” - it even tells us the date - “in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine was before him and I took up the wine.” You remember he was the wine-taster for the king, was Nehemiah. “And I gave it to the king. And I had been sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, ‘Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.’ Then I was very much afraid, and said unto the king, ‘Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchers, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?’
Then the king said unto me, ‘For what dost thou make request?’
So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, ‘If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may build it.’ And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) ‘For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return?’ So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which is near to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into.’ And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”
There it was: Artaxerxes made the decree. Scholars tell us the month of Nisan - March; the day, no doubt the 14th; the year, 445 BC. That began the 490 years: 445 BC, March 14th. When does it end? When does the 490 years’ end? Look at verse 25 again. “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto” - there’s the end - “the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks.” Now, that’s only 69; there’s one week left out. That doesn’t come in till verse 27; we’ll get there in a minute. The first 69 weeks are indicated there. And notice they’re divided into two parts: seven weeks, and then 62. Why? “From the command to restore and rebuild unto the Messiah the Prince, seven weeks.”
And you say, “Well, what happened in those seven weeks?” Well, that’d take us to 396 BC, and it was during that first 49-year period that the city was rebuilt. It says there at the end of the verse. “The streets shall be built and the wall, even in troublous times.” You know how troublesome it was, don’t you?
Remember the story of Nehemiah trying to build the wall, and all the attacks, and all the enemies? But they did it, and by 396 it was done. And 396 marked the end of the ministry of Malachi, and the closing of the Old Testament Canon, so that first 49 years, 7 times 7, was very important for laying physical, spiritual foundations. The city was built and the Old Testament Canon was established.
And then comes the 62; the total of the 62 weeks and the 7 weeks, the 69 weeks, makes 483 years. And we’re still missing 7 years out of the 490. Now, let me give you another thought. These are years of 360 days. The ancient Biblical writers calculated the year on a 360-day calendar, rather than 365 like the pagans. And so, we have, then, in verse 25, 483 years of 360 days “unto Messiah the Prince.” Not Messiah the baby, not Messiah the child, not Messiah the preacher, not Messiah the One who dies, not Messiah Who rises, but Messiah Who is the Prince. The Anointed One, the Royal One, the Regal One, the Majestic One, the One who is the heir to the throne,
mashiach nagid, the Anointed Prince.
So, it’ll be 483 years of 360 days. Now, the only way we can figure it out is we have to convert into our kind of years, with our kind of days, so we’ll just multiply to get how many days it would be. You multiply it out, and its 173,880 days. You say, “The Bible can’t be this specific.” Well, you’ll find out in a moment - 173,880 days. The decree comes on March 14th, 445 BC. Sir Robert Anderson, who particularly did monumental work on this prophecy of the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ, has identified, by looking at the Jewish calendars of Passovers and so forth, that the time in which Passover was held can be determined rather easily, at least through using his method.
And he finds, backing up from that, the triumphal entry of Jesus must have occurred on April 6, 32 A.D.; April 6, 32 A.D.; the month of Nisan. And so, all we need to do is calculate a little bit. If Daniel is correct, from March 14, 445 B.C., to April 6, 32 A.D., is going to be 173,880 days. Well, let’s think about it. From March 14, 445, to April 6, 32 A.D., is only 477 years and 24 days; so we’re a few years short. We have to deduct a year, because 1 B.C. and 1 A.D. is the same year, so we really have 476 years and 24 days. Now, we have to convert to our calendar of 365 days, so we multiply that all out, plus 24 days, and we get 173,764; and we’re still short. But we have leap year every four years. So, 476 divided by 4, gives us 119 leap years, so we add 119 more days to 173,664, and we get 173,883 days - 3 days too many.
You say, “Oh, close is good enough for me.” Close is not good enough for God. Sir Robert Anderson went to the Royal Observatory in England, and he found out that, according to their solar calculations, a year is 1/128 of a day longer on the calendar than a solar year; 1/128 of a day longer. So every 128 years, we have to lose a day. And if you’re dealing with 483 years, there’ll be 3 of those, so you drop those out. And you have 173,880 days, just exactly as the Word of God said. Now, it has been interesting. In recent years, Dr. Harold Hoehner has written a book called
The Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. And when I heard that somebody else had done work on this, I was a little bit nervous to find out whether or not he would come up with the same answer.
So, Hoehner did his work - and I tell you this because it’s the truth, and you must know it so that you can understand the issue - he decided the that the first year of Artaxerxes had to be an accession year, so you couldn’t count it, so the decree had to happen March 5 of 444 B.C. so he moved it a year back - a year up, rather, going this way. He also calculated, from his New Testament studies - and he is the top of the list of New Testament study scholars and chronology - that the Lord was crucified on April 3, 33 A.D. So, he backed up from there to the triumphal entry, started calculating from March 5, 444, to his established date in 33 A.D., came up with exactly the same figure, 173,880 days - so either way."
