A Prophetic Sketch of the Messiah - Part 2: In the Fullness of Time

In the first part I laid out some guidelines for how I’m approaching the Messianic prophecies.  Now I’ll begin walking through some of the more compelling ones I found using that criteria.  Today's goal is to pin down the time period we’re looking for our Messiah to appear in.

The Fourth Kingdom:

There are a couple ways that one could draw a window of time for the arrival of the Messiah.  The first has to do with the various empires which took over Judea and how they correspond to a prophecy in the book of Daniel.  In the second chapter of Daniel, the prophet is asked to describe and interpret a dream which king Nebuchadnezzar had.  Here is the description:

 “You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  

As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

And Daniel’s interpretation follows:

“This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.  You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom.  After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything, it shall crush and shatter all these. 

As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it.  As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.   

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. Just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.” – Daniel 2: 31-45 

So Daniel says the four parts of the statues correspond to four different empires which would take over Judea.  Then a new empire, signified by the rock, would be established and last forever.

These four kingdoms correspond to the following empires:

• Babylon.  Took over Judea in 626 BC.
• Persia.  Took over Judea in 539 BC.
• Greece.  Took over Judea in 330 BC.
• Roman. Took over Judea in 63 BC.

Thus, we can learn from this prophecy that the Messianic age must follow the Roman takeover of Judea in 63BC.  

The Greater Temple:

Now we can establish an end to the window of time in which the Messiah will appear.  This prophecy has to do with the Temple in Jerusalem.  There were two Temples constructed for the God of Abraham in Jerusalem.  The first was built by King Solomon around the year 950 BC.  It was later destroyed by the Babylonians around 590 BC.

The book of Ezra describes the construction of a second Temple, which was smaller than the first.  The prophet Haggai wrote that despite the Temple’s smaller stature, it would be more glorious than the first:

“Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? But now take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work! For I am with you. Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the Lord of hosts.” - Haggai 2:3-4,7

Why would it be greater?  The prophet Malachi says it’s because the Lord himself will enter into that Temple.  Further, He will establish a New Covenant with the Hebrew people and offer a pleasing sacrifice to God:

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.  The messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.  Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in days of old, as in years gone by.” – Mal 3:1,4

But here’s the deal; the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70AD by a Roman invasion.  So whenever the Messiah was to come, it had to be before then.

The Entry of the King

Another means of establishing the arrival of the Messiah is through the mysterious “weeks” prophecy in the book of Daniel.  This prophecy works by placing a timer from an event in Jewish history which counts down to the coming of the Messiah.

When the Jews were in captivity in Persia, King Artaxerxes gave an order to Nehemiah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem  [Neh 2:1].  The Prophet Daniel says that starting from that moment, there would be 69 “weeks” until the coming of the Messiah.

“Be assured of this, and mark it well; a period of seven weeks must go by, and another period of sixty-two weeks, between the order to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Christ to be your leader. Street and wall will be built again, though in a time of distress.

After the sixty-two weeks an anointed shall be cut down when he does not possess the city.  And the people of a leader who will come shall destroy the sanctuary. Then the end shall come like a torrent; until the end there shall be war, the desolation that is decreed.”– Daniel 9: 25-26

These weeks are not just a period of seven days, but a contraction for “weeks of years”.  That is, seven years.  This unit of measurement is seen elsewhere in the Old Testament (Lev 25:8).  So the 69 “weeks of years” would be 483 years.  Depending on how the prophet intended to round the numbers, that could also entail a +/- 7 years.

The order to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes.  My understanding is that this would have been sometime around 445 BC.  That means we would be looking for the Messiah to enter Jerusalem between the years 31 and 45 AD.

However, Daniel's prophecy notes that the Messiah will not take possession of Jerusalem, but will instead be killed.  Then the city and Temple will be destroyed by an invading army.

Recapping:

So let’s sum up this section.

• The Messiah would come into the city of Jerusalem sometime in the 30’s AD. 
• He would visit the second Temple, which would still be standing. 
• He will establish a new covenant.
• He will offer a sacrifice which is pleasing to God. 
• He will not take control of Jerusalem, but will be killed. 
• Then an invading army will destroy the city and the Temple.

 Next we’ll see if we can narrow down more regarding the Messiah’s identity.

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Part 1 - Intro
Part 3 - From the Manger to the Grave