RIGHT ON TIME . . .

                                    The Coming Prince

Daniel 9

Sir Robert Anderson published the book The Coming Prince in 1894.  Anderson was far from being an ordinary man.  He was Chief Inspector for Scotland Yard, and knighted by Queen Victoria in 1901.

But for some reason or another, his book was in obscurity for a number of years.  Now it has come roaring back and his books are flying off the shelves in book stores.  And rightfully so!

For anyone who desires a full understanding of Daniel 9:25, The Coming Prince is a must-read.  If you are not someone who likes to read the style of writing from the 1800’s, then just read eleven pages of the book,  pp. 119-129.

For those who do not even want to read these eleven pages, I set below a summary of Sir Robert Anderson’s thoughts on Daniel 9.

There are two key phrases in Daniel 9:25: “from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem” and “until a ruler---the Anointed One comes.”

Anderson, with extremely careful calculations dates the “command to rebuild Jerusalem”: March 14, 445 B.C.

And he dates the time when Jesus presented himself as King as April 6, 32 A.D.

(It’s important to note that it says the “command to rebuild Jerusalem”, not the command to rebuild the Temple.)

The wording gets a little hard for us to understand when the Scripture says, “Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven.”

Basically, this means seven plus sixty-two.  Any child can add 62 and 7.  It is 69.

7 times 69 times 360 = 173,880.

(360 days are the number of days in a Jewish year.)

When you do the math, you quickly discover that from March 14, 445 B.C. until April 6, 32 A.D. there are exactly 173,880 days!

(Note: From B.C. 1 to A.D. 1 is one year, not 2 years.)

When this sinks in and “the bell” really goes off in your head, you realize that when 2 Timothy 3:16 says  all Scripture is “inspired by God”--- it is actually true.  There are no errors!  Scripture is God breathed!

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one.  We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions” (Dt. 39:29).

Jesus referred to Daniel as a prophet (Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14).  So this settles it in my mind, at least, that what Daniel wrote in his book is dead-right-on-center accurate.

I do not believe that God just inserted some numbers because he wanted Daniel’s book to be little longer--- or that he wanted to confuse all of us ---  or that he had nothing better to do that day.  I also do not believe that the approach many “scholars” take is even intellectually based: “We will never know what these numbers mean, so let’s just skip over them.”

No!  Scripture is God-breathed!  He placed these numbers in the Bible to build our faith.  And when you take the time to think through this your faith in the inerrant Word of God will grow by leaps and bounds.

Even when you casually read the New Testament, you know that on several occasions Jesus charged his disciples that they should not make him known.

“I’m not going to this festival because my time has not yet come” (John 7:6).

“Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come” (John 7:30).

Again . . . did Jesus just casually say these things because he didn’t have anything else to say?  Of course not!

He knew Scripture so well (and he knew Daniel 9:25 so well) that he was aware that it was not yet April 6, 32 A.D.

But when the exact day did arrive, he made sure that he perfectly fulfilled the prediction of Zechariah 9:9.

“Rejoice, O people of Zion!  Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!  Look, your King is coming to you.  He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey---riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9).

Jesus knew what he was doing that day.  A few hours earlier he had sent two of his disciples to get the donkey (Mk. 11:2-7).

And when he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, exactly fulfilling the words of Zechariah, he presented himself as King—on April 6, 32 A.D.!  

This was precise!  It had been 173,880 days from the date of the edict of Artaxerxes Longimanus to “rebuild Jerusalem”.

If this does not ring your bell or wake you up, then you are sound asleep.

This is a faith-builder!

“ . . . they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:44).

The timing was so precise that if the crowds had not praised him, the rocks themselves would have cried out:

“And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40).

“Now the great characteristic of the Jewish sacred year has remained unchanged since the memorial night when the equinoctial moon beamed down on the huts of Israel in Egypt, bloodstained by the Paschal lamb sacrifice; and there is neither doubt nor difficulty in fixing within narrow limits the Julian date of the 1^st of Nisan in any year whatever.  In B.C. 445 the new moon by which the Passover was regulated was on the 13^th of March at 7h. 9m A.M.  And accordingly the 1^st Nisan may be assigned to the 14 March.” Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince, p. 123.

But do not take my word for it.  Get the book.  Do your own study.  It is only when these words resonate within your own heart that real life will arise! 

God’s Word is personal.  It is not enough that Sir Robert Anderson said it, or that I read his book and summed it up for you.  Do your own homework.  Satisfy yourself that this is Truth.

Then go pass it on!

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