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I’ve been reading Max Lucado’s book What Happens Next: A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age. Max talks about the purpose of this book. . .
I wrote this as a kind of 101 of Bible Prophecy. This book is intended to be a primer or introduction to God’s plan for those new to prophecy.
I’m not new to prophecy, but I enjoyed the book for its easy readability. And though the book features end-times prophecy, in chapter 4, Lucado gives a great explanation of one of the most exact and fulfilled prophecies (about the first coming of Jesus) in the entire Bible.
Let’s read the prophecy in Daniel 9. . .
Learn and understand these things. A command will come to rebuild Jerusalem. The time from this command until the appointed leader comes will be forty-nine years and four hundred thirty-four years. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and a trench filled with water around it, but it will be built in times of trouble (v. 25, NCV).
The angel gives two blocks of time — 49 and 434 or 483 total. This is the time from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to the arrival of the Messiah. “49” is mentioned separately because it took 49 years to rebuild the temple, city, and walls of Jerusalem.
Now, back to the “483” (49 plus 434) number of years, and what Max Lucado says. . .
Nehemiah was a high-ranking exiled Jewish ruler who lived some 130 years after Daniel received this prophecy. He made a request to Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem. The king agreed to permit and fund the project. According to Nehemiah 2:1, the command was given in April of 444 B.C.
We have a starting point! Flip the yearly calendar 483 times, beginning in 444 B.C., and where do you land in history?
Okay, where do we land in history?
This question became the obsession of Sir Robert Anderson. In the late 1800s, he was the chief of Scotland Yard, an English lawyer, and a serious student of the book of Daniel. He set out to determine the end date of the 483 years.
That sounds interesting, Max. Keep going. . .
Anderson determined that the 483rd year occurred during the Passover of A.D. 33, specifically on April 6, the very year and day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Our Savior fulfilled a prophecy that dated back 483 years!
Amen and amen! Or, wow and wow!
Lucado quotes Isaac Newton, who said, “We can stake the truth of Christianity on this prophecy alone.”
Yes, this one prophecy exists as proof of the literal fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. There are about 300 prophecies for the first coming of Jesus in the Bible and about 600 for the second coming of Jesus.
The 600 prophecies will be fulfilled — many of them in the next few years!
Notes:
Go to GrantEdwardsAuthor and read Interruption #1515 (Max Lucado Believes in a Literal Millennium) for another blog post on Lucado’s book.
You can click on the cover of this book to be taken to Amazon, where you can purchase the book and have it delivered to your house in a few days.
This is great Grant! I used to discuss the end times with Mr Wilson. I was pre and he was “a”. I was a fan of David Jeremiah from the time he broadcast on CDR Cedarvill University radio station now gone. So glad this part of the Bible is being looked at again. The one thing I remember from Dr Jeremiah’s teaching is that if you read further the text will explain. Russ and I met Max Lucado, in San Antonio. Great experience!