When the Fullness of Time…
By Larry A. Smail
The timing of the birth of Christ was not a happenstance event at all. His birth was exactly at the timing preordained by God. The great Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul wrote the words of this precise timing of the birth of Christ in Galatians.
Galatians 4: 4
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, and made under the Law… Also, compare Paul’s words in Romans 15: 8 where he wrote: Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister (or a servant) to the circumcision (Jews) for the truth of God…
This fullness of time may be further determined through Old Testament prophecies. The one prophecy that I will be referring to was written by the prophet Daniel way back in time during Judah’s captivity. This prophecy is known as the 490 year prophecy, often called Daniel’s Seventieth Week or the Seventy Times Seven prophecy. I am not going to include this entire prophecy for this study only the words to demonstrate when Christ’s birth occurred. The prophetic words are found in Daniel 9 and were directed to the Jewish people and Jerusalem.
Daniel 9: 24-26 (Revised Standard Translation)
Gabriel told Daniel beginning here in verse 24:
24: Seventy weeks or years (490 years) are decreed concerning your people (Jewish people) and your holy city, (Jerusalem) to finish the transgressions, to put an end to sins, and to atone (reconcile) for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy place. (Jerusalem and Christ)
25: Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word (commandment, edict, decree) to restore and build Jerusalem, to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, (Messiah) shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty two weeks… (Forty-nine years and four-hundred and thirty-four years totals 483 years.)
26: And after sixty-two weeks, an anointed one (Messiah) shall be cut off (crucified) and shall have nothing;… (This happens 483 years into the 490 year prophecy. After the 490 years Christ will return with everlasting righteousness.)
Notice in verse 25 that the 490 years in prophecy shall begin when the edict to rebuild Jerusalem happens. Jerusalem and Judah had been destroyed under King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The Persians defeated the Babylonians in 539 B.C. Many years later, the conquered Jewish people under this empire would be allowed to return to rebuild. (This was definitely a God thing!)
A brief explanation of the kingship of Persia, at that time, needs to be addressed. Xerxes was a king over the Persian Empire. His reign was 486 B.C. to 465 B.C. However, he placed his son, Artaxerxes 1 Longimanus to act as a co-ruler sometime in 473 B.C. Artaxerxes would be the king to grant the edict! (See below.) History books seldom include these co-kingship years; however, the Jews, of the time, used those years especially for the counting of things of a prophetic nature. The son, Artaxerxes1 Longimanus reign ended in 424 B.C.
Enter Nehemiah into the prophetic equation. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for this king and when asked why his countenance was down, he requested something of extreme importance to the king concerning Jerusalem’s condition. The king responded favorably and made the edict or decree to allow the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem. This is recorded in Nehemiah 2: 5. There it is! This action by the king was from Daniel’s words of prophecy found in verse 25. This happened in the king’s twentieth year of reigning in 454 B C. Nehemiah 2: 1 records this event happening during Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes’s reign. The countdown for Daniel’s prophecy had begun in 454 B.C.
Now more math will need to come into play. At the date of “0” we have the 454 years since the king’s edict. To reach the 483rd year of prophecy an additional twenty-nine years are required and you now have the 483 years. This was when Christ was crucified or the anointed One cut off found in Daniel 9: 26. In other studies we determined Christ died on the cross in 29-30 A.D. allowing for slight variances due to the Jewish calendar system. As stated, see Daniel 9: 26 above where he recorded the Messiah would be slain or cut off.
Now we need to do the math in reverse. We have around thirty-three years of life to work on. Luke 3: 1, 23, states Jesus was about thirty years of age at the time of Tiberius Caesar’s fifteenth year in power and the beginning of his ministry. Secular history records that date at 26 A.D. Jesus would be required to be thirty years of age to become a priest under Jewish law. Once Jesus attained that age he would need to be purified or cleansed in water as per Mosaic Law. (Exodus 29:4) This
2.
was the reason of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River. (This was the obedience to the Law concerning the priesthood cleansings.)
Additional reverse math and numbering will take us back to the 4 B.C. timing. To meet the thirty-year to be priesthood requirement and have a three year ministry by the time of his crucifixion takes us to the 483 years. The fullness of time had to be exact to ensure this prophetic 483 years timing of the cross especially Christ’s birth.
However, the prophecy in its entirety is for 490 years in total to bring about everlasting righteousness. No person of those times knew God would have a pause in the timing after the cross and resurrection. The disciples and even Paul believed this final seven years would be just ahead. This pause in the prophetic years was to give Israel another chance to believe, repent of their unbelief and be cleansed as per Mosaic law. That belief was to be that Christ was, indeed, their Promised One. If Israel would have believed then the kingdom would have been ushered in place in short order. The next step in God’s plan would be to have the Jews become that nation of priests to go the Gentiles.(Exodus 19: 5-6…) Their failure to believe and act would lead to a chosen Jew named Paul doing their job by going to the Gentiles. Israel’s decline and destruction continued on track.
The 490 years will begin and end at some future date allowing for the return of Christ after those last seven years are completed followed with the ushering in of the everlasting righteousness mentioned in the Daniel 9: 24 prophecy. This timing will be when the fullness of time, once again, happens on the timetable. Paul in Romans 11: 25-26 wrote: “I want you to understand this mystery,: a hardening of Israel has come upon , until the full number of the Gentiles come in.” Luke 21: 24 states of Jerusalem being trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Then the return of Christ!!!!!
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