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then the starting-point for the great period of the 2300 days would be
ascertained.
In the seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found. [
Ezra 7:12-26
.]
In its completest form it was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, B.
C. 457. But in
Ezra 6:14
the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said
to have been built “according to the commandment [margin, decree]
of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” These three
kings, in originating, re-affirming, and completing the decree, brought
it to the perfection required by the prophecy to mark the beginning
[327]
of the 2300 years. Taking B. C. 457, the time when the decree was
completed, as the date of the commandment, every specification of
the prophecy concerning the seventy weeks was seen to have been
fulfilled.
“From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and
threescore and two weeks,“—namely, sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years.
The decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in the autumn of B. C. 457.
From this date, 483 years extend to the autumn of A. D. 27. [
See
Appendix, Note 3; also Diagram Opposite p. 328.
] At that time this
prophecy was fulfilled. The word “Messiah” signifies “the Anointed
One.” In the autumn of A. D. 27, Christ was baptized by John, and
received the anointing of the Spirit. The apostle Peter testifies that
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.”
[
Acts 10:38
.] And the Saviour himself declared, “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor.” [
Luke 4:18
.] After his baptism he came into Galilee,
“preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is
fulfilled.” [
Mark 1:14, 15
.]
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” The
“week” here brought to view is the last one of the seventy; it is the
last seven years of the period allotted especially to the Jews. During
this time, extending from A. D. 27 to A. D. 34, Christ, at first in
person, and afterward by his disciples, extended the gospel invitation
especially to the Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings
of the kingdom, the Saviour’s direction was, “Go not into the way of
the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [
Matthew 10:5, 6
.]