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New Light in the New World
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the prophecy to mark the beginning of the 2300 years. Taking 457
B.C., when the decree was completed, as the date of the “command-
ment,” every specification of 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”—sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years.
The decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C.
From this date, 483 years extend to the autumn of A.D. 27. At
that time this prophecy was fulfilled. In the autumn of A.D. 27
Christ was baptized by John and received the anointing of the Spirit.
After His baptism He went into Galilee, “preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled.”
Mark 1:14, 15
.
The Gospel Given to the World
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week”—
the last seven years of the period allotted to the Jews. During this
time, from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ and His disciples extended
the gospel invitation especially to the Jews. 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
.
“In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease.” In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His
baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the great sacrifice offered
upon Calvary, type had met antitype. All the sacrifices and oblations
of the ceremonial system were to cease.
The 490 years allotted to the Jews ended in A.D. 34. At that time,
through action of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its rejection
of the gospel by the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the
followers of Christ. Then the message of salvation was given to the
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world. The disciples, forced by persecution to flee from Jerusalem,
“went everywhere preaching the word.”
Acts 8:4
.
Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly ful-
filled. The beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed beyond question
at 457 B.C., and their expiration in A.D. 34. The seventy weeks
(490 days) having been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days