Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

FULFILMENT OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS

Christ entered on his ministry, according to Luke 3:23, when he was about thirty years of age. Mark 1:14, 15, records the introduction of his ministry as follows: “Now when John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, THE TIME IS FULFILLED; the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel.” What time was then fulfilled, if it was not the 69 weeks foretold by Daniel, which was to introduce the very event which was to introduce the very event which was then taking place? No other time had ever been predicted for that event except the 69 weeks; hence they must have been fulfilled. It is on this authority I base my argument of the fulfillment of the period, let it begin at which decree it may. Christ says it is fulfilled; that is enough for me. PREX1 137.3

Verse 27. “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” By covenant, I understand the Scriptures, the law and the prophets. Confirming of the covenant would be to preach it and show its truth and fulfilment. This was Christ’s business through his whole ministry. He began by preaching a sermon on the fulfilment of time, and ended his ministry after his resurrection, (Luke 24:27,) by beginning at Moses and all the prophets, and expounded to his disciples, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself; and as he was about to go into heaven, (Acts 1:3,) he spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Christ began his ministry at the age of thirty, and was crucified at the age of thirty-seven; allowing seven years for his ministry. It is now universally conceded, I believe, that Christ was born four years before the vulgar era of our Lord began; and thus was four years old when it began. This has been established by astronomical calculation, as follows: PREX1 137.4

1. Christ was crucified the day before the Jewish Sabbath, (Mark 15:42,) that is, our Friday. PREX1 138.1

2. That day was the Jewish Passover. (John 18:28, and 19:14). PREX1 138.2

3. The Jewish passover was always the first full moon after the vernal equinox. PREX1 138.3

Ferguson, in his astronomy, remarks: “The Jews reckoned their months by the moon, and their years by the apparent revolution of the sun; and they eat the passover on the 14th day of the month Nisan, which was the first month of the year, reckoning from the first appearance of the new moon, which at that time of the year might be on the evening of the day next after the change, if the sky was clear. So that their 14th day of the month answers to our 15th day of the moon, on which she is full. Consequently, the passover was always kept on the day of full moon. PREX1 138.4

“And the full moon at which it was kept, was that one which happened next after the vernal equinox. For Josephus expressly says, (Antiq. B. iii., ch. 10.) the passover was kept on the 14th day of the month of Nisan, according to the moon, when the sun was in Aries. And the sun always enters Aries at the instant of the vernal equinox; which, in our Saviour’s time, fell on the 22nd day of March. PREX1 139.1

“The dispute among chronologers about the year of Christ’s death, is limited to four or five years at most. But as we have shown that he was crucified on the day of a paschal full moon, and on a Friday, all that we have to do, in order to ascertain the year of his death, is only to compute in which of those years there was a passover full moon on a Friday. For the full moons anticipate eleven days every year, (twelve lunar months being so much short of a solar year,) and therefore once in every three years at least the Jews were obliged to set their passover a month farther forward than it fell by the course of the moon on the year next before, in order to keep it at the full moon next after the equinox. Therefore, there could not be two passovers on the same day of the week, within the compass of a few neighboring years. And I find by calculation, the only passover full moon that fell on a Friday, for several years before or after the disputed year of the crucifixion, was on the 3rd day of April, in the 4746th year of the Julian period, which was the 490th year after [Nehemiah] received the above mentioned commission from Artaxerxes Longimanus, and the year in which the Messiah was to be cut off, according to the prophecy, reckoning from the going forth of that commission or commandment: and this 490th year was the 33rd year of our Saviour’s age, reckoning from the vulgar era of his birth; but the 37th, reckoning from the true era thereof.” PREX1 139.2

The chronology of these 490 years, therefore, rests on the most solid basis; Christ’s testimony settles the 69 weeks, and astronomical calculation the last week, or week of Christ’s ministry. And the process of determining the day of Christ’s death, settles also the chronology since that time; viz., that 1809 years had elapsed the 3rd of last April since Christ’s death. One year fills up 2300 years since the decree,-that occurs in 1843. PREX1 140.1

The matter stands thus:-According to the preceding chronological table, from, Rollin, there were 457 years from the decree given to Nehemiah by Artaxerxes, to A. D. 1. Christ was crucified A. D. 33, at the age of 37; being born four years before A. D. 1. PREX1 140.2

457

490

The same period is gained by taking Christ’s testimony of the fulfilment of the 69 weeks, or 483 years, when he began his ministry; and the one week or 7 years of Christ’s ministry. And this is the true basis of the chronology. PREX1 140.3

483

490

2300 being the whole period, 490 taken from it, leaves 1810 years after Christ’s death or ascension. PREX1 141.1

Of these 1810 years, 1809 are already fulfilled, and the remaining one ends in 1843. PREX1 141.2

Because I believe God’s word, therefore, and only for that reason, I believe that in 1843 the Lord will appear in his glory, justify the sanctuary, deliver the host, and build up Zion. On this subject I have no misgivings, and nothing to conceal. I feel myself bound by every possible means to warn the world and persuade my fellow men to prepare to meet God. In answer to the oft-repeated question, “What if it don’t happen?” I refer to Habakkuk 2:1-4: “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” PREX1 141.3