Messiah be cut off
Daniel 9:26
9:26 Messiah be cut off. If the 483-year period began in 446 B.C., its terminus would seem to be in A.D. 37. However, there is much evidence that what might be called a “prophetic year” was 360 days instead of 365¼. The original created year was apparently twelve 30-day months (compare Genesis 7:11, 24; 8:3, 4). Also, the year associated with the end-times seems to be the same (Revelation 11:2-3). If this factor were applied to the 70-week prophecy, then 483 calendar years would only be 476 prophetic years. Allowing for the fact that Jesus was actually born about 4 B.C. (this was the date when King Herod died, soon after Jesus was born), then the terminal date of the prophecy becomes sometime in A.D. 30, the year when Jesus was between 33 and 34 years of age. This, of course, is the year of His crucifixion, when He was “cut off, but not for Himself.” This prophecy was given in about 536 B.C., well over half a millennium before its fulfillment. The probability that Daniel could guess the date of the manifestation and crucifixion of the Messiah is essentially zero. Only supernatural inspiration can account for fulfilled prophecies like this. In fact, these events were fulfilled almost two centuries even after the date assigned to Daniel by liberal scholars who deny that such prophecies can be valid!