Created: 10-Nov-2018

Prophecy of the Messiah's Execution

Last Update: 7-Jun-2021

"The 1st Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (the edict to rebuild Jerusalem) was 14th March, B. C. 445. The 10th Nisan in Passion Week (Christ's entry into Jerusalem) was 6th April, A. D. 32. The intervening period was 476 years and 24 days (the days being reckoned inclusively, as required by the language of the prophecy, and in accordance with the Jewish practice). But

476 x 365= 173,740 days
Add (14 March to 6th April, both inclusive) 24 days
Add for leap years 116 days
Equals a total of 173,880 days

And 69 weeks of prophetic years of 360 days (or 69 x 7 x 360) 173,880 days"
 

This is a very difficult area to make an exact estimate day because of the accuracy of calendars in the Ancient World.  Regardless of the human based accuracy, using the calculations below (or also other Christian's estimates), comes to an approximation which the precision that points to Jesus Christ leaves no ambiguity to the perfection of God's accuracy.

To pinpoint a date:

• See the 69 Weeks of Daniel, and the 70th Week of Daniel topic to get the details on the 69 weeks = 173,880 total number of days.
• Use 365.25 days in a year for calculating the prophetic date, as noted the Long Day of Joshua and 2 King 20 Event changed the 360 day calendar year to 365.25 days in a year.  The date to use as a start is after the Long Day of Joshua and 2 King 20 Event.
• Use 365.25 days in a year.  As noted, Long Day of Joshua and 2 King 20 Event changed the 360-day calendar year to 365.25 days in a year.
• Israel added days in the calendar to handle the extra day that would accumulate every four years, which we call a "Leap Year".  Leap Year Day is required to keep the calendar accurate with the Earth's rotation around the Sun.
• Many calculations on coming up with an exact date will add in leap year days.  If this process is used then, calculations must use a multiplier of 364 and not 364.25 days.

  	Date	Leap Year?	Gregorian Calendar	Using 364.24-day years gives same total
  	Saturday, February 29, 2020	Yes
  1	Sunday, February 28, 2021		364	364.25
  2	Monday, February 28, 2022		364	364.25
  3	Tuesday, February 28, 2023		364	364.25
  4	Thursday, February 29, 2024	Yes	365	364.25
  	Total Days:		1457	1457

• Establish how much time is required before the "Cut Off" which is the day of the Messiah's Crucifixion at 3pm.  The .8 means that 80% of the day has already transpired.  God's day start at sundown and ends at the next sundown, which can be thought of something like 6pm to 6pm, so 3pm in the afternoon, which according to the scriptures is when Jesus Christ died on the Cross, is at roughly 80% of the Biblical Day gone.

  Days	365.25 Day Years	Number of Years	Days Calc	Days	How Much Time?
  173880	173880 / 365.25	476.06	.06 * 364.25	21.855 -> 22	476 Years and 22 days
  173880	173880 / 365	476.38	.06 * 364	21.84 -> 22	476 Years and 22 days

  Note: there was a rounding done to handle the fractional part where if the year was not a leap year, then it makes sense to make it a day.

Adding 476 Years and 21 Days to the starting date of March 14th, 445 BC gives us April 4th, 32 AD as the day that the Messiah would be "cut off" which meant to be execute.  Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53:12 is called the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament that points to Jesus Christ's life with the climax on the Cross.  Additionally, Psalm 22 is often called the Crucifixion Psalm that points to the experience on the Cross.

Using the amazing prophecy given to Daniel, by the Angel Gabriel in the 69 Weeks of Daniel Chapter 9 scriptures, the calculations give us a date of 5-Apr-32 AD, when using the start date of 14-Mar-445 BC.  Different Biblical Scholars have disagreements on the year, while all agree on the number of 173,880 days that transpired from start date to date revealed is correct, the following points are debated:

• Starting year may not be correct.
• Day of the week, for 5-Apr-32 AD may not be correct on computer modeling.
• The common agreed range is years 30 AD to 32 AD.
• The prophecy in the Book of Daniel can only point to Jesus Christ as there is no other candidate.

Assuming the computer model calculations of day of the week, Wednesday, matching 14 of Nissan, the Crucifixion happened: on Roman Calendar April 5th, 30 AD.

To aid in verifying the vicinity of the year, we can look at "The Annals, Book XV", where Tacitus states that

"Cristus, from whom the name ['Christian'] had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of the procurators, Potntius Pilatus..."  

Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea from 26 AD through 36 AD.  

From the scriptures, we know:

• Book of Luke: Jesus began His ministry when He "was about 30 years of age". 
• Book of John: There are three annual Passovers during His ministry (John 2:23; John 6:4; John 13:1). 

Working from all these points of information, it can be determined that Jesus Christ was crucified in his early 30s. 

Note that Jesus' birth was before the 1 AD and there is no 0 AD.   Many scholars point to Jesus' birth to be in the year of 4 BC.