Joined: 29 Aug 2003 Posts: 136 Location: JAMAICA, WEST INDIES
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 6:35 am Post subject: CYRUS DID DECREE THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM!!
DID CYRUS DECREE THE RESTORATION OF JERUSALEM?
Quote:
Isaiah 44: 28.
“That said of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shall be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”
Now it is argued that Cyrus never gave a decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem itself. Now that is true if one is LITERALLY looking for the exact words from him - “rebuild the CITY”. But it is either that God’s above quoted prophecy about Cyrus failed (very unlikely), or we must recognize that Cyrus’ decree about the temple foundations, WITH THE TEMPLE BEING THE CENTRE AND HEARTHROB OF JERUSALEM, was just symbolic of the decree to restore and rebuild the entire city.
According to God Himself, Cyrus was to decree that IT SHOULD EVENTUALLY HAPPEN, even laying the foundations of the temple in his time to signal the start of the process of restoring Jerusalem itself. So says the unalterable Word of God, and only the promoters of heresy, careless Bible students, and misguided theologians declare otherwise.
But when was this decree completely issued to FULLY restore Jerusalem? The Bible gives the plain answer:
Quote:
“And the elders of the Jews built, and finished it [THE TEMPLE- the centre of the city], according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” Ezra 6:14.
Now it is clear that the Bible sees this ‘threefold’ decree as ONE (a ‘trinity’ decree as it were), and thus Cyrus was just representative of Medo- Persia itself as God’s “Shepherd” (God’s restoring Agent for his people). Cyrus started the process, and the other kings finished it. So the decree to rebuild the temple was part and parcel of the decree to restore Jerusalem itself, AND IT WAS OFFSET BY CYRUS. So says the Bible (the unalterable word of God. That is very clear to the careful Bible student.
If, as the Bible said clearly in Ezra 6:15, the temple building was completed under Darius BEFORE Artaxerxes, then it is obvious that the "finishing" God intended to highlight in the "threefold" decree (completed by Artaxerxes) was that of "beautifying" the temple. Every house is "finished" when the beautifying is completed, not just the structure. See Ezra 7:27.
Thus Artaxerxes decree in Ezra 7 connected to "beautifying" the temple effectively completed “the going forth of the commandment [singular] to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). When was this? 457 B.C.
This 457 B.C. decree, apart from decreeing a "beautifying" of the temple, EFFECTIVELY GAVE THE JEWS THE POWER OF SELF GOVERNANCE (Ezra 7:25, 26); the most important stage in "restoring" Jerusalem and Israel (as a nation) itself. The date 457 B.C. is also the best date to prove the official arrival (baptism and Holy Spirit annointing), and sacrificial death ("cutting off") of the true "Messiah the Prince" (Dan. 9:25-27).
King Artaxerxes' later 444 B.C. commandment was not an initial “going forth” of the command to restore Jerusalem, but a renewal to now finish the process of rebuilding the city itself (a process already decreed and started from Cyrus, when he first laid the foundations of the temple). So says the unalterable Word of God, and not just the word of 'educated' men!!
In closing it should be noted that the date 444 B.C. is not the best to calculate the Messiah's life, as prophecied in Daniel 9:25-27 because it conflicts with the true dates in His life (and upsets the exactnes of the prophecy by a decade or so).
Example? If we count 483 years (using the Jewish calendar of 360 days) from 444 B.C. AS THE STARTING POINT, then the following problems accur:
1. "69 weeks" of years, or 483 years after 444 B.C would take us into A.D. 40 (remember we count backwards in B.C., and fowards in A.D., without a year zero). Jesus was baptized, ministered on earth, and was crucified BEFORE that.
2. By A.D. 40 (483 years after 444 B.C.) WHEN THE "MESSIAH" WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE 'ARRIVED' IN MINISTRY, Jesus would have actually been back in Heaven already.
The rest of the "70 weeks" of years (the final "week", of seven years) would fall after A.D. 40, and the prophecy would be proven wrong BY AT LEAST A DECADE. Get the picture? Only 457 B.C solves this problem, and puts Jesus' life and death into the right decade!!
God needs no mathematical 'help' from scholars to prove the Messiahship of His Son!! He is more exact thn that!! _________________ Derrick Gillespie (First labelled "SDA", THEN, "Pseudo-SDA", and then "Impolite". What label next?)
Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 52 Location: Madrid, Spain
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:12 am Post subject: Not Cyrus???
I wonder who could have said that Cyrus did not authorize Jerusalem's reconstruction! It is obvious from several biblical passages that he did authorize both the return of the Jews and the reconstruction of the city and its temple. Artaxerxes, on the other hand, only authorized the rebuilding of the city wall. There's no evidence whatever that he authorized the rebuilding or beautifying of anything either in the city itself or in the temple, with the sole exception of the wall, but that happened in 444!
In any case, the specifications of the 70 weeks may not refer to Cyrus at all, but to God's decree. Compare 9:25 and 9:23 (in Hebrew both speak of the going forth of the dabar, or word). Artaxerxes' presence in Ezra 6:14 doesn't give any backing to the date 457 BC as beginning the 70-week prophecy. Why not 460 or 450? Artaxerxes was reigning in both those years. If any date at all were to be inferred from Ezra 6:14, it would be 444 BC, when Artaxerxes authorized the rebuilding of the wall. There isn't a shred of evidence that he ever authorized rebuilding anything in the temple. Ezra 7 contains an authorization to Ezra to see to priestly matters and the knowledge of God's law across Judaea, and such a decree was probably issued during 458 BC. The fact is that 457 BC is a wrong date derived from the simple subtraction 33-490 = -457, 33 being the wrong date from the crucifixion, 490 being the supposed length of the 70 weeks, and -457 being the year historians call 458 BC, not 457BC! But the whole thing is a hoax. Naturally, if you begin by subtracting from a date in Jesus' ministry in order to reach a presumed "beginning" in 457 BC, the addition of the same period will of necessity lead you back to the same ending date, but the same thing would happen with any other date and any other period. It's a law of mathematics. If 70 - 490 = -420, -420 + 490 = 70. I wonder if they will give me the Nobel prize for this remarkable confirmation. I don't know exactly what if confirms, but it surely confirms something about the workings of human psyche!
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:13 am Post subject: Be consistent Eduardo, all prophecy is conditional!
Eduardo Martínez Rancaño wrote:
I wonder who could have said that Cyrus did not authorize Jerusalem's reconstruction! It is obvious from several biblical passages that he did authorize both the return of the Jews and the reconstruction of the city and its temple.
I, for one, say that Cyrus did not fulfill all that was predicted of him.
However, when interpreting the book of Daniel, I am very happy to assume that he should have authorized Jerusalem's reconstruction!
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