Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. (Isa. 45:11, KJV)
So says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day, the laws of the moon, and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, Jehovah of Hosts is His name. If these ordinances depart from before Me, says Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. So says Jehovah, If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, I will also reject all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, declares Jehovah. (Jer. 31:35-37, J. P. Green's Literal Translation.)
There is an apocryphal story about a conversation between the 19th-century Jewish-born British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli and the reigning monarch at the time, Queen Victoria. When Victoria asked Disraeli if there was a miracle that could prove God’s existence, Disraeli is reported to have said, “The survival of the Jews.” http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=5562
Here is a quote from an 18th century Christian Universalist named Elhanan Winchester:
We may be sure that the Jews will not be converted before their return to their own land. And it has been a very great, though general mistake, to suppose that their conversion would first take place, in order for their return; whereas this terrible calamity that shall fall upon them, supposes the contrary. For is it reasonable to suppose, that God would thus deliver up his beloved people, when they had newly returned to him, into the hands of their cruel foes, who should thus be permitted to exercise such horrible brutality upon them? (From A Course of Lectures on the Prophecies Which Remain to Be Fulfilled: delivered in 1788-1790. Cincinnati: E. Morgan and Company, 1851, p.125.)
The Jews have survived as a distinct people thru thousands of years of persecution (and many attempts to exterminate them), to return to their ancestral homeland in 1948.
We are all living witnesses to the fulfilment of this prophecy (which began in 70 A.D., and continues being fulfilled today):
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24.)
The following is another Prophecy (historically fulfilled in 70 A.D.):
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that 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: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:24-26.)
Since Verse 9 goes on to speak of this coming prince making a covenant with the Jewish people for one week, it's obvious these weeks consist of years, not days. 69 of these would be 483 years. The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem went forth in 444, or 445 B.C. When we adjust for the fact that the Jews had a lunar calander consisting of 360 days, this brings us down to 32 or 33 A.D. 37 or 8 years after this, Jerusalem and the Temple built in the days of Ezrah and Nehemiah (and enlarged by Herod) was destroyed by the Romans. From another web site:
The Destruction Of Jerusalem In AD 70
After "Messiah the Prince" is "cut off," the people of a coming prince will destroy Jerusalem.
After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined (Dan. 9:26).
A new hostile prince comes into the picture. He is literally "a prince, the one coming." The use of the article in "the one coming" suggests that this coming prince has been introduced earlier. He is undoubtedly the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8,24-26 who makes war with the saints until the Ancient of Days intervenes. He will head the restored Roman Empire in the endtimes.
His "people," the Romans, destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. These words in Daniel 9:26 cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes of the second century BC, because he destroyed neither the city of Jerusalem nor the temple.
http://www.rbc.org/ds/q1207/point3.html
Note: The really interesting thing about those who'd like to post date the prohecies of Daniel is that they have to assume that some pseudo Daniel got his dates wrong, was off by about a hundred and thirty years, and that the actual terminus of his 69 heptads (sevens) just happens to coincide more closely with Our Lord's death than the period he intended to point his readers to.
Josephus was an eye witness to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. He wrote:
Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them (Josephus Antiquities 10.11.7).
The fact that such prophecies have been fulfilled in the past should strengthen our faith that all of God's word will be fulfilled in the future. Don't let the opinions of men take this assurance away from you.
Blessings to all.
Return Home