Luke 2:1-7 and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. (2) This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. (3) So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. (4) Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, (5) to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. (6) So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. (7) And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And so this brings us to the 62-week timeline that Gabriel spoke about. Before we can discuss the 62-week timeline however, we first need to correct a common misconception in the church, i.e. the age of the Lord Jesus when He died on the cross; for as we will see in this section, knowing the Lord's age is one of the keys to understanding the 62-week timeline. Therefore, to establish the Lord's age when He went to the cross, in this section we will briefly look at both the biblical and historical timeline of the Lord Jesus while He was on the earth. The above-quoted passage of scripture is the first scriptural reference we have in that regard. In this passage, we see that the Lord Jesus was born in the year that Caesar Augustus took a Roman census. Historical records show that Caesar Augustus conducted three censuses during his reign, i.e. 28 BC, 8 BC, and 14 AD[1]. The census conducted in the year 8 BC is the one that the gospel of Luke was referring to. And so we see that the Lord Jesus was born in the year 8 BC. So why does our calendar not reflect the Lord’s birth at 0 BC? The answer to that question is that the current calendar was first developed in the year 1582 AD by Pope Gregory 13th[2]; that calendar was not fully accurate, and it was eight years off in its calculation of the Lord's date of birth. The second scriptural reference we have is that after Jesus was born, the angel warned Joseph to take the young child to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempt to have Him killed. This account teaches us that Joseph and his family lived in Egypt until the death of Herod, at which point the angel allowed them to return to the land of Israel (Matthew 2:13-21). Historical records show that Herod the Great died in the year 4 BC[3]. And so we see that Joseph and Mary lived in Egypt for four years, which means that our Lord was four years old when the family left Egypt to go back to Israel. The third scriptural reference we have is that John the Baptist began his ministry in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1-3). We have already established that historical records show that the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar occurred in the year 28 AD. And so we see that the Lord Jesus would have been 37 years old in the year that John the Baptist began his ministry. We have already established that the Lord Jesus began His ministry one year later in the year 29 AD. And so we see that Jesus began His ministry at the age of 38, which is why Luke says that He began His ministry at “about” thirty years of age (Luke 3:23). As an aside when the Jews looked at Jesus, they assessed that He wasn't yet 50 years old (John 8:57); which is an observation more likely to be made for someone closer to 40 years old rather than someone who was only 30 years old. We have already established that Jesus ministered publicly for two years, beginning in the year 29 AD and ending in the year 31 AD. And so we see that the Lord Jesus would have been 40 years old when He died on the cross. We can therefore understand why the Lord required the Jews to present their male children to Him in the temple, forty days after birth (Leviticus 12:1-8); that practice pointed to Jesus the Messiah. And so, when Jesus was forty days old, His parents took Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord (Luke 2:22-24). That act symbolised what Jesus would accomplish on the earth, for He would live on the earth for forty years; at the end of which, after He was raised from the dead, He would present Himself before the Father in the Heavenly Temple. And so it is important to note that throughout scripture the number 40 is shown to be very significant; some examples are; it rained forty days and nights when the Lord destroyed the earth with a flood (Genesis 7:4), Moses went up the mountain for forty days and nights to receive the ten commandments (Exodus 24:18), the Jewish spies went into the Promised Land for forty days (Numbers 13:25), the Jews were banished to the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:34), King David (2 Samuel 5:4) and King Solomon (1 Kings 11:42) each reigned over Israel for 40 years. The list goes on and on.
Nehemiah 2:1-8 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. (2) Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid, (3) and said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?" (4) Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. (5) And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." (6) Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. (7) Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, (8) and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
This brings us back to the 62-week timeline mentioned by the angel Gabriel. We have already established that the 70-week timeline was linked to the first edict issued by King Artaxerxes I of Persia. And so that means that the 62-week timeline would be linked to the second edict issued by King Artaxerxes. The above-quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I King of Persia, he issued a second decree authorizing the Jews to begin rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Historical records reveal to us that King Artaxerxes I of Persia began his reign in the year 465 BC; we have already established that the twentieth year of his reign according to the Jewish calendar, was, in fact, the twenty-first year of his reign according to the historical calendar, which means that King Artaxerxes’ second edict was issued in the year 444 BC[4]. And so if we calculate 434 years (62 weeks) into the future, using the year 444 BC as the starting point, it equates to the year 9 BC. The reason 9 BC was important was because that was the year Jesus the Messiah was conceived, for we have already established that Jesus was born nine months later in the year 8 BC. Therefore, we see that just as the 70 weeks in Daniel’s vision refers to the death of Jesus the Messiah, so it is that the 62 weeks in Daniel’s vision refers to the birth of Jesus the Messiah. As an aside, the Jewish scribes at the time of Jesus’ birth, understood that Gabriel’s 62-week timeline was about to be fulfilled, which is why, when they informed Herod that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, they asked him to find out from the wise men of the east, the exact date that the Lord’s star appeared (Matthew 2:1-12). And so we see that even though God gave the Jews the exact date of the first coming of the Messiah, they still could not see it, because they did not (and still don’t) understand that there are two comings of the Messiah. As we will see in the following section, the Jews not recognizing the first coming of the Messiah would have a devastating impact on the nation of Israel.
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] https://homepages.uc.edu/~martinj/Latin/Roman_Population/Frank%20-%20Roman%20Census%20Statistics.pdf
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