Jesus

• Who did Jesus claim to be?
• What was Jesus' purpose?
• Why is Jesus different?
• When was the Messiah to arrive?
• Where did the ministry of Jesus take place?
• How can we be saved from death?

Who?

Who did Jesus claim to be?

Jesus made several significant claims about his identity. He claimed to be the Son of God and the Son of Man, positions that, in Jewish understanding, implied divine authority. He also declared himself to be one with the Father and claimed to be the "I AM" (a name associated with God in the Old Testament). Furthermore, Jesus asserted that he was the "Way, the Truth, and the Life", and that no one could come to the Father except through him.

What?

What was Jesus' purpose?

Jesus' central purpose was to offer salvation to humanity through his life, death, and resurrection, fulfilling God's plan to redeem a fallen world. This involved proclaiming the Kingdom of God, demonstrating God's love, and providing a path for reconciliation with God. He also came to seek and save the lost, call sinners to repentance, and offer eternal life to those who believe in him.

Why is Jesus different?

Why is Jesus different?

There are many books that claim to be inspired by God.

The Koran, Talmud, The Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Vedas, The Torah, The Bible, and more... (Full List)

Each of these books examines two questions:

Question #1: What is the importance of life and is there a right way we should live?

The first question is answered by many of these books by offering an ethic and moral pathway to better living and improved relationships.

Many of them claim that God's messengers appeared at various times throughout history when inspiration was most needed. Many combine the prophets from many other religions into their own beliefs.

Buddha had claimed to become enlightened and his disciples asked him to speak of God. He replied, "I speak not on that which I do not know. His honest answer was dismissed and his disciples deified him anyway.

Question #2: Is there life after death?

"For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many." (Matthew 24:5)

Christ separated himself from all religions by saying, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Further distinction is found in the book of Acts. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

The leaders and prophets that inspired the world's religions today and dead and buried, except for one.

Christ was crucified and buried for three days until his ressurection.

"And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." (1 Corinthians 15:14)

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;" (John 11:25)

No one else has ever risen from the grave. Christ's resurrection is the foundation of Christianity and the hope for all who believe.

All other texts claiming to be inspired by God are speculations without evidence that eternal life is attainable.

When?

When was the Messiah to arrive?
Was Jesus' Arrival Accurately Predicted in the Bible?
Source

In 538 BC, the angel Gabriel gave Daniel a prophecy pinpointing when the Messiah would arrive. "Know and understand this," Gabriel told him (Daniel 9:25). While Daniel may have understood it, somewhere along the way that insight has been lost. Old Testament scholars have long been debating the prophecy's meaning, but one scholar, Harold Hoehner, had a particularly astounding interpretation.

While in Babylon, Daniel read the Scriptures, learning that Jeremiah had foretold both the Babylonian captivity and the Israelites' return to their homeland after 70 years. In response, Daniel confessed the sins of the nation in prayer, inciting the angel Gabriel to visit and deliver this message:

Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

Breaking Down the Daniel Prophecy

In taking a closer look at the Daniel passage, one thing is clear: it is about the Messiah. We see that the term "Messiah," or "Anointed One," is capitalized. It is also clear that a formula of sorts is provided to calculate when the Messiah will appear. The difficulties come in interpreting the formula. One such difficulty is determining the meaning of "weeks," which is used in a number of translations. (NIV uses the term "sevens" instead of "weeks.") In ancient Hebrew, "weeks" had a number of meanings, which scholars can determine by the context. The context in the Daniel passage shows that "weeks" means "seven units." Using this definition, we can calculate when the Messiah will arrive: (7 x 7) + (62 x 7) = 49 + 434 = 483 years.

The prophecy further says that after the Messiah arrives, he will be "put to death and will have nothing." The word "after" is very important. After the Messiah arrives, he will be put to death. Jesus' crucifixion fulfills that prophecy.

We now know that the Messiah would arrive 483 years in the future. But does the prophecy specify a beginning date? The prophecy tells us: "From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." So, who ordered this decree to restore Jerusalem, and when was it ordered? There are several possibilities, but the decree that best fits the evidence was made by the Persian king Artaxerxes to Nehemiah on March 5 of 444 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-8). (In this article, a number of biblical dates are used, all of which have been under debate by scholars for hundreds of years. Harold Hoehner makes a strong case for each of the dates. For those details, please refer to Hoehner's book Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ.)

Before we can make some calculations, we need to know how Daniel's civilization counted time - by a solar year or a lunar year. A solar year has 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, or 365.2422 days. A lunar year has exactly 360 days: 12 months of 30 days. [A lunar year has 12 rotation periods, or lunar months, which equal 354.367 Earth days (12 x 29.53059). However, ancient peoples rounded off the lunar month to 30 days. Thus, their lunar year would equal 360 days (30 days x 12).] Since the lunar year was commonly used in ancient biblical times, it makes the most sense to use the lunar year in calculations.

We must also decide how to define the arrival of the Messiah. Do we use Jesus' birthdate, the date he began his ministry, the date of his crucifixion, or some other date? The date that many scholars have accepted as the time of the Messiah's arrival is Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The reason for choosing this date is that this is when Jesus publicly declared that he was the Messiah. Before then, he told only select people, like his disciples, and he often reminded them to keep his identity secret. History chronologists have estimated that Jesus' triumphal entry fell on Monday, March 30, AD 33.

Calculating Gabriel's Formula

Now we're ready to do some math to determine if Gabriel did in fact predict Jesus' arrival. We'll start by determining how many days are in 483 lunar years: 360 x 483 = 173,880 days. Next, we'll convert those days back into solar years: 173,880 / 365.2422 = 476.068 years. After converting the decimal part (0.068) to days (0.068 x 365.2422 = 24.8 days), the time prophesized for the Messiah to arrive comes out to be 476 years and 25 days.

Adding this number to March 5, 444 BC - the date on which the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued - brings us to March 30, AD 33, the very day of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Is this match not remarkable? The remarkable accuracy of the predictions in the prophecy in Daniel [assuming the estimates are correctly interpreted and accurate] supports the truth of the prophecy, which in turn builds confidence in the authority and reliability of the Bible.

SUMMARY - When will the Messiah arrive in Jerusalem? 538 BC, the angel Gabriel gave Daniel a prophecy pinpointing when the Messiah would arrive Daniel 9:25 From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death. (7 x 7) + (62 x 7) = 49 + 434 = 483 years Beginning date: The Persian king Artaxerxes grants permission to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem on March 5 of 444 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-8) How did Daniel's civilization count time? Their lunar year would equal 360 days (30 days x 12). The date that many scholars have accepted as the time of the Messiah's arrival is Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. History chronologists have estimated that Jesus' triumphal entry fell on Monday, March 30, AD 33. Now we're ready to do some math to determine if Gabriel did in fact predict Jesus' arrival. We'll start by determining how many days are in 483 lunar years: 360 x 483 = 173,880 days. Next, we'll convert those days back into solar years: 173,880 / 365.2422 = 476.068 years. After converting the decimal part (0.068) to days (0.068 x 365.2422 = 24.8 days), the time prophesized for the Messiah to arrive comes out to be 476 years and 25 days. Adding this number to March 5, 444 BC - the date on which the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued - brings us to March 30, AD 33, the very day of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Beginning date: March 5 of 444 BC (7 x 7) + (62 x 7) = 49 + 434 = 483 lunar years (360 x 483 = 173,880 days) Solar years: 173,880 / 365.2422 = 476.068 years 476 years 24.8 days) = 476 years and 25 days

---

Daniel 9:24-26

82. Gabriel tells Daniel when the "Anointed One" will be "cut off."
This is the exact time Jesus is crucified.

Daniel 9:24-26
24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 "Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

---

Zechariah 9:9 - The Coming of Zion's King

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

---

Where?

Where did the ministry of Jesus take place?

Jesus' public ministry primarily took place in Galilee and Judea, with some activity in Samaria and Perea. He spent a significant amount of time in Galilee, particularly around the Sea of Galilee, where he based his ministry in Capernaum. His ministry also included visits to Jerusalem for various religious festivals and events.

How?

How can we be saved from death?

In Christian theology, salvation from physical death, or eternal death, is achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. This faith involves believing in Jesus' death and resurrection as a sacrifice for sins, and accepting him as Lord and Savior. This belief leads to forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.