Advent - Day 4

Day 4:
Today we did a couple of fun things. It was an early release day from school, so I picked up Pants at 1:30 and we came home to decorate a Gingerbread house!

Gingerbread baby guarding the entrance of His house. This guy has a mustache.

Just a quick note about these pre-packaged Gingerbread Houses... the frosting comes in a big bag. Best make a trip to the craft store for these handy frosting tubes. Ready made, and ready to go. They saved the project, even if they are Martha Stewart... I justified this by looking at the label; it's actually a Wilton product, the cake experts who have licensed Martha to sell more frosting. I know, she still gets the cash. I'll buy a second Going Rogue book to offset this little slip.

The second part of our project entailed gluing our Advent activity slips into a chain. I put the Advent verses and activity lengthwise on a 1/3 of an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper and rolled them up into the Advent calendar cubbies. Then each day after we read the verses and do the activity, Pants gets to glue them onto a big chain! Overkill? Maybe, but it's fun to do.

The finished product... and a very hungry little girl looking for a snack.

Verse for today: Daniel 9:24-27. Really obscure, talking about 'sevens' but when I asked Pants what she thought of that verse she said, "Good stuff. Good stuff. Everything will will be good after the prophesy... the Word, Jesus." Um, wow! I'll go with it. This is some more commentary I found on this prophesy. I found it really interesting especially the historical part.

This passage is so important to our Advent journey because it details an exact timeline of events that prove Jesus is the Messiah! Daniel 9:24-27 outlines what is known as the prophecy of sixty-nine weeks. (Or seventy-weeks, because it is sixty-nine and 1 weeks.)

Prior to these verses, Daniel is praying for the sins of Jerusalem to be forgiven. Daniel was among the many Jews who had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians after they conquered Judah. As he is confessing and pleading with God, the angel Gabriel appears to him with the vision of the sixty-nine weeks.

There are over 300 Messianic prophecies about Christ that have either been fulfilled or are yet to be fulfilled. Daniel's prophecy about the sixty-nine week timeline for Jesus' coming, however, has been the most scrutinzed and studied. Sir Isaac Newton and other great thinkers are among those who attempted to decipher this timeline. In 1894, a British evangelical--and Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard!--named Sir Robert Anderson published a work called The Coming Prince which contains his conclusion about the dates and events that occur in Daniel 9. This groundbreaking work paved the way for many of the prophecy chronologies that exist today. Sir Robert Anderson's view is still accepted by many.

In short: The decree of Daniel 9:25 took place on March 4 of 444 B.C. when Nehemiah was ordered to rebuild Jerusalem. The 69 weeks of 7 years equals 483 years (173,880 days using the common prophetic calendar in which a month is always 30 days and a year equals 360 days).

This leads to March 29, A.D. 33, the date of the Triumphal Entry when Jesus comes into Jerusalem and allows Himself to be crucified. This is checked by noting that 444 B.C. to A.D. 33 is 476 years (Remember, there is no year "0"). 476 x 365.24219 days per year = 173,855 days. (Here we use our calendar to see if the dates in our time confirm the events as they happened on the Biblical prophetic calendar!) Count in the extra 25 days between March 4 and March 29 of the two dates and it EQUALS 173,880 days!!

Even in the calculation of these unquestionable dates, I am humbled by the fact that our Lord's life is not confirmed by the date of his birth, but by the date of that for which he was born: to die "but not for Himself".For a thorough reading on the prophecy of Daniel, please read Daniel's Prophecy of the 70 Weeks This contains Sir Robert Anderson's chronology.Daniel's Seventy Weeks Current thoughts on the prophecy of Daniel like that of Josh McDowell.Daniel's Prophecy (Studies in the Word)