More than five centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Daniel recorded a timetable for the coming of the Messiah.¹

Daniel was not looking back at the life of Jesus. He was looking forward. In Daniel 9, he recorded a prophecy that tied the coming of the Messiah to a specific sequence of historical events: A command would go out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The Messiah would appear. He would be “cut off.” Then Jerusalem and the sanctuary would be destroyed.

That means the identity of the Messiah is not an open-ended question. Daniel placed Him inside a historical window—and that window has already closed.

Daniel 9:24–27 speaks of “seventy weeks” decreed for Daniel’s people and the holy city. After sixty-nine of those weeks, the Messiah appears and is then “cut off.” Afterward, the city and the sanctuary are destroyed.

A longstanding Christian interpretation understands these weeks as weeks of years, making sixty-nine weeks 483 years. There is disagreement over which command or decree begins the count and over some details of the chronology. Those questions matter, but they do not erase the clearest boundary in the passage.

The Messiah appears and is cut off before Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed.

Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in A.D. 70. Whatever position one takes on the precise starting point of Daniel’s count, a Messiah who first appears after A.D. 70 has a serious problem: Daniel places the Messiah before the destruction.

The prophetic window is therefore not sometime in the future. It is in the past.

In the first century, the New Testament describes many Jews living with messianic expectation.

Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). Anna spoke about the child Jesus to those looking for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38). When John the Baptist began preaching, the people wondered whether he might be the Messiah (Luke 3:15). Andrew soon told Peter, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).

The point is simple: many Jews were looking for the Messiah at that time.

And that is when Jesus of Nazareth appeared.

Daniel's timetable does not identify the Messiah by timing alone. It establishes the window in which He must appear. The claimant must also fit the larger prophetic picture.

The Messiah would be connected with Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), come from the line of David (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Isaiah 11:1), minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1–2), enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9), be rejected and suffer (Isaiah 53), and yet ultimately reign (Isaiah 9:6–7).

Anyone can claim to be a messiah. A claim proves nothing. The question is whether the claimant fits the criteria set out beforehand.

Jesus did—not only in what He did, but in when He came.

History records other messianic claimants. But anyone who came after A.D. 70 immediately faced an inescapable problem with Daniel’s timetable: The Temple was already gone.

That does not mean Daniel 9, by itself, answers every question about Jesus. But it does narrow the field dramatically. A serious messianic claimant must have appeared and been cut off before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Jesus has no such problem. He lived, ministered, and was crucified before those events.

We often speak as though God simply promised Israel that a Messiah would come someday. Daniel says more than that.

God tied the Messiah to history.

Daniel gave Israel a sequence: a command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem would go out, the Messiah would come, He would be cut off, and then Jerusalem and the sanctuary would be destroyed.

Jerusalem was destroyed. The Temple was destroyed.

So the question is not only, “Will the Messiah come?” The question is, “Who came before the clock ran out?”

There is one name that cannot be dismissed: Jesus of Nazareth.

If you are waiting for God to provide one more reason to take Jesus seriously, consider what Daniel wrote centuries before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The Messiah was not supposed to arrive at a random moment in history. Jesus came during the period Daniel had marked out. He was rejected. He was killed. And within a generation, the Temple was gone.

You may still have questions about Christianity. Ask them. Examine the resurrection. Examine the reliability of Scripture. Examine the claims Jesus made about Himself.

But do not avoid the question Daniel forces upon us.

If God told Israel when the Messiah would come, and Jesus came when that time arrived, what will you do with Him?

If you have come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah God promised, do not stop at agreement. Respond to Him.

There are no magical words that make someone a Christian. A prayer cannot substitute for genuine repentance and faith. But prayer can express to God what you now believe and how you are responding.

Tell someone. Following Christ is not meant to remain a private decision. Begin taking the next steps of discipleship:

• Begin reading the Bible. The Gospel of John is a good place to start.

• Pray honestly and regularly.

• Find a faithful local church that teaches the Bible.

• Tell another Christian about your decision.

• Talk with that church about baptism and publicly identifying yourself with Christ.

If you decided to follow Jesus after reading this article—or if you have questions and are not ready yet—please tell us.

We will not pressure you or add you to anything you did not request. We simply want to answer questions, encourage you, and help you find a faithful Bible-teaching church if you need one.