The Decree To Rebuild Jerusalem

April 29th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Daniel 9:25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”

In this passage the angel Gabriel is speaking to Daniel in the year 539 BC. God, through Gabriel, foretold the very day that Mark 11:1 speaks of, namely, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
His first order of business has to do with a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This is important because at the time of Daniel’s prophecy Jerusalem and its Temple were in ruins. Hope was needed for their restoration, so God decreed that they be rebuilt by the Persian king Artaxerxes who decreed their restoration on March 5, 444 BC. Nehemiah assumed the task (Neh 2:1-8). The Temple had already been restored by that time, completed in 516 BC by Zerubbabel (Ezra 6:14-15). Now, after returning from Babylonian exile, the Jews wanted their city restored, and Artaxerxes—the reigning king of the Persian Empire—gave them permission to do so.

Notice that from the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince there is a specific time frame given. This means that once the decree went out in 444 BC the countdown to the Messiah would begin. The passage says that there would be “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” In the Hebrew text “weeks” is literally “sevens,” and from the context of the prophecy these “sevens” refer to weeks of years not weeks of days. Seven-sevens equates to 49 years; plus sixty-two sevens comes to 434 years for a total of 483 years. Translation: there would be 483 years from 444 BC, when the decree went out to restore Jerusalem, to the time of Christ. This prophecy is important because it reveals that Jesus Christ is that promised Messiah since He is the One who fits the math of Daniel’s prophecy down to the exact day.

History has proven Daniel to be a true prophet because his words were fulfilled. First of all, Jerusalem was rebuilt with “plaza and moat” meaning that it was fully restored both inside and out (“plaza” refers to the inside of the city; “moat” refers to its outside defense system). The year it occurred was 395 BC, fittingly enough fulfilling the first “seven weeks”—49 years after 444 BC. As for “Messiah the Prince,” He came after the 62 weeks following the seven weeks—a total of 483 years later! What makes it complicated is the fact that the Jewish year was only 360 days instead of today’s Julian calendar of 365 days. This problem is solved when the years are converted to days and counted down from the year 444 BC. The total number of days is 173,880 (483 x 360), and when they are counted down from 444 BC the date they come to is Monday March 30, AD 33—celebrated annually as Palm Sunday. This is the day Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There can therefore be no doubt that Jesus is the Messiah!

Food for thought
How much evidence is required for the world to understand that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, the Messiah, the second member of the Trinity, the Savior of the world—the Christ? Daniel’s prophecy leaves no doubt whatsoever that Jesus of Nazareth is who He said He is, the One the prophets spoke of, and the One whom the apostles attested to, namely the Christ. The fact that Christ’s coming was given to Daniel in the sixth century BC, right down to the specific day, and that Jesus fulfilled it, is adequate proof that Jesus is who He said He is. What an awesome prophecy to say the least! And what great proof it is to those who continually demand proof.

Jesus said, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all (Mark 10:15). Children believe what they are told because they are not skeptical, and they are easily molded. The prophecy of Daniel proves that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. Telling one’s children this isn’t brainwashing them—it is Truth, and it is the truth that sets us free!