The True Easter Story: An Ancient Prophecy Disregarded

Luke 19:41-44 (NIV) - As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he (Jesus) wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Most Christians know that the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus. But fewer know that more than five centuries earlier (in 538 BC) Gabriel told the prophet Daniel precisely when the Messiah would be revealed to the Jewish people. Gabriel also told Daniel that the Messiah would be killed (Dan 9:25-26).

Jesus held the Jewish religious leaders accountable to remember this prophecy. So why did they fail to recognize Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah when He arrived at the precise time prophesied by the angel? Daniel was a highly revered prophet among the Jews. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that the religious leaders had simply forgetten the ancient prophecy. Was Jesus so unlike the Messiah they were expecting that they just couldn't accept that He was the One?