CHAPTER 10

Named Before He Was Born

The exile had a known endpoint before it began.

Isaiah — a major prophet writing around 700 BC.

Jayden stopped typing.

J➤ Before his parents existed. Before the Persian Empire existed. God named the man who would end the exile and described exactly what he would do. One hundred and fifty years in advance. That is not a vague prediction. That is a name and a job description.

He sat with that for a long time.

✦   ✦   ✦

Daniel had been reading Jeremiah when he understood the 70 years were almost complete. His response was the prayer of Daniel 9 — covenant language, appealing to God as a covenant partner. While he was still praying, Gabriel arrived.

Gabriel — an angel named in both Old and New Testaments.

70 weeks — prophetic term meaning 490 years (sevens of years).

J➤ The debt was exact. The payment was exact. The contract was kept. The same God who counted 70 missed Sabbaths, collected exactly 70 years, named the man who would end the exile before he was born — also issued a 490-year restoration contract through an angel. Every word. Every year. Every day.