Page 19 - The Gospel Chronicle - Narrative

Narrative: Introduction

so hard to define its length? To answer these questions, let’s first conclude that there are only
two distinctly described Passover’s in the Gospel of John, and all other uses of “Passover” in the

gospel of John should be attributed as a forward-looking anticipation of the second Passover or
“The Passover” when Jesus is crucified; which is after all, the most important Passover to all
disciples of Jesus Christ.

One of the main deductions of the Gospel Chronicle is that Jesus’s modern disciples do

have a defined timeline for Jesus’ ministry. But we need to look for it elsewhere in the bible;
more specifically in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel. In this chapter, is revealed the self-
defining prophecy of the 70 weeks. A message conspicuously delivered to Daniel by none other
than Gabriel who also delivered to Mary the news of the impending birth of Jesus. Does this

imply a connection? This is what Gabriel tells Daniel:

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring
in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophesy, and to anoint the most

Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince…” - Daniel 9:24-25a

We are told that the sole purpose of the seventy weeks in the book of Daniel, according

to Gabriel, is defined in the clear redemptive actions of Jesus Christ, and nothing else. Look at
how this is reflected in the prophesy of Isaiah and the gospel of Luke concerning John the
Baptist:

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem,

and cry unto her… The voice of him crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight,

The Gospel Chronicle • iii