Yes, it could have went differently, but contradicting the prophecy sometimes happens...
This is going to be a longer post. Please read it very carefully and think about it for a few days. You should understand that prophecy is there to inspire righteousness, it is not meant to be be 100% accurate. Accuracy was never God's intent for prophecy.
Are you familiar with the book of Daniel? There a lot of prophecies that you can track dead on, including many that involve the Messiah. But some of those didn't come to pass.
Daniel 9
25 “ Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was made by Cyrus in
457 BC.
The "week" represents 7 years.
7 x 7 = 49. 7 x 62 = 434. 434 + 49 = 483. This leads us to conclude that 483 years would pass from the command until the Messiah. As mentioned that took place in 457 BC. To find out when the prophecy is to be fullfilled, we have to "count backwards" (because years in BC go down, not up), so for lack of a better way 457 BC + 483 years is 457 - 483 and that is -26 orrr 26 AD.
My math is ball park, it does not take into account the Jewish calendar, leap years, and other considerations, but you can see how a quick figuring of the years gets us so close to the year Jesus was crucified (32 AD). For a compelling calculation of how this prophecy was fulfilled to the day,
click here and look up the 70 weeks question.
I said all that to say this. The second part of the prophecy was not fulfilled. If you read further in Daniel 9, there is another week that something very interesting happens:
Daniel 9
26 “ And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
So after Messiah is cut off, a prince was supposed to come, and he was going to establish a covenant for 1 week, or 7 years. After that, the end was to come.
I must now back track a little. I started in the middle of the prophecy. It mentioned 7 weeks and 62 weeks. That makes 69 weeks. This final week makes 70 weeks.
Daniel 9
24 “ Seventy weeks[a] are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of[] sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
You can see that the intent was that all this happen in order. No gaps, no leaps. 7 years after Jesus was "cut off" this "prince" was supposed to make war and then the end would come, and not only that, no more transgression or sin, everlasting righteousness, sealing up of prophecy.
What really happened? Well, we still sin, more prophecy was added to the Bible in the book of revelation and we are still here 2000 years later.
Not convienced that this was supposed to happen right after Jesus was crucified? Jesus tells his disciples the end was coming "soon," well 2000+ years is not soon. Jesus meant soon as in
sooon. As in their generation.
Mark 9:1
And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.
He wasn't talking about the transfiguration. He was talking about the full power of the kingdom of God present on earth in power.
Matthew 16:28
Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
He told his disciples to watch for the abomination of desolation spoken of in the very same chapter of daniel, in the very same prophecy I am telling you about. Remember, the abomination is to take place in that final week, and here Jesus is telling his disciples they would see it happen:
Mark 13
14 “So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Jesus is telling his closest disciples what
they are going to experience.
They, the 12, will be persecuted,
they, the 12, will see the abomination.
Then later in the chapter, Jesus says it ever so clearly:
Mark 13
30 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.
But it didn't happen. That last week never came to be. Why? Because the way things were going, God had to change the plan.
Mark 13
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
Israel was supposed to preach the gospel to the entire world, and be persecuted by it. But as we can see from the present state of Israel, they never did embrace the gospel, they certainly didn't preach it.
So God went straight to the Gentiles through Paul as another way to get them to turn back to them.
Romans 11:11 I say then, have they[Israel] stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
In going to the Gentiles, and having to wait on Israel to agree to be a part of his kingdom, God has choose to wait. He changed the outcome of a carefully planned out prophecy for their sake, to make them righteous before he returns.
I hope you can see that God doesn't use prophecy as an "See, I told you so," but rather, "This is my plan if you do this or that," instead. The future is not settled, this allows God to be dynamic, but still concise with his plan to save the world through prophecy.
