But even if the writer meant "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Christ comes," as claimed, the prediction was not fulfilled; for the sceptre departed from Judah six hundred years before Christ came. 12. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be declared Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah ix, 6). This passage, even if genuine, is not applicable to Jesus Christ. But it is not genuine. Professor Cheyne, the highest authority on Isaiah, pronounces it a forgery. 13. "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks" (Daniel viii, 25). It is claimed that "week" here means a period of seven years, and assumed, of course, that by Messiah is meant Christ. Seven weeks and three score and two weeks are sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years, the time that was to elapse from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of Christ, if the prophecy was fulfilled. The decree of Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple was made 536 B.C. According to the accepted chronology, Christ was born 4 B.C. From the decree of Cyrus, then, to the coming of Christ was 532 years instead of 483, a period of seven weeks, or forty-nine years, longer than that named by Daniel. Ezra, the priest, went to Jerusalem 457 B.C. This event, however, had nothing whatever to do with the decree for rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. It occurred 79 years after the decree was issued, and 58 years after the temple was finished. But a searcher for Messianic prophecies found that from the time of Ezra to the beginning of Christ's ministry was about 483 years, or 69 prophetic weeks; and notwithstanding there was a deficiency of 79 years at one end of the period, and an excess of 30 years at the other, it was declared to fit exactly. 14. "The days shall come, in the which there shall not be left one stone [of the temple] upon another, that shall not be thrown down." "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles" (Luke xxi, 6, 24). It has been shown that the books containing this so-called prophecy of Jesus were written one hundred years after the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem. 15. "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.... Verily I say unto you, That this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done" (Mark xiii, 24-26, 30).