Today we’re going to establish the dates of the 2300-day time prophecy of Daniel 8:14 and also the 70-week time prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, and the reason it’s important for us to do this is because Adventism either stands or falls upon whether or not our movement truly fits into these great time prophecies. If someone really wants to destroy our faith, all they have to do is prove us wrong on our interpretation of Daniel 8:14 and what’s happening in the heavenly sanctuary right now, and many other things will crumble.

In The Great Controversy, page 409 it says, “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ ”

And so, you can see how important it is to be able to show, from the Bible, the true meaning of Daniel 8:14. As you probably already know, most of the Christian world today believes differently than we do regarding these time prophecies, especially the 70 weeks of Daniel 9,  and because of that, their interpretation of last day events places great emphasis upon the literal nation of Israel and upon Jerusalem and the Middle East being the focal point as they believe Old Testament prophecy must still be fulfilled through the literal descendants of Abraham, or the modern nation of Israel, and not through spiritual Israel or the Christian Church.

There are many popular Sunday preachers today that are always encouraging their congregations to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, because they believe the Jews are still God’s chosen people, and that He will yet fulfill all the promises He made to them anciently. And so, it’s impossible to get away from this idea today, and of course the more things escalate in the Middle East, the more the religious rhetoric concerning Israel and the Muslims is being ratcheted up as well, and even within some Adventist circles, and a correct understanding of the time prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9 will go a long way in dispelling some of these false notions. In fact, before we discuss Daniel 8 and 9, let’s take a look at a few Bible texts that indicate clearly that the literal nation of Israel was replaced as God’s blessed and chosen people over 2000 years ago by the Christian Church.

To begin with, let’s read a few verses in Matthew 21, and while you’re finding your place there, let me give you a little background into what had been happening previous to what we’re about to read. Jesus had just cleansed the temple the day before by chasing off all the riffraff, and then He began to heal all the sick who stuck around. Then the next day He came back to the temple once again and began teaching the people, and as the church leaders showed up, He told them a parable they didn’t like very much and told them that the publicans and harlots would make it into the Kingdom of heaven before they would. And so, by this time they were just about fed up with Jesus and His parables, but Jesus had another one for them to ponder that was full of symbolic meaning, which I will fill in as we go along.

Here’s what Jesus said in Matthew 21:33-46, “Hear another parable: there was a certain householder (God), which planted a vineyard (the nation of Israel), and hedged it round about (with His law), and digged a winepress in it (that they would bring forth the fruit of the Spirit), and built a tower (the temple), and let it out to husbandmen (the religious leaders), and went into a far country (heaven): and when the time of the fruit drew near (or when it was almost time for Jesus to be born), he sent his servants (the prophets) to the husbandmen (the religious leaders), that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen (the religious leaders) took his servants (the prophets), and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants (more prophets) more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son (Jesus), saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard (or took Him without the gate it says in Hebrews 13:12), and slew him (or crucified Him). When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? (And then the religious leaders pronounce their own doom without realizing it) They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be (what?) taken from you, and given to a nation (the word nation here simply means a people, more specifically a non-Jewish people; people they considered heathen or Gentiles) bringing forth the fruits thereof. (That would be the fruits of the Spirit) And whosoever shall fall on this stone (which represents Jesus) shall be broken (their hearts would be broken because of their sins): but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder (eternal destruction upon those that reject Christ). And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”

And that’s not all Jesus said about this. Notice also what He said in Matthew 23:37, 38, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house (just the day before Jesus called it “MY house”, but now it’s no longer His house) your house is left unto you desolate.”

That means the temple was left desolate of God’s presence. Probation for the Jewish church was closed, and from that point on their temple service was meaningless. Then in chapter 24:1 it says, “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple.” And Jesus never again entered that temple, and they killed Him three days later.

The Desire of Ages, page 232, commenting on this says, “The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ’s message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and (and this is an important point) and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.”

Now, I need to digress here for just a minute and bring out an important principle. We should never entertain the idea that the Seventh-day Adventist Church, or any other church for that matter, is indispensable and cannot be rejected just as the Jewish church was rejected. The rejection of the Jewish church is a prime example of how God is dealing with His professed last day church today.

Notice what it says in Last Day Events, page 59, “The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach”, which means fallen from God’s favor.

This isn’t the main point of our study today, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, but I want you to be aware that no individual or group of individuals, that is the church, can hold God hostage by claiming that they are God’s chosen people no matter how deep they go into apostasy, and that He can’t reject them because He has promised. That’s exactly what the Jews thought when they said, “We be Abraham’s seed”, but they were rejected nonetheless, and the same principle still holds true today, and we should always keep this in mind.

In fact, this reminds me of couple more short statements. The first is in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 8, page 67 where it says, “Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given.”

These words were first penned in 1898, that’s well over 100 years ago, and I’ll let you make up your own mind about whether or not the church of today is walking in the light that God has given.

And the second statement is in Selected Messages, Book 1, page 67 where it says, “It should be remembered that the promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional.”

And so, we’re not supposed to be like the ostrich and stick our heads in the sand and pretend that God doesn’t see all the failings of the church and go on thinking that everything is just fine and that He’s going to bring the noble ship safely into the heavenly port no matter how deep the apostasy gets, because the Spirit of Prophecy speaks of another ship that goes to pieces on the rocks, and we’d better make sure we’re on the right one.

Now getting back to our subject. In Matthew 8 we have the story of the Roman centurion, and as you will recall, his servant was sick and being tormented, and Jesus offered to go to his house and heal him, but the centurion felt he wasn’t worthy that Jesus should come under his roof, so he said, “Just speak the word and my servant shall be healed.” Now notice how Jesus replied in verses 10-13 of Matthew 8, “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (In the very place where Jesus should have found the greatest faith, He didn’t find it) And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom (the Jewish nation that was called to take the gospel to the world, but failed to do so) shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Also Romans 9:1-8. Paul says, “I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience witnessing with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. (Why? He tells us) For I could wish that I myself to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, of whom are the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the worship, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom Christ came, according to the flesh, He who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (When Paul says he wished himself to be accursed from Christ on behalf of his brothers, that means that that was indeed the case with the nation of Israel. The word “accursed” means excommunicated. In other words they were no longer God’s chosen people; they fell out of favor with God and became a reproach like we read about a few minutes ago) But it is not as though the word of God has failed (Paul says). For not all those of Israel are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”

Galatians 3:7-9, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Verses 26-29, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s (if you are a part of His body, the Christian church), then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So what this is telling us is that a literal Jew could be one of God’s chosen and the non-Jew could also be one of God’s chosen, and it all had to do with faith in Christ as the Messiah and nothing to do with genealogy. No matter what their background, anyone could become a spiritual Israelite and an heir to the kingdom as long as they had the faith necessary to believe the promises of God. It’s all about the spiritual here and not literal.

Notice also what it says in 1 Peter 2:5, 9, 10, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. . . Verses 9, 10 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people (he’s speaking to Gentiles here), but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

In Matthew 22:1-10 Jesus spoke another parable of great symbolic meaning. Notice what it says, “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king (God), which made a marriage for his son (Jesus), and sent forth his servants (the prophets) to call them that were bidden (the Jews) to the wedding (their marriage to Christ by accepting Him as their Saviour): and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage (come unto Me that you might have life). But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant (or the rest of the religious leaders) took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king (God) heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies (the Roman soldiers), and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants (those who were called to give the invitation), the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden (the Jews) were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find (of the Gentiles), bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”

Let’s read one more reference and then we’ll move on to the time prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9. Matthew 27:24, 25, “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. (By the way, Pilate was not without guilt simply because he washed his hands and declared Jesus innocent. He was a weak and vacillating leader who had an opportunity to accept Christ but failed to do so, and he will be lost, and you can read all about that in The Desire of Ages, page 723 and onward) Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”

And that is exactly why Israel is no longer God’s peculiar people; that’s why they are cursed and not blessed, and unfortunately this is why the Jews have had a difficult time all through history, and to say that they are still God’s chosen people and that the land of Israel is still the Holy Land, is not true in the least. In the Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4, page 20 it says, “When Christ should hang on Calvary’s cross, Israel’s day as a nation favored and blessed of God would be ended.” And so, it doesn’t get much plainer than that, does it?

Now, just to refresh your memory I’d like to read you a couple inspired statements about the importance of the sanctuary doctrine and the investigative judgment as we shift gears here. The first I already read, but I’d like to reread it again from The Great Controversy, page 409, “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ ” Daniel 8:14.

And the second is from Evangelism, page 222, “The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great advent movement.”

Now, when you have “a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious”, what happens when just one of those truths gets twisted to look like error? Everything else will look like error also. Just one error affects the whole.

So turn with me now please to Daniel 8. Without taking the time to read and explain the whole chapter, you’ll find that in the first 12 verses, Daniel had a vision of three earthly powers that would rule the world after Babylon was defeated. Those three powers were Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, both pagan and papal, and this succession of kingdoms was explained to Daniel by the angel Gabriel in verses 15-25, but what Gabriel didn’t make plain was the question posed in verse 13, and the unexplained answer in verse 14.

So let’s read Daniel 8:13, 14, “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, (notice, the word sacrifice is italicized, which means it doesn’t belong to the original text. It was supplied by the translators to help clarify the meaning, but it just confused things instead. The word “daily” represents paganism, the dominating force in Rome at the time; that’s why we call it pagan Rome) how long shall be the vision concerning the daily (paganism), and the transgression of desolation (or papal Rome), to give both the sanctuary (that is the sanctuary of the new covenant, or the heavenly sanctuary) and the host (or the church that directs its worship toward the place where Jesus ministers as our High Priest) to be trodden under foot?”

Now what does it mean to be trodden under foot, and how is that done? Well, in Hebrews 10:29 Paul says the Son of God is trodden under foot by those who reject the ministry and sacrifice of Christ in the sanctuary above, and in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 it’s plain to see that it’s papal Rome that does that, because speaking of the papacy with the pope at the head, it says: “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” In other words, it’s the papacy that has a different plan than the one outlined in the word of God for the Christian to go directly to God for forgiveness and cleansing without the need for an earthly priest. The Protestant reformers called it the priesthood of all believers. And so, it’s the papacy that’s treading under foot the truth about what’s really going on in the heavenly sanctuary by replacing it with a false system of worship.

And so, the question is, how long, oh Lord, are You going to allow this state of things to continue? How long are You going to allow Your people to be fooled by this haughty power? And now we come to the verse in question, the verse that we’ve been leading up to in Daniel 8:14: “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

And so, God is telling us here that at the end of the 2300-day prophecy, “I will then begin to put things right, and my people will begin to understand what the truth is, and what I’m doing for them in the sanctuary above where I minister in their behalf, and all those who are willing to listen will begin to comprehend what is meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary, and that we are now living during the time of the anti-typical day of atonement.” And shortly after October 22, 1844, which is the end of this 2300-day prophecy, the longest time prophecy in the Bible, God’s people did begin to comprehend that something important was going on in heaven and that an investigative judgment had commenced for all those who had at one time accepted Christ, that they must stop sinning if they would be saved, and that soon the great controversy would be over, human probation would close, and Jesus would come.

Now let’s dig in to Daniel 8:14 a little further. To cleanse means, “To make right or to justify.” That means that at the end of the 2300 days or years, and we’ll talk about why it’s years instead of days in just a minute, judgment would begin to take place in the sanctuary above, and in the end God and His people would finally be vindicated.

Now take a look at the last two verses in this chapter—verses 26, 27, “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.”

So, it seems clear from the context that the point no one understood was the same point for which there had been no explanation given; that is, the 2300 evenings and mornings.

Now, what about the 2300 days representing 2300 years. First of all, Daniel and Ezekiel were contemporaries, and no doubt Daniel had read what Ezekiel had written, and being a good Hebrew he was also acquainted with the writings of Moses. So I’m sure he understood the day for a year principle in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, that one day in time prophecy equals one year, and just in case there’s someone listening who hasn’t read and understood these things, I think we should take a couple minutes and explain this.

First of all let’s take a look at what Moses wrote in Numbers 14:34. Here in Numbers 14 we have the story about the 12 spies that were sent into Canaan to search out the land, and all but Caleb and Joshua brought back an evil report, and because the Israelites had no faith to believe that God would conquer their enemies and give them the promised land, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Now notice what God told Moses to say to the people in verse 34, “After the number of the days in which you searched out the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my breach of promise”, or you shall know what it means to have Me against you.

Now it’s important for us to see that this was a prophetic utterance. God was telling Israel what was going to happen before it came to pass, that’s prophecy. And so, whenever this kind of thing happens in the Bible, and it has a time element attached to it, then we are to apply the day for a year principle, and if we don’t, we’ll come up with the wrong interpretation.

Now let’s look at Ezekiel 4:6. Here in chapter 4 the Lord told Ezekiel to act out a little parable so the children of Israel would know what was coming because of their rebellion against God. And as we pick up the story beginning with verse 4, Ezekiel was told, “Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.”

And so here we have a prophecy of how the enemies of Israel and Judah would lay siege to Jerusalem and how they would be banished among the Gentiles for a period of 430 years, each day for a year, and it happened just as the Lord prophesied it would happen. And so, always, when there is a time element together with a prophecy, it’s always the day for a year principle.

Now, a few minutes ago we read that Daniel fainted and was sick certain days when he heard that the vision was not going to be accomplished for many days, and actually it turned out to be many years, in fact it would be over 2000 years. Now if you were Daniel and you understood the day for a year principle, which I’m pretty sure he figured out, and you knew that something important was going to happen, but it wasn’t going to happen for a couple thousand years, wouldn’t you feel sick? I mean, how would you feel right now if you knew the Lord wasn’t coming back for another 2300 years? I think I’d be sick too!

Now, in order to find the beginning date of the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, we have to go to Daniel 9, because in Daniel 9 there’s another time prophecy that fits within the 2300 day prophecy. In other words, there is a time prophecy within a time prophecy, and there we’re given the information that leads to an understanding of when the longer time prophecy of Daniel 8:14 started, and then once we know when it started we will, of course, also know when it ends.

So let’s go to Daniel 9 and see what we can learn there. Again, we won’t take the time to read the whole chapter, but I’ll give you a short review leading up to the shorter time prophecy of the 70 weeks, or 490 years using the day for a year principle. In verses 1 and 2 it tells us that Daniel had been studying the prophecies of Jeremiah (who was also a contemporary of Daniel, only older) and he came to understand that God was about to deliver his people from captivity and allow them to go back to their homeland to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Then in verses 3-19 we have Daniel’s recorded prayer, and then in verses 20-23 we have Gabriel coming back to Daniel again in order to clarify the meaning of the time element of his previous vision in chapter 8, or that longer time prophecy of 2300 years.

Now again, since there was no clue in chapter 8 as to the starting point of the 2300 days, the angel returned to Daniel some time later when he was able to receive more revelation, and at that point Daniel was given skill and understanding, it says, for the express purpose of helping him understand the point which he had failed to understand in the vision of the 8^th chapter, which was the statement relative to time.

So now let’s pick up the story in verses 21-23, “Whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision (when?) at the beginning (that would be at the beginning of the vision in chapter 8), being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” (again, the vision of chapter 8). It’s important that we see this connection, that chapter 9 is a continuation and explanation of chapter 8, otherwise we’ll come to wrong conclusions about the meaning of these prophecies.

Now here comes the important part in verse 24 where 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 prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

Now there’s a lot in this one verse, so we’ll have to take it one point at a time. Seventy weeks equal 490 days, and when applying the day for a year principle, that would be 490 years. Now here’s the next very important point. The angel said to Daniel that these 490 years specifically applied to his people, the Jews, and to their holy city. When you go to the concordance, you’ll find that the primary root meaning of the word “determined”, when it says, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city”, that word “determined” means “To cut off”, but from what were the 490 years cut off? Well, it has to be the 2300 years, because that was the only period of time mentioned in chapter 8, and what we’re reading in chapter 9 is a continuation of that previous vision. And not only are the seventy weeks a part of the 2300 years, but the two periods begin at the same time. In other words, the 490 years are what would happen from the beginning of the 2300 year time prophecy and reach 490 years from that starting point, but what was that starting point? We’ll get to that in a few minutes, but first there are six other things mentioned in verse 24 that the angel said were going to happen within those 490 years: #1, to finish the transgression; #2, to make an end of sins; #3, to make reconciliation for iniquity; #4, to bring in everlasting righteousness, #5, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and #6, to anoint the most Holy.” Now we could spend a whole hour, easily, going into depth about these six points, but obviously we don’t have the time, so let me make this as simple as I know how.

All six points have to do with the sacrifice of Jesus, the Anointed One, and what was going to happen to the Jewish nation as God’s chosen people. The Jews were to have 490 years to get their act together, and if they didn’t, and we know they didn’t because they were responsible for crucifying Jesus, then their probation as a nation would close. “To finish the transgression” means that the Jews’ cup of iniquity would be full; “To make an end of sins” means that their sin offerings would come to an end; “To make reconciliation for iniquity” means that the sacrifice of Jesus was the only thing that could reconcile them to God; “To bring in everlasting righteousness” means that this is something only Jesus could do, because only He is righteous; “To seal up the vision and prophecy” refers to the end of the Seventy week prophecy and that it was sure to be accomplished just as Gabriel said; “And to anoint the most holy” was fulfilled when Jesus was found worthy to be our Saviour at His ascension into the heavenly sanctuary, the “Most Holy” here, not referring to Jesus or the most holy apartment, but to the heavenly sanctuary in contrast with the earthly sanctuary.

Just as the earthly sanctuary had to be anointed, or consecrated before its services began, so the services in the heavenly sanctuary also had to be anointed before they began, and this was done when the sacrifice of Jesus was accepted by the Father and Jesus became our High Priest. No longer would the animal sacrifices of the old covenant be acceptable, because the sacrifice of Jesus and His shed blood in the new covenant rendered them useless and unacceptable.

Now, there’s another important point I’d like to briefly bring out, because there’s a spiritual application of these 6 points that have to do with more than the 490 years that were given to the Jews, because these things must also happen in our individual lives. There is to be the making of the end of sins in my life, and a reconciliation for iniquity, and the finishing of transgression, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, and an anointing of the Holy Spirit to give us power to obey, and if this is not done in the lives of believers on earth, then how can the cleansing of the sanctuary ever be completed. The cleansing of believers on earth must keep pace with the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven or we will not be ready for the Lord’s return. And so, the sanctuary cannot be cleansed until transgression is finished in your life and in mine, or until our names are blotted out of the book of life. There must be an end of sin in our lives, and reconciliation made for the sins we’ve committed, and then, in place of it all, everlasting righteousness can be brought in through the power of the Holy Spirit to hold us steady in the path of righteousness. And so, it’s important that we see the spiritual application in all this so we can be cleansed and have victory in our lives and be ready when Jesus says, “It is finished” and steps out of the most holy place, because at that point, human probation will be forever closed for every human being who is alive when that pronouncement is made.

Now, from this point on I may be getting farther into the weeds than some of you might want to follow, but it’s necessary if we’re going to come to an understanding of these two time prophecies. And so we’re going to have to put our thinking caps on now.

Daniel 9:25 gives us the information we need in order to discover the beginning date of both prophecies by saying the following, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks (or 69 weeks, which would be 483 years when multiplying 69 X 7, but we’ll come back to that): the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

It has been understood by Adventists for over 170 years now, that the beginning date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem was given in 457 BC, but how do we come to that conclusion? We come to that conclusion because of what it says in the book of Ezra. We won’t take the time to read it, but in Ezra, chapters 1, 6, and 7 we have three decrees made by three different kings; Cyrus in 536 BC, Darius in 519 BC, and Artaxerxes in 457 BC, and all three of these decrees are considered as one, because Daniel 9:25 says, “From the going forth of the commandment” singular. Even though there were three decrees, they are to be understood as one commandment, because they were successive steps by which the work was accomplished, and they all had to do with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple and the restoration of its services, and the last and most complete was given by Artaxerxes in 457, and the reason we know that is because the Bible tell us that the last decree was issued at that very time. Ezra 7:8 says, Ezra came to Jerusalem with the decree of Artaxerxes, “On the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king”, which corresponded to the year 457 BC. That’s an historical fact.

So, 457 BC is the date for both the beginning of the 2300-year prophecy, and the beginning of the 490-year prophecy, because remember, the vision of chapter 9 is a continuation of the vision of chapter 8, and also because the time frame of the 70 weeks only fits in one place, and that’s the first 490 years of the longer 2300 year prophecy, and we’ll see that as we continue with the next couple verses.

Daniel 9:26 says, “And after threescore and two weeks (or 62 weeks, which would be 434 years when multiplying 62 X 7) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.”

Now, back in verse 25 it said, “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. And so there is a division of the first 7 weeks, or 49 years, and the 62 weeks or 434 years, which adds up to 483 years, and there’s a reason for that division. Verse 25 said, “the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” The street and the wall in Jerusalem were built again by 408 BC, which is 49 years, or 7 weeks after 457 BC, but it was the entire 69 weeks from 457 BC “Unto Messiah the Prince”, it says.

The word Messiah means “Anointed”, and when was Jesus anointed? When He was baptized in the river Jordan. And what year did that take place? 27 AD. That is exactly 483 years, or 69 weeks from the starting date of 457 BC. Acts 10:38 says Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and that happened when the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove at His baptism. And so, that date is set in stone, and because that date is set in stone, the rest of the prophecy is set in stone also, as we’ll see when we read verse 27, but first let’s finish up with the last part of verse 26 where it says, “And the people of the prince (notice, this is prince with a small p and not with a capital P like when it referred to the Messiah the Prince) And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Who was the prince that came and destroyed the city and the sanctuary? The prince was Titus, the eldest son of the Emperor Vespasian, which literally made him a prince, and who were the people of the prince? It was the Roman army that laid siege to Jerusalem and burned the city and the sanctuary to the ground.

Now let’s read the last verse, verse 27, “And he (the Messiah the Prince) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” (or 7 years, the “Many” here referring to the Jewish nation, because that’s what the 70-week prophecy is all about, and “Confirming the covenant” has to do with the 7 years after Jesus entered upon His public ministry in 27 AD and ending with the stoning of Stephen in 34 AD when the gospel went to the Gentiles according to Acts 8:4. For those 7 years the gospel was to be preached especially to the Jews; for three and a half years by Christ Himself; and afterward by the apostles) “And in the midst of the week he (the Messiah) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation (or sacrificial offerings) to cease.” (This happened in 31 AD when Jesus was crucified 3½ years after His baptism, or 3½ years after He was anointed in 27 AD, because all the animal sacrifices and offerings ceased to be of any value when Jesus offered Himself on the cross. That’s when the veil of the temple was torn in half from the top to the bottom. And then the second half of verse 27 says) “And for the overspreading of abominations he (which refers back to Titus now, because of what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15) shall make it (the sanctuary and the city) desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”, or “desolator” as it says in the Bible margin, which was pagan Rome.

And so, the last part of verse 27 which we just read, is a continuation of verse 26 where it speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, and the first part of verse 27 refers to what Jesus, the Messiah the Prince would do, and then finally to what would happen to Rome itself. After the Jews rejected Christ and the sacrifices and offerings came to an end, they became an abomination to God, and Titus was God’s instrument to make the sanctuary desolate until the consummation, or the completion of its ruin in 70 AD. And that determined, or decided, then God’s wrath would be turned upon the one He used to punish the Jews, and they in their turn would be brought to an end, and then pagan Rome would give way to Papal Rome.

Now, why is it important for us to understand these time prophecies in Daniel 8 and 9 correctly? You may not be able to explain to someone what I’ve been sharing with you for the past hour, but it’s still important for you to know about these things for yourself so you know that the Advent movement is of God. It’s important #1, because any other interpretation destroys the fact that Jesus was the Anointed One, or the Messiah that was to come and die for our sins in 31 AD, or in the midst of the 70^th week. And #2 – Most of the Christian world today believes that the 70^th week is detached from the other 69 weeks and is to be applied down here at the end of time to a 7 year tribulation and to some antichrist that has not yet been revealed, which takes the heat off the papacy, which is the real last day antichrist. In fact, it was Catholic scholars themselves that came up with this concocted idea that the 69^th and 70^th weeks are attached by a rubber band that stretches all the way to the end of this world’s history, when in fact the 70 weeks have already been fulfilled nearly 2000 years ago. And #3 – an incorrect interpretation completely destroys the great advent movement of the mid nineteenth century and gives us no reason to exist, because if the 70-week prophecy didn’t begin in 457 BC and end in 34 AD, then neither did the 2300 day prophecy end in 1844, and thus there is no investigative judgment going on today and the great Advent movement is nothing more than a hoax, which our adversaries would be happy for us to believe.

Now I’m sorry we haven’t had time to touch upon the investigative judgment in particular and how that’s connected to the cleansing of the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 and the judgment hour message of Revelation 14:7, which is also very important for us to understand, so we’ll have to do that another time, but before we close there is one more thing I want to share with you when calculating the 2300-year time prophecy. When going from BC to AD you have to add one year, because there is no year zero, otherwise you’ll come up one year short. That’s the mistake our Adventist pioneers made at first when they expected Jesus to come in 1843 instead of 1844, and of course they were mistaken about the event itself, thinking that the earth would be cleansed by fire rather than the sanctuary in heaven being cleansed from all the sins that had accumulated there beginning with the transgression of Adam and Eve.

So let me finish up by reading a couple short statements; one we began with and one we haven’t read yet. Evangelism, page 222, and let this one burn into your memory banks, “The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great advent movement.”

So, destroy the sanctuary doctrine and you destroy Adventism. These time prophecies we’ve been studying today also declare that the God we serve was anointed and crucified right on time, and at that same time the literal nation of Israel as God’s chosen people was replaced by the Christian church to take a message to the world that the nation of Israel failed to do. And you and I are a part of that church! And so is everyone, even the Jew, if they will but accept the One who was cut off for them in the midst of the 70^th week.

And then The Great Controversy, page 490, “Solemn are the scenes connected with the closing work of the atonement. Momentous are the interests involved therein. The judgment is now passing in the sanctuary above. For many years this work has been in progress. (when this was written it had been 67 years, but now it has been 173 years. And so, the investigative judgment has been going on for a long time) Soon—none know how soon—it will pass to the cases of the living (and perhaps that has already begun). In the awful presence of God our lives are to come up in review. At this time above all others it behooves every soul to heed the Saviour’s admonition: ‘Watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.’ ”

I don’t want that hour to come upon me as a thief, do you?  And it won’t if we become better acquainted with the doctrine of the sanctuary, of which the time prophecies we’ve been studying are an integral part, and get intimately acquainted with Jesus and take the time to hide His word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. It’s time friends, to allow the Anointed One, the Messiah the Prince to make an end of sins in our individual lives, to make reconciliation for our iniquity and the finishing of transgression, by bringing in an everlasting righteousness; a righteousness that will last so we will not continue in a cycle of sinning and repenting.

There are no more time prophecies to be fulfilled. The last and longest was completed on October 22, 1844 at the end of the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14. It’s time now to be ready every moment, because we don’t know when our name will come up in review before God. But we do know that at that point, our names will either be accepted or rejected; retained in the book of life or be blotted out. And so, it is incumbent upon us to do what we can to make our calling and election sure so an entrance can be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Sermon Notes in PDF Right on Time