Daniel 8:14—And he saith unto me, Till evening—morning two thousand and three hundred, then is the holy place declared right. 1898 YOUNG’S LITERAL TRANSLATION
Daniel 8:14—And he said to me, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary will be vindicated. 1993 GREEN’S LITERAL TRANSLATION
Daniel 8:14—And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 1769 KJV
Daniel 8:14—And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 1901 AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION
Daniel 8:14—And he said to me, Until two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 1833 WEBSTER
Daniel 8:14—He said to me, ‘It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.’ NIV
Daniel 8:14 is an intriguing verse. Repeatedly in the Bible we have warnings of the sanctuary being destroyed if the Jewish nation disobeyed God’s Ten Commandments. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all foretold of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Jesus foretold of the destruction of the temple of His day.
But here we have a message of a sanctuary being “reconsecrated”, “cleansed”, “vindicated” and “declared right”. What is being expressed here? What sanctuary is being referred to? And when will all this take place?
As with any systematic search or study, we need to start with the obvious. If we can determine the time, then the other two questions will be easier to answer. What are the 2300 evenings and mornings? When do they begin and when do they end?
When God gives a riddle, it is always referenced Biblically. Using the Bible to unlock the mysteries of the Bible is the wisest and safest method of interpretation. What are 2300 “evenings and mornings”?
To answer this we go back to Genesis 1. We find that God has given us the answer to this part of the riddle. In Genesis chapter one we find God creating a world for man to live on. At the end of each day, we have the following information.
-
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.” Gen. 1:5
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.” Gen. 1:8
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.” Gen. 1:13
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.” Gen. 1:19
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.” Gen. 1:23
- “And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” Gen. 1:31
In the Hebraic thought, an “evening-morning” sequence, or unit of time, was always equated to one literal 24 hour day. In God’s time, and in the Hebraic time, when the sun set, that ended that day and began the next “day”. Saturday began when the sun set on Friday. The sun setting on Saturday was the end of that day and Sunday was then beginning . The sun setting on Sunday was the end of that day and the beginning of Monday.
This is why both the King James Version and Webster’s version of the Bible have it translated as “days”. That would be the appropriate understood translation for our thinking of today.
OK, we now have 2300 days, but when do they begin and when do they end? Would God give us such an important text and then laugh at us and thumb His nose at us? No. God has given us all the help we need, and even tells us when this time period begins.
To understand this, we need to do a little time traveling. Let’s take a trip back in history to the time of Daniel. It is 550 BC and King Belshazzar has just begun his co-reign with his father. His father was out in Arabia and son Belshazzar kept the palace in line.
The Bible says that in the third year of Belshazzar’s reign Daniel had a vision. This would put this vision of chapter eight right about 547 BC. Daniel is watching the ram (the Media – Persian Empire) charge across the land toward the west, north and south. And that is what it did.
Then out of the west came a goat that knocked the stuffings out of the ram. This goat then ruled the world. The goat represented Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire. Now remember, Daniel is seeing all of this in about 547 BC; about ten years before the Media – Persian Empire would come to power, and 210 years before Alexander the Great charged into Asia.
Daniel is intrigued by what he sees. After the goat rules, the vision says, “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern- faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise.” Daniel 8:23. Then we are given some attributes of this master of intrigue. They are:
-
- Become very strong, but not by his own power
- Cause astounding devastation
- Succeed in whatever he does
- Destroy the mighty men and the holy people
- Cause deceit to prosper
- Consider himself superior
- Feel secure
- Destroy many
- Take his stand against the Prince of princes
Putting this vision in context with chapters 2 and 7 we find a striking parallel. All three of these visions are concerned with just one thing, the controversy between Good and Evil; between God and Satan. The rise and fall of nations is just a consequence of that war. God is trying to assure His people that He will win in the end.
In this passage we find that the master of intrigue fits very well with the little horn of Daniel 7. In fact, they are the same entity. This stern-faced king is none other than the papacy (Roman Catholic Church). Let’s look at the attributes the Bible gives and their fulfillment in the papacy. The papacy became very strong. But not by its own power. It had no army. It had no fighting force. It depended on the civil governments and civil armies for its power.
-
- It caused astounding devastation to the truth of God by accepting the pagan practices and teachings. It literally substituted paganism for Bible teachings.
- I think we can agree that the papacy does succeed in whatever it does.
- Through persecution it did destroy the mighty men of God and those who lived the righteous, holy life of Christ. The mighty men of the Bible, the prophets, were substituted for church tradition and doctrine. “The Roman Catholic position on the authority of the Bible was given its modern form at the Council of Trent (1545-1563). In opposition to the Protestant Reformers, who made the Bible the sole basis of their belief, the fourth session of the Council (1546) decreed that tradition—the part of revelation that is not written down in the Scriptures, but is transmitted through the teaching of the Church—was of equal authority with the Bible. Catholics were forbidden to read any translations that had not been approved by the Church and that were not accompanied by commentaries in conformity with Church tradition. For a time the reading of translations required special permission from the pope or the Inquisition.” Collier’s
- He is so deceitful. He claims to be the representative of God. Yet he teaches paganism and is consigning men and women to eternal death through his false teachings.
- I think we can agree that the pope considers himself to be superior. He claims to be “God on earth”. He claims to be able to forgive men of their sins and either admit or keep them out of heaven.
- No problem with feeling secure. Hitler, communism, nobody messes with the pope.
- During the 1260-year rule of the Catholic Church, it killed millions of people. That is pretty close to destroying many.
Since he sets himself up as “God on earth” he has taken his stand against the Prince of princes, Jesus Christ. He claims to have all the powers of Jesus. He stands as the substitute for Jesus. We don’t need Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have the pope or the church. What blasphemy.
(See the solar disk? Symbol of the pagan sun-god worship.)
The last part of this vision says that “he will be destroyed, but not by human power.” Daniel 8:25. How true that will be. When God destroys him it will not be by human power.
OK, Daniel has seen enough for now. He can’t take all this wickedness that the stern-faced king is causing. Daniel “was exhausted and lay ill for several days”. He was deeply concerned. When would all this take place?
God is in no rush. We have a God who is in control. The vision was for things that would take place and continue on into the “distant future.” Most of this vision would not occur during Daniel’s lifetime. This vision was for us so we would know and understand that God sees the end from the beginning. We can rest upon the Rock and not be moved by all the events that are taking place around us. So don’t be concerned about the Illuminati, or the New World Order, or any political events. Conspiracy theories are not of God, but of the devil to take our minds off of the One who has it all under control. God will take care of politics. You take care of being right with God.
In answer to Daniel’s natural curiosity as to when all this would take place, God waited, and waited, and waited a long time before revealing the answer. When we are told to have patience, we seem to think in terms of hours. In this case, it was years before Daniel got his answer.
In Daniel chapter nine, verse one, we find that he gets an answer to his prayer in the first year of Darius. This seems to be in 538 BC. That makes this a nine-year-old answer. Think you could wait that long for an answer? After nine years, and Daniel being close to 60 years of age, God gives him the answer to the beginning of the 2300-day prophecy.
Daniel 9:24 begins by saying, “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city…” The word “decreed” means to “cut off”. What is this time period “cut off” from? From the previous 2300 days in the vision of chapter 8. That is why it is specifically mentioned as being for “your people and your holy city”. It goes on to tell us that the beginning of all this time, the 2300 days, starts “From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem…”. Was there such a decree? Can we find it? Yes, we can.
Going back to the book of Ezra, we find in Ezra 7:11 that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra a letter to take with him back to Jerusalem. This letter gave Ezra the authority to rebuild Jerusalem, “appoint magistrates, and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates”. Ezra 7:25.
In reading the Biblical and the historical accounts, we find that this command was in 457 BC. In our discussion of Daniel nine we explained this as the beginning date. Now that we have a beginning date, where does 2300 days take us?
If we take these days literally, we end up around 451 BC. Nothing really great happened in that year. Yes, the Temple was in a state of repairs, but nothing that would call for such an emphasis as Daniel 8:14 suggests.
Remember what we have learned? Prophetic time must be calculated prophetically. As the vision is symbolic, so is the time symbolic. We have learned that in prophetic time one day equals a year. We find this in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. Yet beyond these two texts, we have a multitude of texts showing that in their everyday language there was an idiom of expression that thought in this vein. For example:
-
- In Genesis chapter five we read in the King James Version that “all the days” of each person was so many years.
-
- Genesis 6:3: “his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
-
- KJV Genesis 9:29: “And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years.”
-
- KJV Genesis 47:9: And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.’
-
- Daniel 2:28: “He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.” (This was a prophecy of years into the future.) Have you ever looked back into your life and noticed how the years of your life seemed to go by as fast as days?
As you can see, prophetic “days” and years can be interchanged in the thinking of the ancients. Looking at this in that light, we take the 2300 days and expand them to 2300 literal years. Using 457 BC as our starting point we find that Daniel 9:24- 27 works out perfectly.
In using the literal concept of years for days, as the Bible gives us authority to do, we see that the first 490 years of this vision is perfectly orchestrated. The time line fits.
Those are the points that make up the 490 years that were “cut off” or “decreed” for the Jewish nation. With the rejection of Christ, the Jewish nation could not be a part of the 1810 years which remained of the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14. That privilege went to the “Gentiles”.
Adding 1810 years to AD 34 we come down to 1844. What happened in 1844? What sanctuary was to be declared right, vindicated and cleansed?
Many people claim that these prophecies do not refer to the nations as stated above. That they only refer to a time and day closer to the “end of time”. They claim this because of what the angel Gabriel said to Daniel in Daniel 12:9, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.”
That is not true. Throughout the Bible we have many statements to the effect of the “Time of The End.” Yet there have been many “Time of the End” prophecies that have nothing to do with the Second Coming of Christ. Even the concept of “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” is not necessarily a Second Coming concept.
Noah spoke of the “End of Time” and of the “Day of the Lord” and of the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”. But that wasn’t the Second Coming of Christ. It was only a little washing of the earth. Only a prelude to the “End of Time”.
Jesus spoke of the “End of Time” to Abraham when He spoke of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But that had nothing to do with the Second Coming of Christ. It was their end of time.
There was even an “End of Time” for Egypt if it did not let the Israelites go. And an “End of Time” for Jerusalem and Judea and Israel if they did not repent and return to God. He was going to destroy them. That was an “End of Time” for them also.
There was also an “End of Time” of their captivity at the end of the 70 years. They were able to go home. That was an end of their captivity time.
When Christ came, He put an “End” to the Jewish economy as they knew it. That was also an “End of Time”. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people.” Acts 2:16-21. That was Peter speaking. He was quoting the prophet Joel and using that text in reference to his time, then. Was that the “Last days”? No. But it was for them under the old temple plan at that time.
When Jesus told the disciples about the “End of Time”, He was talking about two end of times. The end of time that would come to Jerusalem in 70 AD and the “End of the World” at His Second Coming. In this way, the Christians who listened to Jesus were prepared for their “end of time” with the destruction of Jerusalem. They were saved from being destroyed by Titus in AD 70.
Those who continue listening to Jesus will also be saved from the destruction that is about to come upon all mankind. Jesus is about to destroy this planet and everyone on it. If you want to be saved, you had better start listening to Jesus. His prophecies have never failed. And that is just the point. All these prophecies are pointers and arrows to show us the way. Arrows that we can follow and know that we are at the “End of Time” which will bring the Second Coming of Christ. But yet, they will also have another fulfillment in a more literal sense at the “End of Time” when Jesus comes.
All prophecy has multiple fulfillments. They must be relevant to the people of their day, and through history. If not, what is the sense of giving them at that time? God could wait until the “end of time” before giving “end of time” prophesies. God does not waste His time, nor the time of the prophets.
How do we know this? We know this because when Daniel gave the meaning of the dream to king Nebuchadnezzar in chapter two of Daniel, He stated that it “will happen in days to come”. That is the same as “Time of the End” or “End of Time”. Yet we understand that it was to let the king know that he was not as powerful as he thought he was. That his kingdom would be overtaken by another, and another after that, etc. Keep in mind, the “end” of each kingdom represented an “End of Time” for that kingdom.
But, the vision would continue on down TO the “End of Time” and would play a part in the “End of Time”. Same with all of the book of Daniel. The visions were all beginning around and about the time of Daniel and would continue down through history to the “End of Time”.
The visions had meaning to the Jews of Daniel’s day since their “End of Time” of captivity was coming to a close and these visions parallel that end. But they also will have more “End of Time” fulfillments to come. So why was it to be sealed up until the “Time of the End”? Because sealing something means that it cannot be changed. These visions were sure and certain and could not be changed. They were sealed, as a king would seal a document, not meaning that it had to wait until a certain time, but to make sure that it could not be changed. And you can be very sure that they will not, nor can not, be changed and that they have been fulfilled, are being fulfilled and will be fulfilled again; right on time.