The 2300 Days

Notes

1. As the earthly sanctuary was cleansed each year, this must refer to the heavenly sanctuary, which was to be cleansed at the end of twenty-three hundred days, or years.

2. It was Michael, the Son of God, who commissioned Gabriel to make Daniel understand the vision. Compare Dan. 8:16; chap. 10:13, 21.

3. By carefully reading chapter 8, which contains this vision and the interpretation so far as given by the angel, it will be seen that all was fully explained except the part referring to the time when the sanctuary would be cleansed. Daniel sought diligently by prayer and confession of sin for further light.

4. When the angel came to Daniel, he bade him "understand the vision." He then began at once to explain that part of the vision of the previous chapter which was left unexplained; viz., the 2300 days.

5. The Lord has chosen in prophecy to use a day to represent a year. See Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:4, 5; also with Dan. 7:25 compare Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5. The twenty-three hundred days therefore cover a period of twenty-three hundred years.

This period began B. C. 457, when the full decree regarding the building and restoration of Jerusalem went forth. It therefore ends A. D. 1844.

6. Sixty-nine weeks, or 483 full years from B. C. 457, when the full decree to restore and build Jerusalem went forth (Ezra 7), bring us to A. D. 27. At this very time Jesus was baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit for His work. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. After His baptism, He went forth throughout Galilee preaching and saying, "The time is fulfilled." Mark 1:15. He no doubt referred to the prophetic time, and to the very prophecy we are now studying.

7. "When the loud cry, 'It is finished,' came from the lips of Christ, the priests were officiating in the temple. It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be slain. Clothed in his significant and beautiful dress, the priest stood with lifted knife, as did Abraham when he was about to slay his son. With intense interest the people were looking on. But the earth trembles and quakes; for the Lord Himself draws near. With a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled with the presence of God. In this place the shekinah had dwelt. Here God had manifested His glory above the mercy-seat. No one but the high priest ever lifted the veil separating this apartment from the rest of the temple. He entered in once a year to make an atonement for the sins of the people. But lo, this veil is rent in twain. The most holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred.

"All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops from his ⟦nerveless?⟧ hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God's Son. The great sacrifice has been made. The way into the holiest is laid open. A new and living way is prepared for all. No longer need sinful, sorrowing humanity await the coming of the high priest. Henceforth the Saviour was to officiate as priest and advocate in the heaven of heavens. It was as if a living voice had spoken to the worshipers, There is now an end to all sacrifices and offerings for sin."—"Desire of Ages," pp. 908, 909, Trade Edition.

8. As the seventy weeks, or four hundred ninety days, literal years, were allotted to the Jews, and the covenant was to be confirmed with the Jews for one week, the work of Jesus was largely devoted to them. He was baptized at the age of thirty. His ministry began in A. D. 27, and continued till A. D. 31, when He was crucified in the middle of the covenant week. The remaining three and one-half years of the seventy weeks were used by the disciples of Christ in preaching the Gospel to the Jews. When this time was fulfilled, the Jews having rejected the Gospel, they went everywhere preaching the word. Thus the first 490 of the 2300 years reached to A. D. 34, when the Gospel began to be given to the Gentiles.

By subtracting the 490 years from the 2300 years, there remain 1810 years of the 2300 years this side of A. D. 34. Adding the 1810 to A. D. 34, ⟦brings us?⟧ to A. D. 1844. The tenth day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:⟦27?⟧-32), which fell in 1844 on October 22, marked the beginning of the ⟦work of?⟧ cleansing the sanctuary, or work of the judgment. Since this date ⟦Jesus?⟧, our great High Priest, has been ministering in the second apartment, finishing His work for man. When His work shall close, ⟦probation?⟧ for man will be finished. The following diagram will assist in the study of the 2300 days time period:

[Diagram: the 2300 days.] As far as the text layer gives it: the heading "2300 days or years. Dan. 8:14."; a bar divided into "70 weeks—490 years" and "1810 years"; the 70 weeks subdivided into "7 weeks, 49 years", "62 weeks, 434 years" and "1 week, 7 years"; marginal letters that are probably part of a vertical label (read only as "E' / en / g / ro / (NI"); and below it these columns of figures:

``` 70 7 62 49 483 27 2300 1810 7 7 -7 434 456½ 7 490 34 490 49 434 483 26½ 34 1810 1844 ```

(That is: 70 × 7 = 490; 7 × 7 = 49; 62 × 7 = 434; 49 + 434 = 483; 483 − 456½ = 26½, i.e. A. D. 27; 27 + 7 = 34; 2300 − 490 = 1810; 1810 + 34 = 1844. In the text layer the third line of the "62" column reads "-7" and the sixth column's third line "T4-" (for 34); the arrangement of the bar is not recoverable from text. Needs image check.)