Posted by Steven Benjamin on April 11, 2009, 6:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Shepherds Rod: TRACT No. 3 (pt 7)"
For the reader's convenience, we quote the last two verses of chapter 10, and a part of the angel's explanation recorded in chapter 11:
"Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of Truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your Prince. "
"Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. " Dan. 10:20, 21 ; 11 : 1-4.
It is evident that in this chapter the angel is explaining in detail "the vision" which was shown to Daniel in the eighth chapter, and that Daniel 8 :11, 12 is parallel in time with Daniel 11:31. A comparison of both scriptures, as found on page 25, makes clear that the eleventh chapter is an explanation in particular of the power that is projected by the exceeding great horn of the eighth chapter.
Also it makes clear that the sanctuary spoken of in Daniel 8:11 cannot be any other than God's sanctuary: for on the one hand a heathen structure can never be of strength or on the other hand be polluted when it has never been clean. And, moreover, never does the Bible call it a sanctuary.
And, finally, the very fact that the sanctuary in Jerusalem was neither polluted nor cleansed in the manner described by the angel, but was left desolate and was ultimately destroyed (Dan. 9:26), puts the riveting evidence to the proof that neither the polluting nor the cleansing took place in the Old Testament era.
This solid conclusion is made doubly fast by virtue of Christ's statement (page 25), placing the work of the desolating power in the Christian dispensation.
Image of the 2300 days go here
There is no time other than the "two thousand and three hundred days" (Dan. 8:14) and the "seventy weeks" (Dan. 9:24), to which can apply the statement, "the time appointed was long. " Dan. 10:1. But seeing that the former period was too long for restoring and cleansing the sanctuary in Jerusalem, and that the latter period was too long for the rebuilding of the city (for the seventy years spoken of by Jeremiah were already fulfilled), Daniel was prompted to cry out to the Lord for understanding.
"Then," he says, in continuing, "I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily. . . , and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. " Dan. 8:13, 14.
Expressed in modem speech, the angel's answer to Daniel's question would be that 2300 days would be required for "both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot," also for the daily to be cast down and for the transgression of desolation to be set up, and that afterwards shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
In this light it is seen that the 2300-day period must terminate after "the daily" has been taken away and "the transgression of desolation" has been accomplished. Thus the taking away of "the daily" and the bringing in of "the abomination that maketh desolate" by the transgression of desolation, will "give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. "
The treading of the host is the massacring of the Christians who would not worship according to the dictates of the horn-power. The treading down of the sanctuary, the church, gave rise to the establishing of an earthly priesthood in the place of Christ, Who ministers from within the heavenly sanctuary.
And as the great horn of the he goat is symbolical of the Roman (iron -- Dan. 2:40) world in its three periods, -- pagan, ecclesiastical, and protestant, -- also as in its second period, it trod the truth and the "host" under foot and polluted the sanctuary by bringing in the abominations while "it practiced, and prospered" (Dan. 8:12), the 2300-day period, accordingly, extends beyond the fall of Ecclesiastical Rome and reaches into the Protestant period.
As furthermore, the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem went forth in 457 B. C. (Ezra 7:21- 27), the starting point of the seventy weeks proves to be one with that of the 2300 days.
And localizing Christ's ministry within this period, the angel said: ". . . He [Christ] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. " Dan. 9:27.
(CONTD)
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