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 Presentation # 9 - Through the Ages Sabbath, May 15, 2010
Title: Through the Ages
Topic: Daniel 8 -2300 days
I. The longest prophecy in the Bible.
a. The cleaning of Sanctuary (Daniel 8:14)
b. What this means, the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
Body (20 Minutes):
II. We need to understand something about the ceremonial system in the Old Testament.
a. Since the time of Moses, the Jews followed a detailed worship system that centered on their earthly sanctuary service, either in the portable tabernacle or in the Hebrew temple.
b. These sacrifices and offerings were modeled after a pattern God gave to Moses.
c. The services of the earthly sanctuary were to serve as an illustration of the plan of salvation.
d. The offering of a lamb without blemish, for example, pointed forward to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who laid down his sinless life as a sacrifice on our behalf.
e. Two main services were connected with the sanctuary—
i. the daily service
ii. The yearly service.
f. Here’s what happened in a typical daily service. A person who had sinned brought a sacrifice to the temple. He confessed his sin over the animal and the animal was killed. A priest caught the blood in a basin, poured most of it out at the base of the altar, and then took the rest of it into the sanctuary. In this way, sin was symbolically transferred from the sinner to the substitute, to the sanctuary.
g. Again, that innocent slain lamb pointed forward to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.
h. Now, in a sense, this sacrificial blood brought sin into the sanctuary. Represents Jesus takes our sins upon Himself.
i. Then the yearly service was required. On the tenth day of the seventh month of the religious year, the Hebrews participated in the Day of Atonement. That’s when the sanctuary was cleansed. Leviticus 16:29, 30
j. Actually, this soul-searching began ten days before the Day of Atonement. Ten days before, silver-trumpet blasts announced the coming of that solemn day.
k. Those who deliberately ignored the warning were kept outside the camp.
l. Those daily sacrifices pointed forward to the sacrifice of Christ. The cleansing of the sanctuary pointed forward to something else – the Day of Atonement – when evil was judged. It is explained in Leviticus 16.
m. Daniel 8:14 says that after 2300 days, the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
n. The earthly ceremonies described are shadows of God’s judgment in the heavenly sanctuary which will take place just before Jesus comes again.
o. During the Old Testament’s Day of Atonement, two goats were used—the “Lord’s goat” and the scapegoat.
p. The Lord’s goat was sacrificed. The high priest took its blood into the sanctuary, through the veil into the most holy place. He sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat that rested on a chest called the Ark of the Covenant.
q. This chest contained the original, divinely etched Ten Commandments. It represented the throne of God in heaven where Jesus represents His people today.
r. The high priest before the mercy seat was standing in the very presence of God. He represented Jesus Christ, our heavenly high priest, who appears before God on our behalf.
III. The Scapegoat
a. After the Lord’s goat was sacrificed in this way, the scapegoat was led into the wilderness to wander until it died. This represented the judgment on Satan, the originator of sin, and that God would remove evil from all time.
b. Satan is not a sacrifice, not a redeemer of course. Each year, the Hebrew was reminded of the sacrifice of the Savior and of the ultimate elimination of sin from the universe. Each year they participated in a service that prepared them for God’s ultimate judgment.
c. So, this is what we can say: The cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14 are about the Day of Atonement; it refers to a very specific process of judgment.
IV. The Sanctuary is about the work of Jesus:
a. The sanctuary is about the work of Jesus – good and evil - not some earthly political figure.
b. But when did this process begin?
c. Let’s look at the time frame of the prophecy. Daniel says, after 2300 days the sanctuary will be cleansed.
d. Daniel himself didn’t really know what that meant. He was perplexed.
V. What it means:
a. God sent an angel to explain things. God said:
“‘Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.’. . . So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said to me, ‘Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end’” (Daniel 8:16, 17). b. Very clear. This is a vision regarding time of the end
-Ministry of Jesus -Judgment hour -end time c. Notice three points these verses make. They shed light on this 2300-day prophecy.
d. First, the vision extends to the final stage of earth’s history, to “the time of the end.”
e. Second, the 2300 days applies to God’s heavenly sanctuary. Why? Because the earthly system of sacrifices, obsolete after the death of Christ, were all fulfilled.
f. Third, the 2300 days represents a time period couched in the symbolic language of apocalyptic prophecy.
VI. Definition of a day in prophecy:
a. First, let’s remember that a day represents a year in Bible prophecy. Ezekiel 4:6 tells us: “I have laid on you a day for each year.”
b. So we can safely say, the 2300 days represents 2300 years.
c. The angel Gabriel explained more to Daniel about the 2300 days.
d. That time period was broken into two segments. First, he says in Daniel 9:24:
“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.” e. Seventy weeks relate to “your people,” the Jews. Seventy weeks equal 490 days, or, in prophecy, 490 years.
f. In this time period, the Jews had the opportunity to accomplish the work God gave them. This was their final chance. God would have to use other means to accomplish His purposes if they failed.
g. Those seventy weeks, 490 years, are determined, cut off from the 2300 days or years. That leaves us with 1810 years remaining.
h. The remaining 1810 years would lead to an event called the “cleansing of the sanctuary” or the time of judgment.
VII. Now let’s look at the master key for unlocking this entire time prophecy:
a. God enlarges: “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks . . . “ (Daniel 9:25).
b. When Daniel received this prophecy, his people, the Jews, were exiles, captives in Babylon.
c. Jerusalem lay in ruins.
d. The angel told Daniel this time prophecy would begin when the final, imperial decree was officially given, allowing the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem.
e. We have a precise date for that event: Artaxerxes, King of Persia, made that decree in the fall of 457 BC.
f. So this 2300 year prophecy begins in 457 BC
Stop for tonight – tomorrow – the rest of the story
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