The Heavenly Sanctuary Cleansed

In the following study we touch a lot on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. We are doing this in-depth study because it is important for us to realize these things were given for reasons.  Our Savior's death, our Savior's sacrifice, it was prefigured in the daily sacrifices offered in the Jewish Temple.  Those sacrifices pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, a holy sacrifice needed to redeem mankind.  When Abraham was tested with Isaac, told to offer his only son up upon a sacrificial altar to God, that too pointed to the eventual sacrifice of our Savior.  A whole system was put in order and in that order we find comprehension. The earthly and the heavenly temples weren't just flippant designs, one of the other. The earthly was based on the heavenly.  So when we read about a REAL prophecy that has a date going outwards to the year 1844, and then telling us the sanctuary shall be cleansed, we sure need to comprehend that sanctuary- the heavenly, and we were given an earthly to know so we could --through the grace of God-- begin to understand what that cleansing could be. 

May God open our hearts to His truth! All by the grace and mercy of His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

The Sanctuary.

Psa 77:13  Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

God's way is in the sanctuary.  The plan of salvation was and IS in the sanctuary.  A temple will no longer be needed only when the new earth is instituted- remember this--

Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God

Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 

Prior to this…

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

There IS a temple in heaven!

We CANNOT deny that there exists a temple in HEAVEN, a temple upon which the earthly temple was figured.  A temple that will exist until the New Jerusalem come from God out of heaven.

So we have to ask ourselves a few questions. If according to prophecy we've been able to amazingly, with great accuracy, fit prophecy puzzle pieces into history and know beyond a doubt that this 2300 year prophecy is telling us that in 1844 something happened- something in connection with this verse--

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Then we KNOW that after those 2300 years then the sanctuary shall be cleansed, made righteous, made just.  And we know from our Bibles that only through atonement was something made righteous. Only by sacrifice, only by offering, only by our Savior was something made righteous. So we HAVE to look at all this cleansing, all this atoning more closely.  PLEASE take the time to read all this, even if it takes an hour, or two hours, or half a day to get through it all, please pray and read. God wants to give us His truths from His word and only by studying does this happen. We need to be prepared. We need to know what we are watching and praying for and not in an abstract- oh, I'm watching for Jesus to return.  Jesus wants us to heed His signs, His warnings, and to listen to His prophets and His prophets have given us so much to study. 

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Exactly what is being cleansed from the sanctuary?  We must look at the earthly sanctuary because God gave to Moses the example of things in heaven and set them up on earth for His people to use.  We have to look to what was given to Moses. 

How was the sanctuary made right with God? Because that word cleansed up there refers to making the sanctuary righteous.  Let's take a quick glance at the word used-

tsâdaq

Total KJV Occurrences: 41

 (((And the following shows the meaning used for that single word in each case below))))

justified, 12

Job_11:2, Job_13:18, Job_25:4, Job_32:2, Psa_51:4, Psa_143:2, Isa_43:9, Isa_43:26, Isa_45:25, Jer_3:11, Eze_16:51-52 (2)

righteous, 10

Gen_38:26, Job_10:15 (2), Job_15:14, Job_22:3, Job_34:5, Psa_19:7-9 (3), Eze_16:52

justify, 7

Exo_23:7, Deu_25:1, Job_9:20, Job_27:5, Job_33:32, Isa_5:23, Isa_53:11

just, 3

Job_4:17, Job_9:2, Job_33:12

justice, 2

2Sa_15:4, Psa_82:3

justifieth, 2

Pro_17:15, Isa_50:8

justifying, 2

1Ki_8:32, 2Ch_6:23

cleansed, 1

Dan_8:14

clear, 1

Gen_44:16

righteousness, 1

Dan_12:3

Justify, righteous, just, clear, cleansed.

For us to be made right, for us to be just with God we need an atonement to be made, right?

Atonement Dictionary Def--

Theology . the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of god and humankind, especially as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atonement>

Our Savior made an atonement for us so that we may be reconciled to God, so that we made be righteous through Him. We are never righteous on our own. All our righteousness are as filthy rags.  Before our Savior came, the sanctuary which served as an example of heavenly things pointing to our Savior, and it included a once a year special atonement for the sanctuary and the people.  Why do you suppose this was?  Seriously.

People want to believe it doesn't mean anything, that we should just forget all that stuff because Jesus did away with it all. And that is true, the earthly sanctuary and all its services were no longer binding, but the services had a purpose.  What exactly did the once a year atonement for the sanctuary and the people mean?

The following is...

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur> 

Temple service

The following summary of the Temple service is based on the traditional Jewish religious account described in Mishnah tractate Yoma, appearing in contemporary traditional Jewish prayerbooks for Yom Kippur, and studied as part of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur worship service.[15]

While the Temple in Jerusalem was standing (from Biblical times through 70 C.E.), the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was mandated by the Torah to perform a complex set of special services and sacrifices for Yom Kippur to attain Divine atonement, the word "kippur" meaning "atone" in Hebrew.

These services were considered to be the most important parts of Yom Kippur because through them the Kohen Gadol (((high priest)))) made atonement for all Jews and the world. During the service, the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple, the only time of the year that anyone went inside. Doing so required special purification and preparation, including five immersions in a mikvah (ritual bath), and four changes of clothing.

Seven days prior to Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol was sequestered in the Palhedrin chamber in the Temple, where he reviewed (studied) the service with the sages familiar with the Temple, and was sprinkled with spring water containing ashes of the Red Heifer as purification. The Talmud (Tractate Yoma) also reports that he practiced the incense offering ritual in the Avitnas chamber.

On the day of Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol had to follow a precise order of services, sacrifices, and purifications:

§ Morning (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol first performed the regular daily (Tamid) offering — usually performed by ordinary priests — in special golden garments, after immersing in a mikvah and washing his hands and feet.

§ Garment Change 1 The Kohen Gadol immersed in a special mikvah in the Temple courtyard and changed into special linen garments, and washed his hands and feet twice, once after removing the golden garments and once before putting on the linen garments.

§ Bull as Personal Sin-Offering The Kohen Gadol leaned (performed Semikha) and made a confession over the bull on behalf of himself and his household, pronouncing the Tetragrammaton. The people prostrated themselves when they heard. He then slaughtered the bull as a chatat (sin-offering) and received its blood in a bowl.

§ Lottery of the goats At the Eastern (Nikanor) gate, the Kohen Gadol drew lots from a lottery box over two goats. One was selected “for the Lord,” and one “for Azazel.” The Kohen Gadol tied a red band around the horns of the goat “for Azazel.”

§ Incense Preparation The Kohen Gadol ascended the mizbeach (altar) and took a shovel full of embers with a special shovel. He was brought incense. He filled his hands and placed it in a vessel. (The Talmud considered this the most physically difficult part of the service, as the Kohen Gadol had to keep the shovelful of glowing coals balanced and prevent its contents from dropping, using his armpit or teeth, while filling his hands with the incense).

§ Incense Offering Holding the shovel and the vessel, he entered the Kadosh Hakadashim, the Temple’s Holy of Holies. In the days of the First Temple, he placed the shovel between the poles of the Ark of the Covenant. In the days of the Second Temple, he put the shovel where the Ark would have been. He waited until the chamber filled with smoke and left.

§ Sprinkling of Bull's Blood in the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol took the bowl with the bull’s blood and entered the Most Holy Place again. He sprinkled the bull’s blood with his finger eight times, before the Ark in the days of the First Temple, where it would have been in the days of the Second. The Kohen Gadol then left the Holy of Holies, putting the bowl on a stand in front of the Parochet (curtain separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies).

§ Goat for the Lord as Sin-Offering for Kohanim The Kohen Gadol went to the eastern end of the Israelite courtyard near the Nikanor Gate, laid his hands (semikha) on the goat “for the Lord,” and pronounced confession on behalf of the Kohanim (priests). The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. He then slaughtered the goat, and received its blood in another bowl.

§ Sprinkling of Goat’s Blood in the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol took the bowl with the goat’s blood and entered the Kadosh Hakadashim, the Temple’s Holy of Holies again. He sprinkled the goat’s blood with his finger eight times the same way he had sprinkled the bull’s blood. The blood was sprinkled before the Ark in the days of the First Temple, where it would have been in the days of the Second Temple. The Kohen Gadol then left the Kadosh Hakadashim, putting the bowl on a stand in front of the Parochet (curtain separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies).

§ Sprinkling of blood in the Holy Standing in the Hekhal (Holy), on the other side of the Parochet from the Holy of Holies, the Kohen Gadol took the bull's blood from the stand and sprinkled it with his finger eight times in the direction of the Parochet. He then took the bowl with the goat's blood and sprinkled it eight times in the same manner, putting it back on the stand.

§ Smearing of blood on the Golden (Incense) Altar The Kohen Gadol removed the goat’s blood from the stand and mixed it with the bull's blood. Starting at the northeast corner, he then smeared the mixture of blood on each of the four corners of the Golden (Incense) altar in the Haichal. He then sprinkled the blood eight times on the altar.

§ Goat for Azazel The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah (Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel. The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the wilderness.” In practice, to prevent its return to human habitation, the goat was led to a cliff outside Jerusalem and pushed off its edge.

§ Preparation of sacrificial animals While the goat “for Azazel” was being led to the cliff, the Kohen Gadol removed the insides of the bull, and intertwined the bodies of the bull and goat. Other people took the bodies to the Beit HaDeshen (place of the ashes). They were burned there after it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazel” had reached the wilderness.

§ Reading the Torah After it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazel” had been pushed off the cliff, the Kohen Gadol passed through the Nikanor Gate into the Ezrat Nashim (Women’s Courtyard) and read sections of the Torah describing Yom Kippur and its sacrifices.

§ Garment change 2 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah in the Temple courtyard, and changed into a second set of special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet both before removing the linen garments and after putting on the golden ones.

§ Offering of Rams The Kohen Gadol offered two rams as an olah offering, slaughtering them on the north side of the mizbeach (outer altar), receiving their blood in a bowl, carrying the bowl to the outer altar, and dashing the blood on the northeast and southwest corners of the Outer Altar. He dismembered the rams and burned the parts entirely on the outer altar. He then offered the accompanying mincha (grain) offerings and nesachim (wine-libations).

§ Musaf Offering The Kohen Gadol then offered the Musaf offering.

§ Burning of Innards The Kohen Gadol placed the insides of the bull and goat on the outer altar and burned them entirely.

§ *Garment change 3 The Kohen Gadol removed his golden garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed to a new set of linen garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.

§ Removal of Incense from the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol returned to the Holy of Holies and removed the bowl of incense and the shovel.

§ Garment Change 4 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed into a third set of golden garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.

§ Evening (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol completed the afternoon portion of the regular (tamid) daily offering in the special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet a tenth time.

The Kohen Gadol wore five sets of garments (three golden and two white linen), immersed in the mikvah five times, and washed his hands and feet ten times.

 Sacrifices included two (daily) lambs, one bull, two goats, and two rams, with accompanying mincha (meal) offerings, wine libations, and three incense offerings (the regular two daily and an additional one for Yom Kippur).

The Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies three times. The Tetragrammaton was pronounced three times, once for each confession.[15]

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur>

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One has to ask what the daily sacrifices meant compared to this great day of sacrifices.  

'The Temple was the place where offerings described in the course of the Hebrew Bible were carried out, including daily morning and afternoon offerings and special offerings on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Levites recited Psalms at appropriate moments during the offerings, including the Psalm of the Day, special psalms for the new month, and other occasions, the Hallel during major Jewish holidays, and psalms for special sacrifices such as the "Psalm for the Thanksgiving Offering" (Psalm 100).

As part of the daily offering, a prayer service was performed in the Temple which was used as the basis of the traditional Jewish (morning) service recited to this day, including well-known prayers such as the Shema, and the Priestly Blessing. '

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_in_Jerusalem>

'Korban, Qorban (In Classical Hebrew), or Qarban (In Sephardic Hebrew (Arabic ?????) and Mizrahi Hebrew) (Hebrew: ???????? "sacrifice"; plural: korbanot or qorbanoth ???????????), in Judaism, is the term for a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah. '

'Such sacrifices were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites, and later by the Jewish priesthood, the Kohanim, at the Temple in Jerusalem. A Korban was usually an animal sacrifice, such as a sheep or a bull that underwent shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter), and was often cooked and eaten by the offerer, with parts given to the Kohanim and parts burned on the Temple mizbe'ah (altar). Korbanot could also consist of doves, grain, wine, or incense.

The Torah narrates that God commanded the Hebrews to offer korbanot on various altars, and describes the offering of sacrifices in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem until the First Temple was destroyed and resumed with the Second Temple until it was destroyed in 70 AD.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korban

A bit more information on - Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement--

'Jewish people. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in Judaism as the High Holy Days (or sometimes "the Days of Awe").

Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrei. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a book, the Book of Life, on Rosh Hashanah, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his or her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God (bein adam leMakom) and against other human beings (bein adam lechavero). The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt (Vidui). At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers oneself absolved by God.

The Yom Kippur prayer service includes several unique aspects. One is the actual number of prayer services. Unlike a regular day, which has three prayer services (Ma'ariv, the evening prayer; Shacharit, the morning prayer; and Mincha, the afternoon prayer), or a Shabbat or Yom Tov, which have four prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf, the additional prayer; and Mincha), Yom Kippur has five prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf; Mincha; and Ne'ilah, the closing prayer). The prayer services also include a public confession of sins (Vidui) and a unique prayer dedicated to the special Yom Kippur avodah (service) of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

As one of the most culturally significant Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Many secular Jews attend synagogue on Yom Kippur—for many secular Jews the High Holidays are the only recurring times of the year in which they attend synagogue,[1]—causing synagogue attendance to soar—and almost four-fifths fast.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

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More texts on the Day of Atonement--

Lev 23:27  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Lev 23:28  And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

Lev 16:16  And he shall make an atonement for the holy place

Lev 16:17  And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel

Lev 16:18  And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.

Lev 16:19  And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

Lev 16:33  And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

Lev 16:34  And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

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There is absolutely NO DOUBT that there was significance beyond the daily sacrifices at the temple connected with the once a year sacrifices to atone for so much.

We'll pick this up tomorrow by the grace of God.  By His mercy and if it's His will we will study even more of this and see if we cannot fit more prophecy puzzle pieces together.  Only by the grace of God may we do this, only by His love, His righteousness as we pray not to  be led astray, not to be deceived, but rather that we are enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit unto all truth in Him!

Amen.

Spiritual Comprehension and Prophecy.

I'm doing another private Bible study at this time and something in that study seemed to jump out at me concerning this study.

When we try to use our own intellect to comprehend God's word we truly are in danger of being deceived. Our own ideas are often influenced by things other than the Spirit. We desperately need the Holy Spirit enlightening us because if we try to enlighten ourselves we are like that old cliché - the blind leading the blind. Only the Holy Spirit can give us spiritual insight, spiritual truth. By faith we have to believe the our Savior will lead us to only His truth as He has led others before us, His truth being passed down throughout the ages as it has unfolded.

Why would God give us a 2300 year prophecy if we were never to comprehend such a prophecy?

The comprehension comes from inspired sources. 

Can we be led astray if we are fully and wholly dedicated to knowing the Truth, the Way, the Life?

The only way we can be led astray is if we place our trust in ourselves and not the Holy Spirit.

The knowledge we must seek is only the knowledge that our Savior wills to reveal and no more. Will we have all the knowledge there is? No.

Deu_29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Faith is a very real and necessary force, believing sight unseen, believing without logic and worldly wisdom, believing in LOVE, and the truest and only source of love comes from our God the Father, from our God the Son and from our God the Holy Spirit.

May we be blessed as we continue this very in-depth prophecy study! All through the LOVE of our Savior Jesus Christ, our Lord now and forever!

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Sanctuary being cleansed.

The 2300 day (year) prophecy of Daniel said this--

Dan 8:9  And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

Dan 8:10  And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

Dan 8:11  Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

Dan 8:12  And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

Dan 8:13  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, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Remember studying this before? The historic  knowledge of Medes Persia, Greece, Roman, and out of the Roman Empire the Roman Papal power that was so strange and diverse, so different than the other powers.

Remember discussing the host of heaven being cast down under the Roman rule when the Savior was born.  Jesus  was born, lived, and was crucified all under the Roman rule.  We know for a fact that Papal Rome was formed as the counterfeit church deceiving many and that Satan behind the scenes ruled this little horn power.  The truth was definitely cast to the ground. Transgression lived in the heart of the deceptive powers that morphed from pagan Rome into papal Rome.

How long…  how long would this vision which included the daily sacrifice being taken away, which included the desolation of all that God had set up upon earth as His ways. How long would the sanctuary and those of God be debased, demeaned, abused?

We have to consider what the sanctuary meant to God's people. The sanctuary and all its services came into being out of a covenant God made with His people. God would be their God and they would be His people and they would obey His commands and He would be with them.  Even as soon as that covenant was made, or rather not much longer after it was newly enacted and accepted by God's people, then God's people broke that covenant.  Rather than destroy the people Moses stepped in and pleaded for their lives.  God knew that a system would have to be set up that would symbolize a mediation between Him and His people. Back when Abraham was alive God called for Abraham to offer up His only son Isaac.  A symbolic event forever afterwards. When man sinned- animals were first sacrificed to make them coats of the animal skins. Abel the second born son of our first parents offered up an animal sacrifice to God.  The idea of there needing to be a mediator between man and God was not a new one, it was ancient, it existed from the moment sin entered the world. A way had to be made for man to be reunited with God again. 

Under Moses' leadership the wilderness sanctuary was set up. David, beloved of God, wanted to erect a permanent sanctuary so that God could dwell with them in the land God had given to them to be theirs forever. Solomon, David's son was allowed to build the sanctuary and they called it Solomon's Temple. All the rituals involved with the sanctuary were kept there in that temple for many, many years.

Built in  957 BC and totally destroyed in 586 BC - For 371 years that sanctuary was used for the ritual sacrificial services that God required of His people.

457 BC saw the final call to finish rebuilding the sanctuary and the call for the Jewish people to return there and begin their services once more.

(((Interjection a bit of IMPORTANT historical fact for the date 457 BC as the final call to finish and rebuild the sanctuary- the call for the Jewish people to return there and begin their services- Please read. 

Establishing the date 457 B.C

 L.P. Tolhurst

Seventh-day Adventists believe that "the commandment to re store and to build Jerusalem" (Dan. 9:25) marks not only the beginning of the 70- weeks prophecy of that passage, but also the beginning of the 2300 days mentioned in Daniel 8:14- We believe that this latter prophecy reaches down to 1844, and thus points us out as the people God raised up on time to proclaim the last message of warning to the world. If we are correct, we ought to be able to justify our claim by producing evidence that will support it.

Three Persian decrees played roles in the restoration of God's people from the captivity the Babylonians had instituted.1 Confirming our interpretation of these important prophecies of Daniel depends on identifying and dating the decree with which God intended the time calculations to begin.

Cyrus issued the first decree in the first year of his Babylonian reign, which was 538/537 B.C. (see Ezra 1:1; 6:1; and 2 Chron. 36:22, 23). The Bible does not indicate when in the first year of his reign this decree was given, so we do not know whether the year involved was 538 or 53 7 B.C. Nor does the Bible tell us when Zerubbabel's party left Babylon and when they arrived in Jerusalem, so we do not know when this decree became effective. The Bible's vagueness about these details argues against this being the all important decree. Furthermore, Cyrus's decree says nothing about the restoration of the city. It speaks only of the rebuilding of the Temple.

Another evidence that this is the wrong decree is that it simply doesn't work with the Daniel 9 prophecy of the time of the arrival of the Messiah, the anointed one. With the date of this decree as a starting point, the 483 years Daniel spoke of do not reach anywhere near Jesus' time, never mind identifying the year of His baptism--His anointing--which took place in A.D. 27.

Scripture gives no date at all for the second decree, that of Darius the Great. All we know is that it was given in the early years of his reign, because, as a result of it, the Temple was completed and dedicated.2 And, like Cyrus's, Darius's decree was concerned with the restoration of the Temple, not of the city. Obviously, for establishing a starting point for the prophecy this decree is not of much use either.

If God intended either of these decrees to mark the beginning of a time prophecy as important as that of the 2300 days, then certainly He would have seen that the details needed were recorded in the Bible.

Artaxerxes' decree

It is in connection with the third decree--that of the seventh year of Artaxerxes, recorded in Ezra 7:8, 9--that we have the information necessary to locating in time this important prophecy. Regarding this decree we are told that Ezra left Babylon on the first day of month 1 of the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and that he and his group arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of month 5 of the same year. For no other decree is such detail given. This itself should alert us. Surely God is saying something to us when His Word is so explicit regarding this decree and so vague regarding the other two.

Furthermore, this decree provided for the restoration of local government on a scale not mentioned in the other decrees (note Ezra 7:21-28). It empowered the judiciary to punish wrongdoers, even granting the authority to impose the death sentence. And as a result of this decree Ezra began to build the city--see the letter to Artaxerxes in Ezra 4.

However, perhaps the strongest argument of all is that when we calculate the Daniel 9 prophecy using the date of this decree, 457 B.C., as marking its beginning, the prophecy reaches exactly to the baptism of Jesus. In fact, Daniel 9:24 suggests that the events that take place within the 70 weeks set God's seal of approval on the whole of the prophecy. They show that the prophecy was divinely given, and thus absolutely dependable. And no other date even begins to satisfy the demands of this prophecy.

Obviously, then, the decree God in tends us to use is that of Ezra 7 the one issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. God has given us details about when it was issued and when it went into effect. And the precision with which it relates to Jesus' baptism marks it as authentic. It is just too accurate to be wrong!

Having determined that it is Artaxerxes' decree that marks the beginning of these prophetic periods, we must now establish that the year in which he issued his decree actually was 457 B.C.

Babylonian and Persian dating methods

In the time of the Persians, all events and documents were dated in terms of the day number, month name or number, and year number of the current king's reign. For example, as we have already noted, Ezra says that he left for Jerusalem on the first day of month 1 of Artaxerxes' seventh year, arriving there on the first day of month 5 of the same year.

When a king died and a new one took the throne, the remaining portion of that year was considered the accession year of the new king and was not counted as or called the first year of the new king's reign. Only the first full calendar year of a king's reign was called his first year (see Figure 1). As can readily be seen, the accession year could be long or short, depending on when the new king came to the throne.

To establish the date of an event in terms of our calendar, scholars first had to determine the succession of the kings and the length of their reigns. The lists of kings that ancient writers provided are one source of such information. Another is the method that Richard A. Parker and Waldo H. Dubberstein developed as they gathered the information published in their useful book Babylonian Chronology: 626 B.C.-AD. 75. Parker and Dubberstein's method grew out of the fact that thousands of tablets dated by their authors to the reigns of ancient Near Eastern kings have been found. These two men suggested that by finding the three or four tablets bearing the latest dates from each king's reign and the three or four tablets bearing the earliest dates of each successor's, the transition points between each reign might be pretty well established. Using this method, scholars can calculate the month and sometimes almost the day of the month that a king died and his successor took his place. In this way they have been able to compile a list of the Babylonian and Persian kings together with precise details as to when each came to the throne and how long each ruled.

To assign B.C. dates to the reigns of these kings, scholars had to take one more step; they had to find a way to link the reigns of the kings to our B.C. scale. They established this link by means of the tablets that record and date the eclipses that occurred in the days of those kings. Most of these tablets describe in detail eclipses that had already occurred, but at least one predicts an eclipse at that time yet future; it was to occur in the seventh year of Cambyses. That they were able even to predict eclipses reveals the high standard of astronomical science these ancient people practiced.

As archeologists have found and translated tablets describing eclipses, astronomers have been able to calculate when in terms of our calendar those eclipses took place. Thus guesswork has been eliminated and precise dates given to the reigns of these ancient kings. In terms of chronology, the Babylonian and Persian periods are among the very best documented periods of history. (The table below lists some of the eclipses the tablets describe.)

The date for the seventh year of Artaxerxes

With such a wealth of information regarding the chronology of this period, we can with confidence ascertain the B.C. date of the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign.

Xerxes, the predecessor of Artaxerxes, was murdered sometime between December 17, 465 B.C., and January 3, 464 B.C. The tablet bearing the latest known date from his reign is dated to month 9 (which corresponds to December) of his twenty-first year of reign. And the Elephantine papyri from Egypt contain the first known date identified with Artaxerxes' reign the equivalent of our January 3, 464 B.C. Since this date comes from records originating in Egypt, most scholars agree that Xerxes died before the end of December, as it is hardly likely that news of his death and Artaxerxes' succession would travel from Persia to Egypt in three days. Thus it appears certain that Xerxes' death must be dated in late December, 465 B.C.

While the Jews followed a spring-to-spring calendar for their religious year, in time they came to use a second calendar as well--much as many nations today have a fiscal year as well as a calendar year. Just as the beginnings and endings of our fiscal years differ by six months from those of our calendar years, the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar differed by six months from the spring-to-spring calendar. And much as the months of our fiscal and calendar years retain the same names, the months of the spring-to-spring and fall-to-fall calendars retained the same numbers. So while the spring-to-spring calendar began with month 1 and ended with month 12, the fall-to-fall calendar began with month 7 and ended with month 6 (see Figure 2).

With this information we can construct a time line for the early years of Artaxerxes and thus arrive at the all-important seventh year of his reign. We calculate that year according to the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar the calendar Ezra was using when he referred to Artaxerxes' decree (see the box on the opposite page).

Figure 3 shows that Artaxerxes' seventh year began in 458 B.C. and ex tended into 457 B.C., and that the dates Scripture records in connection with this decree--those for Ezra's departure for Jerusalem and for his arrival there--fall well within 457 B.C.

It is interesting to note that William Miller and his associates used a different method for calculating which of our years corresponded to Artaxerxes' seventh year. Basing their work on Ptolemy's Canon, they came up with the same date we have arrived at above. This certainly is a gratifying reassurance as to the trust worthiness of our position and should help to fortify our faith in the message we bear to the world. As the apostle Peter declared: "We have not followed cunningly devised fables" (2 Peter 1:16).

From <https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1988/04/establishing-the-date-457-b.c> ))))))) 

Then in 70 AD, 527 years later it (the sanctuary) was completely destroyed once again and has never been rebuilt since then. 

The sanctuary and it's services were all precursors pointing to the realized sacrificial act found in God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Messiah.  So of course, after our Savior died the temple veil was torn in two, and the need for the earthly sanctuary was no longer. 

But tell me something-- this sacrificial system which in all reality had its start the moment sin entered the world, was it over? Was sin gone? The only way for the entire sacrificial system- the only way for the  need of sacrifice to be removed would be if sin was no more.

God has taken mankind step by step through a process that points solely to the Savior and us finding forgiveness in Him and Him alone without any other person involved. The Way was pointed to, the Way was realized.

Read this--  talking about the New Jerusalem that will exist after our Savior comes again and then ultimately brings His people back to earth and makes it new--

Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

The Way realized, then and only then when no temple would be needed any longer. Until that day there would be a temple, there would be a sanctuary. But if that sanctuary which was such a huge part of the life of God's people was no longer of significance upon earth when our Savior died, where was the sanctuary that would be trodden underfoot 2300 years?

Where was the sanctuary at before it was erected upon earth under Moses' guidance?

Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.

Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man

Heb 8:5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

If our Savior did away with the need for an earthly sanctuary it was because HE became the only sacrifice needed from then on. Our Savior - all of the sacrificial offerings ever made pointed to His great sacrifice- HIMSELF. No earthly sacrifice, no symbolic sacrifice was ever needed again because our Savior died for us becoming that Sacrifice.  From then on faith alone in that Sacrifice of Christ's would be needed. And our Savior left earth after His resurrection and went to the HEAVENLY SANCTUARY!

Something was to begin to happen in the HEAVENLY sanctuary after the 2300 year prophecy was up, but what?  How is it significant to us here on earth? To understand this we HAVE to understand what was meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary.

The cleansing of the sanctuary- 

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

More study on this tomorrow by the grace of God our Lord and Savior!

Amen.

What happened in 1844?

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Prophecy -

proph·e·cy

–noun, plural -cies.

1.

the foretelling or prediction of what is to come.

2.

something that is declared by a prophet, especially a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation.

3.

a divinely inspired utterance or revelation: oracular prophecies.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prophecy>

*******

Divinely inspired predictions. 

Daniel was given divinely inspired predictions and told to write them down. Jesus referred to Daniel's predictions. We are studying Daniel's predictions in an effort to understand all that our Savior would have us understand.

First we were given an overall picture- the broad picture- the wide view.

Secondly we were given a deeper understanding.

Thirdly we were given an even deeper understanding.

Fourthly … it is safe to say that all through the book of Daniel we are being given more understanding of the future He has planned for us. A future that ultimately ends with us living with Him in a world without any sin, in the purest love ever.

Sin had a beginning, sin will have an end.   We have to believe that. We have to believe that we aren't suffering under the curse of sin without any hope.  If we truly believed that there was no hope of a life without sin then how depressing life would be. How senseless life would be. If there were no hope then when God sent the flood to destroy all of mankind but 8 people, He would have left the 8 to perish as well. But with the creation of the world, with the creation of humanity there was a plan for our salvation. A great plan that would once and for all and undeniably reveal the depths and horrors of sin and the reason for it to be eradicated.  No question would remain anywhere in anyone's mind about God's love and from that love the need for obedience.

Predicting that sin would have an end, that all the earthly kingdoms would be completely destroyed and God's kingdom set up, was a gift to us from God.  Unwrapping this wondrous gift and putting the pieces into place as they've been revealed through history is an amazing thing.

Remember how I mentioned we have been putting together a prophecy timeline? Well I'm going to try and set it up for us now in a picture timeline.

First I want to interject HOW we came to the 457 bc starting date--

(((Interjection a bit of IMPORTANT historical fact for the date 457 BC as the final call to finish and rebuild the sanctuary- the call for the Jewish people to return there and begin their services- Please read. 

Establishing the date 457 B.C

 L.P. Tolhurst

Seventh-day Adventists believe that "the commandment to re store and to build Jerusalem" (Dan. 9:25) marks not only the beginning of the 70- weeks prophecy of that passage, but also the beginning of the 2300 days mentioned in Daniel 8:14- We believe that this latter prophecy reaches down to 1844, and thus points us out as the people God raised up on time to proclaim the last message of warning to the world. If we are correct, we ought to be able to justify our claim by producing evidence that will support it.

Three Persian decrees played roles in the restoration of God's people from the captivity the Babylonians had instituted.1 Confirming our interpretation of these important prophecies of Daniel depends on identifying and dating the decree with which God intended the time calculations to begin.

Cyrus issued the first decree in the first year of his Babylonian reign, which was 538/537 B.C. (see Ezra 1:1; 6:1; and 2 Chron. 36:22, 23). The Bible does not indicate when in the first year of his reign this decree was given, so we do not know whether the year involved was 538 or 53 7 B.C. Nor does the Bible tell us when Zerubbabel's party left Babylon and when they arrived in Jerusalem, so we do not know when this decree became effective. The Bible's vagueness about these details argues against this being the all important decree. Furthermore, Cyrus's decree says nothing about the restoration of the city. It speaks only of the rebuilding of the Temple.

Another evidence that this is the wrong decree is that it simply doesn't work with the Daniel 9 prophecy of the time of the arrival of the Messiah, the anointed one. With the date of this decree as a starting point, the 483 years Daniel spoke of do not reach anywhere near Jesus' time, never mind identifying the year of His baptism--His anointing--which took place in A.D. 27.

Scripture gives no date at all for the second decree, that of Darius the Great. All we know is that it was given in the early years of his reign, because, as a result of it, the Temple was completed and dedicated.2 And, like Cyrus's, Darius's decree was concerned with the restoration of the Temple, not of the city. Obviously, for establishing a starting point for the prophecy this decree is not of much use either.

If God intended either of these decrees to mark the beginning of a time prophecy as important as that of the 2300 days, then certainly He would have seen that the details needed were recorded in the Bible.

Artaxerxes' decree

It is in connection with the third decree--that of the seventh year of Artaxerxes, recorded in Ezra 7:8, 9--that we have the information necessary to locating in time this important prophecy. Regarding this decree we are told that Ezra left Babylon on the first day of month 1 of the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and that he and his group arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of month 5 of the same year. For no other decree is such detail given. This itself should alert us. Surely God is saying something to us when His Word is so explicit regarding this decree and so vague regarding the other two.

Furthermore, this decree provided for the restoration of local government on a scale not mentioned in the other decrees (note Ezra 7:21-28). It empowered the judiciary to punish wrongdoers, even granting the authority to impose the death sentence. And as a result of this decree Ezra began to build the city--see the letter to Artaxerxes in Ezra 4.

However, perhaps the strongest argument of all is that when we calculate the Daniel 9 prophecy using the date of this decree, 457 B.C., as marking its beginning, the prophecy reaches exactly to the baptism of Jesus. In fact, Daniel 9:24 suggests that the events that take place within the 70 weeks set God's seal of approval on the whole of the prophecy. They show that the prophecy was divinely given, and thus absolutely dependable. And no other date even begins to satisfy the demands of this prophecy.

Obviously, then, the decree God in tends us to use is that of Ezra 7 the one issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. God has given us details about when it was issued and when it went into effect. And the precision with which it relates to Jesus' baptism marks it as authentic. It is just too accurate to be wrong!

Having determined that it is Artaxerxes' decree that marks the beginning of these prophetic periods, we must now establish that the year in which he issued his decree actually was 457 B.C.

Babylonian and Persian dating methods

In the time of the Persians, all events and documents were dated in terms of the day number, month name or number, and year number of the current king's reign. For example, as we have already noted, Ezra says that he left for Jerusalem on the first day of month 1 of Artaxerxes' seventh year, arriving there on the first day of month 5 of the same year.

When a king died and a new one took the throne, the remaining portion of that year was considered the accession year of the new king and was not counted as or called the first year of the new king's reign. Only the first full calendar year of a king's reign was called his first year (see Figure 1). As can readily be seen, the accession year could be long or short, depending on when the new king came to the throne.

To establish the date of an event in terms of our calendar, scholars first had to determine the succession of the kings and the length of their reigns. The lists of kings that ancient writers provided are one source of such information. Another is the method that Richard A. Parker and Waldo H. Dubberstein developed as they gathered the information published in their useful book Babylonian Chronology: 626 B.C.-AD. 75. Parker and Dubberstein's method grew out of the fact that thousands of tablets dated by their authors to the reigns of ancient Near Eastern kings have been found. These two men suggested that by finding the three or four tablets bearing the latest dates from each king's reign and the three or four tablets bearing the earliest dates of each successor's, the transition points between each reign might be pretty well established. Using this method, scholars can calculate the month and sometimes almost the day of the month that a king died and his successor took his place. In this way they have been able to compile a list of the Babylonian and Persian kings together with precise details as to when each came to the throne and how long each ruled.

To assign B.C. dates to the reigns of these kings, scholars had to take one more step; they had to find a way to link the reigns of the kings to our B.C. scale. They established this link by means of the tablets that record and date the eclipses that occurred in the days of those kings. Most of these tablets describe in detail eclipses that had already occurred, but at least one predicts an eclipse at that time yet future; it was to occur in the seventh year of Cambyses. That they were able even to predict eclipses reveals the high standard of astronomical science these ancient people practiced.

As archeologists have found and translated tablets describing eclipses, astronomers have been able to calculate when in terms of our calendar those eclipses took place. Thus guesswork has been eliminated and precise dates given to the reigns of these ancient kings. In terms of chronology, the Babylonian and Persian periods are among the very best documented periods of history. (The table below lists some of the eclipses the tablets describe.)

The date for the seventh year of Artaxerxes

With such a wealth of information regarding the chronology of this period, we can with confidence ascertain the B.C. date of the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign.

Xerxes, the predecessor of Artaxerxes, was murdered sometime between December 17, 465 B.C., and January 3, 464 B.C. The tablet bearing the latest known date from his reign is dated to month 9 (which corresponds to December) of his twenty-first year of reign. And the Elephantine papyri from Egypt contain the first known date identified with Artaxerxes' reign the equivalent of our January 3, 464 B.C. Since this date comes from records originating in Egypt, most scholars agree that Xerxes died before the end of December, as it is hardly likely that news of his death and Artaxerxes' succession would travel from Persia to Egypt in three days. Thus it appears certain that Xerxes' death must be dated in late December, 465 B.C.

While the Jews followed a spring-to-spring calendar for their religious year, in time they came to use a second calendar as well--much as many nations today have a fiscal year as well as a calendar year. Just as the beginnings and endings of our fiscal years differ by six months from those of our calendar years, the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar differed by six months from the spring-to-spring calendar. And much as the months of our fiscal and calendar years retain the same names, the months of the spring-to-spring and fall-to-fall calendars retained the same numbers. So while the spring-to-spring calendar began with month 1 and ended with month 12, the fall-to-fall calendar began with month 7 and ended with month 6 (see Figure 2).

With this information we can construct a time line for the early years of Artaxerxes and thus arrive at the all-important seventh year of his reign. We calculate that year according to the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar the calendar Ezra was using when he referred to Artaxerxes' decree (see the box on the opposite page).

Figure 3 shows that Artaxerxes' seventh year began in 458 B.C. and ex tended into 457 B.C., and that the dates Scripture records in connection with this decree--those for Ezra's departure for Jerusalem and for his arrival there--fall well within 457 B.C.

It is interesting to note that William Miller and his associates used a different method for calculating which of our years corresponded to Artaxerxes' seventh year. Basing their work on Ptolemy's Canon, they came up with the same date we have arrived at above. This certainly is a gratifying reassurance as to the trust worthiness of our position and should help to fortify our faith in the message we bear to the world. As the apostle Peter declared: "We have not followed cunningly devised fables" (2 Peter 1:16).

From <https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1988/04/establishing-the-date-457-b.c> ))))))) 

This basically shows the things we've studied concerning the prophecies we've found in Daniel.

Yesterday we left off with the realization that our 2300 year prophecy would have it's fulfillment in 1844 AD.

So what happened in 1844? Here's one very remarkable thing--

October 22 – This second date, predicted by the Millerites for the Second Coming of Jesus, leads to the Great Disappointment.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1844>

I say it's remarkable because of this--

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

We've looked at this Revelation prophecy before.  That little book we remarked about then and are going to remark about now is the fact the little book of prophecy that goes hand in hand with Revelation IS the book of Daniel.  Now let's read these verses again…

Give me the little book.  Help me understand this little prophecy book finally. It's the time of the end, it's been a couple thousand years since the prophecy was given, it is time for understanding. Let me have this and eat it… understand it.

The angel said- Take it and eat it- it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

Take it, eat it-  it'll make your belly bitter, after you've eaten it you're going to feel sick, but ohhhhhhhhh while you're eating it you'll taste the sweetness of it just like honey.

The ability to suddenly piece together the prophecy of Daniel has hadn't been so fully done before was amazing leading up to the year 1844. There was a great, great movement as more and more people- learned people too not just silly fanatics, not the lunatic fringe, not the feeble minded, not the sad, ignorant people that everyone wants to imagine people who believe in prophecy movements must be. In fact we just recently had a man and his followers predicting the world would end in May of this year 2011 and that didn't happen. People sat back and laughed, they ridiculed these people, the press really gave it to them making them laughing stocks, and yes- those crazy people.  At this time in 1844 people weren't aroused to that sort of belief there were many, many believing in this prophecy only it ending up that the understanding of the prophecy was wrong.  While William Miller was predicting Christ would come in 1844, and people were believing Him whole-heartedly there was a HUGE disappointment so much so it is known as the Great Disappointment.

'The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. William Miller, a Baptist preacher, proposed based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel (Chapters 8 and 9, especially Dan. 8:14 "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed"), that Jesus Christ would return to the earth during the year 1844. A more specific date, that of October 22, 1844, was preached by Samuel S. Snow. Thousands of followers, some of whom had given away all of their possessions, waited expectantly. When Jesus did not appear, October 22, 1844 became known as the Great Disappointment.'

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment>

This describes PERFECTLY the sweet honey taste of the belief that the Savior was going to come soon to the bitterness in the belly after it is realized that no, this isn't what this prophecy was predicting at all.

Sweet to bitter.  A perfect prophetic interpretation of those verses in Revelation.

Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

So this begs the question- what was meant by the 'Sanctuary being cleansed'?  Because this is such an amazing prophecy it needs a study all it's own and we'll start that tomorrow.

By the grace of God we will be able to understand more and more and in understanding more and more we will grow ever closer to our Savior. His love is in all these prophecies for us, His amazing love.

By His grace always!!!!

Amen.

Are you confused by prophecy?

Are you confused by prophecy?

1Co 14:29  Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

1Co 14:30  If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.

1Co 14:31  For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

1Co 14:32  And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

1Co 14:33  For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

GOD is NOT the author of confusion.

God tells us this--

Mar_13:14  But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) …

Let him that readeth UNDERSTAND.

We really can understand. God will enlighten us. The Holy Spirit will give us comprehension. When the scales fall from our eyes we will see truth!

So many want to hide from the truth thinking it will blind them, not knowing they are already blind. People are fearful of truth because once they have the knowledge they're accountable for that truth, that knowledge.  They need to realize that they are accountable for not accepting truth. We can't deceive God, it is impossible.

Please Father, please help us to know the truth, all of it! Reveal to us all we need to know.

You want us to read and to understand, so please help us as we continue to study the prophecy of Daniel and Revelation using all of history- something that is undeniable and factual- to open our eyes to your predictions of our future.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Recap time.  Putting pieces into place. We've already discussed how we've arrived at these conclusions so we're not going to discuss this again at any great length. Please, go back and read any of the prophecy posts you might have missed if you find this confusing.  It's by the grace of God that we can understand at all. So pray, pray, pray!

Dan 9:24  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.

70 weeks- 490 years

Dan 9:25  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: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

457 BC to 27AD

(483 years)

Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: 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.

From 483 years to 490 years we have 7 years (one week)

After those 483 we have 7 years left, during those 7 years the Messiah would be cut off.

Dan 9:27  And he 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, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Here is that week that 7 years we are discussing now.

The covenant would be confirmed for one week (7 years) and in the midst of that 7 years the sacrifice and oblation will cease.   Did this happen?

Here we are at 27 AD  add half of that 7 years to that number and we get 31 1/2 AD.   Do you remember our earlier study about Jesus' death?  What year did we arrive at?  31 AD !  The prophecy is fitting into place!  Yet again we can see how the great prophecy puzzle pieces fall into place. 

So when we say He (the Messiah) would confirm the covenant with many for one week and Jesus died after half that time, what happened at the end of the next 3 1/2 years? 

Acts 6-7 describe his trial. He was stoned to death (c. A.D. 34–35) by an infuriated mob encouraged by Saul of Tarsus.[2] Stephen's final speech was presented as accusing the Jews of persecuting prophets who spoke out against their sins:

"Which one of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute, and they killed the ones who prophesied the coming of the Just One, of whom now, too, you have become betrayers and murderers." (7:52)

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Stephen>

Not a coincidence! After Stephen was martyred what happened?

Act 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

Act 8:1  And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Act 8:2  And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

Act 8:3  As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Act 8:4  Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Act 9:3  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Act 9:6  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Saul became Paul an undisputed champion of God! And Paul was the man of God who brought the word of God to who? The Gentiles!

Act 9:15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

Act 9:16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Until Stephen's death the gospel was exclusively being given to the Jewish people, not the Gentiles. When Stephen was stoned to death the Jewish people as a corporate whole sealed their fate- denying the gospel. The gospel was then to go to the Gentiles.  The covenant had been confirmed for one week (7 years), in the midst of that 7 years Jesus was crucified, at the end of that 7 years the Jewish people ultimately denied the gospel of our Savior and that covenant was over. The new covenant, the new Israel, those being grafted onto the True Vine were under way.

This prophecy fits perfectly into our history! Perfectly!

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Now we need to remember that Gabriel came to Daniel to explain what? The 2300 year prophecy.  We know beyond a doubt it was 2300 years not literal days or half days etc, because that time passed between Gabriel giving that vision and His return to explain that vision that had Daniel so consumed with the need to comprehend. Daniel wanted it to make sense!  Jeremiah's 70 years was coming to a close, that had been a prophecy given and understood over Daniel's lifetime, and Daniel wanted this new prophecy to be understood. Daniel understood the previous vision of Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue and he lived to see Babylon overthrown by the Medes and Persians, he could comprehend this prophetic succession of ruling kingdoms. If one part of the prophecy had come to pass then the rest of it would as well beyond a doubt. Daniel knew from another vision that Grecia would over throw the Medes and Persians and He wasn't lacking understanding with that - not one bit.  The rest of the vision was what Daniel just couldn't fathom because he wasn't being asked to simply understand that one kingdom after another would come into play, but he was being told this--

Dan 8:9  And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

Dan 8:10  And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

Dan 8:11  Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

Dan 8:12  And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

Dan 8:13  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, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Dan 8:23  And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

Dan 8:24  And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

Dan 8:25  And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

Dan 8:26  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.

Now we know from previous studies that the Roman Empire would come after Greece and out of that Roman Empire- part of what would remain of the Roman Empire-  would be the Roman Papal rule. We learned that this power would live until Christ's second coming.   We learned that the Papacy fit all the prophet markers of this little horn power- and we know that the papacy still exists today as a unique power. We know that Satan would be in control of this very deceptive power - for deceit is just that something that is all but undetectable in its ability to trick.  It would do NO good for Satan to have a hand in something that wasn't deceptive. Satanists prove that, don't they? Satan deceive more people by appearing as close to the truth as he can, not by announcing his evil.  We know that Daniel was given visions and that so much of his prophetic visions have come true that there is NO way that the rest of his visions will fail. We know that so far in our study that we've been able to account for 490 of the 2300 year prophecy.  So let's do some more math.

Of the dates we've been given that match perfectly what has been prophesized we've been able to arrive at 34 AD. Our starting date beyond a doubt is 457 BC.   490 years are accounted for up to the 34 AD.

Taking our 2300 and subtracting 490 we are left with 1810 years.

Add that 1810 years to the 34 years we come up with the final date of the 2300 year prophecy and that is 1844 AD.

As we've done in the past we have to look at history along with our Bibles for an answer as to what happened in 1844.

We'll begin that study tomorrow, again taking this little bit by little bit.

It's fascinating how all this fits together so perfectly. 

Maybe we can't understand every thing, maybe we're are not meant to understand every thing. We are meant to understand all we need to in order to be saved. Some might argue at this point that all we need is the gospel and no more. It is true that we are only saved through the forgiveness, through the sacrifice of our Savior. And if we accept the sacrifice of our Savior then we have to accept all of Him don't we? We have to accept all He says, not pick and choose what is pleasing to our senses. We can't just accept the feel-good parts and ignore that it was Jesus Himself who told us to WATCH and PRAY.

This studying is part of that watching Jesus wants us to do. 

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Those were Jesus' words!  Jesus talking about Daniel the prophet! We can choose to ignore this, it is our right to do so, or we can choose to take heed and study- watching and praying.

By His love!

By His mercy and grace!

In His righteousness forever!

Through His forgiveness!

Amen.