The Time Prophecy Unfolds

Another vision threw further light on future events. At the close of this vision Daniel heard “a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, ‘For how long is this vision?’” Daniel 8:13, NRSV. The answer was given: “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Verse 14.RR 195.2

Filled with perplexity, Daniel tried to understand the relationship between the seventy years’ captivity and the 2,300 years that would elapse before the cleansing of God’s sanctuary. When the prophet heard the words, “The vision ... refers to many days in the future,” he “fainted and was sick for days.” He wrote of his experience: “Afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.” Verses 26, 27.RR 195.3

Jeremiah’s prophecies were so plain that Daniel understood “the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Daniel 9:2.RR 195.4