THE TIME WHEN THE SANCTUARY SHALL BE CLEANSED

“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? And he said unto me, Unto 2300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” It seems there were two great systems of abomination which were to afflict the church; “the daily, and the transgression of desolation:” Pagan worship, and Papal superstition and oppression. The inquiry arose, how long shall these oppressive influences be permitted to defile and afflict the church? For that the sanctuary means the church, is evident from Hebrews 8:1, 2. “We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” The church, then, is the true sanctuary, of which Christ is the High Priest. In this sanctuary the tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest at the end of the world, and then be separated by the angels. Matthew 13. The sanctuary will be cleansed, then, when the man of sin is destroyed, at “the day of the Lord,” or when the little horn, Daniel 7th chapter, “is slain and given to the burning flame;” or when he is “broken without hand.”APEC 82.1

But the sanctuary is to be cleansed at the end of 2300 days, or evenings and mornings. When those days are to begin, and what is the length of a day, are the two points to be settled. On these two points the chapter affords no information. It must, therefore, be sought elsewhere. At the close of the vision, after the explanation of it by the angel, Daniel informs us, verse 27th, “And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days; afterwards I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” Here we have the testimony of the prophet that, although the vision had been explained, yet there, were parts of it yet obscure. But all had been explained to him, except the two points under consideration: the nature of the time, and its commencement.APEC 83.1

Accordingly, in the next chapter we have a key to these points. After the prayer of Daniel and his confession of sin, we are told, chapter 9:20, “And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me, about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.”APEC 83.2

1. Gabriel, whom he had seen in the vision at the beginning, was sent to him again. But the vision in the 8th chapter is the first one in which he saw Gabriel. That vision he did not understand. The same divine messenger is sent again,-2. To give him what he had not at the close of the former vision, “skill and understanding.” “Therefore, understand the matter, and consider the vision.” What matter and what vision was he to understand and consider? Why, evidently, the one concerning which Gabriel had before instructed him, the “evening and morning” vision, chapter 8:14.APEC 84.1

He then gave Daniel a key, by which to understand the nature of the time, and when to commence the 2300 days. Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, (the Jews,) and thy holy city, (Jerusalem)-1. “To finish the transgression;” the transgression whereby the national doom of the Jews and Jerusalem should be sealed-the rejection and death of Christ. 2. “To make an end of sin;” by satisfying Divine justice, by the one sin-offering of Jesus Christ. 3. “To make reconciliation for iniquity;” by the atonement of the Savior; for “God hath reconciled us to himself by the death of his Son.” 4. “To bring in everlasting righteousness;” as distinguished from the righteousness obtained by the offerings made under the law, where there was a remembrance of sins again every year. But Christ, by his own blood, entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 5. “To seal up the vision and prophecy;” to confirm or make sure the vision and prophecy, of which this 70 weeks is a supplement and key. For if the first was fulfilled, we may look for the fulfilment of the other in due time. 6. “To anoint the Most Holy,” or “holiest of all,” or “holy of holies.” Thus Christ did, when he entered into the holiest, by his own blood. He consecrated it for us. And we now have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holiest by a new and living way, which he consecrated.APEC 84.2

Thus all which was predicted to take place in the 70 weeks, was accomplished by the death of Christ.APEC 85.1

Then follows the time when the seventy weeks were to begin, viz., at “the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem.” That commandment was given B. C. 457, by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in the seventh year of his reign. See Ezra 7th chapter. From B. C. 457, to A. D. 33, the time of the crucifixion, is 490 years; the exact number of days in 70 weeks. Hence the 70 weeks or 490 days are to be understood as standing each day for a year, 490 years.APEC 85.2

If, then, the 70 weeks are a key to the 2300 “evenings and mornings,” then they also stand for so many years; and beginning B. C. 457, at the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, they will bring us to A. D. 1843, when “the sanctuary is to be cleansed,” and “the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”APEC 85.3

The inquiry, perhaps, may arise, Why commence the 2300 days with the 70 weeks? I reply,-1. Because the 70 weeks was given as a key to the 2300 days, to show when they began. 2. There is no other time to commence but that. For, if we understand them literal days, we are equally at a loss where to begin. If they commenced when the vision was given, the third year of Belshazzar, it is not true that the sanctuary was in any sense cleansed in 2300 days. If they represent 2300 years, and commenced then, they would have ended A. D. 1747, when no event transpired which could be called the cleansing of the sanctuary. But, leaving that point, we have no other period at which to commence but the one designated in the 70 weeks’ prophecy. Indeed, it is now admitted by the strongest opponents of these views, that the two periods were to begin together; but then they contend that the cleansing of the sanctuary means the restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem, and the commencement of a temporal millennium. But it has already been shown, from Luke 21:24, that “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;” and that “then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory.” So that the Jews will never be restored to Jerusalem, until the Son of Man comes to possess his everlasting kingdom. Again; Gabriel declared expressly, “At the time of the end shall be the vision.” And the time of the end will be shown to be, from the fall of Popery, 1798, to the end itself.APEC 86.1

Once more. The same divine messenger declares, verse 19th, “At the time appointed (2300 days) the end shall be.” So, when the 2300 days are ended, the end of the reign of wickedness will come, and “the sanctuary be cleansed.”APEC 87.1

If it be asked, “If your calculation on this point should fail, will it not shake your confidence in the Bible? “I reply, by no means. I admit there is a possibility of an error in our chronology, and if so, it will affect this calculation. But I must, even then, believe that the great event is at the door. But I now believe our chronological reckoning to be correct, and that 1843 will witness the cleansing of the sanctuary.APEC 87.2

If it is true that we stand upon the verge of the great event is it not vastly important that the world were awake to it? And can ministers of the gospel be guiltless, and yet refuse even to give the subject a candid and through investigation? They are God’s watchmen, placed on Zion’s walls to mark the signs of the times, and receive the word at God’s mouth, and give the people warning from him. But if, instead of doing their duty, and candidly looking at this subject as presented in the word of God, the history of the world, and the present signs of the times, they content themselves with believing the old doctrine of “the Jews’ return,” “the temporal millennium,” etc., thus crying, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” and lull their flock to sleep on the subject, how will they answer it at “the great tribunal?”APEC 87.3