As the prophet watched the work of this lawless power, his heart must have cried out to know how long it was to be allowed to prosper in its evil way; for next he heard the voice of a holy one asking the question for him,
"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 underfoot?" Dan. 8:13.
The answer was,
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verse 14.
In symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. Eze. 4:6. This is a long period, therefore, of 2300 years. It reaches to the latter days; for the angel said of it, "At the time of the end shall be the vision." Dan. 8:17.
The question was, "How long?" or literally, "Until when?" and the answer was, "Until two thousand and three hundred days." Then what was to come to deal with the great apostasy?—"Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The cleansing of the sanctuary, therefore, must have something to do with meeting the great apostasy, lifting up God's truth that has been trampled underfoot, and cutting short the reign of evil. The cleansing of the sanctuary, with all that is involved in it, must be God's answer to this lawless power.
Error may prosper for a time; but the just balances of the sanctuary will at last pronounce righteous judgment, and the prosperity of evil will be cut short. "I was envious ... when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," said the psalmist, "until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." Ps. 73:3, 17.
What, then, is involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary, the time of which is marked by the long prophetic period? It is for us to understand; for it is a work pertaining to the latter days.
The Bible teaching concerning the sanctuary of the Levitical service shows clearly that the cleansing of the sanctuary is God's answer to error and apostasy.
The priestly service of the earthly sanctuary, or temple, in the days of Israel, was typical of the work of Christ, our High Priest, in the heavenly temple. The earthly priests served after "the example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:5. And of Christ's ministry in the heavenly temple we are told:
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8:1, 2.
In the earthly service, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the closing work of the high priest, marking the end of the yearly round of mediatory ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary in the time of the end must, therefore, according to the sure teaching of the type, be the closing ministry of our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, before He lays aside His priestly work to come in glory.
There were two distinct phases in the priestly ministry of the tabernacle in Israel. The sanctuary was built with two apartments, the holy place and the most holy.
In the holy place were the candlestick with its seven lights, the table with its ever-renewed "bread of the presence," and the altar of incense, on which sweet incense, symbol of Christ's continual intercession, was burned morning and night.
Within the inner veil was the most holy place, where was the ark containing the tables of the law, written with the finger of God. The cover of the ark was the golden mercy-seat, above which, at either end, stood two cherubim of gold, their wings meeting on high, their faces looking ever toward the mercy-seat. It was a type of the throne of God—the angels about the throne, the law the foundation of His government, the mercy-seat typifying the interposition of mercy and pardon for the sinner; and above it the visible glory of the Lord, the Shekinah.
"There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony." Ex. 25:22.
Of the service in the first apartment it is stated:
"When these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God." Heb. 9:6.
"Day by day the sacrificial victims were slain at the altar before the outer veil, and the blood was 'brought into the sanctuary' by the priest." This was an acknowledgment of transgression of God's law, meriting death, and a confession of faith in the Lamb of God who was to suffer death in the sinner's stead, and whose atoning blood would plead for him before the righteous law.
Thus day by day, either by the sprinkling of the blood "before the Lord" or by eating a portion of the flesh of the burnt offering in the holy place, the ministry of the priests transferred the sin in type to the sanctuary, and the sinner was pardoned.
For a full year, lacking one day, the ministry was in the first apartment, or holy place only. But on that last day of the yearly round of service—"the tenth day of the seventh month"—the high priest entered the second apartment, or most holy place.
"Into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people." Heb. 9:7.
In this service the high priest sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat and in the holy place, "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel." The sanctuary was to be reconciled or cleansed from all the sins registered there in type through the blood of the offerings brought day by day during the year.
As the high priest came out, bearing the sins, he transferred them all to the head of the scapegoat, which was sent away into the wilderness; and thus "all their iniquities" were borne away from the camp into the wilderness, and the sanctuary was cleansed. See Leviticus 16.
This was a solemn time of judgment in Israel. Every man's life came in review that day. Was every sin confessed? Whosoever was not found right with God, when that service was performed, was cut off from having a part with God's people.
"It is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people." Lev. 23:28, 29.
It was indeed an annual day of judgment in Israel. And all this was an "example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:5.
Therefore the last phase of Christ's ministry as our high priest in the sanctuary of God above, must be a work of judgment, a review of the heavenly record, corresponding to the final ministry in the second apartment of the earthly tabernacle, when that sanctuary was cleansed.
Daniel the prophet was shown in vision this change in the ministry of our High Priest, namely, from the first to the second apartment of the heavenly temple. He describes the wondrous scene, as God's living throne, with its wheels flaming with glory, moved into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, for the closing work of Christ's ministry:
"I beheld till the thrones were cast down ["placed," R.V.], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:9, 10.
This scene, as the next verse shows, opens while still on earth the apostasy is exalting itself. But during this same time a solemn judgment work is going forward in heaven above, the finishing of which will give God's answer to the apostasy, and bring the second coming of Christ in glory to end the reign of sin. It is the cleansing of the sanctuary,—the time when in reality and not in type every case registered in the sanctuary comes in final review before God. When that work closes, according to the type, whosoever is not found right with God will be cut off from having any part with His redeemed people.
Then the priestly ministry of Christ will close, and the destiny of every soul will be fixed for all eternity. To that time must apply the words spoken by Jesus:
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: ... and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." Rev. 22:11, 12.
But now the Saviour, from His place of ministry on high, speaks to all the encouraging exhortation and assurance:
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." Rev. 3:5.
To let men on earth know when this judgment work, the cleansing of the sanctuary, began in heaven, the prophetic period of 2300 years was given. It is of most solemn importance that we know when that period begins and ends.
The commission to the angel Gabriel was, "Make this man to understand the vision" (Dan. 8:16); therefore in the angel's explanation of the vision of Daniel 8, we must assuredly find the interpretation of the prophetic period of 2300 years, the close of which marks the opening of the judgment work in heaven, or the cleansing of the sanctuary.
The eighth chapter closes, however, with no reference to the beginning of this period of time, a most important measuring line of prophecy. The angel had explained the symbols representing Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, and had dwelt upon the antichristian work of the apostasy that was to develop; but he left the time of the prophetic period unexplained, save to say that it was "true," and that it would be "for many days"—far in the future. Here the angel stopped, for Daniel fainted. In spirit the prophet had been gazing upon the warfare of the great apostasy against God's truth through the ages, and evidently it took all strength from him. Daniel closes the account of this vision with the words, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Verse 27.
The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest prophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in b.c. 457 when the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26; Dan. 9:25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate the time occupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ was anointed in 27 a.d., at His baptism. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth week (31 a.d.), Christ was crucified or "cut off," which marked the time when the sacrifices and oblations of the earthly sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9:25, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this week reach to 34 a.d., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed. Acts 7:59; 8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.
But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial or priestly work in it.
Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period,—the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.]
But the angel had been commanded, "Make this man to understand the vision;" and soon after, as recorded in the next chapter,—possibly within a year,[G]—Gabriel appeared to the prophet with the words:
"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.... Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Dan. 9:22, 23.
Thereupon the angel began to deal with the matter of time in the prophecy, the very feature of the vision of the eighth chapter that he had not yet made Daniel understand. Therefore the vision of the 2300 years must be the topic.
First of all, the angel said that a short period was to be cut off from the long period, and allotted to the Jewish people; this short period was to reach to the coming of the promised Messiah and the filling up of the measure of Jerusalem's transgressions. The angel's own words are:
"Seventy weeks [490 days, prophetic time, or 490 literal years] are determined [cut off, as the word means] 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." Verse 24.
This 490-year period "cut off" was to cover the history of the people of Jerusalem until that city had filled out the measure of its transgression. The only prophetic period from which this 490 years can properly be said to be "cut off" is, assuredly, the longer period of 2300 years, which stretches far onward to "the time of the end." The 490 years and the 2300 years, then, must begin at the same time.
It was the time period that the angel Gabriel was yet to explain; and he begins the explanation by showing that the first 490 years of it would reach to the days of the Messiah. Then he gives the event that marks the beginning of the 490 years, which event must necessarily mark the beginning of the 2300 years as well.
This is what he was commissioned to make Daniel "understand" when first the vision of the 2300 years was given. Now he tells him to "understand" it:
"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. 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." Dan. 9:25, 26.
The date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is the date, therefore, from which the great prophetic measuring line runs; the first 490 years of it to reach to the time and work of the Messiah, at the first advent, the full 2300 years running on to mark the time when the judgment hour in heaven opens. Once the starting-point is fixed, all the events of the long period must follow exactly as scheduled in the time-table of divine prophecy.
There were several commands issued concerning the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes Longimanus each issued such a decree. Which one answers to the language of the prophecy as "the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem"?
The decree of Artaxerxes was most comprehensive (Ezra 7), authorizing the full restoration of the civil and religious administration of Jerusalem and Judea. And Inspiration specifically sums up all the decrees as completed only in that of Artaxerxes, which thus constituted "the commandment:"
"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6:14.
According to this scripture, the full "going forth of the commandment to restore and to build," dates from this decree of Artaxerxes. And this decree went forth "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king." Ezra 7:7.
What year was this seventh year of Artaxerxes—a date so important to fix to a certainty?
The great chronological standard for the kings of the ancient empires is the canon, or historical rule, of Ptolemy. Ptolemy was a Greek historian, geographer, and astronomer, who lived in the temple of Serapis, near Alexandria, Egypt. From ancient records he prepared a chronological table of the kings of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome (carrying the Roman list to his own time, which was the second century after Christ). Along with his list of kings and the years of their succession, Ptolemy compiled a record of ancient observations of eclipses. In such and such a year of a king, for instance, on a given day of the month, an eclipse of the sun or moon would be recorded. Astronomers have worked out these observations, and verified them. The learned Dr. William Hales said:
"To the authenticity of these copies of Ptolemy's canon, the strongest testimony is given by their exact agreement throughout, with above twenty dates and computations of eclipses in Ptolemy's Almagest."—"Chronology," Vol. I, p. 166.
Thus, says James B. Lindsay, an English chronologist, "a foundation is laid for chronology sure as the stars." So the sun and the stars, the divinely appointed timekeepers, bear their witness to the accuracy of the historical record.
We thank God for this, as we desire to know if we may depend upon Ptolemy's canon to help us fix to a certainty the seventh year of Artaxerxes.
According to Ptolemy, Artaxerxes succeeded to the throne in the two hundred and eighty-fourth year of the canon. In modern reckoning, this two hundred and eighty-fourth year runs from Dec. 17, 465 b.c., to Dec. 17, 464 b.c. The canon does not tell at what part of the year a king succeeded to the throne; it only deals with whole years. The question is, to be exact, Did Artaxerxes come to the throne in December, 465 b.c., or at some time in the year 464 b.c.? At what season of the year did the king take the throne? Some historians, dealing with the matter roughly, date the succession from the year 465. But in dealing with divine prophecy, we require certainty upon which to base the reckoning of the seventh year of Artaxerxes, from which date the prophetic period runs.
And in God's providence we do have certainty. Of all the kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, in Ptolemy's long list, there is but one concerning whose succession the Scriptures give us the very time of the year—and that one is Artaxerxes. The one case in which we need to know to a certainty the season of the year, in order to fix an important date in prophecy, is the one case in which Inspiration gives exactly the particulars. Who cannot see the hand of God in this?
The combined record of Neh. 1:1; 2:1 and Ezra 7:7-9,[H] shows that Artaxerxes came to the throne between the fifth month of the Jewish year and the ninth month,—roughly, between August and December,—or in the autumn. The Bible gives one part of the record, and Ptolemy's canon gives another part; and by the combined record we know that Artaxerxes came to the throne late in the year 464 b.c., and thus the seventh year of his reign would be 457 b.c. This is the date fixed by other sources of reliable chronology also, Sir Isaac Newton having worked out several lines of evidence from ancient authorities, in each case reaching the year 464 b.c. as the first of Artaxerxes, which makes the seventh to be 457 b.c.
In the seventh year of Artaxerxes the commandment went forth to restore and to build Jerusalem, and this event fixes the beginning of the 2300 years, as also of the 490 years cut off from it upon the Jewish people.
That year, 457 b.c., therefore, is a date of profound importance. It stands like the golden milestone in the ancient Forum at Rome, from which ran out all the measurements of distance to the ends of the empire. From this date, 457 b.c., run out the golden threads of time prophecy that touch events in the earthly life and the heavenly ministry of Jesus that are of deepest eternal interest to all mankind today.
[G] The dates placed in the margin of the King James Version indicate a period of fifteen years between the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel. This was because in former days it was thought that Belshazzar was the Bible name of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, who reigned seventeen years. In that case, from "the third year" of his reign, when the prophecy of Daniel 8 was given, to the "first year of Darius," who succeeded him, when the angel appeared again to Daniel, would be fifteen years. But the unearthing of the buried records of Babylonia during the last half century, reveals the fact that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, associated with him on the throne as king for a few years before the fall of Babylon. The third year of his reign may very likely have been the last year; and Darius immediately followed Belshazzar. The explanation of the ninth chapter might have been within a few weeks or months following the vision of chapter 8, and probably was.
[H] These texts show that the king came to the throne in the autumn, so that the actual years of his reign would run from autumn to autumn. Neh. 1:1 begins the record: "In the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year." Neh. 2:1 continues: "It came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes." Thus it is plain that in the monthly calendar of the king's actual reign the month Chisleu came first in order, and then Nisan. Chisleu was the ninth month of the Jewish sacred year, roughly, December. Nisan is the first month, April. And these months, December, April,—in that order,—came in the first year of the king, of course, the same as in his twentieth year. And in the same year also came the fifth month, August; for Ezra 7:7-9 shows that the first and fifth months—in that order—also fell in the same year of his reign. Then we know of a certainty that his reign began somewhere between August and December, that is, in the autumn. The first year of Artaxerxes was from the latter part of 464 b.c. to the latter part of 463, and the seventh year, as readily counted off, would be from near the end of 458 to near the end of 457. Under the commission to Ezra, the people began to go up to Jerusalem in the spring of that year, 457 b.c. (in the first month, or April), and they "came to Jerusalem in the fifth month" (August). Ezra 7:8, 9. Ezra and his associates soon thereafter "delivered the kings commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God." Ezra 8:36. With this delivery of the commissions to the king's officers, the commandment to restore and to build had, most certainly, fully gone forth. And from this date, 457 b.c., extends the great prophetic period.
The angel explained to Daniel the events of the seventy weeks allotted to Jerusalem and its people "to finish the transgression." Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (69 weeks) of the seventy were to reach to the Messiah. The angel's words were:
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression.... 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 [69 weeks, or 483 days]." Dan. 9:24, 25.
The sixty-nine weeks, symbolic time, are 483 years, which were to reach from the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince.
The commandment of Artaxerxes to restore and build Jerusalem, as we have seen, went forth in 457 b.c. Reckoning from that date, 483 full years bring us to A.D. 27, when, according to the prophecy, the Messiah should appear.
Messiah means "anointed." The anointing of Jesus, and His manifestation as the Anointed One, was at His baptism:
"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3:16, 17.
Thus Jesus was anointed as the Messiah (see Acts 10:38), and John proclaimed: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29.
When did this baptism and anointing take place? The Gospel of Luke supplies the historical facts for fixing the year:
"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea," etc. Luke 3:1-3.
Tiberius followed Augustus, who died in A.D. 14. But before the latter's death, Tiberius was associated with him on the throne. Some modern historians date this appointment of Tiberius as Cæsar from A.D. 13; but the "History of Rome," by Dion Cassius, a Roman senator, born in the second century, shows, under events of A.D. 12, that Augustus recognized Tiberius as holding the imperial dignity at that time. (Book 56, chap. 26.) Again, Dr. Philip Schaff says:
"There are coins from Antioch in Syria of the date A.U. 765 [A.D. 12], with the head of Tiberius and the inscription, Kaisar, Sebastos (Augustus)."—"History of the Christian Church," Vol. I, p. 120, footnote.
These coins from Syria bear certain witness that the first year of Tiberius should be counted from A.D. 12. Therefore "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar" would be A.D. 27, just 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem. The prophecy of the sixty-nine weeks was fulfilled—the Messiah had come.
But "one week" of the seventy remained—seven years. Of the Messiah's work during this time the angel said:
"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." Dan. 9:27.
Christ's death upon the cross made "the sacrifice and the oblation to cease," so far as their appointed force was concerned. After three years and a half of ministry, "in the midst" of this seven-year period, the prophetic week, the Messiah was lifted up on Calvary. For centuries the sure word of prophecy had pointed to this supreme hour in the working out of the plan of salvation. When the time was fulfilled, the promise of God was fulfilled also, and the divine Sacrifice was offered.
With the offering of the great Sacrifice, all the typical offerings ceased to have significance. The veil of the temple was rent when the Lamb of God expired upon the cross,—sign to all that He had caused "the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
The Messiah was to "confirm the covenant with many for one week," filling out the seventy weeks allotted in God's merciful patience especially to the people of the Jews. Three and a half years of Christ's personal ministry on earth had been devoted to the chosen people. Now, after His ascension, He was still, in the persons of His disciples, to press the gospel of the new covenant especially upon the Jewish people—"to the Jew first," and "beginning at Jerusalem."
This last seven-year period, beginning in A.D. 27, ended in A.D. 34. By that time the opposition of the Jews was becoming exceedingly bitter. As a people they were rejecting again the divine invitation extended by the risen Christ through His witnesses. About A.D. 34 Stephen was martyred. The same council that, against all evidence, had rejected the Messiah, again rejected the appeal of the Holy Ghost shining visibly on Stephen's countenance.
The believers in Jerusalem were driven out by persecution; and "they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." Acts 8:4. The Gentiles gave heed in Samaria, and the Ethiopian received the gospel on the road to Gaza. The gospel message had fairly passed the boundaries of Jerusalem and was on its way to the "uttermost parts of the earth."
Though the seventy weeks cut off upon the Jewish people and upon the holy city had ended, to the world's end the gospel of Christ's salvation is for that people as well as for all other nations.
It must not be forgotten that the angel was explaining to Daniel the vision and prophecy of the long prophetic period that was to reach to the cleansing of the sanctuary at the time of the end.
These events of the first seventy weeks of that period were "to seal up the vision and prophecy." Dan. 9:24. The shedding of the blood of the divine Sacrifice "to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness," set Heaven's seal to the vision. As surely as the great Offering had been made, so surely the cleansing of the sanctuary would be accomplished by the ministry of our High Priest in heaven.
And the exact fulfilment of the time schedule for this first portion of the prophetic period, set seal to the declaration that when the full 2300 years should run out, the closing ministry of Christ would surely begin in the heavenly sanctuary.
From 457 b.c., when the commandment of Artaxerxes to restore Jerusalem went forth, the measuring line of the 2300 years reaches to the year A.D. 1844. In that year the time of the prophecy came. Then the cleansing of the sanctuary was to begin.
The prophet John, in the Revelation, beheld the opening of this last phase of the ministry of Christ in the most holy place of the temple of God. "The temple of God was opened in heaven," he says, "and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." Rev. 11:19. The prophet heard voices saying, "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged." Verse 18.
Again we must quote Daniel's description of the opening of this ministry in the most holy place of the heavenly temple. He saw thrones of judgment set up. He saw the moving throne of the Almighty, with its wheels of naming glory, take its position for the final work of our High Priest in the holy of holies above:
"I beheld till the thrones were cast down [placed], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:9, 10.
This was the scene enacted in the heavenly temple when the year 1844 brought the judgment hour. Then began in heaven the work of the investigative judgment, or the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, during which the case of every individual will come in review before God.
When that work of investigation is finished, the ministry of Christ for sin will end, human probation will close, and our Lord will quickly come as King of kings and Lord of lords, to gather His redeemed, while all sinners will be destroyed by "the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:8.
In the vision of Daniel 8, as the great apostasy was seen warring against God's truth, the question was asked, "How long shall be the vision,... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" The answer was, in effect, In 1844 the cleansing of the sanctuary will begin in heaven,—the hour of God's judgment, that will give God's answer to sin and apostasy.
We are living in the great antitypical day of atonement, for which all heaven has been waiting. The end is at hand. And while that work is proceeding in heaven above, the Lord proclaims a special message on earth, lifting up again truths long trodden underfoot, and calling men to prepare for the coming of the Lord.