Part 3 · The 2300 Days of Daniel 8:14

Part 3 of 3 · The Heavenly Sanctuary

What is the longest time prophecy in the Bible, and when does it reach its fulfillment? In Daniel 8:14 and Daniel 9:24–27 (KJV), the 2,300 prophetic days—unlocked by the 70 weeks beginning in 457 B.C.—prove that Jesus is the Messiah and pinpoint the 1844 cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.

What Is the Vision of Daniel 8:14 and How Is Prophetic Time Measured?

What solemn question and answer did the prophet Daniel hear at the climax of the vision of chapter 8?

Verse: “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 two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” (Daniel 8:13–14, KJV)

Explanation: In Part 2 of this course, The Day of Atonement and the Judgment, we saw how the earthly Day of Atonement prefigured the final cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. Here in Daniel 8:14, heaven reveals the exact prophetic timetable for when that antitypical cleansing of the sanctuary would begin: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

To what period of world history did the angel Gabriel say the vision of Daniel 8 reaches?

Verse: “And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.” (Daniel 8:16–17, KJV)

Explanation: Because the vision begins with the ram of Medo-Persia and the rough goat of Greece (Daniel 8:20–21)—matching the historicist sequence we studied in Daniel 2: The Rise and Fall of World Empires—and stretches all the way to “the time of the end,” the 2,300 days cannot be literal 24-hour days (which would be less than six and a half years). They are symbolic prophetic days covering centuries of history.

What biblical rule does God give for measuring a day in symbolic Bible prophecy?

Verse: “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” (Numbers 14:34, KJV; see also Ezekiel 4:6: “I have appointed thee each day for a year.”)

Explanation: Throughout apocalyptic Scripture, a symbolic prophetic day represents one literal solar year. By God’s own “day for a year” key (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6), the 2,300 evenings and mornings of Daniel 8:14 represent 2,300 literal years.

Why was the explanation of the 2,300 days left unfinished at the close of Daniel 8?

Verse: “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. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” (Daniel 8:26–27, KJV)

Explanation: Gabriel explained the symbols of the ram, the goat, and the little horn (Daniel 8:20–25), but when he reached “the vision of the evening and the morning” (Hebrew *mar’eh*, the 2,300-day time prophecy of verse 14), Daniel fainted. The chapter closes with Daniel testifying that “none understood” the time portion of the vision.

How Do the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 Unlock the 2300 Years?

Who returned to Daniel in chapter 9, and what did he tell the prophet to “consider”?

Verse: “Yea, whiles 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 me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” (Daniel 9:21–23, KJV)

Explanation: Notice the unmistakable link: the very same angel Gabriel, whom Daniel saw in the vision of chapter 8, returns to finish the explanation that was interrupted when Daniel fainted! He commands Daniel, “consider the vision” (Hebrew *mar’eh*—the exact word used in Daniel 8:26 for the 2,300 evenings and mornings).

How much of the 2,300-year prophecy was “determined” (cut off) for the Jewish nation?

Verse: “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.” (Daniel 9:24, KJV)

Explanation: The Hebrew verb translated “are determined” (*chathak*) literally means “are cut off” or “amputated.” Seventy prophetic weeks—490 prophetic days, or 490 literal years—were “cut off” from the first part of the 2,300 years as a special period of probation for Daniel’s people and Jerusalem.

What historical event marks the starting point of both the 70 weeks and the 2,300 years, and when was it fulfilled?

Verse: “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.” (Daniel 9:25, KJV; see also Ezra 7:13, 21)

Explanation: The complete decree restoring full civil and religious self-government to Jerusalem was issued by King Artaxerxes I of Persia in the seventh year of his reign, in the autumn of 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:7–26). Counting 69 prophetic weeks (483 literal years) from the autumn of 457 B.C. brings us directly to the autumn of A.D. 27—when Jesus was baptized by John and anointed by the Holy Ghost as “the Messiah the Prince” (Luke 3:1–3, 21–22; Acts 10:38), proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:15, KJV).

How did Jesus fulfill the 70th and final week of the 490 years between A.D. 27 and A.D. 34?

Verse: “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.” (Daniel 9:27, KJV; see also verse 26)

Explanation: In “the midst of the week”—three and a half years after His baptism in A.D. 27, at the Passover of spring A.D. 31—“Messiah [was] cut off, but not for himself” (Daniel 9:26, KJV). By His once-for-all sacrifice on Calvary, Jesus caused the earthly sacrificial system to cease in its typical significance, rent the temple veil from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51), and confirmed the covenant for another three and a half years until A.D. 34, when the gospel went to the Gentiles after the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7–8).

What Happened at the End of the 2300 Years in 1844?

When the remaining 1,810 years are added after A.D. 34, to what year does the 2,300-year prophecy reach, and which sanctuary is on earth or in heaven?

Verse: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an 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.” (Hebrews 8:1–2, KJV)

Explanation: Because the first 490 years of the 2,300 years ended in the autumn of A.D. 34, the remaining 1,810 years (`2,300 - 490 = 1,810`) ended in the autumn of A.D. 1844 (`34 + 1810 = 1844`). Since the earthly temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the only sanctuary under the new covenant is “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” in heaven, where Christ ministers as we saw in Part 1 · The Heavenly Sanctuary and Christ’s Priestly Ministry.

What final high-priestly work did Jesus enter upon in 1844 to prepare a people for His Second Coming?

Verse: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. ... It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” (Hebrews 9:12, 23, KJV)

Explanation: Just as the earthly high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the tenth day of the seventh month to cleanse the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:29–30), so at the end of the 2,300 years in 1844 our Great High Priest entered the second and final phase of His atoning ministry in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary—blotting out the sins of all who truly repent and fulfilling the cry of the first angel, “the hour of his judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7, KJV).

Conclusion & Personal Appeal

What a mathematical and spiritual marvel is the prophetic Word of God! The very same prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9 that proves beyond question that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah—baptized on time in A.D. 27 and crucified on time in A.D. 31—also reveals where Jesus is today. Since 1844, our Great High Priest has been ministering in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, completing the final judgment before He returns as King of kings. Come boldly to the throne of grace today, surrender your heart to Jesus, and let His atoning blood cleanse your life forever!

Continue the course: ← Part 2: The Day of Atonement and the Judgment · All parts of The Heavenly Sanctuary