Pinpointing the Beginning of the Judgment.
Limited space permits only a brief synopsis of this serious topic. As seen in a previous article, once a year the high priest entered the most holy apartment of the earthly sanctuary and administered a ritual that cleansed it of all the accumulated sins of Israel that had been symbolically transferred to the sanctuary throughout the year. It was a type of the antitypical cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary from the recorded sins of God’s people that are stored there in books, thus defiling it.
The Bible pinpoints the exact time this work of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary (the judgment) began. In Daniel 8:13 a question is asked as to how long the forces of evil would continue to trod underfoot and desecrate the sanctuary and God’s people. At the time of Daniel’s vision the earthly sanctuary was under attack.
The answer is given in verse 14. “And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
According to Jewish reckoning a calendar year was 360 days. Accordingly, 2300 literal days would only be a little over 6 years and Daniel was told the vision would be for many days (verse 26) (far into the future), which made no sense to him, and he was sick for many days (Verse 27).
The angel returned to help him further understand the vison, namely, the time element consisting of 2300 days in which the sanctuary would be cleansed (Daniel 9:23).
In Daniel 8 no starting point is given for the 2300 days, but, as shall be seen, it is given in chapter 9 verses 24, 25.
“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” (Verse 24).
The first step in unlocking the mystery starting date for the 2300 days is the Hebrew word chathak, translated determined in the above. It is only used this one time in the Bible and has three basic meanings, Allotted, decreed, cut off. While allotted and decreed are both applicable it is cut off that provides the key. To be continued next week.