The 2,300 Days

When will the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary take place?

Daniel 8:14 Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

NOTE: When this prophecy is studied and compared with history we find that the 2,300 days ends in the year A.D. 1844 and the "cleansing of the sanctuary," also known as "the judgment," begins.

NOTE: In this text the prophet Daniel is told when the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary will take place, but the starting point is not given until the next chapter—in Daniel 9:25.

Daniel 8:16 And I heard a man's voice ... which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

NOTE: The angel was told to make Daniel understand the vision.

Daniel 8:27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

NOTE: The angel's explanation of the vision is cut short by Daniel's illness. But neither Daniel nor his friends understand the 2,300 day part of the vision.

Daniel 9:21-23 Whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning... talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding... therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

NOTE: Several years after Daniel's vision about the 2,300 days, an angel came to finish explaining the vision of Daniel 8 to him.

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city... to seal up the vision and prophecy.

NOTE: The angel expands the vision to include 70 prophetic weeks that were "determined upon" or allotted to the Jews and the city of Jerusalem. God was giving His chosen nation 490 years to accomplish its purpose of presenting the Messiah to the world.

Daniel 9:25 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.

NOTE: The angel told Daniel to begin counting the 2,300-day and 70-week prophecies from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This decree was originated by Cyrus (537 B.C.), reaffirmed by Darius (519 B.C.) and completed by Artaxerxes, king of Persia (457 B.C.) [see Ezra 6:14]. This final decree restored Israel to full governmental authority (see Ezra 7:7-26). In Bible prophecy, one prophetic day equals one literal year (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6; Luke 13:32). Adding 69 weeks, or 483 prophetic days (69 x 7 = 483), to 457 B.C. brings us to the year A.D. 27. Jesus was baptized and began His ministry in A.D. 27. Taking 457 B.C. when the decree was completed, as the date of the commandment, every specification of the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks is seen to have been fulfilled.

Daniel 9:26, 27 After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself ... 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.

NOTE: The prophecy next predicted that Jesus would be "cut off" or crucified, in the middle of the last week of the 70 week prophecy. Three and one-half years from His anointing in the fall of A.D. 27 would take us to the spring of A.D. 31, which is precisely when Jesus was crucified.

Matthew 10:5, 6 Go not into the way of the Gentiles ... But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

NOTE: Jesus told His disciples to preach first to the Jews because they still had three and one-half years remaining to accept and proclaim the Messiah. Jesus' disciples preached to the Jews for that final three and one-half years, until the nation officially rejected the gospel message in A.D. 34 when Stephen, a righteous deacon, was publicly stoned.

Daniel 8:14 Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

NOTE: Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly fulfilled. The beginning of the 70-week prophecy is fixed beyond question in 457 B.C., and its expiration in A.D. 34. From this data there is no difficulty in finding the termination of the 2,300 days in 1844. Thus the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary is definitely pointed out.

The Floating Week

Some Bible students detach the last week (or seven literal years) of the 490-year prophecy given in Daniel and apply it to Antichrist's work at the end of time and a seven-year tribulation. There is no Bible support for this practice.

Let's review a few facts:

A. The 490-year prophecy is a continuous time period.

B. The starting point for the last seven years of the prophecy was Jesus' baptism (A.D. 27) [See Mark 1:15].

C. At the moment of His death on the cross, in the spring of A.D. 31, Jesus cried out, "It is finished," thus fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 9 as follows:

1. "Messiah" would be "cut off," or crucified (verse 26).

2. He would "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" by dying for all as the true Lamb of God (verse 27; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 15:3).

3. He would "make reconciliation for iniquity" (verse 24).

His coming as the foretold Messiah, right on time, proved all dates of the entire 490- and 2,300-year prophecy to be flawless and complete.

October 22, 1844

Beginning in the year 1833 and extending through the fall of 1844 the Lord sent a message worldwide to warn of the coming day of judgment, the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. Hundreds of ministers all over the world were preaching the message that the hour of His judgment is come. Dr. Joseph Wolff, "Missionary to the World," preached the message in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Edward Irving ignited the message in the British Isles. Manuel De Lacunza authored a book on the subject under the pseudonym "Rabbi Ben-Ezra," that went all over South America. And Baptist William Miller spread the word in the United States. Historians refer to this time as the great awakening because of the religious revival that swept the world.

These ministers failed to connect the cleansing of the sanctuary with God's sanctuary in heaven and instead accepted the prevailing theory that the earth was the sanctuary, teaching that the Lord would come and cleanse the earth with fire in 1844. As the year 1844 approached the believers searched more and more urgently for the exact date of the great event. Historical research revealed that the 2,300 day prophecy extended to the autumn of 1844. Then they were led to see that the date of the Old Testament Day of Atonement, which typified the cleansing of the sanctuary, was October 22. Just as Christ, the passover lamb, was crucified on the exact date of the yearly passover service so this event, the cleansing of the sanctuary, also began on the exact date of the yearly Day of Atonement.

After the joyously expected date passed and the Lord did not come the believers were greatly disappointed. Many gave up their faith, but others searched the Bible and asked their Lord to show them what had happened on October 22. These faithful ones were shown that the error was not in the time but in the event. They found that on October 22, 1844 the judgment began in the Most Holy place of the heavenly sanctuary above.