| Daniel 8: |
1: In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision
appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at
the first. 2: And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. 3: Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4: I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. 5: And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6: And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had there seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. 7: And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8: Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. 9: And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. 10: And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 11: Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12: And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. 13: 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? 14: And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 15: And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. 16: And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17: 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. 18: Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. 19: And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. 20: The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 21: And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22: Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. 23: And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24: And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25: And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 26: 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. 27: 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. |
This symbolic prophecy has intrigued believers ever since it was first penned by the prophet Daniel. To understand its message and how it concerns believers living in these last days we must endeavor to identify the following:
In this article we shall attempt to answer these questions and each of the following sections will bear the same number as the question it answers. For example: Question 1 will be answered in Section 1 and Question 2 in Section 2 and so on.
| Luke 1: |
67: And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied,
saying, 68: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69: And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
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| 1 Samuel 2: |
1: And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn
is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because
I rejoice in thy salvation. 10: The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
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1 Samuel 16: |
1: And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I
have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil,
and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a
king among his sons. 13: Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.
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Psalm 18: |
2: The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God,
my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of
my salvation, and my high tower.
|
Psalm 92: |
8: But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. 9: For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10: But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. |
The archangel Gabriel told Daniel, the great horn is the first king (of Greece). The first earthly king of ancient Greece was Alexander the Great. His military might enabled him to overthrow the Medo-Persian empire symbolized in this prophecy by the ram. But, the question arises: What ‘horn’ (higher, motivating spiritual power) was behind Alexander the Great? There is little doubt, Alexander was one of history's greatest generals; but what spirit (horn) motivated and empowered him?
In our humble opinion, Alexander the Great was merely the earthly tool of a spirit being on high, which empowered and used him to conquer the vast regions between Italy and India. This evil spirit was Alexander’s ‘horn,’ the inspiration, motivation and power behind his astonishing victories. It even convinced Alexander, he was the Son of God! But, it brought about his death in Babylon in the year 323 BC when Alexander was only 33 years old!
That spirit being was itself ‘broken’ at the time of Alexander's death and its dominion taken over by four other ‘horns’ who subsequently took over and controlled the remnants of the ancient Grecian empire: Rome, Greece, Serbia, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Iraq etc. These nations and the other remnants of the Grecian empire are scheduled to continue as earthly powers till the end of this age.
In short, we see in Daniel chapter 8 and several other symbolic prophecies, ‘horns’ represent ‘spirit powers’ at work in world affairs. Horns fall into two categories:
| Hebrews 8: | 5: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. |
Are we saying, the heavenly sanctuary is to be polluted and will later need cleansing? Yes we are. According to this prophecy, the Antichrist (the Little Horn) is scheduled to desecrate the heavenly sanctuary by his very presence. He will enter the sanctuary in heaven and will blasphemously challenge the Prince of the heavenly host! We quote:
| Daniel 8: |
9: And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed
exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the
pleasant land. 10: And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 11: Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. |
| Numbers 28: |
1: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2: Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season. 3: And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering. 4: The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even; |
The daily sacrifice of two ordinary lambs was simply a ‘symbolic counterpart,’ a ‘shadow,’ a ‘figure’ or ‘type’ of Yeshua the true Lamb of God, who died on Calvary and whose blood would thereafter cleanse the contrite and repentant sinner.
When Yeshua the Messiah ascended to heaven, he began to officiate in the heavenly sanctuary on behalf of sinful man. There he presents and pleads the merits of his own blood on behalf of those who seek forgiveness of sin. It is not necessary for Yeshua the Lamb of God to die over and over again; but, it is necessary for him to intercede - each day - on behalf of sinners who daily confess their sins and request his mercy and forgiveness.
This daily procedure (the daily sacrifice) is what the Antichrist will stop! We freely admit, this drama seems so blasphemous, that it is difficult to even imagine. But again, we must remind the reader, that is what the prophecy is saying. It is not forecasting the stopping of the daily sacrifice in an earthly sanctuary; a sacrifice which was stopped, started, stopped and started time and time again, before and after Daniel's day.
No, the daily sacrifice the Little Horn will stop for 2300 days, is that which is made in the heavenly sanctuary! After a fierce conflict in heaven itself, the Little Horn will expel some of the heavenly host from the sanctuary above, challenge Yeshua the Prince of princes and stop the daily sacrifice! Pause dear reader and try to imagine the enormity of such a blasphemous act on the Little Horn's part. You will need to read this article again and again to appreciate what is being presented here.
| Numbers 14: |
34: 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.
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| Ezekiel 4: | 6: And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. |
But, is it correct to say; in every prophecy involving time, one day represents one year? We don't think so. A prophetic day only represents a year if the prophetic language so implies, as in the case of Ezekiel 4: 6 or Daniel 9: 24. If the prophetic language doesn't give this indication, as in the case of Daniel 8: 14, Daniel 12: 11-12 and Revelation 11: 3, then a day equals a normal day of 24 hours and a year is a normal year. For example the Savior prophesied:
| Matthew 12: | 40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. |
We all know, in this prophecy a day meant a literal day and not a year. In the book of Revelation, we also see, a year is a year and no more.
| Revelation 20: |
4: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and
for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5: But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. |
In short, the 2300 days mentioned in Daniel chapter 8 is 2300 ordinary days; which is about six and a half ordinary years. Believers who reckon, 2300 prophetic days means 2300 ordinary years, have been obliged to place the start of this prophecy in the distant past - over 2300 years ago. To find out if they are correct in their computation, we will consider the next question, which is:
In short, the 2300 day desecration of the heavenly sanctuary will occur ‘at the time of the end,’ ... ‘in the last end of the indignation,’... when ‘transgressors are come to the full.’ Gabriel went on to advise Daniel (verse 26) to shut thou up the vision; in other words, to seal it up as it was not to occur for ‘many days.’ All this means, this 2300 day period (about six and a half years) will occur just before the Savior returns to earth. That means it could start any time in the very near future!
Some Christian groups begin counting the 2300 day period way back in the past (in 457 BC), which was not long after Belshazzar's reign, when the prophecy was given. Why do they do this when Gabriel expressly advised Daniel to ‘shut thou up the vision;’ for it shall be for ‘many days:’ that it would occur ‘at the time of the end,’ in the ‘last days’ when ‘transgressors are come to the full’? The answer is, because they believe, the 2300 day period of Daniel 8 and the 490 year period of Daniel 9 both start at the same time - in the year 457 BC. To use a common starting date for these two prophecies is a serious error which must be corrected. These two prophecies (Daniel 8 and Daniel 9) though only a chapter apart in the Bible were, in fact, given some 15 years apart; and each prophecy is distinctly different from the next. For example:
The 2300 Day Prophecy
The 70 Weeks of Years Prophecy
These comparisons make it perfectly obvious, the prophecies of Daniel 8 and Daniel 9 DO NOT start at the same time.
The Appointed Time
Most students of Bible prophecy are well aware, the LORD God of Abraham,
Isaac and Israel works to a strict timetable in which every major event
occurs at His appointed time. This fact is made clear in texts such as:
| Luke 9: |
51: And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be
received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
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| John 7: |
6: Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.
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| Galatians 4: |
4: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law.
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| Acts 17: | 31: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. |
It is exactly the same with this period of 2300 days. These days will start at the Almighty's appointed time some six and a half years before the Savior returns to earth. Of course, no one knows the exact day of the Savior's return (Matthew 24: 36). So, we cannot determine the start-year of the 2300 days. Judging from the natural and social conditions on earth, we know, the Savior's return is near. How much nearer do you suppose is the start of this awesome 2300 day period?
The Feast Days of the God of Israel
In the Almighty's timetable (diary), there are certain appointed days of
extreme importance. He calls them His
Feast Days (Leviticus 23). These
are the sacred appointments, the Almighty commands His followers to remember and
observe. To ignore them is extremely dangerous. Why? Because, there is a direct
link between Yahweh's Feast Days and the Time Prophecies of Daniel
and Revelation. Failure to observe an appointed Feast, could well result
in a believer missing the divine signal and warning of which the prophecy tells.
Bird Migration
Most of us have read about or witnessed the miracle of bird migration.
Every year billions of earth's creatures, birds, animals, insects and reptiles
migrate from place to place. Often, over thousands of miles, escaping the
rigours of extreme weather conditions; freezing winters or scorching summers.
Did the Almighty create such breath-taking annual demonstrations for nothing?
Or, did He have lessons in them for mankind? According to His Word, the LORD
God of Israel staged the miracle of ‘bird migration’ as a
practical lesson for all mankind to prepare for
Judgment.
| Jeremiah 8: | 7: Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. |
This warning, to prepare for Judgment, is repeated again and again in Scripture. People should not delude themselves into thinking, they can continue in sin and escape punishment.
| Zephaniah 2: |
1: Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2: Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you. 3: Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger. |
“But,” you may well ask, “Why was this prophecy given and of what danger is the LORD warning us?”
When the daily sacrifice is stopped, an unrestrained Satanic reign of terror will begin throughout the universe. On earth, a Time of Trouble will engulf mankind; trouble the likes of which has never been seen before, nor will ever be seen again. Scripture tells us, during this time, the Man of Sin, the Little Horn, the Antichrist will sit on the throne of God and proclaim himself God Almighty!
| 2 Thessalonians 2: |
3: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition; 4: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. |
Is this almost unbelievably blasphemous act actually going to happen? It is; for that is what the prophecy is saying. It would be foolish to ignore it. We see a preview of such a blasphemous act in the behavior of Absalom, who revolted against his father king David and attempted to take over the throne of Israel. In order to prove to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that he was their new king, Absalom pitched a tent on the palace roof and there he raped his father's concubines.
| 2 Samuel 16: | 22: So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. |
Satan and the Antichrist will do the same on a universal scale durring the 2300 days. Their goal has always been to dethrone Yahweh and His son Yeshua and to secure the worship of heaven's host. They will make their devilish take-over bid durring the 2300 days and to prove to the inhabitants of the universe, just how depraved the Antichrist and Satan are. The Almighty will allow this to happen!
What will the people of God be doing during that critical time?
Believe it or not, the vast majority of mankind and a major section of the church,
will suffer under the Little Horn's rule. They will be ‘given over to
believe the lie, because they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved.’ The Antichrist will harass the people of God during
this time. We read about this in Daniel chapter 7, where the Little Horn's attack
on the saints is briefly described.
| Daniel 7: |
21: I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed
against them.
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| Daniel 7: | 25: And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. |
Will all Yahweh’s people be deceived into believing the Lie and handed over to the Antichrist? Thankfully, the answer is, no, they will not. There will be some who will not be deceived and they will be protected from the Little Horn in a place called the ‘wilderness of the people.’ For information on where this wilderness is, see our article The Coming Exodus.
Will all this happen? You can be sure, like all Bible prophecy, it will come to pass at the appointed time.
| Habakkuk 2: | 3: For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. |
For additional information, learn how the prophecies of the 2300, 1290, 1335 & 1260 day periods relate.
