Daniel 8
Dan. 8:14
"And he said to me, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be vindicated" (MKJV)
Commentary: the temple to be cleansed/justified according to Daniel 8:14 are those who have been begotten by the Spirit of truth to the spiritual nature as partakers of the antitypical spiritual temple in its priests and Levites. However, the sealing of the priesthood is to end earlier - until the beginning of the second presence of Christ. Those of the called who do not obtain priesthood positions during that time will have the 2,300 evenings and mornings marked in the prophecy (6 years and 5 months) to undertake their consecration and be sealed as antitypical Levites. At the end of the prophetic period, the spiritual/heavenly temple in its priests and Levites will be completed.
Related themes:
- Expanded commentary on Dan. 8:14
- Parable of the ten virgins (Mt. 25:1-13)
- Parable of the two houses (Mt. 7:24-27)
Daniel 9
Dan. 9:24-27
"Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. (25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction. (26) And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war. (27) And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and on a corner of the altar desolating abominations, even until the end. And that which was decreed shall be poured on the desolator" (MKJV)
Commentary: God foretells through the prophet Daniel that the time of special favor for Israel, then in Babylonian captivity for their persistent unfaithfulness to the covenant with God, will be extended by 70 symbolic weeks, or 490 years. This period began in 455 B.C.E. and ended in 36 C.E. Within this time Israel was to repent and accept the Messiah. They failed to do so, therefore God removed them from His special grace, which resulted in the extension of the Gospel calling to the Gentiles, as well as the desolation of Jerusalem and the surrender of the land of Israel into foreign hands.
Related themes:
- Expanded commentary on Dan. 9:24-27
Daniel 11
Dan. 11:31-35
"And forces will stand from him, and they will profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and shall remove the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the desolating abomination. (32) And he will ruin by flattery those who do evil against the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will work. (33) And those who understand among the people shall teach many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by exile, and spoil, for days. (34) And when they stumble, they shall be helped with a little help, but many will join them, with hypocrisy. (35) And many of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and purge them, and to make white, to the time of the end. Because it is still for the appointed time" (MKJV)
Commentary: the desolating abomination spoken of by the prophet Daniel in Dan. 11:31 is an event of a dual nature. In the type abomination (the pagan armies of Rome) brought havoc upon the temple of Jerusalem (Sanctuary), destroying it in 70 C.E. and thus subtracting the continual sacrifice (sacrifices offered in the temple). In the antitype, pagan teachings and practices stood in a holy place (the spiritual temple of believers in Christ), thus subtracting the continual sacrifice (introducing into the church a number of errors concerning the meaning and essence of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ). The institutional church, which has thus departed from the truth, has resorted to civil authority and then used it to desolate God's temple, i.e. to persecute and physically eliminate those who have dared to condemn its unscriptural teachings and unscriptural practices.
Related themes:
- Expanded commentary on Dan. 11:31-35