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Conversation #003
The 2300 day/years
Hi Truth Seeker,
You wrote:
I am presently studying with a SDA and i've studied most religions so far. I don’t jump to conclusions and shout "You're right everyone else is wrong" anymore. I am studying with scrutiny and will not consider myself a Christian till i'm totally convinced of the Truth and nothing but the truth.
The matter i'm discussing here is that he told me to add 2300 (from Daniel) to a date and come up with a time in history. I got 1844. He also said that there were in fact two "world changing" events which had happened prior to this date (and why from 457BC when the temple hadn't been built yet?)
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Below is my answer. It is an article that I wrote some time back but which should cover your thoughts above. Especially the one about why 457BC when the temple hadn't been built. The dating of the prophecy is based on the words below.
Daniel 9:25
Know therefore and understand, THAT FROM THE GOING FORTH OF THE COMMANDMENT TO RESTORE AND TO BUILD JERUSALEM to the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two (62) weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
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My answer:
The 2300 day/years
In the eighth chapter of Daniel there is no clue to the starting point of the 2300 day prophecy. The angel Gabriel, though commanded to make Daniel understand the vision, gave him only a partial explanation. As the terrible persecution to befall the church was unfolded to the prophet's vision, his physical strength gave way. He could endure no more, and the angel left him for a time. Daniel "fainted, and was sick certain days."
And, "I was astonished at the vision," he says, "but none understood it."
Yet God had bidden His messenger: "Make this man to understand the vision." That commission must be fulfilled. In obedience to it, the angel, some time afterward, returned to Daniel, saying: "I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding... therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision."
There was one important point in the vision which had been left unexplained, namely, that relating to time - the period of the 2300 days. Therefore the angel, in resuming his explanation, dwells chiefly upon the subject of time: "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city."
The word here translated "determined" literally signifies "cut off." Seventy weeks, representing 490 years, are declared by the angel to be cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. But from what were they cut off? As the 2300 days was the only period of time mentioned, it must be the period from which the seventy weeks were cut off. The seventy weeks must therefore be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods must begin together. The seventy weeks were declared by the angel to date from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If the date of this commandment could be found, then the starting point for the great period of the 2300 days would be ascertained.
In Ezra 7:12-26 the decree is found. In its completest form it was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia in 457BC. But in Ezra 6:14 the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built "according to the commandment ["decree," margin] of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." These THREE kings, in originating, reaffirming, and completing the decree, together brought it to the perfection required by the prophecy to mark the beginning of the 2300 years.
Taking 457BC, the time when the decree was completed, as the date of the commandment, every specification of the prophecy concerning the seventy weeks is seen to have been fulfilled.
"From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks" - namely, sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in October of 457BC. From this date, 483 years extend to October of 27AD. At that time this part of the prophecy was fulfilled.
The word "Messiah" signifies "the Anointed One." In the autumn of 27AD Christ was baptised by John and received the anointing of the Spirit. After His baptism He went into Galilee, "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled." Mark 1:14, 15.
"And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week."
The "week" here brought to view is the last one of the seventy; it is the last seven years of the period allotted especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from 27AD to 34AD, Christ, at first in person and afterward by His disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to the Jews.
"In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." In April of 31AD, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified. This great sacrifice offered upon Calvary ended that system of offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of God. Type had met antitype, and all the sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system were therefore to cease.
The seventy weeks, or 490 years, especially allotted to the Jews, ended, as we have seen, in 34AD. At that time, through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its rejection of the gospel by the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the followers of Christ. See Acts 7 and 8.
Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly fulfilled, and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed beyond question at 457BC and their end in 34AD. From this data there is no difficulty in finding the termination of the 2300 days. The seventy weeks - 490 days - having been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days remaining. After the end of 490 days, the 1810 days were still to be fulfilled. From 34AD, 1810 years extend to 1844. Consequently the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 terminate in 1844.
Thus the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary was definitely pointed out.
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Does this make it any clearer? If you still want to hear more then I'll write later about the other problems you are having.
Bye for now,
Ron
oooOooo
To the reader,
If there is anything not clear to you as you read my answer, please feel free to mail me and ask about it. I promise not to send you anything but a direct answer to your question. I won't argue about it, just share with you what I have seen.
I won't ask you to join a new church or offshoot either!
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