The Book of Daniel - Number Fifty-Three

All the prophets are speaking more of the last days than the days in which they lived.

Daniel is representing God’s people, who in the last days have discovered through the prophetic Word, that they have been scattered. When they awaken to that fact, they are required to fulfill the Leviticus twenty-six prayer, and also the prayer to understand the last prophetic secret that is unsealed just before probation closes, as represented by Daniel’s prayer in chapter two. If and when, they enter into Daniel’s experience, the angel Gabriel will touch, inform and speak to them, for the purpose of giving them “skill and understanding.” The wise are those who “understand” the “increase of knowledge” when a prophetic secret is unsealed.

The vision which Daniel is told to consider is the “mareh” vision of the appearance. Gabriel had not finished the work he had been assigned in chapter eight when he had been told to make Daniel understand the “mareh” vision. In chapter nine he has returned to finish the interpretation. In chapter nine, Daniel is no longer living in the period of the kingdom of Babylon, but in the history of the Medo-Persian empire.

When Gabriel instructs Daniel to “understand the matter,” and to “consider the vision,” he is identifying a process of mental separation which he wants Daniel to exercise. The words translated as “understand” and “consider” are the same Hebrew word. The word is “biyn,” and means to separate mentally. The Hebrew word translated as “matter,” is “dabar,” and means “the word”. Gabriel is therefore informing Daniel, and those he represents in the last days to rightly divide the Word of truth.

The word “matter” is also employed by Daniel in chapter ten, verse one where it is translated three times as “thing.”

In the verse, the word “vision” is the “mareh” vision of the appearance, and Daniel had understanding of both the thing (matter) and also the vision (“mareh”). In verse twenty-three of chapter nine, Gabriel instructed Daniel to rightly divide the matter and the vision, and in verse one of chapter ten he has understanding of both the matter (thing) and the vision (“mareh”). Gabriel is informing Daniel in chapter nine, to recognize the distinction (rightly divide) between the matter and the vision. The vision is the “mareh” vision and the “matter,” or the “thing” is the “chazon” vision.

In chapter eight both visions are identified, and a distinction is noted because Daniel wished to understand the “chazon” vision, but Gabriel was instructed to make Daniel understand the “mareh” vision. As Gabriel begins his work of making Daniel understand the “matter” and the “vision” he informs Daniel to take note that they are two different visions.

Gabriel wished Daniel to recognize that elements of both the “chazon” vision and the “mareh” vision would be represented in the interpretation he provided for Daniel. The interpretation was going to address both visions, and it was Daniel’s responsibility to rightly divide the vision which addressed the trampling down of the sanctuary and the host, from the vision that led to the appearance of Christ in the Most Holy Place on October 22, 1844.

Gabriel identifies that from the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 BC, there would be four hundred and ninety years that were “cut off” from the twenty-three hundred years of the vision of the evenings and mornings, that was especially for the Jews. In the verses just cited, the word “determined” is identified three times, but it is two different Hebrew words that are both translated as “determined” in the verses. The first time “determined” is identified is in verse twenty-four, and that Hebrew word is “chathak” and means “to cut off”.

It identifies that Israel was given a probationary period that began with the third decree of Artaxerxes which would end at the stoning of Stephen in the year 34 AD. The four hundred and ninety years was “cut off,” and represented a shorter prophetic period within the longer prophecy of twenty-three hundred years. The number “four hundred and ninety,” is a symbol of probationary time, as witnessed to by Jesus.

There is an end to forgiveness, and that end is represented by the number “four hundred and ninety.” The “four hundred and ninety” years represents a period of probation for the Jews from their deliverance until they filled the cup of their probationary time at the stoning of Stephen. The “four hundred and ninety” years is also connected with the curse of the “seven times” in Leviticus twenty-six. There are only two places in the Bible that reference the land enjoying her sabbaths. The first is found in Leviticus twenty-six.

The punishment of the “seven times,” which is referenced four times in chapter twenty-six, identifies that when God’s people are scattered, the land will then “enjoy her sabbaths.” Daniel and the three worthies had been scattered into the enemies’ land in fulfillment of the curse of Moses, and that the scattering of seventy years, was a symbolic object lesson of the scattering of the twenty-five hundred and twenty years. It was a prophetic object lesson, similar to Elijah’s three and a half years of drought during the persecution of Jezebel. That three and a half years represented three and a half prophetic years, that equaled twelve hundred and sixty years of papal rule from the year 538 until 1798. The seventy years was a symbol of the “seven times,” just as the three and a half years was a symbol of the wilderness of twelve hundred and sixty years. The seventy years of Daniel’s captivity identified by Jeremiah, represented “four hundred and ninety” years.

The only two references in the Bible of the land enjoying her sabbaths are in relation to the scattering of God’s people, and the seventy years of captivity, which represented a period of time that would allow the land to enjoy its sabbaths. It equaled the amount of sabbaths that the Jews did not allow the land to enjoy rest. The land resting for seventy years, represented the total years that the rebellion against the commandment to allow the land to rest had been accomplished. Simple math identifies that in “four hundred and ninety” years of rebellion, there would be a total of seventy years that the land had not rested.

Four hundred and ninety years were cut off from the twenty-three hundred years, as a probationary period for the Jews, and that “four hundred and ninety” years has a direct connection with the scattering of the “seven times” of Leviticus twenty-six.

The “chazon” vision of the trampling down and the “mareh” vision of the appearance at the end of twenty-three hundred years are distinct from each other, but they have a direct connection. As with Daniel, God’s people are to rightly divide the two visions, while simultaneously recognizing their connection with one another. The seventy years of captivity which led to the three decrees allowing the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem, represented “four hundred and ninety” years of rebellion by the Jews against the covenant of allowing the land to rest.

When the third decree identified their opportunity to return and rebuild, they were given “four hundred and ninety” years of probationary time, as they were tested by the same period of time in which their disobedience led to the destruction of Jerusalem and their scattering. At the end of the second “four hundred and ninety years,” their disobedience would once again bring the destruction of Jerusalem and their scattering among the Gentiles.

The scattering of the seventy year captivity was preceded by “four hundred and ninety” years of rebellion, and then that seventy year captivity was followed by another “four hundred and ninety years” of further rebellion.

The first “four hundred and ninety” year period, which brought about the seventy years of the land resting, had reached a conclusion with the destruction of Jerusalem. At the ending of the “four hundred and ninety” years that was cut off from the twenty-three hundred years, Jerusalem was once again destroyed, for Jesus always illustrates the end of a thing with the beginning of a thing.

The seventy year captivity of literal Israel in literal Babylon was a symbol of the scattering of “seven times,” and Sister White identifies that the seventy years of captivity of literal Israel in literal Babylon was a type of the twelve hundred and sixty years of captivity of spiritual Israel in spiritual Babylon.

The twelve hundred and sixty years from the year 538 to 1798, was a type of the “seven times.” At the end of the seventy years, the Jews returned to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Their return during the three decrees marked the beginning (457 BC) of the twenty-three hundred years of the “mareh” vision that led to the appearance of Christ in the Most Holy Place on October 22, 1844. The three decrees marked the beginning of the prophetic period, and it required all three decrees to begin the prophetic period, though they began to return and rebuild with the first decree of Cyrus.

From 1798 until 1844, the three angels of Revelation arrived into prophetic history, and just as the three decrees marked the beginning of the prophecy of twenty-three hundred years, those three angels marked the conclusion of the prophecy. The prophetic period ended with the arrival of the third angel, just as it had begun with the arrival of the third decree, for Jesus always identifies the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing.

The Jews began to return under the first decree, and in the history of the second decree they finished the temple. The third angel arrived on October 22, 1844, and before that date the Millerites had finished the spiritual temple they had come out of spiritual Babylon to rebuild. It was to be completed, for on October 22, 1844 the messenger of the covenant was to come suddenly to his temple. That temple was the Millerite people who entered into covenant on October 22, 1844, and who Peter identifies were a temple.

The Millerite temple was built from 1798 to 1844, which is forty-six years, or prophetically three days, for Christ identified that it takes three days to raise up a temple.

Sister White identifies that when the messenger of the covenant suddenly came to his temple, as represented in the book of Malachi, that the prediction had been fulfilled when Christ cleansed the temple, as just identified in the passage from John.

The temple in John chapter two, took forty-six years to build, and Jesus said He would erect the destroyed temple in three days. 1798 unto 1844, is forty-six years, and it identifies the arrival of the three angels (days), of Revelation fourteen, that had been typified by the three decrees which began the twenty-three hundred year prophecy. The forty-six years is the period in which Christ raised up the Millerite temple, for prior to that time the spiritual sanctuary and spiritual Israel had been trodden down by spiritual Babylon.

When Christ cleansed the temple at the Passover in the beginning of His ministry, He was fulfilling the prophecy of the Messenger of the Covenant suddenly coming unto His temple as set forth in Malachi. On October 22, 1844 Christ suddenly came to His temple, and it had taken Him forty-six years to erect His destroyed temple.

The first indignation ended in 1798, and the end of the last indignation was 1844. The beginning of the forty-six year period, where Christ raised up the Millerite temple illustrated the end, for both the beginning and ending were marked by the conclusion of God’s indignation against His people, for Jesus always identifies the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing.

We will continue our study of Gabriel’s instruction to Daniel in the next article.