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Appendix
- Note 1. Page 206.—William Miller’s views as to the exact
time of the second advent were based on the prophecy of
Daniel
8:14
: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed.” That a day in symbolic prophecy represents
a year, see
Numbers 14:34
;
Ezekiel 4:6
. As the period of 2300
prophetic days, or literal years, extended far beyond the close of
the Jewish dispensation, it could not refer to the sanctuary of that
dispensation. Mr. Miller held the generally received view that in
the Christian age the
Earth
is the sanctuary, and hence concluded
that the cleansing of the sanctuary brought to view in
Daniel 8:14
represented the purification of the earth by fire at the second coming
of Christ. The point from which to reckon the 2300 days is found
in
Daniel 9:24-27
, which is an explanation of the vision of chapter
8. It is stated that 70 weeks, or 490 years, are determined, literally,
cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. The only period from
which the 70 weeks could be cut off is the 2300 days, that being the
only period of time mentioned in the vision of chapter 8. The 70
weeks must therefore be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods
must begin together. The 70 weeks are declared by the angel to
date from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build
Jerusalem. If, then, we can correctly locate this commandment, we
have the starting-point for the great period of the 2300 days. The
Bible furnishes us with four tests by which we may determine when
the true date is found:—
1. From the time the commandment was given, 49 years were to
witness the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem.
Daniel
9:25
.
2. Threescore and two weeks from this time, or, in all, 69
weeks, 483 years, were to extend to Messiah the Prince, or to the
[494]
anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, the word
Messiah signifying anointed.
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