AD30 or 1844?

It is the nature of the apocalyptic to climax with a focus on the end of this present evil age, when God would break into our world with salvation—an event that would bring destruction to the old age and introduce the age to come, in which all things would be made new. The New Testament, however, reveals that God’s breaking onto history with salvation, has two phases, the first with the First Advent of Jesus (Tit. 2:11) and the second, with his Second Advent (Heb. 9:28).

Daniel’s prophecies start with either Babylon or Medo-Persia and finish with God breaking into our world to conquer the evil kingdom and set up his own. In Daniel 2, God’s coming is pictured as a divine Rock, which crushes the kingdoms of this world, then grows into a great mountain.

Jesus was this Rock, who, by his death and resurrection at his first coming, fell upon the feet of iron (Rome) and clay (apostate Hebrew religion) and inaugurated his Spiritual kingdom.2 At his second coming, Jesus will literally crush the union of Church and State that oppresses his people, then consummate his kingdom.

Daniel 7 pictures the Antichrist (little horn) that persecutes God’s people. The judgement commences and the ‘little horn’s’ kingdom is taken away from him and given to the saints of the Most High. This is what happened as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The ‘kingdom of God’ was taken from the Antichrist (little horn) and given to a people who would ‘produce its fruit’ (Matt. 21:43). This prophecy, however, will have another fulfillment at the end of time, when it will be consummated by Jesus.

Now just as the prophecies of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 climax with the first and second advents of Jesus, so does the prophecy of Daniel 8. The cleansing of the Sanctuary (Dan. 8:14 KJV) is an act of final judgement that takes place at ‘the appointed time of the end’ (Dan. 8:17, 19)—the time of God’s in breaking into our world with salvation (Mark 1:15).3

The Seventh-day Adventist announcement that the judgement hour arrived in 1844 (at the end of the 2300 days) ignores the fact that the apocalyptic chapters of Daniel 7 and 8 climax, not with 1844, but with the entry of God into our world with salvation. It was at the cross that the Antichrist-horn took ‘his stand against the Prince of princes’ (Dan.8:25); it was at the cross that ‘the daily’ was taken away (Dan. 8:11; it was at the cross that the Sanctuary was destroyed (Dan. 8:11; John 2:19-22) and it was at the cross that ‘truth was thrown to the ground’ (Dan. 8:12). But it was through Christ’s resurrection from the dead, that the desecrated Sanctuary and its ministry was restored and reconsecrated.

At the Second Coming of Jesus this prophecy will be consummated. Just prior to Jesus’ return the Antichrist horn will exalt himself against the Prince of princes (2 Thess. 2:3-4); the ‘daily’ (which, under the New Covenant is the Gospel, administered and empowered by the Holy Spirit) shall be taken away; the host of the faithful will be trodden underfoot and God’s dwelling place on earth (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22) will be brought low. But, at the appointed ‘time of the end’ (Dan. 8:19), when Jesus returns, the Sanctuary will be restored and reconsecrated.

A comparison of the three parallel prophecies of Daniel two, seven and eight (see below) reveals that the destruction of the earthly kingdom (chap. 2); the judgement in which the kingdom is taken from the Antichrist power and given to the saints of the Most High (chap. 7) and the Cleansing of the Sanctuary (chap. are parallel events. Each of these events—which were inaugurated through the death and resurrection of Jesus, will be consummated at his coming.

DANIEL 2 DANIEL 7 DANIEL 8

Babylon Gold Lion

Medo-Persia Silver Bear Ram

Greece Bronze Leopard Goat with four horns

Rome Iron Fourth beast

Antichrist Clay Little Horn Little Horn

Judgement Crushed by stone Divine judgement Divine Judgement

Kingdom Mountain kingdom Kingdom of God Sanctuary reconsecrated

Desmond Ford’s research has shown that in Daniel 8 ‘the Sanctuary is a symbol of the Kingdom of God on Earth …’5 God’s kingdom has been trodden underfoot by the Antichrist (of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was a type), but God promised to enter human history to redeem his kingdom. At his first advent the Lord came to reclaim his kingdom, spiritually (Rev. 12:10), at the close of this age he will return to claim it literally (Rev. 11:15).

Daniel 8:14, therefore, points to the time when the Sanctuary (God’s kingdom) would be taken back from the Antichrist, Satan. At that time it would be ‘reconsecrated; restored to its rightful place and vindicated.’ The spiritual restoration of the Sanctuary was made possible only through Jesus’ sacrifice. All of us who have accepted Christ’s death on our behalf, have been reconsecrated; restored to our rightful place (in God’s kingdom) and vindicated. We now look forward to Jesus’ second advent, when that which is spiritual shall be consummated in the physical. Dan. 8:14 thus embraces both the first and second Advents of Jesus, distinct, but inseparable.

To apply Dan: 8:14 to an inscrutable event in 1844, is to debase the grand intent of this prophecy, which is to highlight the two occasions, in which God himself breaks into our world to redeem his people.

ENDNOTES:
1. Whether Jesus was crucified in AD30 or AD33 is not the issue here; the issue is not the date but the event.
2. For a fuller exposition, see the January 2005 issue of the South Pacific Good News Unlimited magazine.
3. The 2300 evening/mornings are a quality, rather than a quantity time. They signify the nature of the event, rather than the duration of the event. So what is the nature of that event? It points to the time when God himself would intervene in human history to redeem his kingdom.
4. See the SDA 12th Fundamental Belief, ‘The Remnant and its Mission.’
5. Desmond Ford, Daniel and the Coming King (Desmond Ford Publications, 1996,) p. 106.