ROME IS THE POWER IN QUESTION

1st. This power was to come forth from one of the four kingdoms of Alexander’s empire. Let us remember that nations are not brought into prophecy, till somehow connected with the people of God. Rome had been in existence many years before it was noticed in prophecy; and Rome had made Macedon, one of the four horns of the Grecian goat, a part of itself B. C. 168, about ten years before its first connection with the people of God. 1Mac.viii. So that Rome could as truly be said to be out of “one of them,” as the ten horns of the fourth beast in Chap. 7, could be said to come out of that beast, when they were ten kingdoms set up by the conquerors of Rome.FUMP 42.5

2nd. It was to wax exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. [Palestine. Psalm 106:24; Zechariah 7:14.] This was true of Rome in every particular. Witness its conquests in Africa and Asia, its overthrow of the place and nation of the Jews. John 11:48.FUMP 43.1

3rd. It was to cast down of the host and of the stars. This is predicted respecting the dragon. Revelation 12:3, 4. All admit that the dragon was Rome. Who can fail to see their identity?FUMP 43.2

4th. Rome was emphatically a king of fierce countenance, and one that did understand dark sentences. Moses used similar language when he evidently predicted the Roman power. Deuteronomy 28:49, 50.FUMP 43.3

5th. Rome did destroy wonderfully. Witness its overthrow of all opposing powers.FUMP 43.4

6th. Rome has destroyed more of the “mighty and holy people,” than all other persecuting powers. From fifty to one hundred millions of the church have been slain by it.FUMP 43.5

7th. Rome has stood up against the Prince of princes. The Roman power nailed Christ to the cross. Acts 4:26, 27; Matthew 27:2; Revelation 2:4.FUMP 43.6

8th. This power is to be broken without hand. Compare with Chap. 2:34, 45, where it is said that the stone “cut out without hands,” smote the image, etc. Its destruction then takes place at the final overthrow of all earthly powers.FUMP 43.7

4. THE 2300 DAYS. - The field of vision, as we have seen, is the empires of Persia, Grecia and Rome. We will here introduce the inquiry of one saint, [angel,] and the answer by another.FUMP 44.1

Verses 13, 14. “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”FUMP 44.2

It is a fact that 2300 literal days (not quite seven years) would not cover the duration of a single power in this prophecy, much less extend over them all; therefore the days must be symbols, even as the beasts and horns are shown to be symbols. It is also a fact that a symbolic or prophetic day is one year. Ezekiel 4:5, 6; Numbers 14:34. Hence, the period is 2300 years.FUMP 44.3

In regard to the date of the 2300 prophetic days, they evidently commence with the vision, at the height of the Medo-Persian empire. Anything more definite, this chapter does not furnish, we must therefore look elsewhere for the definite explanation of this matter.FUMP 44.4

5. THE 70 WEEKS. We regard this period of Chap. 9, as the only key to the time of the vision of Chap. 8. Notice as follows:-FUMP 44.5

1st. The command to Gabriel, [Chap. 8:16,] “Make this man (Daniel) to understand the vision.”FUMP 44.6

2nd. Gabriel did make the Prophet to understand what the ram, goat and little horn meant, yet,FUMP 44.7

3rd. Daniel says, at the close of this interview with the angel, “I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” None understood the time - where to commence the 2300 days, and “what manner of time” they were.FUMP 45.1

4th. The ninth chapter of Daniel records another visit of Gabriel. The Prophet is praying when the angel touches him, and says, “I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.” It was on time that the Prophet needed “understanding,” as the other symbols had been explained. And mark the heavenly messenger’s first declaration, after telling Daniel to “consider the vision:” “Seventy weeks are determined [literally, cut off, as Hebraists admit] upon thy people,” etc. Cut off from what? Most certainly, cut off from the 2300 days, as a period of time can only be cut off from time.FUMP 45.2

The “going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” is mentioned in verse 25 as the event to mark the commencement of the 70 weeks. As the 70 weeks are cut off from the 2300 days, it follows that they form the first 490 of those days, and both periods begin at the same date. Here we take leave of this part of the subject, and refer the reader to our works on the 2300 days and the Sanctuary, where it is shown that the 2300 prophetic days began B. C. 457, and terminated A. D. 1844.FUMP 45.3

6. THE SANCTUARY. It has been supposed that the earth, or a portion of it, was the Sanctuary of Daniel 8; but this is indeed a great error; one that has stood in the way of the reception of the “present truth,” and out of which has grown the recent fanaticisms on the definite time of the Second Advent. The definition of the word sanctuary, is a “sacred place,” a “dwelling place of the Most High.” This earth, or any portion of it, has not been such a place since man left Eden 6000 years since.FUMP 45.4

As the typical sanctuary of the Jews was the center of their religious system, so the “greater and more perfect Tabernacle” above, of which Jesus Christ is a High Priest, forms the center of all gospel truth. There is God the Father, there is Jesus Christ, a merciful High Priest, and there is the mercy seat, the ark, the law of God, [Revelation 11:19,] and the holy angels. We are indeed, introducing a glorious theme. It would be far better for the spiritual interests of the people of God if they would more constantly look upward, and by faith view the glories of the heavenly Sanctuary. We recommend the reading of the book of Hebrews as an excellent commentary on this subject. We invite the especial attention of the reader to those works where a scriptural view of the Sanctuary to be cleansed at the termination of the 2300 days, is given, with the nature of its cleansing.FUMP 46.1

Events immediately preceding the second coming of Christ are mentioned in Daniel 8, yet that event is not brought to view in that chapter. It is true that it is said in verse 25, when speaking of the little horn, “he shall be broken without hand;” but the wrath of God in the seven last plagues will, at least, commence to break earthly governments, prior to the Second Advent. Read their dreadful description in Revelation 16. After the sixth vial is poured out it is said, “Behold, I come as a thief;” his coming is then still future.FUMP 46.2

The event to transpire at the end of the 2300 days, is the cleansing of the Sanctuary. That the tabernacle of God is the Sanctuary of the Bible, a multitude of texts directly testify. Exodus 36:1-6; Leviticus 4:6; 16:33; Numbers 4:15; Psalm 78:54, 69; Hebrews 8:1, 2. That the cleansing of the Sanctuary is the work of a high priest, performed by blood, and not with fire, is also a matter of certainty. Leviticus 16; Hebrews 9. The work of cleansing the Sanctuary is not that of a king taking vengeance on his adversaries, but that of a priest concluding his work in the tabernacle of God. Hence, this work must precede the Second Advent, and be accomplished ere the priestly work of our Lord is closed in the Sanctuary of God. Until that point of time, the wrath of God is stayed by the intercession of our great High Priest. When that point is reached, the sins of the host or church, having been transferred from the Sanctuary to the anti-typical scape-goat, and the saints of God being all sealed, the wrath of God without mixture of mercy is poured out, and the adversaries of the Lord are destroyed with an utter destruction. The period of time in which the Sanctuary is being cleansed; we understand to be what the angel denominates “the last end of the indignation.” Daniel 8:19. That it occupies a space of time is evident from the form of expression used by Gabriel: “I will make thee know what shall be IN the last end of the indignation.”FUMP 47.1