76.0 Christ as High Priest
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.144000.cc, December 2009
Issues
Little Horn of Daniel 8 -- Not Antiochus
Politico-Religious Power of Rome
Persecution
Prince of the Host
The Daily
Establishing Dates for the 2300 Days
The Vision
Issues:
There are several issues involved in discussing the Investigative Judgment. These are listed as follows:
Priestly Ministry of Jesus Christ in Heaven
Concept of a Pre-Advent Judgment
Investigation of God’s People
Relation of Daniel 8:10-12 and Daniel 8:14
The Close of Probation
God’s People Sealed; is perfection necessary?
Little Horn of Daniel 8 -- Not Antiochus
Daniel 8 begins with Daniel’s vision of a battle between a ram (Medo-Persia) and a goat (Greece). Greece wins the battle, but Alexander dies at 33, and the kingdom is taken over by four of his generals. A "little horn" then arises which is different exercising military and religious power.
The identity of the little horn has been a matter of contention. Some insist that the little horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 bc), Seleucid ruler of Syria. Others will point to Rome. This identity is very important as we consider other aspects of the prophecy of Daniel 8. There are several reasons to choose Rome as the little horn:
1. Progression of power: The Persian ram "magnified himself" (vs 4, RSV); the Greek goat "magnified himself exceedingly" (vs 8, RSV); and the little horn "magnified itself, even to the host of heaven (vs 10,11, RSV). This cannot describe Antiochus Epiphanes, a weak ruler of Syria, but well describes the powerful Roman Empire.
2. Antiochus Epiphanes (175-163 bc) ruled in Syria in the middle of the Seleucid dynasty while Rome conquered Syria and Palestine in 63 bc, in the latter part of the four Greek kingdoms.
3. The little horn was to conquer to the east, the south, and the beautiful land (vs. 9). In 169 B.C. Antiochus IV conquered the eastern half of the Egyptian delta. In 168 B.C. he came back to finish the job, but instead was turned back by a Roman ambassador and never returned to Egypt again. On his eastern campaign, Antiochus had some initial success, but he later died on this campaign. His record was even worse with regard to the "beautiful land," or Judea. When he came to the throne, this province belonged to his kingdom. But because of his persecution of the Jews, they rose up in revolt and threw off the Syrian yoke. In contrast to the vision, Antiochus Epiphanes did not conquer the "beautiful land," rather, he was the one responsible for losing it. Rome, on the other hand, made major conquests in all three of the directions specified by the vision. Here again, Rome fits the characteristics of the vision, but Antiochus does not.
"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land" (Daniel 8:9).
The Politico-Religious Power of Rome
In its second phase, Rome became a religious power. The targets of the little horn are the "starry host" of heaven (vs. 10), the "Prince" who leads that host (vs. 11), and the sanctuary in heaven along with the service carried on there (vss. 11,12). Conquest of territory in the east, south, and beautiful land is a military-political type of activity. An attack upon heaven, even if it is described in symbolic terms, is a distinctively religious activity. Thus with this action the little horn has entered upon its religious phase.
Persecution
"And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them" (Daniel 8:10).
"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3).
Satan and his evil angels were cast down to earth at the beginning of his controversy with Christ, much before what is pictured in this verse. The host of heaven and the stars refer to the people of God. This is emphasized by verse 24 where he "shall destroy the mighty and the holy people." Verse 24 as well as the phrase "stamped upon them" refer to the persecutions that began sporadically at first, then over the entire empire. During the middle ages persecutions were severe and prolonged with extinctions of whole groups of people and with many martyrs. This culminated in that most hideous of persecution, the inquisition.
Changes in doctrine and attacks against the true people of God were prophesied before. These persecutions were to continue for 1260 years, from 538 ad to 1798 ad.
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time" (Daniel 7:25).
Nor is this all. Revelation chapter 13 needs careful study. Here we find the beast having seven heads and ten horns coming on the scene. One of the heads received a "deadly would" which was later healed, leading all the world to again wonder after and worship the beast. This first beast is followed by and goes into league with a second beast (Revelation 13:11).
The mark or sign of authority of the first beast is the general acceptance of the change he has made in the Law of God. Specifically this refers to his change in the day of worship from the sanctified holy seventh-day to the man-made first day of the week. In spite of the progress made during the Reformation, most of the Christian world still worships on the first day of the week, probably ignorantly. However, this will change. Under the enforcement of civil law, men will be required to accept this mark of the beast and worship on the first day of the week. Persecution will again arise.
This becomes an issue that all men will understand, and an issue that will divide the world into those who worship God, and those who do not.
Prince of the Host
"Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
"And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered" (Daniel 8:11,12).
The chief opponent to the little horn is the Prince of the host, Jesus Christ Himself. The little horn sought to make himself equal to the Prince (Isaiah 14:12-14). The daily (ministry) was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. The little horn now teaches that the heavenly ministry of Jesus Christ is now done by human or priestly activities on earth. Human intermediaries have been interjected between God and the people.
"It cast down the truth to the ground" in that the Holy Scriptures have been set aside for the traditions and the councils of men. And clever changes in the very wording of new translations, and in the adding of notes within the very pages of the Bible have added to deception.
The vision next brings to view a chief opponent of the little horn; he is known as the "Prince of the host" (vs 11). The little horn "set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host" (vs 11), but was not able to do any harm to him personally, although it was able to harm His followers.
What does it mean for the heavenly sanctuary to be cast down to earth and trampled upon? Clearly, this is not a literal, physical casting down. There is no elevator between heaven and earth upon which the sanctuary building can go up and down. This is symbolic action. What would it mean to bring a heavenly sanctuary down to earth?
The heavenly sanctuary is correctly located in heaven has now. In the eyes of human beings, it has been cast down where we are by the activities of the little horn. The little horn now represents the heavenly ministry of Jesus Christ as requiring human or priestly activities on earth to mediate its grace to humanity. The mediation of Jesus Christ is replaced by human priests, human ordained sacraments, a pantheon of "saints," and a mediation of the virgin Mary.
One of the central issues of the Reformation was a rejection of this very point. Martin Luther claimed that every Christian has immediate access to Christ’s ministry in heaven. Each individual may have personal access to Jesus Christ and God; human, priestly intermediaries are not necessary for such access. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). This leaves no room for the mediation of priests, saints, sacraments, or Mary – as in the Roman system.
The Daily
The final act carried out by the little horn against the sanctuary was to attempt to control the "daily" or "continual" ministry that goes on there. Most translations will use the words "daily" or "continual" or "regular" here. The word "sacrifice" is sometimes translated "burnt offerings" but is always supplied -- it is not in the original text (vs 11,12).
id ("daily") is sometimes used to modify the offering or sacrifice that was burnt daily on the altar in the courtyard of the earthly sanctuary (Exodus 29:38, 42). But tamid is also used as a noun to describe the burning of the lamps of the seven-branched lampstand (Exodus 27 20-21), for the burning of incense on the altar of incense (Exodus 30:8), and for the bread of the Presence on the table of shewbread (Exodus 25:30). It was also used for other activities connected with the sanctuary (Exodus 28:29, 38; 1 Chronicles 16:6).
A word that is more broad and inclusive, encompassing all of these activities, is "ministry." All these activities which tamid is used to describe are activities carried out by the priest on a daily basis. It is this type of ministry that Jesus carries out in the heavenly sanctuary (see Hebrews 8:1) and which the little horn power counterfeits, attempting to turn the eyes of mankind from Jesus’ true, original ministry in heaven to an earthly, human substitute. This work was done by the medieval papacy, the religious phase of Rome.
However, the true heavenly ministry of Jesus continues. In the Reformation the eyes of people were again directed to Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary as the source of salvation.
This conflict is important because it deals with the source of the plan of salvation. It is a struggle between two plans of salvation -- the original heavenly one and a later earthly substitute. Why do Seventh-day Adventists make so much out of the eighth chapter of Daniel? Because it involves the very plan of salvation. What could be more important?
Daniel 8 does not paint a picture of the final resolution of this problem. When the vision faded from the prophet’s eyes, the little horn still "prospered in everything it did" (vs 12). However, verses 13 and 14 provide an assurance that this problem would eventually be resolved, but chapter 8 does not explain that resolution in detail. The full significance of what was involved is depicted in Daniel 7.
The Two Angels Speak
The visual portion of the prophecy of Daniel 8 ends with verse 12. As the screen of the prophet’s view went blank, a new phenomenon occurred. Two angels came within range of his hearing, and he listened in on their conversation. In verse 13, the first angel asked a question. The second angel gave the answer in verse 14.
The NIV correctly translates the first part of the first angel’s question as: "How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled" (vs 13)? The rest of the question goes on to identify the vision in question -- the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host that will be trampled underfoot?" The second angel’s answer is found in verse 14: "It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated." Each element in this important verse needs to be examined in detail.
Establishing Dates for the 2300 Days
The vision now turns to what Daniel hears. Two angels are speaking:
"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" (Daniel 8:13,14).
The question is about the length of the vision as a whole, including the Persian ram, the Greek goat, and the four horns that precede the little horn of Rome’s two phases. The word, "vision," includes the whole of what Daniel saw in chapter 8 – from the Persian ram to the little horn. This gives us an approximate starring point for the 2,300-day time-period mentioned in verse 14.
The 2300 evening- mornings begin with the Persian period. The precise starting point we obtain from Daniel 9:25 and from a study of the decrees given to Ezra and Nehemiah. Under the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 bc the Jews were given a degree of autonomy (Ezra 7), and the wall of the city was finished (Nehemiah 4 & 6). This marked the starting point of the seventy weeks prophecy and the starting point of the 2300 days.
Daniel 9:24 begins by saying that seventy weeks were "determined" (cut off) for Daniel’s people and the holy city of Jerusalem. The verb, hatak, occurs only this one time in the Old Testament, with no comparative material in the Bible with which to compare for alternate meanings. In post-biblical Hebrew the word, hatak, is used in all but one instance to mean "to cut." In only one case does it have the meaning, "to decree" or "to determine."
Thus the linguistic evidence – both the root meaning and the dominant usage – favors the meaning of "to cut" here in Daniel 9:24. Daniel 9:24 says that seventy weeks are to be "cut off" for the Jewish people. If a time period is "cut off," it must be cutoff from another time period. From what longer time period could the seventy weeks be cut off? The most readily available time period is the 2,300 days of the preceding chapter, Daniel 8.
Daniel obviously doesn’t understand the second angel’s climactic answer (Daniel 8:14) to the question of the first angel (vs 13). When Gabriel comes, he explains virtually all the elements of the symbolic vision except the angel’s statement about time in verse 14. In verse 26, Gabriel simply assures Daniel that the time element is "true." It was that particular element over which Daniel was especially confused (vs 27). When Gabriel comes again in Daniel 9, we would certainly expect his explanation to be related especially to what Daniel did not understand about the preceding vision of chapter 8.
The Vision
When Gabriel came to give Daniel the prophecy of chapter 9 he pointed Daniel back to the preceding prophecy in a specific way: "Therefore, consider the message [which I Gabriel bring to you] and understand the vision [mareh]" (Daniel 9:23). There are two Hebrew words used for "vision" in the book of Daniel. One is mareh which refers to the appearance of a personal being in vision. Where Daniel encounters the Person of God in vision, he says, "I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision [mareh]" (Daniel 10:7). The other word for vision [hazon] refers to a symbolic vision such as those containing beasts and their actions. This word is used three times (Daniel 8:1,2) to refer to the symbolic vision of the ram, goat, and horns.
In Daniel 8, both types of vision are present. From verse 1 to verse 12 there was a hazon, a symbolic vision. By verses 13 and 14, however, the hazon vision was over, and the appearance of two angels was a mareh. The Hebrew wording of Daniel 8:26 makes it clear that chapter 8 contains both types of visions: "The vision [mareh] of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision [hazon], for it concerns the distant future."
When Gabriel came to Daniel (vs 23) to help him understand the "vision," he used the word mareh. Thus when Gabriel pointed Daniel back to a preceding mareh vision, he was pointing him right back to Daniel 8:26, which in turn refers to Daniel 8:14. Thus there is a direct link between Daniel 9:23 and Daniel 8:14 through Daniel 8:26. Gabriel gave the prophecy of chapter 9 in order to explain the first part of the time element of that vision (vs 14). The seventy weeks of Daniel 9 were to be cut off of the 2,300 days of Daniel 8 as the Hebrew wording of Gabriel’s statement makes plain.
The language of Daniel 9 and its connection with Daniel 8, thus give a more specific date to the time period of Daniel 8. Daniel 8 indicates that it was to begin during the Persian period, and Daniel 9 pins down the beginning date as 457 B.C. If one adds 2,300 evenings-mornings, or days, to 457 B.C. on the basis of the year-for-a- day principle, (Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:34), those 2,300 years extend to the year A.D. 1844. In this way we establish dates for both the beginning and the end of the time period in Daniel 8:14.
See:
Shea WH: Christ as Priest (Daniel 8:10-14). Daniel: A Reader’s Guide. Pacific Press Publishing Assoc., Nampa, ID. 2005. 173-195
