June 24, 2022
And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14
The longest time prophecy in the Bible was given to Daniel as a direct answer to a question he overheard between two angels: “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily…?” (8:13).
Sanctuary language is interspersed throughout the Bible. Knowledge of the temple and its services help to clarify our study of Scripture. The two main categories of the temple services were daily and yearly.
In short, the daily of the Old Testament foreshadowed our daily walk with Christ* as symbolized by the three articles of furniture in first apartment of the temple: the Holy Place where the table of showbread represents God’s Word for us to consume daily, the altar of incense represents daily prayers of praise, intercession and confession, and the lampstand represents our witness: letting our light shine before men.
The yearly represents point-in-time major events: Passover/unleavened bread/firstfruits being the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; Pentecost or feast of weeks being the birth/growth of His church; trumpets announcing the approaching final judgement; and Day of Atonement being the solemn judgement hour during which the sanctuary is cleansed. This cleansing is now in progress.
After Jesus fulfilled the type/shadow of the yearly Passover sacrifice—for He is the Lamb of God!—God’s hand tore the veil of the temple from top to bottom, signifying the end of the sacrificial system—but unbelieving Jews continued empty rituals in the temple until its final destruction by pagan Rome in AD70. It was just as Jesus foretold: “Not one stone shall be left here upon another.” (Matthew 24:2)
We are taught that each of us is to become a sanctuary for the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. The apostolic church learned that a Spirit-led life of “breaking bread” (the study of Scripture), daily prayer, and witnessing were essential for the health and growth of the church. It was papal Rome that had taken the seat of the Caesars (government) who also usurped the place of Christ in the hearts of the people and proceeded to obliterate these three essentials of true life in Christ. In this union of church and state, the written word was kept from the people, chained to monastery walls, and interpreted only by priests. Daily prayer was replaced by a command to confess sins to a priest “at least once a year.” Witnessing was replaced by military armies under the pope’s orders to kill anyone who refused to bow to Rome’s religious-political authority.
He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. Daniel 8:11-12
*Re: daily Matthew 6:11; Mark 14:49; Luke 9:23, 19:47; Acts 2:46-47, 5:42, 16:5, 17:11; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Hebrews 3:13