(5) Ancient Babylon rejected the true gospel as taught to Nebuchadnezzar, and the fall of Babylon came in consequence. Modern Babylon has done the same in her rejection of the true gospel as brought to her in the Reformation, and her fall is inevitable and impending.
(6) The fall of ancient Babylon came just at the time when it was giving expression to its contempt of all its enemies, and its confidence in its own permanence. This experience will be repeated in the history of modern Babylon.
17. What prophetic period, therefore, extends to the deliverance of God's people from the captivity in modern Babylon, and the restoration to them of the mediation of Christ?
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Verse 14.
Note.—The earthly sanctuary was a type of the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 9:23, 24; Lev. 16:29, 30, 33); the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary was typical of the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary; and this cleansing of the sanctuary accomplished on the great day of atonement is the closing [pg 237] work of Christ in His mediation for sin. And the commencement of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary marks the beginning of a new era in the experience of the people of God on earth; namely, the deliverance from the power of modern Babylon, the restoration to them of the knowledge of the mediation of Christ for them in the heavenly sanctuary, and a cleansing from sin in preparation for the second advent of Christ. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary involves the investigative judgment, which will be followed by the plagues, and Christ's coming. This period, therefore, determines the time of restoration and of judgment.
18. What is said of those who live to see the deliverance from modern Babylon, and the restoration of the true gospel?
“Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” Dan. 12:12.
Note.—The 1335 days (years) of Dan. 12:12 are evidently a continuation of the 1290 days (years) of the previous verse, which commence with the taking away of the mediation of Christ, in the period 503-508 a.d. See under question 22 in reading on “The Vicar of Christ,” page 229. The 1335 days, or years, would therefore extend to the period 1838-43, the time of the preaching of the judgment-hour, in preparation for the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the accompanying work at the end of the 2300 days, or years, of Dan. 8:14. At that time special blessings were to come upon those who were delivered from the errors and bondage of Rome, and had their minds directed anew to the mediation of Christ as the great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.
General Note on the Prophecies of Daniel.—The second chapter of Daniel presents in brief outline the divine program of history leading up to the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of God. The seventh chapter of Daniel presents somewhat more in detail the history of those earthly kingdoms which were to precede the establishment of the kingdom of God, the objective point of the prophecy being the little horn and its effort to change the laws and ordinances of God, and to destroy the subjects of the heavenly kingdom. The period allotted to the supremacy of this power, the Papacy (the 1260 years), is also indicated. The prophecy of the eighth chapter of Daniel covers the period from the restoration era in the time of the Persian kings and the establishment of the people of God in their own land, to the restoration era just preceding the second advent of Christ and the setting up of His everlasting kingdom. In this chapter the leading theme is the effort of the Papacy to substitute its own mediatorial system for the mediatorial work of Christ, and the announcement of a prophetic period (the 2300 years), at the end of which the counterfeit system introduced by the Papacy was to be fully exposed. The remaining chapters of Daniel supplement the prophecies of the second, seventh, and eighth chapters, and show that at the end of the first portion of the 2300-year period (the 70 weeks, or 490 years) Messiah was to appear and be cut off, following which would come the destruction of Jerusalem. In the closing chapter two new periods are introduced (the 1290 years and the 1335 years), at the end of which, as with the 2300 years, was to come the movement preparatory to the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom in the earth, in harmony with the prophecies of the second and seventh chapters.