ARTAXERXES SENDING THE JEWS TO REBUILD JERUSALEM, B.C. 457
"From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Dan. 9:25.
NEHEMIAH, THE KING'S CUPBEARER
"Send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it." Neh. 2:5.
A GREAT PROPHETIC PERIOD
THE 2300 YEARS OF DANIEL 8:14
The commission to the angel Gabriel was, "Make this man to understand the vision" (Dan. 8:16); therefore in the angel's explanation of the vision of Daniel 8, we must assuredly find the interpretation of the prophetic period of 2300 years, the close of which marks the opening of the judgment work in heaven, or the cleansing of the sanctuary.
The eighth chapter closes, however, with no reference to the beginning of this period of time, a most important measuring line of prophecy. The angel had explained the symbols representing Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, and had dwelt upon the antichristian work of the apostasy that was to develop; but he left the time of the prophetic period unexplained, save to say that it was "true," and that it would be "for many days"—far in the future. Here the angel stopped, for Daniel fainted. In spirit the prophet had been gazing upon the warfare of the great apostasy against God's truth through the ages, and evidently it took all strength from him. Daniel closes the account of this vision with the words, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Verse 27.