THE 2300 DAYS
The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest prophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in b.c. 457 when the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26; Dan. 9:25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate the time occupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ was anointed in 27 a.d., at His baptism. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth week (31 a.d.), Christ was crucified or "cut off," which marked the time when the sacrifices and oblations of the earthly sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9:25, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this week reach to 34 a.d., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed. Acts 7:59; 8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.
But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial or priestly work in it.
Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period,—the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.]
But the angel had been commanded, "Make this man to understand the vision;" and soon after, as recorded in the next chapter,—possibly within a year,[G]—Gabriel appeared to the prophet with the words:
"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.... Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Dan. 9:22, 23.
Thereupon the angel began to deal with the matter of time in the prophecy, the very feature of the vision of the eighth chapter that he had not yet made Daniel understand. Therefore the vision of the 2300 years must be the topic.
The Starting-Point
First of all, the angel said that a short period was to be cut off from the long period, and allotted to the Jewish people; this short period was to reach to the coming of the promised Messiah and the filling up of the measure of Jerusalem's transgressions. The angel's own words are: