p. 4 | The Historical Field of the 2300 Days

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 11, 1915

The Historical Field of the 2300 Days

FAILING to take a comprehensive view of the prophecies of Daniel, some have raised an objection to the interpretation and application of the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14, as set forth in this paper, on the ground that this long period is made to apply to the work of a power—the Papacy—which arose several centuries after the time designated for the commencement of this period. The query runs something like this: If the work of the Papacy is described in the prophecy of the eighth chapter of Daniel, and if the limit to the time of the vision is said to be “unto two thousand and three hundred days,” how can it be possible that this period commenced in 457 B. C., at least six or seven centuries before the Papacy became an active power in the world's history? The answer to this query is found in the facts which follow.

The historical field covered by the vision in the eighth chapter of Daniel begins with the Medo-Persian power, that power under which the threefold decree went forth for the restoration and building of Jerusalem. This time might, therefore, be called the restoration era when ancient Israel was delivered from its long period of captivity in ancient Babylon, and when Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jewish kingdom, was again restored to its position of power. The long period of 2300 years commencing in this era (457 B. C.), extends to A. D. 1844, which, in view of the prophecies limiting the work of the Papacy, or modern Babylon, may be termed as another era of restoration when the people of God will be delivered from a long period of captivity in modern Babylon. Thus this long measuring line of prophecy has a marked significance in that it unites the two great eras of restoration in the history of God's people,—the restoration of ancient Israel from the captivity in ancient Babylon, and the restoration of modern or spiritual Israel from a much longer period of captivity in spiritual or modern Babylon.

This application of the period of the 2300 days, or years, confirms in a marked manner the correctness of that interpretation of the prophetic scriptures which makes the Roman Church to be the Babylon of the Apocalypse, and which calls for a special message against the beast and his image, to be given to the world in connection with the announcement of the near approach of the second advent.

THE second coming of Christ is the hope of the church. Then will life be triumphant. Then will appear Christ, who is our life, and then shall we appear with him in glory. God has promised it. It was to this end that Jesus both died and rose again. Holy men of God in all ages have looked forward to this greatest of all events. Enoch, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the minor prophets foretold that glad day. The psalmist sang of it, and in every age it has been the hope of the church, the blessed hope, longed and prayed for as nothing else has been in all the ages since the fall.