Thoughts on Daniel by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 9, 1882

Thoughts on Daniel.

By Uriah Smith

BY ELD. U. SMITH.

CHAPTER IX.—THE SEVENTY WEEKS.

The query may here arise, how the days can be extended to the autumn of 1844, if they commence 457 B. C., as it requires only 1843 years in addition to the 457, to make the whole number of 2300. Attention to one fact will clear this point of all difficulty; and that is that it takes 457 full years before Christ, and 1843 full years after, to make 2300; so that if the period commenced with the very first day of 457, it would not terminate till the very last day of 1843. Now it will be evident to all that whatever part of the year 457 had passed away before the 2300 days commenced, just so much of the year 1844 must pass away before they would end. We therefore inquire, At what point in the year 457 are we to commence to reckon? From the fact that the first 49 years were allotted to the building of the street and wall, we learn that the period is to be dated, not from the starting of Ezra from Babylon, but from the actual commencement of the work at Jerusalem; which it is not probable, could be earlier than the seventh month (autumn) of 457, as he did not arrive at Jerusalem till the fifth month of that year. Ezra 7:9. The whole period would therefore extend to the seventh month, autumn, Jewish time, of 1844.

Those who oppose this view of the prophetic periods, have been wont in years past to meet us like this: "The 2300 days have not ended, because the time has passed, and the Lord has not come. Why the time passed in 1844, without the consummation of our hopes, we acknowledge to be a mystery; but the passing of the time is proof that the 2300 days have not ended."

Time, however, is no respecter of persons nor of theories; and with the formidable scythe which he is represented as carrying, he sometimes demolishes in the most summary manner the grotesque and gossamer theories of men, however dear they may be to their authors and defenders. It is so here. Heedless of the wild contortions of those who would fain compel him to stop and fulfill their darling predictions, he has kept on the swift but even tenor of his way until—what? every limit is passed to which the 2300 days can be extended; and thus he has demonstrated that those days have passed. Let not this point be overlooked. Setting aside for a moment the arguments by which they are shown to have ended in 1844, and letting them date from any point where there is the least shadow of ground for placing them, or from which the wildest dreamer could date them, it is still true that the utmost limit to which they would extend has gone by. They cannot possibly be dated at any point which would bring their termination so late as the present time. We therefore say again, with not a misgiving as to the truth of the assertion, nor a fear of its successful contradiction, Those days have ended.

The momentous declaration made by the angel to Daniel, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," is now explained. In our search for the meaning of the sanctuary and its cleansing, and the application of the time, we have found not only that this subject can be easily understood? but lo! the event is now almost accomplished. And here we pause to reflect a brief moment upon the solemn position into which we are brought.

We have seen that the sanctuary of this dispensation is the tabernacle of God in Heaven, the house not made with hands, where our Lord ministers in behalf of penitent sinners, the place where between the great God and his Son Jesus Christ, the "counsel of peace" prevails in the work of salvation for perishing men. Zech. 6:13; Ps. 85:10. We have seen that the cleansing of the sanctuary consists in the removing of the sins from the same, and is the closing act of the ministration performed therein; that the work of salvation now centers in the heavenly sanctuary; and when this sanctuary is cleansed, the work is done, and the plan is finished! Then the great scheme devised at the fall for the salvation of as many of the lost race as would avail themselves of its provisions, and carried forward for 6000 years, is brought to its final termination. Mercy no longer pleads, and the great voice is heard from the throne in the temple of Heaven, saying, It is done. Rev. 16:17. And what then? All the righteous are safe for everlasting life; all the wicked are doomed to everlasting death. No decision can be changed, no reward can be lost, and no destiny of despair can be averted, beyond that point.

And we have seen (and this is what brings the solemnities of the Judgment to our own door) that that long prophetic period which was to mark the commencement of this final work in the heavenly sanctuary, has met its termination in our own generation. In 1844 the days ended. For thirty-seven years the final work for man's salvation has been going forward. This work involves an examination of every man's character; for it consists in the remission of the sins of those who should be found worthy to have them remitted, and determines who among the dead shall be raised, and who among the living shall be changed, at the coming of the Lord, and who, of both dead and living shall be left to have their part in the fearful scenes of the second death. And all can see that such a decision as this must be rendered before the Lord appears. Every man's case is to be determined by the deeds done in the body, and each one is to be rewarded according to his works. In the books of remembrance, kept by the heavenly scribes above, every man's deeds will be found recorded; in the closing sanctuary work, these records are examined, and decision is rendered in accordance therewith. It would be most natural to suppose that the work would commence with the first members of the human race; that their cases would be first examined, and decision rendered, and so on with all the dead, generation by generation, in chronological succession along the stream of time, till we reach the last generation, the generation of the living, with whose cases the work would close. How long it will take to examine the cases of all the dead, how soon the work will reach the cases of the living, we do not know. As above remarked, for thirty-seven years this work has already been going forward. The light of the types, and the very nature of the case, forbid that it should be of long continuance. John, in his sublime views of heavenly scenes, saw millions of attendants and assistants, engaged with our Lord in his priestly work. Rev. 5. And so the ministration goes forward. It ceases not, it delays not; and it must soon be forever finished.

And here we stand; the last, the greatest, and the most solemn crisis in the history of our race immediately impending; the great plan of salvation about finished; the last precious years of probation almost ended; the Lord about to come to save those who are ready and waiting, and to cut asunder the careless and unbelieving; and the world—alas! what shall we say of them!—deceived with error, crazed with cares and business, delirious with pleasure, and paralyzed with vice, they have not a moment to spare in listening to solemn truth, nor a thought to bestow upon their eternal interests. Let the people of God, with eternity right in view, be careful to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, and prepare to pass the searching test, when their cases shall come up for examination in the great tribunal above.

To the careful attention of every student of prophecy, we commend the subject of the sanctuary. In it is seen the ark of God's testament, containing his holy law, and suggesting a reform in our obedience to that great standard of morality. The opening of the service in its second apartment, marks the commencement of the sounding of the seventh angel. Rev. 11:15, 19. The work performed therein is the foundation of the third message of Rev. 14, the last message of mercy to a perishing world. This subject explains the great disappointment of 1844, by showing that we mistook the event to occur at the end of the days. It renders harmonious and clear, past prophetic fulfillments, which are otherwise involved in impenetrable obscurity. It gives a definite idea of the position and of our great High Priest, and brings out the plan of salvation in its distinctive and beautiful features. It reins us up, as no other subject does, to the realities of the Judgment, and shows the preparation we need, to be able to stand in the coming day. It shows us, that we are in the waiting time, and puts us upon our watch; for we know not how soon the work will be finished, and our Lord appear. Watch, lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.

After stating the great events connected with our Lord's mission here upon earth, the prophet in the last part of verse 27 speaks of the soon-following destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman power; and finally of the destruction of that power itself, called in the margin, "the desolator."