THE mystery of God is the sacrifice of Christ and the work of the Gospel. 1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 3:16. Some day this mystery will be "finished." Rev. 10:7. A time will come when the Lord will say: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:11, 12.
Of Christ's priesthood in heaven, and the closing of the work of the Gospel, we may learn more specifically from the typical system of the Aaronic priesthood. That was an object-lesson for the instruction of men throughout probationary time. The earthly tabernacle was after the pattern of the heavenly, and its service was illustrative of the service of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Heb. 8:4-6. See also Rom. 15:4.
In the typical system the whole plan of salvation was worked out in type every year, and the last day of the year was a special closing service. It was called the Day of Atonement, and the service was called the cleansing of the sanctuary. It was in fact a day of judgment. Lev. 16:29-31; 23:27-30.
During the Babylonian captivity the Lord revealed to the prophet Daniel in visions a general outline of the world's history down to the "time of the end." In connection with the vision of chapter eight, in answer to a question of time, he was told, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verse 14.
The Sanctuary—The Time
What sanctuary? It could not have been the earthly, typical sanctuary, for two reasons: (1) The Jews were then in exile, and their sanctuary had been destroyed. Neither at that time nor at the end of 2,300 literal days (less than seven years) was that sanctuary or its service in existence. (2) Counting the 2,300 days as prophetic days, or literal years (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:4, 6), the time would extend far beyond the period when the typical sanctuary would be abolished, and the antitypical, or heavenly, sanctuary opened, with Christ as ministering High Priest.
As this vision and its explanation was a matter of prophecy, the time was prophetic time, and the sanctuary to be cleansed must be the heavenly sanctuary. But Daniel sought for the explanation concerning the time, and was shown definitely when it should begin, and certain events during the time by which we may be assured in its computation. See Dan. 9:20-27.
From this explanation we may learn that the 2,300 days began with the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. This commandment, or decree, was issued B.C. 457 (Ezra 7:11-26), at least eighty years after the vision was given to Daniel.
Of the 2,300 days (or years), seventy weeks (490 prophetic days, or literal years) were allotted to the Jewish people. Of this period sixty-nine weeks (483 years) were to reach to the anointing of the Messiah, which took place at His baptism (John 1:32, 33), in A.D. 27.
In the midst of the seventieth week (or seven years) the Messiah was to be "cut off;" so three and a half years after His baptism (spring of A.D. 31) Christ was crucified. Three and a half years later (autumn of A.D. 34) the Jews emphasized their rejection of Christ by the murder of Stephen (Acts 7) and a general persecution of Christians. Up to this time Gospel evangelization had been confined to Judea; but the persecution dispersed the Christians, and they "went everywhere preaching the Word." Acts 8:4.
The Year-Day Theory Proved
Thus ended the seventy weeks (490 years), or that part of the 2,300 days (or years) that had been allotted to the Jews as the recognized people of God. By this we have the proof that the year-day mode of reckoning prophetic time is correct—at least in this instance.
Taking 490 years from 2,300, we have left 1,810 years, which, added to A.D. 34, reached to A.D. 1844, when the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary—the Day of Atonement and final investigative judgment—should begin. Therefore it is now in progress. When it will end, no one knows either the day or the hour. But when it closes, probation will have ended, and the door of salvation will be forever shut.
Even for the people of God this should be a period of special humiliation and confession of sin; of a closer walk with God personally, and of a special solicitude for the salvation of those who know not the truth. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Peter 4:17, 18.
