Prophetic Dates

1. In Daniel 8, how long would the sanctuary and the host be trodden upon?

"Two thousand and three hundred days" Daniel 8:13, 14

2. Who was commissioned to make Daniel understand this vision?

"Gabriel" Daniel 8:16

3. When Gabriel stopped short of a full explanation, what happened to Daniel?

"I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days" Daniel 8:27

4. When Gabriel finally returned to explain the time portion of the vision, how much of the 2300 days did he say was designated for the Jewish people?

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people" Daniel 9:21-24

That's 490 days. Subtract that from the total 2,300 days, and 1,810 days of the prophecy are left.

5. In Bible prophecy, God has appointed a short unit of time to represent a longer time period. What scale does He use?

"Each day for a year" Ezekiel 4:6

"Each day for a year" Numbers 14:34

Applying this rule, 2,300 prophetic days is actually 2,300 literal years, the first 490 of which pertained to the Jews.

6. The time period would begin when what command went forth?

"The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem" Daniel 9:25

7. In fulfilling God’s command, what three kings of Persia would make decrees regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem?

"Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" Ezra 6:14

The final decree, that of Artaxerxes, is recorded in Ezra 7, and went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C.

8. Who would appear after seven weeks and sixty-two weeks?

"The Messiah" Daniel 9:25

Sixty-nine weeks is 483 prophetic days. From the autumn of 457 B.C., 483 years takes us to the autumn of A.D. 27. According to the prophecy, the Messiah would appear at that time. "Messiah" is the Hebrew word for "Anointed one". The Bible tells us that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." Acts 10:38. That anointing took place at His baptism (John 1:32). Jesus was baptized in the autumn of A.D. 27, the precise time foretold in Daniel's prophecy.

9. After Jesus was baptized, what did Andrew tell his brother Simon?

"We have found the Messias" John 1:41

10. What did Jesus say as He began His public ministry, showing that He knew where He was in the prophetic timeline?

"The time is fulfilled" Mark 1:15

11. Indicating that Jesus came right on schedule, when did Paul say the Saviour appeared?

"When the fulness of the time was come" Galatians 4:4

12. What would Jesus cause to cease in the midst of the seventieth week?

"The sacrifice and the oblation" Daniel 9:27

That "week" would be the last seven years of the 70-week portion of the prophecy. It extended from the autumn of A.D. 27 to the autumn of A.D. 34.

In the spring of A.D. 31, exactly half way through that seven-year period, Jesus brought to an end the whole system of sacrifices and oblations by offering Himself as the Lamb of God, to whom the whole sacrificial system had pointed.

13. What happened in the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus died, which signified that its ritual services would never again have any meaning?

"The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" Matthew 27:51

14. Seventy weeks were determined upon the Jewish people to do what?

"To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy" Daniel 9:24

The seventy-week portion of the 2,300 years ended in A.D. 34. In that year Israel’s probationary time ceased, and they sealed their rejection of Christ by stoning Stephen. With the Jews no longer God’s chosen people, the Christian church inherited all the privileges promised to the descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3:29). The temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed by Roman armies in A.D. 70 (Daniel 9:26, 27; Mark 13:14).

15. The vision of the 2300 days pointed to what period of earth’s history?

"The time of the end" Daniel 8:17

From the autumn of A.D. 34, 1,810 years of the prophecy remained. Add 1,810 to 34 and it brings us to the autumn of the year 1844, which is in "the time of the end".

16. What does the Bible say would happen at the end of the 2300-day period?

"Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" Daniel 8:14

17. What instruction did the angel give Daniel, which shows that the vision was not for Daniel’s day?

"Shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days" Daniel 8:26

18. When would knowledge of the prophecies of Daniel finally be increased?

"The time of the end" Daniel 12:4