In the last article we examined Daniel Chapter 7 as a prophecy which would extend over the 2520 year period of Jewish Diaspora and Restoration. We analyzed the prophecy of the four great empires and concluded the Little Horn verses match very closely with the rise, spread and decline of the Islamic Caliphates. In this article we will next analyze Chapter 8, which appears to describe many of the events in Chapter 7 but from a different angle or perspective. Daniel is given the reason, and thus imparting to us the hidden mystery into the reason why the Little Horn was able to start from a small insignificant movement into the largest empire ever in history. The reasons appear to be due to the ongoing competing interests and wars between two world empires and their peoples throughout the centuries. Once again there is common consensus between many Christians on the identity of the lands or empires in question, especially since the angel specifically tells us their identities. Simple enough. However the reasons why these empires were mentioned, or the time period in question is what is often misunderstood and thus misinterpreted.
This article provides a fresh new perspective on the mystery of Daniel 8 and how it lead to the rise of the Little Horn or Antichrist foretold by Daniel, St. Paul and St. John. In addition, a new analysis and solution will be proposed to the mysterious “2300 Evenings and Mornings” time period by showing correct starting and end points to the prophecy which aligns to the time period when the Jews would return to Israel and recapture the Temple Mount. It is specifically this 2300 “day” prophecy interpretation (and mis-interpretation) by William Miller in 1844 A.D. that the Historicist approach to prophecy suffered significantly and was mostly abandoned by the majority of Protestants, because Miller used this prophecy of Daniel 9 to attempt to predict the Second Coming of Christ. When this event failed both in 1843 and 1844, many biblical scholars began to look to other solutions to End-Times prophecies such as Dispensationalism and Preterism, which both gained significant momentum in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, the failed 1844 teachings by William Miller were not entirely abandoned, and eventually gave rise to heretical sects and teachings of Christianity such as Seventh Day Adventism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, both which continue to damage the credibility of Historicism today where they apply the “seven times” prophecies to themselves. Because we are told “no one knows the day nor the hour”, we can be confident that these timed prophecies of Daniel cannot in any way be used to calculate the time when Jesus will return.
Daniel 8 Analysis
Daniel 8:1-2 – “In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.”
In order to understand the significance Daniel 8, it is important to understand when it was written. The prophecy was dated in the “third year of the reign of King Belshazzar.” Looking through historical records , we find that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon and father of Belshazzar. An ancient artifact known as the Nabonidus Cylinder says that that his firstborn son was Belshazzar He was the leader of the army in the third year of Nabonidus’ reign. Most scholars agree was around the year 553 B.C. This would then date the prophecy around 550 B.C. Daniel was not revealed this vision in a dream like chapter 7, but observed this vision while he was awake, perhaps in a trance.
Daniel 8:3-4 – “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.”
Daniel observed a ram which had two horns, unequal in size. One horn was bigger than the other. Daniel will be explained later in verse 21 that this represents two kings, the Medes and the Persians. This empire was similarly represented by the Bear in Daniel Chapter 7. Media was located in what is considered today to be parts of Iran, Iraq and Turkey). The Kingdom of Persia covered most of Iran and parts of Afghanistan today. The larger and stronger of the two horns represented was Persia since it was the dominate power of the Medo-Persian Empire. . Verse four describes the which direction the empire spread to create the new empire.
Daniel 8:5-8 – “And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.”
Daniel next beheld a “He Goat” with a very large horn between his eyes charging speedily from the direction of the west. The goat ran fast and crushed the ram to the ground and trampled upon him. Daniel is explained by the angel Gabriel in verse 22 that this represents the kingdom of the Greeks. Many interpreters understand this to refer to the historical conquests of the Greek armies led by Alexander the Great, represented int he prophecy as the “prominent horn.” The goat seemed to move suddenly across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. This part of the text perfectly describes the swiftness by which Alexander conquered the world. This very same He Goat is also represented by the fast Leopard in Daniel Chapter 7 to represent the Greek Empire and the speed of it’s accumulation of territory. This “fury of his power” the result of the very hostile historical relationship between the Greeks and the Persians throughout the centuries. Many wars were fought between the Greeks and Persians even until the start of the Middle Ages. The goat grew “very great” with the extent of his territory. However, the large horn between its eyes was broken off. This is a representation of Alexander’s untimely death. “Four notable ones came up” immediately after him, which describes how Alexander’s four generals divided up the Greek Empire after his death.
Daniel 8:9-12 – “And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.”
Out of one of the empires sprang a Little Horn. This appears to be the same horn described in Daniel Chapter 7 that would rise after the end of the fourth beast which was considered to be Rome. This figure is also considered to by the “Man of Perdition” and “Antichrist” spoken of elsewhere in scriptures. The power of the Little Horn would gain strength such that it would grow it’s empire southward, eastaward, and towards the “pleasant land”, which is an obvious reference to the Holy Land. He was to glorify himself to be of more importance than the prince of the host, or the Christ. The “daily sacrifice” was to be taken away while the “place of the sanctuary”, or the area of the Temple in Jerusalem, i.e. the Temple Mount, would be trampled upon and desolated. We will go into more details once again on the identity of the Little Horn later below as we analyze the explanation from the angel Gabriel. Many Preterist interpreters of prophecy believe that this vision of the Little Horn was fulfilled by the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.), the eighth king of the Syrian Dynasty, because the believe he was the Abomination that caused Desolation. This cannot be the case though, given that Jesus in the Olivet Discourse refers to the Abomination of Desolation as a future event.
We are then given a hidden clue into the identity and duration of the Little Horn and the defiling of the Temple Mount in the next few verses 8:13 and 8:14 which provide a timeframe of “2300 evenings and mornings. We will skip those 2 verses and move on to 8:15, and come back to these later. Before we can truly understand the timeline of the 2300 days, we have first analyze and establish the identity of the Little Horn as we did with our analysis of Daniel Chapter 7.
We would first ask the question of why Daniel would revisit this topic of the Little Horn again in chapter 8? Well for one thing, Daniel chapter 8 provides two more critical clues on the arrival of the Little Horn and how it was able to gain strength. As the old saying goes – “timing is everything” – and that was definitely the case for the Rise of the Little Horn. Any other time period in history in the Middle Ages and this movement would most likely never would have been able to grow and sustain it’s momentum as easily as it did. To understand these clues, we are to be given more details the arrival of the Little Horn, which is further explained by the angel Gabriel in the rest of the chapter.
Daniel 8:15-18 – “And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.”
The angel Gabriel is told to explain the vision from who had the appearance “like a man“. This vision of the man is another pre-incarnation appearance of Christ coming to explain critical visions about the Antichrist and to provide us key details about the restoration of the Jews. This vision of the Jesus is repeats numerous times throughout the Book of Daniel, including chapter 3 with the vision of the man on the blazing furnace, chapter 7 with the vision of the Son of Man in heaven, chapter 10 with the man on the bank of the Tigris River “dressed in linen” with a face light lightening and eyes like fire, and again in and chapter 12 with the man “clothed in linen” providing the oath about the ending of the 1260 year period of persecution and diaspora.
The Ram and He Goat Return Once Again: Byzantine-Sassanian Wars
Daniel 8:19-22 – “And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”
As we already discussed above, the Gabriel explains the visions of the Ram and He Goat to be the Medo-Persian and Greek Empires. Gabriel goes on to explain how the empire of Alexander the Great would be split into 4 separate kingdoms after his death. The next verse though reveals a significant clue into the starting time period of the 2300 days. Other interpreters try to begin the counting of the 2300 days at the transition period between the Medo-Persian and Greek Empire in 331 BC. However we are told to look much later in history to observe the timing and appearance of the Little Horn.
Daniel 8:23-25 – “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”
The beginning of verse 8:23 provides the critical clue – “And in the latter time of their kingdom.” While Alexander the Great’s Kingdom trampled upon the kingdom of the Medes and Persians and was split into four kingdoms, the hostility between the peoples of the two kingdoms did not disappear at that point. In fact, the Persians and Greeks continued to fight one another throughout the years through the Roman times and also through the time of the Greek Byzantine and Sassanian Empires which were to replace their kingdoms. So then, just before the rise of the Little Horn we come to the latter times of their kingdoms before the Little Horn would grow and swallow up their lands.
The Little Horn and self-proclaimed prophet Mohammed at first began his new insignificant small religious movement through a series of dark visions in a cave. Mohammed is described as “a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences. These utterances would soon 30 years later be compiled in a new book by his scribes and followers in the Koran. This new movement would be proclaimed at first as a “New Christianity” mixed with a form of Arianism, where Christ is not professed to be of once essence with the father, the Son of God, but merely a creature and prophet and denial of the Holy Spirit. It is confirmed in history with the first Islamic Jihad, that this new religion of Mohammed quickly spread to the south of the Mediterranean to Egypt all thy way to the Iberian peninsula, then to the “Glorious Land” described in Daniel 8, that is, the Holy Land through the invasion of Jerusalem in 636-637 AD by Omar II.
Therefore, Daniel’s story of the Ram and He Goat in Chapter 8 sheds light on primary reason why this new religious movement was to spread so rapidly from the outskirts of Arabia throughout the lands of the former great world empires. It is because the battles of the Greeks and Persians throughout history would be brought to a climax with the Byzantine Sasanian Wars ending in 628 AD, which left both empires extremely vulnerable to attack with little troops and finances to fight off the new Islamic Jihads. Mohammed’s prophetship began in 622 AD and would at first start small through the lands between Mecca and Medina. Daniel explains that the small movement would grow through deceptive and crafty practices. Mohammed would often sign peace agreements with his enemies and attack them by surprise and collect the spoils of war to be divided by his growing numbers of supporters, who benefited from the spoils and booty from whoever they conquered. By 632 AD, Mohammed’s successor would use these same tactics to take advantage of the bankrupt and tired troops of the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires and spread among the lands of these once great empires with little or no resistance.
The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 AD was the final and most devastating of the series of wars fought between the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and the Sasanian Empire of Iran. The Byzantines were the successors to Alexander’s Kingdom being that it was a Greek Speaking Empire, while the Sassanid Dynasty was the successor to the older Persian Empire of Daniel’s time. The devastating impact of the war along with the effects of a century of conflict left both empires crippled. The Sassanids heavy taxation and economic decline also aided the religious and political unrest which was ripe for a takeover by another movement. The Byzantine Greek empire was also severely affected by the war as it’s territory shrunk due to lack of resources with the Balkans falling away to the Slavs. Neither empire even had a chance to recover and within a few short years, were attacked by the migrating warriors supporting the new movement of the Little Horn, that is, the new religion of Islam founded by their leader and prophet Mohammed. This movement by the rising Little Horn described by Howard-Johnson likened the onslaught of the Arabs “like a tsunami” [1] which is how St. John the Theologian describes the movement to attack the Church “like a flood” from the mouth of the Dragon. According to George Liska, the “unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam”.[2]
The Sassanid Empire quickly succumbed to these attacks by the Muslim invaders and was completely destroyed. During the Byzantine–Arab Wars, the exhausted Byzantine Empire’s recently regained eastern and southern provinces of Syria, Armenia, Egypt, and North Africa were also lost, reducing the empire a much smaller area of Anatolia and a scatter of islands and footholds in the Balkans and Italy. However, unlike Persia, the Byzantine Empire ultimately survived the Arab assault temporarily. But the Byzantine Empire also lost its territories in Crete and southern Italy to the Arabs in later conflicts, though these too were ultimately recovered. Eventually, the Byzantine Empire would fall to the Little Horn when it would grown exceedingly great with the rise of the Ottomans, which brought an end to the Byzantine Empire with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD.
Rise of the Little Horn
The 2300 “Evenings and Mornings”
The last thing to discuss in identifying the identity of the Little Horn is the prophecy on the 2300 “Evenings and Mornings”. This prophetic text appears to give us a measurable fixed duration of time for the trampling of the sanctuary, which is often equated to be the Temple Mount itself (except for the Seventh Day Adventists and their 1844 cleansing of the sanctuary, more on that later). We can also state that the “sanctuary” could refer to the Holy Land or city of Jerusalem itself, and not necessarily confined to the temple mount. Take for example,, the concept of a “sanctuary city” today with the migrations of foreigners today to the United States. So the “promised land” itself is the “sanctuary.” It appears these verses predicted a period of 2300 years until the liberation and cleansing of the temple. So then, we have many questions to answer with respect to this time period. For example:
- what is the starting point for the calculation?
- Are we able to identify the “midpoint” of the prophecy between the evenings and mornings mentioned in the prophecy, that is the time when the “clock would strike midnight” in the middle of the time-frame of the evenings and mornings.
- Do these midpoints identify a significant event in history of the Little Horn?
- At the end of the time period of the 2300 days, is there any other historical event which aligns with cleansing and liberation of the Temple Mount?
- Was there a moment in the time period of this 2300 year period that the Sanctuary was NOT trampled by the Little Horn.
- If so, does this “suspend” or “delay” the ending time-frame of the prophecy?
All of these questions we will attempt to answer with our analysis below.
A new temple structure would soon be built over His Sanctuary (i.e. the Temple Mount), and the “truth” of the New Testament was “cast down to the ground” through a newly written Gospel – the Koran. Let’s come back to the verse 13 and 14 which we skipped previously, which seems to provide the timetable for the rise and fall of the Little Horn’s trampling of the sanctuary:
Daniel 8:13-14 – “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” (KJV)
This language appears to be similar to the text of Daniel 9/11 and Matthew 24 describing the abomination of desolation. This reference to the desolation of the temple and city of Jerusalem is similar to the information provided in Revelation 11 and Revelation 13 which describes that the Holy City of Jerusalem would be “trampled under foot” for “42 months” or 1260 “days”. We should examine a few more translations from the NIV and Septuagint to see if there are additional details:
Daniel 8:13-14 – “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people? He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” “ (NIV)
Daniel 8:13-14 – “And I kept hearing another holy one speaking, and the other one said to the Phelmouni who was speaking, “How long will this vision continue: even the sacrifice, which has been taken away, and the sin of desolation that has been given and the sanctuaries will be desolated unto trampling?” And he said to him, “Two thousand three hundred days, evenings and mornings, and the sanctuary will be purified.” (Old Greek – Septuagint to English Translation)
So we are told that there will be 2300 “evenings and morning” or 2300 “days” and then the sanctuary will be “purified,” “reconsecrated,” “restored,” “cleansed“, “put right again,” “vindicated,” or “declared right again” according to the various bible translation of Daniel 8-14. The 2300 days was often interpreted by early Protestant reformers to represent 2300 years. What is the mystery here with the 2300 year time period? Why is it partitioned between half of the years to be represented by “evenings” and the second half as “mornings“? What is the significance of the daily sacrifice and sanctuary. Is it related to the physical presence in Holy City of Jerusalem?
We know through studying history that the Little Horn conquered Jerusalem in 636-637 AD when Omar II invaded. We also know that the Dome of the Rock was constructed between 688 AD and 693 AD, while the Al-Asqa Mosque was constructed between 706 AD and 712 AD. Both structures sit on the temple mount even through today. We also know there was a period of time in history that the Temple Mount occupation was given over to the Christians. When the Crusades came to liberate Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock was temporarily converted to a Church. While the Omar Temple still was ‘physically’ on the Temple Mount during the Reign of the Crusades, Jerusalem was not under control of Islam, and thus the daily Islamic sacrifices were stopped, and Christian liturgies were celebrated in this building. This would perhaps delay the trampling of the sanctuary and daily sacrifice. That is, the daily sacrifice might also be a reference to the Body and Blood of Christ, that is Holy Communion, replaced the old Jewish sacrifices. During the time of the Crusades, the daily sacrifice was restored and then stopped once again when Saladin reconquered Jerusalem.
On July 15th, 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders after a five-week siege. The city’s populations underwent a significant change. Western culture now took center-stage, with French spoken as the day-to-day language and Latin used in the church services. Many of the inhabitants were replaced by European and Eastern Christians. Under the Crusaders Jerusalem once more assumed a Christian character, they renewed Christian traditions and rebuilt churches and monasteries. The holy sites on the Temple Mount were declared Christian. The Temple Mount was the seat of the Templars, an order of monastic knights whose names derived from their location. Finally, in 1187, Jerusalem fell to Islam through the capture by Saladin, putting an end to the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. The great golden cross that stood above the Dome of the Rock was toppled and shattered, to be replaced by the crescent, the symbol of Islam.
Regarding the dates of the Latin Rule in Jerusalem, we find in the Oxford Illustrated History Of Christianity on page 205 regarding the Crusades:
“In the course of the eleventh century, emergent powers in the western Mediterranean committed themselves to campaigns against Islam and used them to establish their moral and political authority. When appeals were received from Constantinople and Jerusalem for protection against Turkish oppression, they were heard by Urban II, a French pope who already had close links with holy war in the western Mediterranean; and at the Council of Clermont in 1095 he proclaimed a great expedition for the relief of Jerusalem, which we know as the First Crusade. For several decades, the Western effort in the East was crowned with success. Jerusalem was captured in 1099, and by 1153 the whole Syrian coastline from Ascalon to Antioch was in Latin hands. It was only with the unification of Islam under Nureddin, and still more his successor Saladin, that Jerusalem was recovered for Muslim Rule in 1187.
From The Story Of Christianity, Volume 1 on pages 295-297:
“The army finally caught it’s first glimpse of the Holy City on June 7, 1099 (…) The crusaders swept into the city that was the goal of their long campaign. It was July 15, 1099. (…) For a while the Kingdom of Jerusalem grew strong, and under Amalric I it even extended as far as Cairo. But then the Moslems began to regroup and, under the leadership of the sultan of Egypt, Saladin, took Jerusalem in 1187.”
And finally, in Christianity Through The Centuries on page 221-222:
“Finally, in June 1099 they captured Jerusalem” (…) And with the conquests of the Second Crusade, “This failure was followed by the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin, the Muslim leader, in 1187“
And through later years during the Sixth Crusade, in which a treaty was negotiated with the Muslims, the Dome of the Rock remained under Islamic rule. So in that particular crusade conquest, the time clock for the Abomination of Desolation continued and was not temporarily stopped.
To summarize what we have learned so far, it is necessary for us to take into consideration that the Muslims did not have maintain any control or have access to worship in the Omar Temple for 88.3 years when it was converted to a church by the Crusades. Therefore, the calculation to ‘trample on the Holy City for forty-two months’ has to be modified slightly to take this 88.3 year time lapse. The Futurists interpreters seem to have no problem inserting a 2000 year “gap” with the prophecies of Daniel to account for their final 7 years of tribulation. Why not a gap for the Abomination of Desolation rule? This is a legitimate consideration for the calculation for the 2300 days. At the end of the day, the 88.3 (or 87) year lapse in time must be taken into account in factoring dates if we are to believe in the validity of the Historicist method of interpretation of Daniel and Revelation. And thus we know the reason for the failure of William Miller and his calculations for 1844 AD and the “cleansing of the sanctuary.” He failed to realize the trampling of the holy city and sanctuary was suspended by the 88-years of Crusade Rule!
Let’s examine our starting points for the prophecy of the 2300 years. This appears to be a prophecy that measures the duration of the “trampling of the holy city and sanctuary” as measured from the 3rd and 4th royal decrees to rebuild and restore the town and walls of Jerusalem. These dates are 457 BC and 444 BC. It appears that the royal decrees for 536 BC and 517 BC to return and begin rebuilding are applicable for our 2520 year charts as shown in our analysis of Daniel chapter 7. But for Daniel Chapter 8, we measure the time-frame from the 457 BC and 444 BC royal decrees, the same starting points used in the calculation of Daniel’s 70 Weeks to determine the 490 year arrival and timing of the Messiah. Another consideration is we need to possibly consider the validity of all 3 calendars for our calculations (the “trinity calendar” theory as I woulds call it.
The number 2300 is broken down between evenings and mornings, down the middle. So we have 1150 Evenings and 1150 mornings. The first half of the timeline is a period building up to the “darkness” of the Crescent Moon religion with a period of 1150 years. Then this is followed by a period of 1150 years until the “morning” arrival of the Sun of Righteousness. A future extended point in time will mark the restoration and conversion of the Jews to Christianity, per our charts of the 2520 years demonstrated in previous articles.
First we need to demonstrate our 1150 year timeline scaled to geometric, solar or lunar calendars:
- 1150 year is represented by our geometric 360 degree/circle calculation
- Solar Calculation = 1150 x 365.25/360 = 1167 years
- Lunar Calculation = 1150 x 354.37/360 = 1132 years
Using these scaled time-frame starting from 457 BC and 444 BC and adding 1160 “years”, we come to some amazing results with our midpoint:
- From 457 BC, adding prophetic or geometric years we arrive at the same time-frame for the construction of the Dome of the Rock, or Abomination of Desolation
- From 457 BC, adding 1167 “solar” years, we arrive at the time-frame for the construction of the Al Asqa Mosque.
- Fro 444 BC, adding 1132 “lunar” years, we arrive at the time-frame for the construction of the Dome of the Rock, or Abomination of Desolation.
Next let’s examine the midpoint when the Little Horn’s abomination structures were completed on the Temple Mount, if we add 1150 “years” and take into account the period of Crusade Rule, we arrive at some significant results that are very important for the establishment of Modern Israel and the capture of Jerusalem from Gentile rule for the first time in 2520 years.
- Adding 1150 geometric years from the completion of the Dome of the Rock, while adding 88 years for Crusade Rule, we arrive to the year 1948 AD.
- Adding 1167 “solar” years from the completion of the Al Asqa Mosque, and adding 88 years for the duration of Crusade rule, we arrive to the year 1967 AD.
These are shown in the chart below.
These are significant findings. It validates the restoration of the Holy Land and ending of the trampling of the Holy City which existed for 42 months. The 2300 year prophecy takes into account the temporarily cessation of the defiling of the sanctuary for 88 years of Crusade rule, starting from the 3rd and 4th Royal Decrees.
Daniel 8:26-27 – “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.”
Daniel is told to “seal up the vision” and the prophecy because the information imparted to him has less to do with the Jews of his time and it was mean to be interpreted at a much later time after the completion of the 2300 years
Conclusion
Daniel Chapter 8 offers significant clues into the identity of the Little Horn by offering when it would occur, and how it would be measured. The clue is given to us by ongoing conflict of the Ram and He-Goat’s throughout the years, climaxing with the final conflict between the Byzantine Greeks and Sassanian-Persians. The fallout of the Byzantine-Sassanian wars enabled to quick rise of Islam with little resistance. The spread of Islam affected the Holy City of Jerusalem with the trampling of the Temple Mount with two new structures built on the site of the temple mount, viewed as an trampling, defiling and abomination to the Holy Trinity, as Mohammed claimed he is a greater figure of history than the God-Man Jesus Christ and told his worshippers that there is no “Three” and there was never a Crucifixion.
Finally, the charts for the 2300 year prophecy has been updated to take into account 88 years of Crusade Rule, temporarily suspending the 2300 year trampling calculations. Thus we have the primary reason for the failures of William Miller, the Millerites and followers of the Seventh Day Adventist movement who believed that Jesus Christ was to return in 1844 AD or that the “heavenly sanctuary” instead was cleansed when Jesus failed to come back then. The Millerites mistakenly applied the prophecies to themselves and believed they were to be fulfilled by certain churches living in America. The same is true for the branch movement which became the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, these “times” prophecies of Daniel were intended for the timing of the Jews of the Diaspora, not to be applied to new sects or denominations like the SDAs and JWs. William Miller failed to take into account the 88 years of Crusade rule for the 2300 year prophecy and ended the calculation too early. Miller failed to consider multiple calendars in the calculations which often are required in the scaling of the 2520 year “seven times” prophecies and 490 year prophecies of Daniel 9.. The use of three calendars reveals the beauty and mystery of the Holy Trinity to demonstrate to the unbelieving Jews that God intended to create us in “their image and their likeness”
Finally, many Christian Protestant denominations today like the Dispensationalists incorrectly attempted to use the times prophecies to predict the second coming of Christ. This is impossible, because Christ says “no one knows the day nor the hour.” However, it is clear as a result of our analysis of Daniel 7, 8 and 9 that the times prophecies were given to predict the salvation and restoration of the Jews to Israel, as well as the timing of the restoration of the Christians of the world to the One True Faith. Christians will continue to fall in to a whole world of pain and despair if they attempt to use these “times” prophecies to predict the end of the world or the timing of the Rapture.
Glory be unto God for all things. Amen!
© 2018 by Jonathan Photius
Neo-Historicism - End Times Eschatology From A New Eastern Orthodox Christian "Historicist" Perspective 