REVELATION 14

WHEN IN HISTORY?

The pronouncement, “the hour of His judgment has come” emphasizes the arrival of a specific historical "hour" that will determine the eternal destiny of mankind. When in human history does this “hour of His judgment” take place? This message does not specify, but the fulfillment of other prophecies enables those who live in the time of the judgment to know that they have arrived at that critical time.

In chapter four this same judgment was introduced with the words, “Behold, a door standing open in heaven” (Revelation 4:1). There we saw that the open door referred to the door into the Holy of Holies in the heavenly sanctuary which Jesus, our great High Priest, enters on the Day of Atonement. The only other place where this exact Greek phrase for open door is used is in the message to the Philadelphia Church (“I have set before you an open door” Revelation 3:8). This links the beginning of the(“I have set before you an open door” Revelation 3:8). This links the beginning of the Day of Atonement (the judgment) to the Philadelphia period of history which started in the late 18^th century and continued through much of the 19^th century.[1]

This same judgment was the focus of the vision of Daniel 7, “The court was seated and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:10). Daniel saw four beasts arising from the sea, representing the world empires that would oppress God’s people through history (See 13: The Wild Animals of Daniel 7). Out of the fourth beast came a “little horn” that became large and aggressive and persecuted God’s people. Daniel described this oppressive reign: “He [the little horn] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” [2] (Daniel 7:25). In previous chapters[3] we have seen that this represents the 1,260 years of papal oppression during the Middle Ages that began in the early 6^th century and lasted until the end of the 18^th century. But after this period “the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever, then the kingdom and dominion… shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:27). In other words, the investigative judgment would take place in the 19^th century after the 1,260 years of papal oppression were over. Again the time frame of the Philadelphia era is indicated.

An even more specific date can be calculated from the prophecy of the 2,300 days of Daniel 8. The vision of Daniel 8 is parallel to that of Daniel 7, showing the succession of empires that subjugated God’s people, but focusing on the oppressive papal reign of the Middle Ages. Daniel saw a ram that symbolized the Persian Empire, which was attacked by a male goat, representing the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. Out of the goat came a horn, which represented first pagan and then papal Rome.[4] This horn started small but “grew up to the host of heaven…He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host [Jesus] and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down” (Daniel 8:10,11). This vision focuses on the attack on the sanctuary and the gospel that was described earlier in this chapter. Daniel heard a heavenly being ask the question, “How long will the vision be?” The answer came, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed” (Daniel 8:13,14). This final statement refers to the investigative Jjudgment. The interpretation of this vision, given by the angel Gabriel, is somewhat complex, and is described in detail in Appendix 5: The 2300 Days of Daniel 8. To briefly summarize:

The context of chapter 8 is the rise and fall of empires from Daniel’s day until the time of the end. This shows that the 2,300 days are prophetic days, each of which stands for a year. [5] But in chapter 8 no starting point was given for the 2,300 years. The angel Gabriel came to explain the vision in chapter 8, but Daniel was so overwhelmed that he could not understand all of it. Specifically, he did not understand the significance of the 2,300 days. Gabriel returned in chapter 9 to finish his explanation. He did so by stating that 70 prophetic weeks (490 years) were “cut off” or designated for Daniel’s people, the Jews. The 490 years were cut off from the longer 2,300-year period. This period of probation for the Jews would end with the Messiah (Jesus).[6]

The beginning of both the 490 years and the 2,300 years would be “the command to restore and build Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:25) which was given by Artaxerxes in 457 BC.[7] Some simple arithmetic shows that the 2,300 years ended in 1844. In 1844 Jesus began a new phase of His ministry during which “the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” This phase was foreshadowed by the Day of Atonement, in which the high priest entered the Most Holy Place “to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:28). The announcement, “the hour of His judgment has come” refers to this specific period of time, which began in 1844.

The following illustrations show the relationship between the prophecies of Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 and between the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 and the 2300 days of Daniel 8.

Continue to next section: DIAGRAMS: DANIEL 7 AND 8, 70 WEEKS, 2300 DAYS