1. THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION
Moses said, with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years.Psa 90:4, 2 Pet 3:8
In the First Century, Christians already understood that the six days of creation represented a 6,000 year plan of salvation. On the seventh day, the saints would resurrect with Christ. Then God would rest from all His work.
In the epistle of Barnabas, we read, “He ended in six days. He means this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifies a thousand years, and this He himself bears me witness, saying, the Day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years.”1
The same belief is also in the Talmud of the Rabbis, “Six thousand years the world will exist and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate, as it is written, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day … and also it is said, ‘For one thousand years in Your eyes are but a day that has passed.’”2
With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years.
Psalms 90:4
The prophet Hosea also equated a day to a thousand years. He said that after two days, or 2,000 years, God would revive us. He would come to us like rain.Hos 6:1-3 This signifies the second outpouring of His holy spirit. On the third day, the third thousand-year period, He will raise us up: that is after 6,000 years.
These 6,000 years can also be seen in Daniel’s prophecy of the Lawless One. Daniel said the saints would be given into the hand of the Lawless One for “a time, times, and half a time” — which he explained as 1,290 years.Dan 12:5-13 But after 2,300 years, the sanctuary will be cleansed.Dan 8:14 Then Christ will appear, and “those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake” after 6,000 years.
This 6,000-year work of God was outlined by six statements of God to Christ that began with “Let Us make man in our image.”Gen 1:26
After 6,000 years, God will complete His plan to make man in His image.
2. The Four Beasts and the Little Horn
The prophet Ezekiel described Daniel as one of the three most righteous men in history.Ezek 14:14
In Daniel 7, Daniel saw a vision of four great beasts rising from the sea. “The Great Sea” was the Mediterranean, which bordered Israel. It was ruled by four great “beasts” or powers from the time of Babylon, in 600 B.C., until the saints were taken into captivity in “Mystery Babylon,” by the fourth beast, in the fourth century.
The first beast was a lion, which we know as Babylon.
The second was a bear, the Persian Bear as it is still called today. It had “three ribs in its mouth:”Dan 7:5 the Median Empire, the Lydian Empire, and the Babylonian Empire.
The third was a leopard with four wings and four heads. This was the Greek Empire. The map of the Greek Empire looks like a leaping leopard. It was divided into four territories governed by the four generals of Alexander the Great.
Their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
Daniel 7:12
The fourth was an exceedingly dreadful beast with ten horns. A “little horn” came up among the ten horns. It had the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke pompous words. Daniel said the saints would be given into its hand for “a time, times, and half a time.” After Rome fell, its power continued through a relationship between the bishop of Rome and the ten horns, ten states of Europe.
Speaking of this little horn, Jesus said, “When you see standing in the holy place the one spoken of by Daniel the prophet, let him who is in Judea flee to the mountains.”Matt 24:15
Daniel watched until this beast was slain. “As for the rest of the beasts – the lion, the leopard, and the bear – they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”Dan 7:12 A season has three months and a “time” has 365 days—in total 455 days or years, from the first year of the reign of King Belteshazzar until 95 B.C., when the Greek Empire fell to the Romans and the dominion of the first three beasts was taken away.
3. The Little Horn
The four beasts in Daniel 7 were described as “four Kingdoms”Dan 7:23 and “four Kings.”Dan 7:17 The identities of the first three kings are well known, but the fourth is more mysterious.
The first beast was Babylon, and its king was Nebuchadnezzar the Great. In Chapter 2, Daniel said that he was the image of gold.
The identities of the next three kings were revealed in Chapter 8.
First, Daniel saw a ram with two horns. In Verse 20, these two horns were identified as the kings of the Medes and Persians. One horn was greater than the other. The greater horn represented the power of Cyrus the Great and the lessor horn represented the power of Darius the Mede. Daniel said that the ram became “great.”Dan 8:4
His power shall be mighty but not by his own power.
Daniel 8:24
Then a goat appeared and rushed at the Ram in the fury of its power. The goat became “very great.”Dan 8:8 Its large horn was broken and replaced by four other notable ones. In Verse 21, we are told that the goat was the kingdom of Greece. We know that the large horn represented the power of Alexander the Great and the four horns that replaced it represented the power of his four generals, who set up four kingdoms. These four horns went up to the four winds of heaven.
From the four winds or spirits of heaven came a little horn. It caused the stars to fall to the Earth. Daniel said that this little horn “became exceedingly great.”Dan 8:9 From the Book of Revelation, we understand that this little horn was the power of Satan, who swept away a third of the stars with his tail.Rev 12:4 But why would the power of Satan be described as a “little horn?” Simply because Satan’s power is only the power to lie. Verse 24 tells us, “His power shall be mighty but not by his own power.”
This little horn made the place of God’s sanctuary desolate when it exalted itself as high as the Captain of the Armies, as high as Christ.Dan 8:11 In Verse 17, an angel told us that this vision relates the time of the end, which he described as 2,300 days.Dan 8:17
4. THE DESOLATION OF THE SANCTUARY
In Daniel 8, an angel explained that God’s sanctuary would be desolate for 2,300 days.Dan 8:14 The apostle John called this sanctuary New JerusalemRev 3:12 Rev 21:2—it was the spiritual city of the saints.
In Daniel 9, the desolation of New Jerusalem was explained by the desolation of Jerusalem. Daniel confessed the sins of Israel:
Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments … we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled…. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws … Cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate
Daniel 9-4-17
After Daniel’s prayer, the angel Gabriel told him that 70 sevens were decreed for Israel to put an end to its transgressions, to make amends for its iniquities, to anoint the most Holy, and to end its sacrifice and offerings.Dan 9:27
The angel said that the people of the Prince to come would destroy the city and the sanctuary.Dan 9:26 This was the desolation prophesied in Chapter 8. Satan would desolate the Sanctuary of God when he exalted himself as high as Christ, as high as the Captain of the Armies.Dan 8:11
The angel said, “At the Holy Place shall be the one who makes desolate.”Dan 9:27 Jesus quoted this verse of Daniel when He said, “When you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let those in Judea flee to the mountains.”Matt 24:15-16 The power of Satan would stand in the holy place—the place that should have been occupied by God.
Finally, the angel concluded, “Desolations are determined until the end of the war, until the consummation is poured out on the desolator.”Dan 9:27 These desolations are to continue until the sanctuary is fully cleansed, when the power of Satan, which John called “the beast,” is cast into the fire,Rev 19:20 which, we shall discover, is after 2,300 years, not 2,300 days.
