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As we study what this DAILY is, and what THE ABOMINATION is, we realize what has happened in Christianity and why there must be a judgment.
"The Time of the End" refers to that time, just before the second coming of Christ, when heavenly judgment court is seated, (Dan. 7:10) and in which the true citizens of the kingdom are confirmed and the false are weeded out.
In Revelation, "The first angel's message proclaims "the hour of His judgment is come....
This message could be proclaimed ONLY IN THE LAST DAYS, for only then would it be true that the hour of judgment had come."
"The prophecies of Daniel present a succession of events leading down to the opening of the judgment which is to take place in the “time of the end“.
Scripture presents a grand linking together and conformation of the prophetic timelines. They all support one another and link the various passages together to increase our understanding of the prophecies.
Scholars tend to accuse us of establishing the 1844 movement which proclaimed the judgment and Christ's soon coming, on one single text (Dan. 8:14). However, all those time lines point to the investigative judgment. The universe has waited six thousand years for the final issue between truth and error to be revealed. With great interest they attend that great judgment scene seen in Daniel 7:9-10, which according to Daniel 8, deals with the "daily" and the "abomination".
Now let’s look at the verses containing the words “daily” and “abomination”. Notice as well, that the word "sacrifice" is NOT supposed to be there. It was added by translators.
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that one speaking, "Till when the vision, the daily, the trangression of desolation, and giving both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot.
The Daily -- the hattamid.
The word "tamid" is quite common in the Bible, it means “continuous” or “continually” “everyday without ceasing“. The word is also used in Jewish manuscripts to describe God’s continual Law, and continual praise.
All of Daniel 8, where we see the first reference to this "taking away of the daily", is filled with sanctuary language. The Ram and the Goat (sacrificial animals) represent nations in control while the “daily” was operating in the earthly sanctuary. Then we have no more “sacrificial animals” (signifying that the sacrificial system has come to an end) but now we see A HORN magnifying itself to heaven, (where Christ has entered the heavenly sanctuary as our High Priest) yet this horn is seen lifting off the daily from HIM, and casting the PLACE of the sanctuary down and truth is trampled to the ground, but finally we hear that the heavenly sanctuary will be cleansed!
In other words "tamid" or "daily/continual" in the types, referred to the continual work of the priests in the court and in the holy place of the sanctuary. It does not refer to the priests work in the Most Holy Place.
What work by Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, did an earthly priesthood supplant?
It was Christ's work in the heavenly sanctuary in which He was engaged until 1844-- before the "cleansing of the sanctuary began", which we know from our study of the earthly type, was THE DAILY. The word 'Sacrifice" is not once mentioned because the "blood" with which Christ ministers was shed ONCE AND FOR ALL at the cross. There is no more need for sacrifice, for that one sacrifice was all-sufficient.
Please note that the word "sacrifice" in all these verses was supplied by the translators. It is not in the original writings. Also, Daniel does not use the word "tamid" like an adjective, he places the definite article (the) in front "hattamid" so it stands as a noun. NOR DOES DANIEL EVER use the word sacrifice in any of the above verses. It is THE DAILY that is set aside.
Twice, in two different visions in the book of Daniel the question is asked, "HOW LONG" (Daniel 12:6 and Daniel 8:13)? The questions are answered with numbers: 2300 days, 1260/1290/1335 days. Also, THE DAILY, is spoken of as being taken away and the ABOMINATION THAT BRINGS DESOLATION being set up in it’s place.
Daniel 8.11-13
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place [base] of his sanctuary was cast down.
And an army was given him to oppose the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.
Daniel 11.31
And arms [military forces] shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place [assign, consecrate], the abomination that makes desolate.
Daniel 12.11
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up [consecrated, put in place], there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
A study of this word reveals that it was used in the connection of many activities priests performed in their daily work in the sanctuary. It is usually used as an adjective before various continuous activities in this daily priestly work or as an adverb following activities.
For instance the “continuous” burnt offerings, the “continuous "Presence of bread" (Ex. 25:30, Num 4:7) the “continual” burning lampstands (Ex. 27:20; Lev. 24:2) and incense (Ex. 30:8) and the fire on the altar (Lev. 6:13). The heads of the priests are “to minister continually tamid before God” and the heads of the Levites are also to “minister continually tamid. Others “shall attend daily tamid at the gates of the sanctuary.“ Those who serve shall “satisfy themselves perpetually tamid before Him.“ Although we are in a sanctuary context, tamid is not used as a noun or as a technical term for the daily sacrifice. It carries the meaning of “continually” or “perpetually”. (Hasel, “A Study of Daniel 8:9-14, looking at the Qumran and Old Testament Usage of the Hebrew Word TAMID”
However, the "ruwm" used in this verse is the "hophal" form which means "to be taken off, or lifted off".
The little horn attempted to lift off the daily from Christ and place it upon its self.
Any question as to the meaning of "take away the daily" should be cleared up quickly when we realize that the "taking away" of the daily in both (Daniel 11:31 and 12:11) uses the word "cuwr" which means "to cause to turn aside, cause to depart, remove, take away, put away, depose, reject".
So there really is no doubt that this power, in trying to take off from Christ, the Prince of Princes (8:11,25) HIS daily and place it upon themselves were rejecting the true ministry and pushing it aside.
In 508 A.D
The taking away of the daily marks the beginning of the 1290 days of Daniel 12. .
This taking away and putting aside of Christ's daily ministry, is done with an "army". That is, this power uses an army to force people to look to itself for "priestly absolutions" from "transgression".
Daniel 11:31
And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily, and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate.
Was there a time before the beginning of the 1260 years when the papacy came into possession of an army which it used to set up it's authority over spiritual matters?
Indeed there was!
With the conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks, came am army, and Catholic history turns this cruel and unscrupulous king into the "eldest son" of the church in 508 A.D. and makes him appear as God's chosen instrument for the extension of the Catholic faith.
Many historians declare that this was the "death" knell to paganism and the triumph of the Christianity. It was even taught that the "daily" was "paganism". BUT no, paganism was not "taken away" it was actually "Christianized" while true Christianity received a deadly blow.
Who were the nations that Clovis fought against, with the sanction of the church?
Burgundies, the Visigoths,
and later his successor drove out the Lombards from Italy.
Yes, I used to think these were all pagans being defeated-- but to my amazement I found out they were largely CHRISTIANS-- not particularly accepting all of Rome's doctrines and authority, and thus branded as Arians.
(it seemed like the “in” thing to do back then, to label all those in conflict with Catholic doctrines as Arians whether or not they actually were).
We tend to think of "Arians" as followers of Arius, who taught that Christ was the first and highest of God's creatures, created out of nothing. The views of Arius were rejected by the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325.
" The prevailing position at Nicea, taught that Jesus was begotten of the Father's substance, from eternity, there never being a time when Christ was not.
During the half-century following the Council of Nicea, the theological politics experienced a gradual shift, till we have the Creed of Constantinople in 381, which declared the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be three separate, identical beings, "truly distinct one from another" (Handbook for Today's Catholic), yet forming a single Godhead in which the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit shared their power, substance and dignity, each deserving the same honour and a co-eternal sovereignty, in three most perfect hypostases.
Those who held that the Son, being begotten of the Father, is of the same substance with the Father, as had been declared at Nicea, but didn't go along with the more elaborate definitions of the trinity, were now labeled as "Arians."
The Goths and other Germanic Christians of the fifth century belonged to this class.
One example is Leo Vigilantius , 364-408, a Christian priest of Gaul who was violently opposed by the church, because he was an influential leader, by some accounted as the first director of the Church of the Waldenses, and this Vigilantius denied the efficacy of relics, prayers to the saints, almsgiving, celibacy of the clergy, ascetic austerities, and monasticism.
Christians were protesting against these counterfeit routes to "holiness", they were protesting against the pagan ceremonies that were being brought into the church, they were refusing to see the Pope of Rome as the “authority”. In spite of thundering threats from leaders in Rome, there were people in the regions of Europe who were determined to follow the Bible only. They were growing in strength and were coming closer together.
But the most dramatic "lifting off" of Christ's daily, or CONTINUAL ministry, by the Roman Bishop is seen in the claim that Christ founded His church upon Peter, and gave Peter the Keys of eternal destiny, and the Bishop of Rome was now the successor performing the CONTINUAL ministry of Peter! And further more that Peter's authority is subordinated to no earthly superior and is governor and head of Christ's kingdom with power to impose laws and judge offences, and pardon sins. This concept was being promoted in the years just prior to 508!
Most interesting is the Catholic Concept of "CONTINUAL" TAMID means continual
These are issues we don’t find mentioned in the history books, but they were the reasons many of these Christian tribes COULD NOT reverence Rome, nor look to the Bishop of Rome as their spiritual leader! And Rome would have her revenge.
These were issues upon which these people disagreed with Rome, and which brought them into disfavour with the rising Roman religious power.
In 508 AD she received an army and started purging out the Christian nations of Europe and planting her own paganized religious banners in their place.
What we are dealing with in this prophecy is the establishment of the "little horn" after the fall of the western Roman Empire. It is about a RELIGIOUS war between two powerful Christian idologies in the "new" western European territory. The greatest threat to the Catholic Church was the threat of Arianism.
Clovis was the first territorial monarch to embrace the Catholic faith.
Reigning in Italy at that time was the Arian King Theodore the Great.
A most remarkable difference between the policies of the Catholic power and the Arian power is this:
One believed that "we cannot order a religion, because no one is forced to believe against his will". (Cassiodorus, Magnus Aurelius, Hodgkin, Tomas, "The Letters of Cassiodorus" Bk II, 27)
Arian Christians in the West, though not entirely free from mixing church and state, never resorted to force and persecution in religious matters against the will of the individual. Catholics and Arians enjoyed religious liberty.
The Catholic faith had a totally different idea on this matter. They believed the state was there to enforce the "true Catholic faith". The issue here is RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. The war between 508-538 was over religious freedom. Religious freedom lost in that war, and the dark ages began.
Yes, 508 A.D. marks the time when the Roman Catholic church received arms to force other Christians to look to Rome for salvation.
A curious pronoun shift occurs in our reading of the horn in our English Bible translations.
Sometimes the horn is referred to as “he” and sometimes as “it”.
This translation is based on Daniel actually switching the “gender” of the horn power!
Out of one of them [directions] came a horn that started from smallness and grew….
It grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and trampled them.
He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily was removed, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.
And a host [army] is given over to it, with the daily, through transgression, and it throweth down truth to the earth, and it hath worked, and prospered.
Why did Daniel do this?
Now let's see what happens when one represents the pagan aspect of Rome.
The other represents the papal aspect Rome.
There came forth a horn that started from smallness.. and grew…(That would be Pagan Roman as Rome began in it‘s pagan phase)
(Daniel 8:10) calls the horn IT.
This "it" would thus be pagan--
IT casts down some of the
(the host of heaven)
hosts are usually armies, so how did pagan Rome cast down some of the heavenly armies?
The "host" or the "army of heaven" being attacked by the IT seem to represent God's army of people going forth with the gospel message.
Indeed the first centuries of Christianity are known for their periods of bloody persecution by Pagan Imperial Roman!
BUT MORE-- IT, that is the pagan/greek/roman way of thinking ALREADY began to infiltrate the doctrines and thinking of Christianity.
The "it also casts down Stars and stamps on them
Leaders like Peter, Paul, etc. martyred.
Now the switch in the pronoun used for the horn:
(Daniel 8:11)
HE magnified himself
If the pronoun switch which we see in our translations, identifies a new identity then
"HE" must be papal!
He magnifies himself against the Prince of the host.
Against (Christ) Himself! Later we are told he rises against the Prince of princes. The papal power rises against Christ.
He lifts off the daily from HIM (mimmennu) not from the pagan IT, not from itself, but from the Prince of the host.
This is something the papal horn does against Christ.
And He pulled down (not the sanctuary itself) but the PLACE of the sanctuary.The HE was the new face in the horn (papal ROME) which moves himself "into the holy place" of Christ's daily ministry-- He lifts off the daily ministry the "TAMID" from Christ and receives his own army by which to force people to look to him as the one to dispense the "TAMID" blessings.
Daniel 8:12
An army or host is given over to it,
And IT
now we are back to the pagan IT
This seems to indicate that “HE” is now “pagan” --"IT"-- the same pagan/false religion, supported by slightly converted pagans?
with the daily, through transgression
But now it has seated itself in the very temple of God, and is pretending to be God. (see 2 Thess. 2) Pretending to have the power to forgive sins and open and shut the door of heaven to whomever they pleased.
And IT cast truth to the ground.
And IT prospered, while true Christianity was forced to hide in the wilderness.
The Abomination Set Up in Place of the Daily
The "taking away of the daily" and the setting up of the "abomination" are not the same thing. By “lifting off” Christ’s work and attributing that work to itself, this power in actuality rejected the TRUE MINISTRY of Christ and pushed it aside. By attributing the "daily" or "continual" to itself, this power prepared the way for the abomination to be set up in the Christian church.
The two events are not the same, one prepares the way for the second. When taken literally the text says, the daily is abolished "with the purpose" of establishing in its place the "abomination that causes desolation". (Dan. 12:11; 11:31)
The "daily" was usurped in 508
-- when the papacy received it's "army".
The abomination was set up in 538
-- when the papacy received it's primacy by law and the "abomination" was set under the mantle of Christianity.
See The 1260, 1290 and 1335 day/year Prophecies
What is the "abomination"?
The abomination is in existence throughout the WHOLE vision. It is the "abomination that causes desolation". What brings it to special mention in Daniel is the fact that it incorporates itself under the banner of Christianity!
The original word used in Daniel for
Abomination is #8251
(shiqquwts)
which means:
detestable thing or idol, abominable thing, abomination, idol, detested thing
We see the word used thus in scripture:
...and shall take away the daily, and they shall place the abomination (shiqquwts) that maketh desolate (shamem). (11:31)
...from the time the daily is taken away, and the abomination (shiqquwts) that maketh desolate (shamam) set up (12:11)
How long the vision [concerning] the daily, and the transgression (pesha) of desolation (shamam), to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? (8:13)
Now let's go to the new testament for some more clues.
Jesus Himself links the Greek word for "abominations" #946 with the word "abominations" in Daniel.
The abomination IS FALSE/PAGAN WORSHIP.
It is better translated as the "desolating sacrilege".
Since the battle between Christ's salvation plan and Satan's counterfeits has raged through all those years, we know the abomination was in existence throughout the WHOLE vision. It is the "abomination that causes desolation" even before Papal Rome emerges. What brings it to special mention in Daniel is the alarming fact that it incorporates itself under the banner of Christianity! The abomination is set up IN THE CHURCH!
In another study we noted that the commencement of the 2300 year prophecy began in 457 BC when the degree was issued to restore and build Jerusalem at the command of Artexerxes (Dn. 9:25; Ezra 7)
The temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem and the pre-cross daily sanctuary ministry which God had outlined was re-established.
Before the cross, the gospel was to be understood through symbols and ceremonies in the Jerusalem's temple.
However, Paganism counterfeited the whole system and added diabolical practices to their system that were a constant allurement to Israel. Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They no longer looked beyond the symbol but were using multiplied rituals as the means for salvation, just like the heathen counterfeit.
Thus the "abomination of desolation" the "transgression of desolation" and the "desolating sacrilege" are all the same thing. It is a SINFUL FORM OF WORSHIP that would commit the sacrilege of trampling on and desolating the things and the people that rightfully belong to God.
Now we might ask: How could the "harlot woman" --the symbol of a "woman" stands for Christ's church, a "harlot" means she has left Christ for another.
How could this "harlot woman" contain ALL the abominations of the earth?
It's also interesting that she is called "Babylon". Babylon Kings, served as both king and priest of the pagan Babylonian Mystery religion. As priests, they bore the title "Pontifex Maximus" (Baker’s Pocket Dictionary of Religious Terms) or "Supreme Pontiff," meaning "supreme pathfinder" or "bridge maker," representing "the path or connection between this life and the next." Thus we see THE SUPREME HIGH PRIEST OF BABYLON is Pontifex Maximus.
The pagan Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 BC., picking up the title of SUPREME PRIEST of the pagan gods used in Babylon. Thus, the Roman emperors, like the preceding Babylonian emperors, now served as priests of Babylonian paganism, and bore the title Pontifex Maximus.
In 376 A.D., Emperor Gratian became the first Roman emperor to refuse the idolatrous title of Pontifex Maximus and in 378 A.D., the Roman Catholic Bishop Damasus was elected Pontifex Maximus, becoming the official pagan Babylonian priest.
Popery also accepted the polytheism of ancient Rome, in the gods and goddesses which, under the title of saints, fill up the calendar and crowd the temples of the Romanish Church. Here, then, all the old idolatries of paganism live over again.
Example-- the idol--Jupiter is renamed Peter, and today is minus a toe because so many people have "worshiped" stooped down and kissed it.
The "abomination" was legally set up in the Christian church, in 538 A.D. when the Papacy was given the legal throne of Rome-- and lasted till 1798 A.D. when Napoleon legally removed their power.
Prophecy says TRUE CHRISTIANITY [the woman] was in the wilderness during the 1260 year reign of the papacy.
The Papacy IS ROME--
The abomination that causes desolation is FALSE RELIGION standing in the holy place! For it obscures the TRUE.
The true religion which is found in GOD alone, IN HIM alone is LIFE and HAPPINESS, true forgiveness, peace and victory over sin. That which sets itself IN PLACE OF and obscures Christ's ministry is truly the abomination that causes desolation.
As we saw in the gender shifting of Daniel 8:10 and 11--
First we saw the IT or pagan Imperial Rome growing and
attacking some of the "host" [God's people]
Then HE the new face in the horn (papal ROME) first moves himself "into the holy place" of Christ's daily ministry-- by declaring he is the "continuing" authority with the "keys" of heaven and hell supposedly given to Peter. He claims to the ROCK upon which the church is built, when in TRUTH CHRIST IS THE ROCK and CHRIST has the keys.
He lifts off ("ruwm") the daily ministry the "TAMID" from Christ and claims it for himself, but in actuality he is rejecting the TRUE ministry of Christ and setting it aside "(cuwr"), and receives his own army by which to force people to look to him as the one to dispense Christ's "TAMID" blessings.
But then we see the whole thing is called the "IT". This is not Christianity, this is the same pagan/false religion sacrilegious abomination that causes desolation. But now it has seated itself in the very temple of God, and is pretending to be God. (see 2 Thess. 2)
The greatest triumph won by Satan was in perverting Christianity. He has set up his "abomination that causes desolation" under one who claims to be the Vicar of Christ Himself, and the keeper of the keys of eternal destinies.
The deception is not yet complete--
Now the religious world is being gathered into the ecumenical bundle over which the Papacy demands primacy as it's divine right!
The Bible says COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE for it is full of abominations. (See Rev. 18:2)
Placed Sept. 2003