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Adventists must prove............a lot of unscriptural things to prove their beliefs???
Let's look at some of these things we supposedly "must prove".
The challenges, which I understand were originated by Robert Brimsmead, are in black print.
Answers in color. Challenge:
What concerns me is that this interpretation of an investigative judgment which is based on a single text, with no other scriptural witnesses and no New Testament confirmation, should be made an article of faith alongside faith in the sinless life and resurrection of Jesus. Some Adventists think that believing this interpretation of Daniel 8:14 is as important as believing in Christ.
The challenger realizes it is important to know about Christ's life here on earth. The heavenly sanctuary message is all about Christ and His ministry in the plan of salvation for humanity.
Romans 5.9-10
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
This is what is being said on the forums.
He knows it's important to know about Christ's death and resurrection.
But why would he insist that we STAY in the past.
Why does he insist that knowing about Christ's present work in the heavenly sanctuary is somehow, not important.
It's all very much part of salvation's story.
Hebs. 9:15 "For he is the mediator of the new testament"
On this website you will find many pages showing the vaste Biblical support for our understanding of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. This page will look at the specific challenges as they are listed below in black:
Challenge: He must prove that 2,300 evening and morning sacrifices equal 2,300 full days when there is no evidence from Daniel 8:14 -- or any text of Scripture -- to show it.
The word “sacrifice” is supplied every single time in Daniel 8. That means the translator added it! Not once does Daniel say anything about sacrifices in chapter 8. The word "sacrifice" was added in verse 11, it was added in verse 12, it was added in verse 13. It was added EVERY SINGLE TIME. If Daniel had MEANT sacrifices he would have written it-- as he did in Daniel 9:27, BUT HE DID NOT, for he meant the "continual" "daily" "tamid" ministry of the priest in the "HOLY PLACE" not the sacrifices.
Therefore all we need to understand is the term evening/morning.
The Bible tells us that evening/mornings are DAYS. Therefore the translation:
You will notice that when the Bible uses evening/morning it is speaking of days.
When the bible speaks of the morning and evening sacrifices it always uses the REVERSE order. "Morning" first, then "evening". (See: 2 Kings 16:15; 1 Chron. 16:40; 2Chro. 2:4; 13:11; 31:3)
Also please note that the verses speaking of the PRIEST'S CONTINUAL (or daily tamid) service in the sanctuary itself, IN THE HOLY PLACE, it uses the term in the same order as Daniel-- evening and morning!
Ex. 27.21
In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD:
If Daniel had meant "sacrifices" in chapter eight, he would have said "sacrifices" as he did in Daniel 9:27. However, the word is NOT mentioned AT ALL by Daniel, in Daniel 8. It was added by translators. When the little horn magnifies himself to the Prince of Heaven and seeks to cast to the earth the heavenly sanctuary truth, Christ has already completed the GREAT SACRIFICE at the cross and is in heaven as our HIGH PRIEST in "continual" "tamid" ministry. The "once and for all" sacrifice has taken place, there are no more sacrifices.
Now some argue and ask, why didn't Daniel simply say "days" as he did in Daniel 12?
That's because Daniel was speaking about the "DAILY" ministry in the holy place. (not in the courtyard) He used the same terminology as Lev. 24:3.
You see Daniel chapters 9,8,7, give a picture of CHRIST'S ministry for our salvation.
He must prove that in prophecy a day equals a year, and that an evening and a morning sacrifice equals one day which he can then turn into one year.
It has already been shown that evening and morning SACRIFICES are not even mentioned in Daniel chapter 8, the word sacrifices has been added in later years. Genesis chapter one clearly shows that evening/mornings are DAYS.
The day for a year principle is clearly established in Daniel nine where seventy weeks (490 days) equal 490 years, spanning the time from the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, to the appearance of Messiah the Prince.
The question asked in Daniel 8:13
The word "vision" (hazon) occurs three times in the introduction of this vision .
So we see every time the word "vision" (hazon) appears in Daniel it is referring to THE WHOLE vision.
Remember the question, How long the vision concerning the daily and the transgression of desolation…the answer, 2300 evening/mornings. And then…….
The context implies that the period began when the daily sacrifice was suspended. He must show that it began in 457 BC; a date having nothing to do with the daily sacrifice.
The horn magnifies himself even to the Prince of Hosts, which is CHRIST,
(see Joshua 5:14-17 where "captian" #8269, is the same word as "prince" #8269 in Daniel 8)
and takes Christ's "continual" or "daily" away from Christ (approbriating it to himself)
and casts the PLACE of the sanctuary down
the place of the sanctuary is IN HEAVEN, -- for the horn reaches even to the host of heaven
and diverts the focuse people away from heaven, casting the PLACE of the sanctuary back to earth, to an earthly priestly system that claims to forgive sins, etc.
-- in the minds of the people the sanctuary is again on earth, not in it's REAL PLACE, in heaven.
People have added words to the Bible to promote their interpretations: for instance the TEV takes the liberty to say “It will continue for 1,150 days, during which evening and morning sacrifices will not be offered.”
That is totally assuming a meaning that is not in the original at all. Daniel writes simply: “How long shall be the vision, concerning the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said to me, unto two thousand and three hundred evening/mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
There is nothing at all about 2300 sacrifices being suspended. The text is simply giving a length of time pointing to AN END.
Daniel 8 has been tampered with to try to force it to fit the Epiphanies interpretations, but the original does not support that interpretation.
The vision began with the RAM, the question was “how long the vision”?
We know of a surety that the MEDIO PERSIAN kingdom, represented by the ram, was there in 457 B.C.
The question “How long the vision?……
The angel is sent to make known the vision.
.
He begins by saying:
This is the crucial crux of the issue. The little horn that ends up casting "THE PLACE of the sanctuary down", and magnifies himself even to the Prince of Hosts (Christ), has TAKEN OVER-- taken from Christ, the daily ministry of the heavenly sanctuary. He has set himself up in the place of God!
In reasoning with the people out of the Scriptures, where in the Scriptures did Paul find the revelation from which he could tell to the Thessalonians all this? It was in this eighth chapter of Daniel where the apostle found it, and from this it was that he told it to them while he was there. For in the eighth chapter of Daniel are the very expressions which he uses in 2 Thessalonians, of which he says, "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" This fixes the time to be after the apostles' days, when Rome magnified itself "even to the Prince of the host" and "against the Prince of princes;" and connects it directly with the falling away, or apostasy, which developed the Papacy, or Rome, in its latter and ultimate phase.
Now let us read verses 11 and 12 of Daniel 8 and it will be plainly seen that here is exactly the place where Paul found the scripture from which he taught the Thessalonians concerning the "man of sin" and the "mystery of iniquity:" "Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his 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 practiced and prospered."
This plainly points out that which took away the priesthood, the ministry, and the sanctuary of God and of Christianity.
Let us read it again. "Yea, he [the little horn--the man of sin] magnified himself even to the Prince of the host ["against the Prince of princes"--Christ], and by him [the man of sin] the daily sacrifice [the continual service, the ministry, and the priesthood of Christ] was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary [the sanctuary of the prince of the host, of the Prince of princes--Christ] was cast down. And an host was given him [the man of sin] against the daily sacrifice [against the continual service, of the ministry of Christ, the Prince of the host] by reason of transgression cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered."
It was "by reason of transgression," that is, by reason of sin, that this power gained "the host" that was used to cast down the truth to the ground, to shut away from the church and the world Christ's priesthood, His ministry, and His sanctuary; and to cast it all down to the ground and tread it underfoot. It was by reason of transgression that this was accomplished. Transgression is sin, and this is the consideration and the revelation upon which the apostle in 2 Thessalonians defines this power as the "man of sin" and the "mystery of iniquity."
In Daniel 8:11-13; 11:31; and 12:11, it will be noticed that the word "sacrifice" is in every case supplied. And it is wholly supplied, for in its place in the original there is no word at all. In the original the only word that stands in this place is the word tamid, that is here translated "daily." And in these places the expression "daily" does not refer to the daily sacrifice any more than it refers to the whole daily ministry or continual service of the sanctuary, of which the sacrifice was only a part. The word tamid in itself signifies "continuous or continual," "constant," "stable," "sure," "constantly," "evermore." Only such words as these express the thought of the original word, which, in the text under consideration, is translated "daily." In Numbers 28 and 29 alone, the word is used seventeen times, referring to the continual service in the sanctuary.
And it is this continual service of Christ, the true High Priest, "who continueth ever," and "who is consecrated forevermore" in "an unchangeable priesthood"--it is this continual service of our great High Priest, which the man of sin, the Papacy, has taken away. It is the sanctuary and the true tabernacle in which this true High Priest exercises His continual ministry that has been cast down by "the transgression of desolation." It is this ministry and this sanctuary that the "man of sin" has taken away from the church and shut away from the world and has cast down to the ground and stamped upon and in place of which it has set up itself "the abomination that maketh desolate." What the former Rome did physically to the visible or earthly sanctuary, which was "the figure of the true" (Dan. 9:26, 27; Matt. 24:15), that the latter Rome has done spiritually to the invisible or heavenly sanctuary that is in itself the true." Dan. 11:31; 12:11; 8:11, 13.
In the apostasy, the bishops, presbyters, deacons, and the eucharist were made to succeed the high priest, priests, Levites and sacrifices of the Levitical system. Now by every evidence of the Scriptures, it is certain that, in the order of God it was Christ and His ministry and sanctuary in heaven and this alone, that in truth was the object of the Levitical system and that is truly the Christian succession to that system. Therefore when in and by the apostasy the system of bishops as high priests, presbyters as priests, deacons as Levites, and the Supper as a sacrifice was insinuated as the Christian succession to the Levitical system, this of itself was nothing else than to put this false system of the apostasy in the place of the true, completely to shut out the true, and finally, to cast it down to the ground and stamp upon it.
And this is how it is that this great Christian truth of the true priesthood, ministry, and sanctuary of Christ is not known to the Christian world today. The "man of sin" has taken it away and cast it down to the ground and stamped upon it.
A.T. Jones (Consecrated Way)
So yes, this cleansing determines who the REAL followers of God are.
Just like the typical "Day of Atonement" when the sanctuary was cleansed, those who were not true followers of God were "cut off" Paul writes about this: According to Paul's gospel 2.16
God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
Lev. 23.29
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
in Romans 1 he writes about the wicked, who know about the judgment of God, but continue to commit things worthy of death.
Then in Romans 2:3-10, he turns and points to "professing" followers of God.
He must prove that confessed sins defile the sanctuary; an idea stated nowhere in Scripture.
Yes, it is. That’s what the whole “day of atonement” is all about!
Yes, it says the tabernacle was to be cleansed because of the transgression and sins of the people!
On the day of Atonement we see something very different from the daily rituals. Cleansing occurs for the sinner during the daily rituals, BUT only on the day of atonement does the sprinkling of blood result in cleansing for the sanctuary itself, and for the altar and for the people.
The Day of Atonement is the day of the cleansing of the sanctuary/temple. How is it that the sanctuary/ temple was defiled. This is not dealing with mere hygienic issues, this is dealing with the principle of cleanness and purity in opposition to contamination/defilement. Leviticus 16:16 states that this atonement for the holy place must be made because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins, — that is why the Priest must make this atonement for the tabernacle of meeting which stands in the midst.
Obviously the tabernacle has been defiled by the sins of the people, and on the day of atonement, the scriptures clearly state an atonement must be made for the tabernacle itself.
Then notice what happens at the end of the rituals on the day of atonement.
Remember the sacrifice was already made, the priest already entered the holy and most holy place with the blood, where he makes an atonement for the holy place, because of the sins of the people, it is when he returns from making an atonement that he lays both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confesses over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgression in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat" (Lev. 16:21)
Here we see a clear representation of sin being transferred by the laying on of hands. Where did this sin come from? Was not the sin forgiven at the sacrifice? Was not the presenting of the blood in the Most Holy Place enough? Did this not blot out the sins already? Where did these sins come from which the priest placed upon the head of the scape goat after making an end of atoning?
Here we see something so obvious it amazes me that people refuse to see it. The sanctuary needed to be cleansed because of the sins of the people which had been transferred from the confessing sinners upon the sacrificial animals throughout the year, and then transferred into the sanctuary, either by the priest sprinkling the blood, or eating the flesh of the sacrifice.(Lev. 6:26; 10:17)
On the day of atonement, an atonement is made for the tabernacle, to cleanse the sanctuary because of these sins accumulated there.
Sacrifice is made, the cleansing blood is applied at the mercy seat as well as at the altar of incense. The sanctuary is cleansed. The priest returns from the cleansing of the sanctuary "when he has made an end of atoning for the tabernacle of meeting and the altar" (Lev. 16:20) Then he goes and places ALL the sins upon the goat who is cast far out, forever banned. This is the FINAL cleansing in the “salvation year”.
“Almost all things are by the law purged (#2511) with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
It is therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified (#2511)with these: but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
The focus is on the END of the 2300 day/years…..”for at the time appointed the end shall be.” That is when the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary takes place.
He must assume the 490 years are cut off from the 2,300 year although nothing is said of this in Daniel 8 or 9.
Seventy weeks are determined (chathak) upon thy people and upon thy holy city, 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.
The word for “determined” is "chathak" which means to cut off, to sever from, to amputate.
Cut off from what?
The angel says “understand the vision”.
What vision? No vision is given in Daniel 9, just an explanation.
We know from Daniel’s account in chapter 8 that he did not fully understand the vision of chapter 8. In chapter nine Daniel is studying and praying. He has read what Jeremiah says about Israel’s captivity lasting 70 years. He has obviously grasped the concept that the vision of Daniel 8 covers a very long period--to the time of the end-- and he is very concerned. He is seeking to reconcile the two, trying to fit this all together with his understanding of the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple, both of which lay in total ruins, having been destroyed by Babylonian armies. This is what Daniel was most concerned about, how does Israel and Jerusalem fit in with this vision.
Gabriel now explains that Jerusalem will be rebuilt, he only explains the portion involving the Jews--which is 490 day/years cut off from the time period given in the previous vision-- the 2300 day/years. Israel was being given a second chance! They were being gathered back into their land to prepare themselves for the coming Messiah! But after the 490 years, desolation far worse than what Epiphanies wrought befalls Jerusalem and the temple, for it would be destroyed and made desolate. (9:26,27).
Daniel 8 takes us beyond the earthly sanctuary to the heavenly sanctuary, where the Prince of Heavenly Host is-- His sanctuary may be trampled but it can NEVER be destroyed, it will triumph in the end.
Therefore, Daniel 9 speaks of the OPENING of the heavenly. When something is "anointed" is is the inaugaration, or launching-- See Revelation 4 and 5, Christ is declared worthy"
For after His ascension he entered the heavenly sanctuary with His own blood to begin His ministry there.
Daniel 8 speaks of Christ's "daily" ministry and the CLOSING WORK of the sanctuary in the end of time.
He must assume that the 2,300 years and the 490 years begin together.
The 490 years are clearly stated as beginning with the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. It was a Persian king that made the decree, and 483 years later Messiah the Prince came to earth.
So the Bible says:
Restoration (which took place during “Ram’s” rule) to Messiah the Prince, (Jesus life, death and the opening of the heavenly sanctuary is 490 day/years.
The Vision also begins with the “Rams” rule and goes to the cleansing of the sanctuary-- 2300 day/years.
He must maintain that the reconsecration of the sanctuary (Daniel 8:14) and the anointing of the sanctuary (Daniel 9:24) are not the same thing, though they seem to.
The word in Daniel 8:14 is
(#6663) “ntsadaq” from "tsadaq" which has a forensic meaning of “justify, vindicate, clear, made righteousness, cleanse" .
Forensic means it is connected with or used in courts of law.
The word used in Daniel is a stronger, term then the “cleansed” used in Leviticus, for this cleansing IS THE REAL THING.
Indeed this passage might well be translated: “Then shall the sanctuary have atonement made for it”.
Remember that the REAL “cleansing“ must be done with the BETTER sacrifice of Christ. When Christ cleanses the heavenly sanctuary it will stand in the courts of eternal law for all eternity.
“Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” announces the beginning of the great Day of Atonement. It is the beginning of the judicial court conducted in heaven as outlined in Daniel 7, when the ancient of Days takes His seat, and all the angels are witnesses, the books are opened and the court is in session.
Following this judicial court, the counterfeit “religious” horn and beast is destroyed and God’s saints receive the inheritance.
The anointing of the sanctuary, or “most holy” in Daniel 9:24 comes at the end of the 490 day/years, when Messiah the Prince returned to heaven after His victory over Satan at the cross. With His own blood He entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister for the salvation of mankind.
In Daniel 8, it speaks of the Prince of the Heavenly Host and His DAILY--
The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is the "last work" during the time of the end.
Daniel 7 shows us that after this "judgment" sits, the saints receive their inheritance, while the false system is destroyed.
For more "Daniel Studies" click here
February 17, 2003 by Ulrike Unruh