In previous articles, we have already considered the impossibility of the prophecy of Daniel 8 beginning in the year 457 BC for different reasons: A – The first reason is our difficulty in identifying the little horn that defiled the sanctuary in the mentioned year; identifying which sanctuary was defiled, the earthly or the celestial one, and indicating how it was defiled? Our interpretation that Rome represented the little horn of Daniel 8 is inconsistent because that empire began to rise as a power in the mid-2nd century BC, so it could not have defiled the sanctuary in the 5th century BC during the Persian Empire. B – The second reason is that in the book of Ezra, we do not find the command to rebuild Jerusalem with its walls, and much less the implementation of such command in the year 457 BC. What we do find in Ezra 6:14-15 are the commands of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes to finish the house of God, a work that was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of Darius’ reign, approximately 50 years before Ezra returned to Jerusalem.
The aforementioned makes it evident that the year 457 BC could not have been the year of the beginning of the prophecy of Daniel 8, so this prophecy also could not have ended in the year 1844, also making evident that the year 457 BC is a year calculated afterward, seeking in the past a remarkable event – like Ezra’s journey to Jerusalem – that would allow aligning the beginning of the prophecy of the seventy weeks with the last years of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, regardless of whether the events of the beginning and end of the prophecy were fulfilled. An example of this is that in the year 457 BC, we do not find any order from Artaxerxes to restore and REBUILD Jerusalem, a situation similar to that related to the time of the baptism of the Lord Jesus, which was in the autumn, not in the spring when the 69 weeks were to end, which began in the month of Nisan with Ezra’s departure to Jerusalem.
Upon careful examination of the Scriptures, we find in the book of Nehemiah the permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem – which was an order at that time -, the record of the rebuilding of the walls with their solemn dedication; to later give way to the repopulation and rebuilding of the city. The latter confirms that the year 457 BC is a contrived year to start the prophecy of the 70 weeks and also the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings that could not have ended in the year 1844. For the aforementioned reasons, what we will consider next is the origin and process of William Miller’s interpretation of the prophecy of the 2,300 evenings and mornings that he concluded would end on the 22nd of October, 1844.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the religious world saw in the capture and exile of Pope Pius VI the fulfillment of the 1,260-day prophecy of Daniel 7, which over time they ended up dismissing. William Miller was one of those who accepted that interpretation, with the difference that he saw in that event the beginning of the end times that would culminate with the return of the Lord Jesus in his days; a belief contrary to that held by much of his contemporaries, who expected a millennium of peace and prosperity before the second coming of the Lord Jesus. By the end of the 19th century, in the 1800s, thousands of Christians expected that in the 20th century, the prophesied millennium in the book of Revelation would begin. On the other hand, Miller was convinced that with the fulfillment of the 1,260-day prophecy, the fulfillment of the 2,300 evenings and mornings prophecy, and thus the second coming of the Lord Jesus, was imminent, so he set out to search the Scriptures with the purpose of finding such fulfillment in his time. Unfortunately, Miller’s expectancy biased his research, as he unconsciously ignored verses 8-11 and 22-24 of Daniel 8, where the moment of the arising of the little horn that would later defile the sanctuary is revealed and explained, because that divine revelation and explanation did not align with his hope that the prophecy of Daniel 8 would be fulfilled in his days. Blessings
Comments