This is a very good question, as this is one of the most important Bible stories. It is one of the keys to end-time events and end-time prophecy. We know that Jesus is coming back again, and we need to be ready. Events are going to unfold, and one of them is that Jesus will end His work in the sanctuary in heaven. Many Christians do not know what Jesus is doing right now on their behalf — they have only a faint idea of what Jesus is doing in heaven. Let us find out how Daniel 8:14 is explained.
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? The Start
To explain a prophecy, we need to know when the prophecy begins. Only then can we know when it will end. Also, if there is symbolism in the prophecy, we need to look elsewhere in the Bible for the meaning of that symbol or similitude.
Gabriel comes to Daniel in chapter 8 and gives Daniel something important. Gabriel explains to Daniel that 2,300 years from a certain event, Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and then Jesus will begin to judge mankind.
Jesus will begin the cleansing of the sanctuary, which the Jews knew as the Day of Atonement. This is very important, as this is the time when Jesus will end His work in heaven — the time when every person on earth will be judged by God.
This is the time when all cases will be decided, for heaven or for hell. What a solemn and important message Gabriel gave to Daniel! How is Daniel 8:14 explained? We begin with Daniel fainting in chapter 8. To find the explanation of the 2,300-day prophecy, we need to go to Daniel 9, where Gabriel returns to Daniel and gives him the explanation of the prophecy.
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? What Are the 2,300 Days?
This verse says:
“Daniel 8:14. The sanctuary will then be cleansed after 2,300 days.”
What does this mean? Here, Gabriel refers to the Day of Atonement, but this time he speaks of a judgment in heaven — one that will be for all mankind. Gabriel says that Jesus will begin to enter the most holy place 2,300 years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
How is Daniel 8:14 explained? We can see that this verse is not speaking of literal days, because in Daniel 12, Gabriel says that the book of Daniel is for the end of time.
Daniel 8:26. “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.”
Daniel 12:4. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
Daniel 12:8. “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
Daniel 12:9. “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”
This prophecy relates to the time of the end. What are the “days,” then? We see that they cannot be literal days. We read elsewhere in Scripture that in prophecy, a day represents a year:
Numbers 14:34. “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”
Ezekiel 4:6. “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
We can thus conclude that the 2,300 days for the cleansing of the sanctuary — when Jesus begins His work in heaven to decide everyone’s destiny — represent 2,300 years into the future. How is Daniel 8:14 explained? The next question is: when did the 2,300 years begin?
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? Start of the 2,300 Years
This is fairly easy to explain. In Daniel 9, Gabriel returns to tell Daniel that the start of the 2,300-year prophecy is the rebuilding of Jerusalem. We then only need to determine which year Jerusalem was rebuilt, and we find this in Ezra 7. The decree was given in 457 B.C.
Daniel 9:25. “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
Jerusalem was rebuilt in 457 B.C.
The Death of Xerxes, the Accession of Artaxerxes, and the Latter King’s 7th Year
According to a late and still unpublished astronomical text, Xerxes was murdered in August of a year in which two lunar eclipses occurred. This unusual circumstance firmly dates that year to 465 B.C. The succession of Artaxerxes was delayed because of palace intrigue, particularly by a leading official who wanted to make himself king. This delayed his accession until after the 1st of Tishri of that year. This means the remainder of that year, through 464 B.C. until the fall New Year on the 1st of Tishri, constituted his accession year, according to the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar. Thus, his first year began in the fall of 464 B.C.
That places his seventh year from the fall of 458 B.C. to the fall of 457 B.C.
The Date of Ezra’s Arrival in Jerusalem
The decree given by Artaxerxes to Ezra is recorded in Ezra 7:11–26. The month in which it was given is not recorded, but it was given in time for Ezra and those with him to depart on the first day of the first month, Nisan (Ezra 7:7–8). They left central Babylonia at that time, and on the ninth day of that same month, they encamped at the Ahava River (Ezra 8:15, 21, 31).
After camping there for three days, during which a fast was proclaimed, they pressed on to the province of Judah, arriving on the first day of the fifth month (Ezra 7:8). They spent three days in Jerusalem and then unloaded the vessels for the temple (Ezra 8:31–34). The decree which led to this return was undoubtedly given during the winter, probably in January or February, in order for them to be ready to depart in March–April, or Nisan, the first month.
This places these three events on the following timeline: the decree of Ezra 7:11–26 in the winter of 458–457 B.C., the departure in the spring of 457 B.C., and the arrival in the summer of 457 B.C. This was followed by the fall New Year on the 1st of Tishri, in September–October of 457 B.C. This completed the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar year, from the 1st of Tishri in September of 458 B.C. to the 1st of Tishri in September of 457 B.C. — the seventh year of Artaxerxes, according to Jewish reckoning.
Ezra’s First Action: Dealing With Foreign Wives
According to Ezra 9:1, “after these things” — that is, after the arrival and deposit of the vessels in the temple — certain unidentified officials came to Ezra and reported that “the people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, had not separated themselves from the peoples of the land.” Far from it — they had intermarried to an alarming extent. When Ezra heard this, he fell into lament and mourning (Ezra 8:3–5), followed by prayer (Ezra 8:6–15).
(Reference: Julia Neuffer, “The Accession of Artaxerxes I,” AUSS 6:1 [1968]: 60–87. Shea: Supplementary Evidence in Support of 457 B.C., p. 91.)
To deal with this problem, Ezra called for a convocation in Jerusalem (Ezra 10:6–8). The men of Judah came to that assembly on the twentieth day of the month (Ezra 10:9), or December of 457 B.C. This was after the fall New Year on the 1st of Tishri, which began the eighth year of Artaxerxes, according to Jewish fall-to-fall reckoning.
In the cold, rainy winter month of December, the people complained about having to stand out in the rain (Ezra 10:13), and as a result, a more detailed investigation was set in motion. The inquiry began ten days later, on the first day of the tenth month, and concluded two months after that, on the first day of the first month, in the spring of 456 B.C.
The list of those who had married foreign wives and pledged to put them away is given in the final twenty-six verses of the book of Ezra (10:18–44). From this, a timeline can be established for Ezra’s first major action in Judah: he became aware of the problem of foreign wives in the fall of 457 B.C., and the matter was resolved by the spring of 456 B.C. All of this occurred within the eighth year of Artaxerxes, according to the Jewish fall-to-fall calendar.
Ezra’s Second Major Action: Rebuilding the City of Jerusalem
With the problem of foreign wives and the people’s purification resolved, Ezra could now turn his attention to a major project: the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.
The temple had already been rebuilt by 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:15, the sixth year of Darius I), but the city surrounding it was still in ruins. This was the next project Ezra undertook, and the evidence for it comes from the letter of the western governors recorded in Ezra 4:11–16. At first glance, this letter appears out of chronological order. It is, in part, out of order, because chapter 4 takes a topical detour to address opposition to the Jews. The structure of the chapter is as follows:
- Opposition to the Jews in the time of Cyrus — verses 1–5
- Opposition to the Jews in the time of Xerxes — verse 6
- Opposition to the Jews in the time of Artaxerxes — verses 7–23
- A return to the account of opposition in the time of Cyrus (and Darius) — verse 24
The rest of the book then describes the successes of the Jews — first under Zerubbabel, in chapters 5 and 6, when they built the temple, and then through the return of Ezra and its consequences, in chapters 7–10, as described above.
Thus, Ezra first presents the negative side of the story in chapter 4, and then the positive side in chapters 5–10. There is also an internal chronology within chapter 4 that is sequential and consistent, dealing with four Persian kings: Cyrus (539–530 B.C.), Darius (522–486 B.C.), and Xerxes (486–465 B.C.).
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? Messiah Anointed
The 2,300-year prophecy does not simply run its full course to the year 1844 without markers along the way — it includes several key milestones:
- The Messiah is anointed, or Jesus is baptized.
- The Jews are rejected, and the gospel is delivered to the Gentiles.
- Jesus is crucified in the middle of this period.
How is Daniel 8:14 explained? We see that the prophecy specifies 69 weeks until the Messiah is anointed, or baptized. 69 × 7 = 483. Taking the start of Jerusalem’s rebuilding and calculating forward:
457 B.C. + 483 years = A.D. 27.
This is the exact year Jesus was baptized. It is striking that when Jesus was baptized, He said, “The time is fulfilled” — and indeed, the first segment of the 2,300-day prophecy had reached its conclusion. How is Daniel 8:14 explained? Here are some Bible verses confirming that this fulfillment is connected to a later message known as the three angels’ message.
Mark 1:10–11. “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Mark 1:15. “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Jesus was baptized right on time, fulfilling the first part of the 2,300-day prophecy — the 69 weeks, or 483 years, leading to His baptism. We can therefore be confident that the end date of 1844 is valid. Taking 457 B.C. + 2,300 years gives us 1843, but because there is no “year zero” in this calculation, the correct date is 1844.
Is this the only part of the prophecy that was fulfilled? No — the Bible gives us further confirmation: there remains “one week,” or seven years, and “in the midst of the week,” the Messiah would be cut off, or crucified.
The end of this final week marked the close of a period of special significance to the Jewish nation alone. From that time onward, Gentiles who wished to follow God could do so individually, without first having to join the Jewish faith.
Daniel 9:24. “Seventy weeks are determined 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.”
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? Messiah Cut Off
This part of the prophecy is equally remarkable, as it further confirms that 1844 marks the beginning of the judgment — the time when Jesus began deciding who will enter heaven. It was prophesied that a group in the future would proclaim a message known as the “three angels’ message,” the first part of which announces that Jesus entered the most holy place in heaven.
Revelation 14:7. “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? When Was the Messiah Cut Off?
Daniel 9:26–27. “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself… And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Jesus was baptized in A.D. 27. The gospel went to the Gentiles in A.D. 34 — the seventh year, or “week,” referred to in this prophecy. This means that if Jesus was crucified in the middle of that final week, it would have occurred in A.D. 31 — which is exactly what happened.
This is an incredible Bible prophecy. In fact, God tells us that one of the proofs that the Bible is true lies in its fulfilled prophecy. No human being could have said, in 600 B.C. when the book of Daniel was written, exactly when Jesus would be baptized and crucified, or when the gospel would reach the Gentiles. Yet the Bible predicts these events down to the year — and, in the case of Revelation 9, even down to the very day. We know that God sees the future, because God is divine.
How Is Daniel 8:14 Explained? The End of the 2,300 Days
We have now seen all the markers of the 2,300-day prophecy. This is a remarkable prophecy that proves the Bible is true beyond the shadow of a doubt — foretelling, 600 years in advance, when Jesus would be baptized and crucified, and when the gospel would reach the Gentiles. How is Daniel 8:14 explained?
We can now identify the end date: 457 B.C. + 2,300 years = 1844. What happened in 1844? Jesus entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin deciding everyone’s eternal destiny. After His resurrection and ascension, Jesus had first entered the holy place; in 1844, He entered the most holy place to begin the judgment, just as Revelation 14:7 tells us: “The hour of his judgment is come.”
When Noah preached, it was 120 years before the flood came. This time, it has been more than 150 years. We know that the end of the world is near. Are you ready for Jesus to come?
Jesus loves and cares for you so much. Jesus is near you. Jesus knows what you are going through. Jesus can help you. What would keep you from accepting Jesus into your heart right now? Repeat after me: Father God, please forgive my sins. Give me Your righteousness. Heal and bless me. Help me to spend time with You every day, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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