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Cleansing the
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A Tale of Two
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Cleansing the Temple
Jesus
was visibly grieved as He entered the temple courtyard and surveyed the
turmoil. On every hand He saw pens filled with sacrifice animals and
heard salesman shouting and bargaining with visiting pilgrims for the
highest price. The cooing of doves, bleating of sheep, and lowing of
oxen mingled together with the odors of a barnyard to form a concert of
chaos.
This bedlam was never God's plan. When Solomon built the first temple in
Jerusalem, there was such respect for God's house that not even the
sound of a hammer could be heard during its construction. All the stones
and boards were precut elsewhere, then brought to the temple site and
quietly assembled (1 Kings 6:7).
Jesus found a handful of cords used for restraining the sheep and tied
them into a small whip. Then the Son of God called out in trumpet-like
tones: "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of
merchandise." John 2:16. "It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matthew 21:13.
Moving from one booth to another, He then released the animals and
overturned the moneychangers' tables.
Sensing they were in the presence of Omnipotence, the terrified
merchants fled from the temple courtyard without looking back. Jesus
wanted more than anything for people to have a clear concept of His
heavenly Father's love and purity. This is why it broke His heart to see
the holy temple turned into a flea market.
Many years earlier, the prophet Daniel had foretold of another time when
the temple would be defiled, God's truth would be distorted, and His
people oppressed. And once again, the Lord would come to cleanse His
sanctuary. |
 1. Daniel
had an amazing vision in which he saw a ram with two horns (Daniel
8:1-4). Whom does this ram represent?
Daniel 8:20
. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of ______
and Persia.
Answer:
___________________________
 2. Next
Daniel saw a goat with a great horn between his eyes. What does this
mean?
Daniel
8:21, 22 . The rough goat is the king of ________: and the great
horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being
broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand
up out of the nation.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: The
male goat represents Greece and the big horn is a symbol of its first
ruler, Alexander the Great. The four horns represent the four generals
who took over parts of the empire when Alexander died.
 3. Then
a little horn sprouts up from out of one of the four. What power did
this "little horn" represent?
Acts 18:2
. Claudius [Caesar] had commanded all Jews to depart from _______.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: The
"little horn" that persecuted God's people, trampled holy things, and
stood up against Jesus represented Rome--both pagan and papal. Rome is
the only power that followed Grecia and became exceedingly great.
 4. Daniel
was told that this little horn would defile the sanctuary. How long
until it would be cleansed?
Daniel 8:14
. Unto ___ thousand and three hundred days; then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: This
2,300-day period is the longest time prophecy in the Bible, but the
starting point is not given until the next chapter--in Daniel 9:25.
 5. How
did Daniel respond when he saw the little-horn power persecute God's
people and obscure the truth?
Daniel 8:27
. And I Daniel fainted, and was _____ certain days; ... and I was
astonished at the vision, but none understood it.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Daniel
was so deeply grieved by what was to come upon God's people that he
fainted and was sick for some time. But initially neither Daniel nor
his friends understood the 2,300-day section of the vision.
 6. In
the next chapter, the angel explains the prophecy in greater detail.
How long was the time period not previously described in the vision?
Daniel 9:24
. _______ weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, ... to seal up the vision and prophecy.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Several
years after Daniel's vision about the 2,300 days, an angel of heaven
flew quickly to his side to help him understand it. The angel also
expanded the vision to include 70 prophetic weeks that were
"determined upon," or allotted to, the Jews and the city of Jerusalem.
God was giving His chosen nation another chance--a 490-year
opportunity to accomplish its purpose of presenting the Messiah to the
world (Daniel 9:23, 24).
 7. What
was the starting point for the 2,300-day and 70-week time prophecies?
Daniel 9:25
. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to ________ and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah
the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks..
Answer:
___________________________
Note: The
angel told Daniel to begin counting the 2,300-day and 70-week
prophecies from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. God's
people were in captivity in the Persian empire at this time. The
decree was made in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, who began to
reign in 464 B.C. (Ezra 7:7). Artaxerxes' decree in 457 B.C. was the
only one that specified restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem.
 8. The
angel said that if you count 69 weeks from 457 B.C., you will come to
Messiah the Prince. Did this happen?
Acts 10:37,
38 . That word, I say, ye know ... after the baptism which John
preached; How God _________ Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
with power.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Yes,
it did. Here is a fantastic miracle. Hundreds of years before Jesus
was anointed with the Holy Ghost, the event was foretold in prophecy!
"Messiah" is the Hebrew word for "anointed," and the word "Christ" is
the Greek equivalent. Luke 3:21, 22 says this special anointing by the
Holy Ghost took place at His baptism. Now here's the key. In Bible
prophecy, one prophetic day equals one literal year (Numbers 14:34;
Ezekiel 4:6; Luke 13:32). Adding 69 weeks, or 483 prophetic days (69 x
7 = 483), to 457 B.C. brings us to the year A.D. 27.
483 years
+ 457 beginning date
= A.D. 26
+ 1 year for 1 B.C.-A.D. 1 (there was no zero year)
= A.D. 27
Jesus began His ministry as the Messiah after His baptism in A.D. 27,
exactly 483 years after the decree given in 457 BC. This is why Jesus
began preaching, after His baptism, that "The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand." Mark 1:15. He was speaking of the time
prophecy in Daniel 9:25.
 9. What
was to take place next in the prophecy?
Daniel
9:26, 27 . After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be ____ ___,
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.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: The
prophecy next predicted that Jesus would be "cut off," or crucified,
in the middle of the last week of the 70-week prophecy. Counting three
and one-half years from His anointing in the fall of A.D. 27 would
take us to the spring of A.D. 31, which is precisely when Jesus was
crucified. At the time He died, the temple veil was torn into two
sections from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50, 51), indicating that Jesus
had caused the sacrificial system to cease by His death as the Lamb of
God. Please review the time line above.
 10. Jesus
told His disciples to preach first to which group of people?
Matthew
10:5, 6 . Go not into the way of the Gentiles, ... But go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of ______.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Jesus
insisted that His disciples preach first to the Jews, because they
still had three and a half years remaining of their 490-year
opportunity to accept and proclaim the Messiah. The prophecy in Daniel
9:27 said that Jesus would confirm the covenant, or the great plan of
salvation, with many for one prophetic week (seven literal years). But
Jesus was crucified in the midst of that final week allotted to His
chosen nation, so how could He confirm the covenant with them after
His death? The answer is found in Hebrews 2:3: "How shall we escape,
if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him."
Jesus' disciples preached to the Jews for that final three and a half
years, until the nation officially rejected the gospel message in A.D.
34 when Stephen, a righteous deacon, was publicly stoned. (See
supplement entitled "The Floating Week.")
 11. What
warning did Jesus give to His chosen people?
Matthew
21:43 . The kingdom of God shall be ______ from you, and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Jesus
had made it very clear that the special status of the Jewish nation
would be taken away if the people persisted in rejecting the Messiah.
 12. So
what is the other "nation" spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 21:43, which
would become His chosen people?
Galatians
3:29 . And if ye be ______________, then are ye Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise.
Romans 2:28, 29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;
... But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly;
Answer:
___________________________
Note: As
of A.D. 34 with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58, 59), the literal
Jewish nation was no longer God's only chosen nation. Because they
consistently resisted God's plan for them, the nation of Israel is no
longer the central focus of end-time prophecy. Now all who accept
Jesus are His chosen people, and the promises God made to literal
Israel now also apply to spiritual Israel (Romans 9:6-8).
 13. According
to the angel who spoke with Daniel, what would happen at the end of
the 2,300 years?
Daniel 8:14
. And he said unto me, Unto two thousand three hundred days; then
shall the _________ be cleansed.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: In
A.D. 34, there remained 1,810 years of the 2,300-day prophecy. (Note
dates in diagram above.) Adding 1,810 years to A.D. 34 brings us to
the autumn of 1844. The angel said that at that time, the heavenly
sanctuary would be cleansed. (The earthly sanctuary was destroyed in
A.D. 70.) Jesus, our high priest in heaven (Hebrews 4:14-16; 8:1-5),
began removing the records of sin from the heavenly sanctuary
(Revelation 20:12; Acts 3:19-21) in 1844. This first phase of the
judgment is called the pre-advent judgment because it takes place
before Jesus' second coming.
 14. Whose
cases are being considered in the pre-advent judgment?
1 Peter
4:17 . Judgment must begin at the ______ of God.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: This
first phase of judgment considers only those who claim to be God's
children.
 15. What
will be examined in this first phase of judgment?
Revelation
20:12 . The dead were judged out of those things which were ________
in the books.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing.
James 2:12 They ... shall be judged by the law of
liberty.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: The
evidence in the judgment comes from books kept in heaven, which
contain all the details of a person's life. (See also Psalms 56:8.)
The Ten Commandments, God's law, is His standard in the judgment
(Revelation 22:14).
 16. Is
God my accuser in the judgment?
Revelation
12:9, 10 . That old serpent, called the ________ ... was cast out
into the earth. ... The accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night.
Answer:
___________________________
Note: No!
Satan is your only accuser. Unfortunately, some Christians think Jesus
is trying to convince the Father to spare us during the judgment, but
Jesus said, "The Father himself loveth you." John 16:27.
 17. Must
I stand alone in the pre-advent judgment?
1 John 2:1
. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, _______
Christ the righteous:
A. Jesus is our advocate (1 John 2:1).
B. Jesus is our judge (John 5:22).
C. Jesus is our faithful and true witness (Revelation 3:14).
Answer:
___________________________
Note: Thankfully,
no. In the judgment, Jesus is the Christian's attorney, judge, and
witness. If you live for Jesus, you can't lose (Romans 8:1; Colossians
1:12-14)!
 18. If
Jesus is your attorney in the judgment, He promises to win your case.
Will you turn your life over to Him today?
.
Answer:
___________________________
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