His Way is in the Sanctuary

Stephen Bohr

Secrets Unsealed

14. Three Stages of Israel’s History

Our loving, merciful, gracious, and righteous Heavenly Father, what a wonderful privilege it is to be in your presence.

There's no other place that we would want to be on a Sabbath morning than in your holy house.

We thank you Father because you have already blessed us with your presence and now as we open the pages of your holy book We ask for the presence of your Holy Spirit through the ministration of the angels.

Open our minds and hearts to receive the word, and we thank you for answering our prayer, for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

The year was 1445 BC, Israel had been delivered from bondage in Egypt and now they were at the foot of Mount Sinai, and as they were there at the foot of Mount Sinai God told Moses to come up on the mount because God had a special message that he wanted Moses to deliver to the people.

That message is found in Exodus chapter 19 and verses 1 through 6, and I'm going to read those verses there are several very important items of information there.

Exodus 19 and verses 1 through 6 remember that God has just delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt.

This is about 3 months later they're at Mount Sinai or in the third month rather they're at Mount Sinai and God tells Moses come up I have a message for you to give to Israel.

This is what it says, in the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai, for they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness.

So Israel camped there before the mountain, and Moses went up to God.

And the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel.

So God is going to give the message to Moses to give to the people.

You have seen, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself.

God is saying I took you away from Pharaoh and I brought you to myself.

I performed this great acts of deliverance from bondage.

Now therefore, if, this is a conditional word, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, notice, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine.

Was the election of Israel conditional, yes or no?

Absolutely, it was conditioned on their obedience to the covenant.

Notice verse 6, And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

So God is saying through Moses to Israel I want to make a covenant with you.

I want you to be my special people, my special treasure.

I want you to share the gospel with the world.

Are you willing to accept the terms of the covenant?

Obey my voice and be faithful to the covenant, yes or no.

And so Moses comes down and he delivers the message to Israel.

Let's read Exodus 19 7 and 8 where you find the response of Israel.

So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and told before and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.

Then all the people answered together and said, notice, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.

Did they agree to enter the covenant yes or no?

Did they agree to obey God's voice and be faithful?

So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

And now you have a covenant, God offers the covenant on condition of obedience, and Israel says all that the Lord has said that we will do.

Now God sealed off this covenant later on after the tabernacle was built when the Shekinah glory of God entered the sanctuary to dwell among God's people.

Let's read about that in Exodus chapter 40 and verse 34, Exodus chapter 40 and verse 34.

This is the capstone, God and Israel have made a covenant, now Moses builds a tabernacle, and God's glory comes into the tabernacle.

God is saying I will be your God and you will be my people.

Exodus 40 verse 34 says, Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And so now the covenant was complete, God was in their midst and Israel was his people.

Later on, God told Solomon to build a more permanent structure for him to dwell in.

This temple was built in the year 960 or it was finished in the year 960 BC, and after the temple was built once again God sealed his presence with Israel by coming as the glory into Solomon's temple.

Let's read that in 1st Kings chapter 8 and verses 10 and 11 how the glory of God came into Solomon's temple.

By the way that's a misnomer because it was really God's temple built by Solomon.

And so it says there in 1st Kings chapter 8, And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Now it just so happens that from 1445 BC for a period of about 800 years Israel was continually rebellious to God and to his covenant.

Even though God sent messenger after messenger after messenger calling Israel to be faithful, calling them back to their covenant that they had made with the Lord.

800 years was a history of open rebellion against the Lord.

Let's read this in 2nd Chronicles chapter 36 and verses 14 through 16.

2nd chronicles chapter 36 and verses 14 through 16.

2nd Chronicles chapter 36 and verses 14 through 16.

Here the chronicler is telling the story or the history of Israel and it says, moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations, I want you to remember that's a key word, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Verse 15, And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending them, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

So did God send messages calling them to abandon their abominations?

Verse 16, But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy.

In fact the covenant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai was a marriage covenant.

In other words God married Israel, He wanted Israel to be his wife.

If you read the book of Ezekiel, actually Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 32, God speaking about Sinai says, I made a marriage covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai.

And yet, prophet after prophet says that Israel played the harlot.

In other words, she had other lovers because she followed the abominations of the nations.

Let's read 1 of those texts in Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 15.

Here God is speaking to Israel and he says, but you trusted in your own beauty and played what?

Played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.

And so Israel practiced the abominations of the nations, she became a harlot, in other words she broke her marriage covenant, and so the messengers or the prophets are God's lawyers so to speak in divorce court, and God is saying I want a divorce, I want out of this covenant, because you are committing acts of abomination and harlotry with the nations.

Finally at the end of the 800 years of constant rebellion God decided that he would come and he would judge his people for their wickedness and for their abominations.

And so it was that in the year 592 BC according to Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 4, God came to the Jerusalem temple to perform a work of judgment there in the temple.

Let's read that passage that is found in Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 4 about the coming of God to the Jerusalem temple to judge his people for their abominations.

It says there in Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 4, Then I looked and behold a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself, and brightness was all around it, and radiating out of its midst, like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

And if you continue reading the following chapters you'll find that this is God, He's coming from the north and He arrives by way of the east, and He's coming to the Jerusalem Temple to perform a work of judgment because of the abominations of Israel.

Now we don't have time to read from chapter 8 but the chapter that really speaks about the abominations that were being committed among God's people is in Ezekiel chapter 8.

God shows Ezekiel an abomination that's being committed by his own people, and Ezekiel says Lord that's terrible, God says you haven't seen anything yet, I'm going to show you a greater abomination than this, and then God shows him a greater abomination, and Ezekiel says certainly there can't be anything worse than this.

And God says, you haven't seen anything yet.

I'm going to show you a greater abomination yet that's being committed among my people.

And what is at the very top of the list is that the very religious leaders had their backs to the temple of God, and their faces were to the east, and they were worshiping the Son.

And because Israel was committing all of these abominations, because they had broken their marriage covenant with the Lord, the Lord came to the temple, he says I'm going to perform a work of separation of those who are righteous from those who are not righteous.

And that judgment is spoken of in Ezekiel chapter 9 and verses 1 through 6.

Notice what we find there Ezekiel chapter 9 and verses 1 through 6.

Then he called out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, let those who have charge over the city, that's Jerusalem, draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.

And suddenly 6 men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle axe that's a weapon, in his hand.

1 man among them was clothed with linen, this is Jesus Christ, the high priest, so it says there was 1 clothed with linen and he had an inkorn, writer's inkorn at his side.

They went in and stood beside the bronze altar, which is in the court.

Verse 3, Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub where it had been to the threshold of the temple and he called to the man clothed with linen who had the writer's inkhorn at his side.

And the Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, that is Jerusalem, through the midst of Jerusalem, and now notice, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.

Was everybody in Jerusalem practicing these abominations?

Did those faithful ones need to be separated from the unfaithful before destruction came?

And so it says in verse 4, And the Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it, that is within Jerusalem.

To the others he said, in my hearing, go after him.

In other words, after the separation is made, after the righteous are separated from the unrighteous, this is what God came for in chapter 1, was to judge Israel for their unfaithfulness to the marriage covenant.

13. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 2)

Our loving Heavenly Father, as we look at the world, everything appears to be spinning out of control.

But we know that you're seated on your throne in heaven, Beyond the noise and the hustle and bustle of earth, nothing escapes your attention.

You have everything under perfect control.

We thank you that we can trust you as such a wonderful God.

And As we study the second part of the prophecy of Daniel 8, we plead for the help of your Holy Spirit.

Help us, Lord, to understand, not only intellectually, but also experientially.

And we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name amen.

The first thing that we want to do in our study today is review what we studied last time.

Last time we were discussing Daniel chapter 8 And I'm going to go through this rather quickly because we have a lot of material to cover in our lecture today.

You remember that in Daniel chapter 8, the vision begins with a ram.

And then after the ram, we find that, well, in connection with the ram rather, we have 2 what?

They represent the fact that it's a dual kingdom, and Persia was the predominant kingdom that rose to power last as we studied.

It represents the kingdom of Greece and he goat has a notable horn between its eyes.

The notable horn represents the first king, and the first king was whom?

And then when the kingdom was strong, the great horn was broken.

And how many horns came out in its place?

4 horns came out in its place and those 4 horns represent the 4 divisions of what?

And then from 1 of the horns at the 4 winds, a little horn rises.

And we notice that it rises from Pergamum in Asia Minor.

And then this little horn first of all conquers how?

But then this little horn has a second stage.

Now its fight is not against any kingdom on earth, its fight is against whom?

And we notice that this little horn attacked the host which represents God's people and we notice that he also attacked the prince of the host and who is the prince of the host the prince of the host is Jesus Christ and he took away what the daily from Christ which which means the work of Jesus in the court and in the holy place of the sanctuary And then we noticed in Daniel 8 that the video goes blank.

And there's a conversation between 2 heavenly beings.

And 1 heavenly being asked the other, until when will this vision last?

It's the vision of the ram, the goat, and the 2 stages of the little horn.

Until when or how long will this vision last?

And The other 1 says to this being, unto 2, 300 days and the sanctuary shall be what?

And then we noticed that Gabriel went on to explain the meaning of the Shazam, of the vision.

Did he explain what the 2 horns represent?

Did he explain what the flying he goat represents?

Did he explain what the 4 horns are in the second half of the chapter?

Did he explain the horizontal conquest of the little horn?

Did he explain the vertical attack of the little horn upon God?

But the interesting thing is that when Gabriel got to the part that had to do with the 2300 days or the appearance of the 2 beings that were talking in heaven, he had to suspend the explanation of the vision.

He did not finish the explanation of the vision.

And so we notice that God tells Gabriel, Gabriel explain the moray, which is the other word for vision.

The first word is the 1 that's used at the beginning of the chapter, explain the moray which is the appearance of the 2 beings, and Gabriel could not do it because he, Daniel according to scripture, got sick.

Let's read that in Daniel chapter 8 and verse 27.

Daniel chapter 8 and verse 27 tells us that Daniel did not understand the moray.

Now he understood the shazon which is the total vision because Gabriel explained it but the portion that he did not understand was the other word for vision that is used in the middle of chapter 8 notice what it says in Daniel 8 verse 27 and I Daniel fainted and was sick for days afterward I arose and went about the king's business.

The word vision there is not the Shazon, it's not what Gabriel had explained, it's the word mare.

In other words, Daniel could not understand the conversation of these 2 beings concerning the time period the 2300 days and so it says I was astonished by the vision by the Marais but no 1 what understood it.

So which portion of the vision did Daniel not understand he understood the shahzone the whole vision that includes the ram the he goat the horns the little horn and it's 2 stages etc But he did not understand the moray.

Now let's give a little bit of historical background.

If you remember, Daniel chapter 8 is taking place in the year 550 BC and we're told there in Daniel chapter 8 that after 2, 300 days the sanctuary would be cleansed but we have a problem in Daniel chapter 8.

Is there any beginning date for the 2300 days?

Is there anything in Daniel 8 that says when the 2300 days were going to begin?

So would it be important to know when the 2300 days are going to begin so that we could know when the 2300 days are going to end.

Absolutely but in Daniel 8 you don't have an explanation of the 2300 days they're brought to view but you don't have an explanation and you have absolutely no beginning date.

Now the question is where would you expect to find the explanation of the beginning date of the prophecy of the 2300 days?

The next chapter would be a very good place to look.

Remember that before Christ we go down right?

Daniel chapter 9 is taking place in 538 BC.

Now Daniel knew that there was a prophecy that God had given that the captivity of Israel in Babylon was going to last 70 years.

In fact, let's read that prophecy as we find it in 2nd Chronicles 36 and verses 15 through 21.

And I'm going to read also the events that led up to the captivity of Israel.

And this is a long passage, but I'm going to read it because it's important.

It says here, and the Lord God of their fathers, that is of Israel, sent warnings to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy.

Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans who was Nebuchadnezzar, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak.

He gave them all into his hand, and all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon.

Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions.

Verse 20, and those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon where they became servants to him and his sons until when until the rule of the kingdom of Persia now notice to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.

As long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill.

12. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 1)

Let's pray our loving Father in heaven once again we thank you that we can gather in your presence to open your holy word and to understand the great things that have taken place are taking place and soon will occur in this world.

As we study Daniel chapter 8 today, we need the special guidance of your Holy Spirit.

We ask Father that you will give us understanding, that we might be able to comprehend this magnificent chapter of Scripture.

I ask Lord that you will help us to see its importance for our own personal walk with Jesus and we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name, amen.

I'd like to begin by reviewing what we've studied in our last 2 lectures.

Basically I want to go through the sequence of powers that are mentioned in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7.

The first power and we'll go to Daniel 7 as our example the first power is a lion represents what kingdom?

The third kingdom, the leopard kingdom is what?

Then we have a terrible dragon beast that has iron teeth, and what nation does that represent?

Then from the head of that dragon beast come forth what?

And those represent the divisions of the Roman Empire into which the Roman Empire was divided when it broke up in the year 476.

A little horn, a nasty little horn and does all kinds of wicked things and it rules for how long?

It rules for 1260 years and that period begins when?

In the year 538 when the Ostrogoths were defeated, the third of the 3 horns was ripped out by the Rus, and it continued until what date?

And then you notice that we have the next scene is what?

So after what date does the judgment take place?

It has to be after 1798, but it also happens before probation closes, before Jesus comes, because we noticed in Revelation chapter 14 it says, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come while the gospel is still being preached, probation can't have closed if the gospel still being preached, and only after the third angels message Do you have Jesus sitting on a cloud with a sickle coming to harvest the earth?

And so we noticed in our study that the judgment takes place sometime between 1798 and the close of probation, although we are not told exactly what the precise date is, all we have is the parameters.

But the prophecy that we're going to study in this evening's lecture as well as our next 1 regarding Daniel chapter 8.

We're going to notice that scripture pinpoints the exact date when that judgment was going to begin.

So let's turn in our Bibles to Daniel chapter 8 and the first thing that we're going to notice in this chapter is that it does not begin with Babylon like chapter 7 and like chapter 2.

In fact in Daniel chapter 8 the vision begins with Medo-Persia.

Now you might be wondering, Pastor Bohr, why does the vision of Daniel 8 begin with Medo-Persia If Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 began with Babylon, now the traditional interpretation that has been given in the Adventist church is that Babylon is about to pass from history.

But the fact is that this vision is taking place in the year 550 BC and Babylon was not going to fall for another 11 years.

There is another more important reason why Babylon is not in this vision of Daniel chapter 8 and let me explain the reason succinctly.

You see, the 2300 days that are mentioned in this prophecy begin during the period of the Persian Empire.

And so the vision begins, now listen carefully, the vision begins where the 2, 300 days begin.

You see the 2, 300 days do not begin in the kingdom of Babylon, they begin during the period of the kingdom of Persia.

And therefore, the 2300 day prophecy begins with Persia and that's the reason why this vision begins with Persia and not with Babylon.

It's a very important reason and we will have reason to come back to this a little bit later.

Now let's go to Daniel chapter 8 and verse 1 and move through this magnificent prophecy.

It says there in verse 1, in the third year of the reign of King Beltshazzar, I mentioned that this is the year 550 BC.

It says in the third year of the reign of King Belchazzar a vision appeared to me to me Daniel after the 1 that appeared to me the first time.

Which is the 1 that appeared to him the first time?

The 1 that is found in the previous chapter, in Daniel chapter what?

The word for vision here is a very important word you see in Daniel 8 there are 2 different words for vision and unless we understand that we're not going to reach correct conclusions as we study this chapter The word that is used here for vision where it says the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me is the Hebrew word Shazom.

Remember that because it's very very important.

I saw in the vision, once again the word Chazon, I saw in the vision and it so happened while I was looking, notice the emphasis on eyesight here, that I was in Shushan, which is 1 of the capitals of the Middle Persian Empire, the citadel, which is the capital, which is in the province of Elam.

And I saw in the vision, once again, the third time that the word chazon is used to describe the vision.

So it says in verse 2, I saw in the vision chazon, and it so happened while I was looking that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in the vision, that is Chazon, that I was by the river Ulai.

Then I lifted my eyes and saw, notice once again the emphasis on vision, seeing, there's tremendous emphasis on this.

Then I lifted my eyes and saw and there standing beside the river was a what?

But now notice what it continues saying, which had 2 what?

Back to Menu

All Teachings

14. Three Stages of Israel’s History

57m

13. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 2)

57m

12. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 1)

57m

11. The Chronology of the Judgment

57m

10. The Bible’s Foundational Prophecy

57m

9. The Sanctuary’s Two Covenants

57m

8. The Triangle of Sanctification

57m

7. A People Close to His Heart

57m

6. Reaping the Sanctuary’s Benefits

57m

5. The Lamb of God Slain

57m

4. The Incarnation’s Seven Secrets

57m

3. Death and Life in the Sanctuary

57m

Sound Doctrine