Appendix: The 2300 days of Daniel
The Second Coming of Christ
Jesus said, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:29 - 30).
Daniel wrote in his second vision, "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. 7:13 - 14).
This description of the Messiah's kingdom is also described in Daniel's first vision, where a stone struck and destroyed the image that ended with ten toes of iron and clay representing ten kings: "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. 2:44).
The book of Revelation describes this second coming of Jesus: "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Rev. 19:11 - 16).
Deliverance
The Lord through Zechariah speaks of the immediate effect of the deliverance that the Messiah will bring: "The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:7 - 9).
Israel, having called upon God in their desperate hour at the end of Daniel's seventieth week and seeing Jesus come as their Messiah, will then be filled with a great sorrow in the realization that the nation had rejected Jesus Christ at His first coming. Zechariah continues, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves" (Zech. 12:10 - 14).
When Jesus Christ returns, the people of Israel will see the one "they pierced." The Jews had demanded that Pilate crucify Jesus at His first coming. Now they realize their error and go into a "great mourning." The "family of the house of David" were those called by God to be the line through which the Messiah would come. These condemned Him to death when He did come. The "family of the house of Nathan" were those of the prophet called by God to proclaim to David that the Messiah would be of him. These condemned the Messiah to death whom all the prophets testified of. The "family of the house of Levi" were those called by God to be priests, a foreshadowing of the great High Priest of God, Jesus Christ. These also condemned to death the One they represented. The "family of the house of Shimei" were those descended from the man who cursed and rejected King David, who in effect rejected the descendant of David, the Messiah. They represent the people of Israel who rejected Jesus as King and condemned Him to death. Zechariah's prophecy shows how the entire nation of Israel, as a nation, rejected the Messiah at His first coming, but now at His second coming understand what they did and repent and mourn for their tragic rebellion.
Isaiah prophesied of the result of the Messiah's return: "In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain" (Isaiah 4:2 - 6).
Zerubbabel and Joshua - a foreshadowing
Haggai had prophesied the word of the Lord, writing, "Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: 'I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them; the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother' " (Haggai 2:21 - 22).
Next, Haggai writes, " 'In that day,' says the Lord of hosts, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says the Lord, 'and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,' says the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:23).
Zerubbabel was in the kingly line of David and was the "governor of Judah" at the time of the return to Jerusalem from the seventy-year captivity of Israel in Babylon. At that time, Joshua was high priest. Yet this prophecy is of the end time of the great tribulation and the return of the Messiah. God says "in that day" that He will make Zerubbabel "like a signet ring," representing his kingly descent, and that "I have chosen you." The building of the temple under the authority of Zerubbabel and Joshua therefore becomes a type of Messiah the King and Priest at His coming after the shaking of the great tribulation. The line of the throne of David continued through Zerubbabel to Jesus, as described by Matthew at the start of his gospel. Matthew begins this description in the first verse: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matt. 1:1).
King and Priest on His throne
Both Haggai and Zechariah speak the word of the Lord to "... Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest ..." (Haggai 1:1). Zerubbabel's name means "descended of Babylon," or born there. He was the son of "Shealtiel" which means "whom I asked for from God." Babylon represents the world system and the place of fallen humanity, alienated from God and lost in sin. It is of such a place that Jesus was born, come to be the Savior of the world. As such, Jesus referred to Himself as the "son of Man," comparable to Zerubbabel as "born in Babylon." Zerubbabel, born out of Babylon, is a foreshadowing of Jesus born out of fallen humanity. As Zerubbabel was the son of one whose name means "whom I have asked for from God," it is Jesus the Messiah who comes from the desperate call of Israel to God for a savior. As Jesus said, "for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Matt. 23:39). Israel must ask of God before their Messiah will come.
In like manner, Joshua means "Yahweh is Salvation." The Greek version of this is "Jesus." Joshua, the High Priest of Zerubbabel's time, was "the son of Jehozadak." Jehozadak means "Yahweh is Righteous." This is a foreshadowing of Jesus as High Priest between mankind and God, and the work of Jesus to reconcile mankind to God through His sacrifice on the cross to atone for sin and bring righteousness to those who believe and trust in Him.
Zerubbabel and Joshua were chosen by God to lead the rebuilding of the temple. This foreshadows Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah (Christ) in His role as both King and Priest to build the true heavenly temple and reconcile mankind to God.
This priestly aspect of the Messiah is spoken of in Zechariah: "Take the silver and gold, make an elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Then speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: "Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" ' " (Zech. 6:11 - 13).
I go to prepare a place for you
It was said of Joshua the high priest, "He shall build the temple of the Lord." This points to Jesus, who said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1 - 3).
As Zerubbabel and Joshua were tasked with rebuilding the temple, even so, the prophetic fulfillment of that foreshadowing is in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." Jesus used the phrase "My Father's house" earlier: "And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, 'Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!' " (John 2:14 - 16) (emphasis added).
So when Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions," He was referring to the temple. But not the physical temple in Jerusalem. The Jews immediately challenged Jesus about what He did with the money changers. John records, "So the Jews answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body" (John 2:18 - 21).
When Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions," the word "mansion" means "dwelling" or "abode." Jesus is saying that in the temple—He Himself being the temple—there are many dwelling places. This is shown in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19 - 22).
"In My Father's house are many mansions" means many dwelling places for "a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." It is the members of Christ, those being the believers in Him, who are a dwelling place of God. The believers, called the body of Christ, and Jesus Christ as the head, comprise the true temple of God. This building, "fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord." Paul had said to the Corinthians, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19).
The true temple
Jesus said, "... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2 - 3). It was that spiritual temple that Jesus went to prepare. Jesus did this by atoning for sin by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross, His burial and resurrection, and His ascension into Heaven. Hebrews states, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11 - 12). And again, "Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man" (Heb. 8:1 - 2).
Those joined to Jesus Christ are considered to be in Him, to be one with Him, even as a husband and wife are considered to be one together. Paul teaches, "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:30 - 32).
As Jesus Christ "is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" even so His people are seated with Him: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4 - 6). It is this place before God the Father that Jesus prepared.
This is a spiritual position and standing before God, while those waiting for the return of Christ are still in their physical bodies on earth. As Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3).
The sanctuary cleansed
The angel, speaking to Daniel about the end of the 2300 days, said, "Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed" (Dan. 8:14). The Antichrist had stood in the Holy Place of the temple, proclaimed himself to be god, and had set up an idol. Then three and one-half years of trampling and desolation occurred both there and upon the people of Israel. The restoration of Jerusalem and the nation will occur at the coming of the Messiah. He will establish a new temple and cleanse that place such that the glory of God will dwell there again.
Jesus gave a foreshadowing of His work of cleansing when He was filled with wrath and indignation and drove out the money changers in the temple. The real fulfillment of this will be at His second coming, where He will not only cleanse the physical temple and reestablish it, but also cleanse what it represents—the dwelling of God among His people. It is the transgressions and abominations of the people that need cleansing in order for God to dwell among them.
God spoke through Ezekiel: "They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore" (Ezekiel 37:23 - 28).
On a spiritual level, the cleansing of sin comes through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. All who repent of sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ are made clean. Hebrews states, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:19 - 22).
Living Water
Those in Christ are a temple of God, a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. God's presence is as living water, a sustaining fulfillment inside a believer. Jesus spoke of this: "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37 - 39). Jesus said to a Samaritan woman concerning well water, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13 - 14).
The living water Jesus spoke of springs up from the true temple in Jesus. This is mirrored as a type when Jesus returns as Israel's Messiah. Zechariah says, "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south ... And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth ..." (Zech. 14:4, 8, 9).
Ezekiel's temple: a model
Ezekiel had a vision of a physical temple in Jerusalem that will exist when the Messiah rules from there. He writes, "The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, 'Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever ...' " (Ezekiel 43:5 - 7). God will maintain His covenant with Israel to be a model of the relationship He has with all of mankind. There will be a physical temple, and physical sacrifices, but these will only be types pointing to the reality in Jesus Christ.
The living water Jesus spoke of that springs up from within a person as a temple of the Holy Spirit is modeled in Ezekiel's temple when the Messiah rules in Jerusalem. Ezekiel writes, "Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar" (Ezekiel 47:1). This becomes a large river that flows both to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and brings life to the land. Ezekiel continues, "Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine" (Ezekiel 47:12).
The spiritual reality of this model is shown in the book of Revelation, where the eternal state of God's people is described. The Apostle John writes of a thousand year reign of the Messiah over the earth. Afterward the heavens will be dissolved and God will create a new heaven and earth: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away" (Rev. 21:1).
The eternal state
John next writes of a New Jerusalem that will exist in the new heavens and earth: "But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it" (Rev. 21:22 - 24).
In the eternal state, after the Messiah's thousand year reign, and after the new heavens and earth are created, there is no physical temple. John says, "But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." The type that the physical temple points to is fulfilled in Jesus.
This fulfillment is further described by John, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Then he said to me, 'These words are faithful and true.' And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. 'Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book' " (Rev. 22:1 - 7).