The Sacrifice of Atonement

Today we are doing a special joint service between Clark Fork and Bonners Ferry. So, I want to welcome all those who are watching our live-stream, but especially the Clark Fork church. I’m sure Shanon’s special music was delightful. If Everett and Casey are there, I’m looking to you two to keep an eye on your family for me.

The Bonners Ferry and Clark Fork churches have been tied together by sharing the same pastor for many years now. Today we’re experimenting with a joint worship service. Maybe sometime in the future we’ll do a joint service where I’m in Clark Fork and live-streaming back to the Bonners Ferry.

It’s been a few weeks since I shared the message taken from Daniel 7, and since Clark Fork is joining us and they haven’t heard that message, I’ll make sure to catch you all up so no one will miss out.

Introduction

The Nuremberg trials were the first and best known trials of the International Military Tribunal. The Tribunal was organized by the Allies after World War II to deal with the worst actors in the war. They tried 24 military and political leaders from Germany including Wilhelm Frick who co-authored the Nuremberg Laws that were enacted on September 15, 1935.

Among other things, the Nuremberg Laws established a race-based society where non Arians were not allowed to hold citizenship, marry Arians, bear children with Arians, or employ an Arian. The laws started with the Jews, but quickly expanded to include Blacks and Gypsies. People impacted by these laws went out of business or were fired from teaching and government jobs. For a while they could leave the country under certain circumstances, but would be charged a 90% tax on everything they owned. Before long the Nuremberg laws restricted their movement, and country eventually established concentration camps to house and then to kill these displaced people.

The atrocities of the German government under Adolph Hitler were crimes that demanded an answer.

A trial is meant to bring justice. The facts must be heard. The evidence examined. And then a verdict must be made—guilty or innocent. Guilt doesn’t necessarily mean death, though in the case of Germany, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt both supported a motion to just kill the top 50,000 german military officers and be done with it. But justice demands that guilt be met with reasonable judgment, not just wholesale murder of the guilty. And so, many the 24 german leaders that were tried in Nuremberg were sentenced to death, but some were given life-sentences in prison, and three were acquitted.

This issue of justice in earth’s history is an important focus of the prophecies of Daniel. There’s a character that appears in both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 that would do some really bad things. How would justice be brought in response to the heinous actions of this little horn?

Little Horn in Daniel 7

Let’s do a quick review of the little horn of Daniel 7.

We’re told that the little horn would come during the time after the breakup of the Roman empire into ten waring tribes.

It would destroy three of the other tribes or nations of western Europe that it came up amongst (Daniel 7:8, 24)

It would speak great, haughty words — blasphemy against the Most High God (Daniel 7:8, 25; Revelation 13:5)

It would make war with and kill the people of God (Daniel 7:21)

It would make an effort to change God’s law and God’s time (Daniel 7:24)

Daniel 7:26 says that in the end, this power would be subject to judgment and its dominion would be taken away, and it will ultimately be destroyed and consumed. The hopeful message of Daniel 7 is that judgment is coming, and the result will be favorable to God’s people.

God says,

Deuteronomy 32:35 ESV

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’

Daniel 8 continues this look at the little horn, and adds a new element that clarifies how God will bring justice.

The vision of the Ram and Goat

There is soooo much in Daniel 8 that we won’t be able to do an exhaustive study in the time we have this morning. Instead, we’re going to focus on the big picture—the themes—and see what God is telling us for today.

Right at the beginning Daniel places us in time, “in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar.” This is roughly two years after the vision of Daniel 7, and shortly before the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by the Medes and Persians. Which is probably why this dream leaves out Babylon from the historical timeline.

Daniel 8:2–4 (NKJV)

I saw in the vision, 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 I was by the River Ulai. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

Daniel 8:20 says, “As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.”

Notice that this part of the vision parallels the medo-persian empire described as the chest of silver in Daniel 2 and the bear raised up on one side in Daniel 7. But Daniel 8 adds an important element: direction. The Medes and Persians came from the east and conquered to the west and north and south. This will be important as a contrast soon.

One of the more important things to grasp from Daniel 8 is the connection to the Sanctuary. In the previous vision Daniel was shown beasts—lion, bear, leapard, etc—but in this vision we see clean animals that could have been used in the sanctuary service. And not just any animals, but a goat and a ram, both of which would only have been used during one special ceremony each year. We’ll come back to that later. When you’re studying apocalyptic prophecy there are lots of clues that point to the Sanctuary.

Let’s keep reading:

Daniel 8:5–8 (NKJV)

And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.

This new power is also no mystery. Daniel 8:21 says, “And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king.” Just like with the ram, the goat adds details to the story from Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. In this vision the king, or notable horn, died and his kingdom was given to his four generals, described as four horns. Each general took a portion of the Greek empire—one took the northern part, another the southern, another the western, and the fourth, a guy named Seleucus, took the eastern portion.

There’s an important phrase in this passage: “the four winds of heaven.” Whenever the Bible uses that phrase its talking about direction and power. The word “wind” in Hebrew is the same word translated as spirit, and the word itself implies force or power. The Bible consistently uses the number four with the word wind to deal with movement and direction.

In Jeremiah 49:36 God says that he will bring the “four winds from the four quarters of heaven” on them and scatter them around the earth.

In Matthew 24:31 Jesus talks about his angels gathering His people from “the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other.”

And in Revelation 7:1 four angels are posted as guards at the four corners of the earth to hold back the four winds of the earth so that judgment isn’t brought until the sealing of God’s people.

The Little Horn

The four winds of heaven are like the four directions on a map, and are related to territorial and military expansion. This is an important point because of what happens next:

Daniel 8:9–12 (NKJV)

And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

With each beast this vision has been concerned with direction. The Persians came from the east conquering to the west. The Greeks came from the west conquering to the east. Keep in mind that Daniel, the writer of this vision, is a Jew. He thinks about the world from the perspective of Jerusalem. And not only that, but apocalyptic prophecy, and this vision in particular, is often concerned with what’s happening at the sanctuary, which had an earthly replica in the temple of Jerusalem. So when we read about directions in this vision, think about it as east ofJerusalem, or north of Jerusalem or west of Jerusalem.

So now a horn that grew “exceedingly great” moves from the west to the south and east.

Popular interpretations for Daniel 8 point to a Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled over the Seleucid subdivision of the Greek empire a less than 200 years before Christ. Admittedly, Antiochus Epiphanes was a bad guy, but he doesn’t fit the fulfillment of this prophecy.

The Bible says in Daniel 8:9 “out of one of them cam a little horn.” Everyone assumes that the “one of them” is one of the horns or divisions of the Greek empire. But the thing is, direction is super important here, as it has been for the first two kingdoms mentioned in Daniel 8:

The Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes ruled from the Mesopotamian city Seleucia, which is in Iraq.

That’s way in the east!

But the little horn power in Daniel 8 conquered from the west to the east, not from the east to the west. That should give a clue that Antiochus doesn’t fit.

In Daniel 8:8 it describes four horns and four winds, and then in Daniel 8:9 it says, “out of one of them” came the little horn. In English, if you were to say, “Mary had a little son, his hair was white as snow,” it would be perfectly obvious who’s hair you’re talking about — the son’s hair — because Mary is feminine but the pronoun, “his” is masculine. The gender of the words help you understand the sentence. This is true in Hebrew as well. The horns in this sentence are masculine and the four winds are feminine. When it says, out of one of them” the “them” is feminine. Without a doubt, the little horn that grew exceedingly great came from one of the four winds—from one of the directions on a map. This little horn didn’t come from the eastern, Seleucid province of Greece, it came from the west, and its armies marched to the south and the east, conquering and becoming exceedingly great.

Direction has one more important role to play in the story of the little horn.

This military power, like Persia and Greece before it, conquered the world. And we know, just by following history, that Rome was the next empire that conquered the world. And it did indeed come from the west and conquer to the south and east, and it became exceedingly great—far surpassing the empires before it.

At first this prophecy was about stuff that was happening on earth, but then the focus changes. Daniel 7 did this too. The focus moved from earthly kingdoms to heavenly scenes of judgment. Daniel 8 says that this little horn “grew great, even to the host of heaven… it became great, even as great as the Prince of the host.” (Daniel 8:10-11)

And from here on the focus is less on the military expansion of Rome and more on the war between Rome and the people of God and the worship of God.

From our study of Daniel 7 we discovered that Rome, the great and terrible beast, collapsed into ten warring tribes — ten horns. And then from among those tribes of western Europe a little horn grew up, quickly becoming powerful enough to uproot three other western European tribes to establish a new kind of religio-political power.

In Daniel 8:24-25 the angel;s interpreted of this part of the vision sounds a lot like Daniel 7’s description:

Daniel 8:24–25 NKJV

His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. “Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; And he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without human means.

Notice that this has the same progression as Daniel 7’s 4th beast. It starts out conquering and becoming mighty and destroying, but then it transitions to destroying, “the holy people.” It moves from the military might of the Roman empire to the “cunning” and “deceitful” influence of papal Rome that held all of western Europe under its religio-political power. Not only does it conquer the people of God, but it also “exalts” itself to “rise against the prince of princes.” But the promise is that while it will do terrible things against God and His people, there will be judgment. It shall be broken and not with human means.

Just like in Daniel 7 which told us that this power would speak “blasphemous” or “pompous” words against the Most High, and persecute the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and law. This power in Daniel 8 is harming God, His worship, and his people.

There’s a reason that God included a change in direction in this portion of the dream. No longer is this power expanding its military power on the earth—horizontally—it’s expanding vertically to challenge God. And God wants us to direct our minds to heaven for the solution, not by human means.

While stuff was happening on earth—terrible stuff that exceeded the atrocities of Nazi Germany—God didn’t leave the earth alone. There is a predicted period of judgment and then a downfall. Just like what happened in the Nuremberg trials—there was a judgment and then a sentencing after which the perpetrators of violence were killed or imprisoned.

The next two verses in Daniel 8 point to this judgment. It’s tucked right into the center of the chapter like any good Hebrew author would have done with the most important information:

The Cleansing of the Sanctuary

Daniel 8:13–14 NKJV

Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”

“How long will the vision be?” the angel asks. What an interesting question. So far we’ve been talking about direction. First in the sense that each of the national powers depicted expanded on the earth militarily, and then the little horn also expanded vertically (or religiously) to impact the worship of God. There is no mention of time in Daniel 8 until this moment when the angel directs our attention to the judgment. Similarly, Daniel 7 didn’t mention time until it dealt with the time period that the little horn would be allowed to make war against God’s people—3 1/2 prophetic years, which makes up 1,260 literal years. And after that period was over, “the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken way, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.” (Daniel 7:26, ESV) In both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 time is mentioned in the context of the judgment of the little horn.

I was watching a sermon on Daniel 8 to see how others interpret this passage and the nice pastor mentioned William Miller. He pointed to this 2,300 evenings and mornings time period and concluded that it doesn’t really matter. He pointed to the incorrect interpretation by William Miller and his friends that Jesus would come in 1844 and said that since Miller got it wrong this must be an insignificant point of the prophecy that we should pretty much ignore and move on from.

“But, Mr Pastor,” I wanted to shout, “the ANGEL asked the question, “how long?” Doesn’t that mean the answer will be important?”

This is a very important part of the prophecy. Not only does it tell us how long the little horn organization will have power over God’s people, but it points to the solution, both for God’s people and for the oppression of the little horn.

From some point in history to 2,300 evenings and mornings later the sanctuary would be cleansed. What does that mean, and why?

Daniel 8:13 starts out by asking “how long” would the vision be that talks about the “daily.” The word that is translated as “daily sacrifice” in your bible should really just be translated as “continual,” or “daily.” The word “sacrifice or offering” is added by the translators. While sacrifices were daily, so were lots of other ministries in the sanctuary such as the priests’ work at the altar of incense, the table of shewbread, the candelabra, and the laver of water. And notice that the focus isn’t on the sanctuary alone, the little horn exalted itself to the same level of power and spiritual authority as the Prince of the Host—a reference to Jesus himself. If you take a look at Papal Rome you’ll find that not only did the church persecute and destroy the people of God but they deceived the world about who God is and what His way of salvation is. The Pope claimed to be God himself, variously referred to as “our shepherd,” “our great physician,” and even “our Lord God the Pope.” The papal church says that their Priest are able to bestow divine forgiveness, standing in the place of Jesus on earth. But in the Bible, only God himself has the right to forgive sins. They like to be called “father” but Jesus said “call no man father” (Matt 23:9) except when you pray “our Father in heaven...”

The papal church chained the Bible to pulpits and performed the church services in Latin—a language few understood—keeping people from being able to feed on the bread of life. They replaced the light of the gospel through evangelism and personal witness with lazy monastic beggars who demanded money for the church in exchange for divine mercy—even offering indulgences for sale that would allow you to buy your way out of hell. They replaced the baptism of water and the spirit with a ritualistic sprinkling of so-called magical water. And they replaced the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ with a daily re-creation of the cross through the Eucharist. And so the angel asks, “How long will they be allowed to trample on God’s plan of salvation—the regular services of the sanctuary? How long until this is stopped?”

The answer was 2,300 evenings and mornings. This isn’t talking about the morning and evening sacrifices of the sanctuary—if it were, it would have said “morning and evening.” Instead, the vision points to 2,300 days—like the evening+morning days of creation in Genesis 1.

Repeatedly in prophecy a prophetic day is equated to a year. In Numbers 14:33, 34 God said that he would give Israel 1 year of wandering in the wilderness for every day the rebellious spies took to scout the land.

In Ezekiel 4:4-6 Ezekiel was told to lie on his side for 390 days for Israel and then an additional 40 days for Judah. Each day he was on his side represented a year of their punishment for rebellion.

So, when the angel says the vision would last for 2,300 days, he’s talking about years, which helps you understand what the big deal is when you read Daniel’s pray of lament in Daniel 9. In Daniel 9 he’s very concerned about the timing of this prophecy. If Daniel understood this to be literal days—close to 6 years—he probably would have been fine with it. But because he knew this to be 2,300 YEARS he was extremely concerned. We’ll get to the reason why he was so concerned in our next sermon from Daniel 9 called, “Cut Off.”

Ok, last point and then we’re going to figure out what this has to do with you and me. The phrase “then the sanctuary shall be cleansed” is full of really cool meaning. The Hebrew word, nitsdaq, means more than one thing. It can be translated as cleansed, restored to its rightful state, or vindicated. What’s happening when the sanctuary is cleansed has a lot to do with what the little horn is doing against God and His people.

First, the daily of the heavenly sanctuary was cast to the ground through the cunning and deceit of the papacy, and it needed to be restored.

Second, the the transgression needed to be cleansed from the sanctuary—everything that defiled the worship of God.

And third, the sanctuary, the host (or people of God), and God himself were being trampled on through the pompous, blasphemous, haughty words of the little horn and they needed to be vindicated. God’s worship and his character and the nature and purpose of His church needed to be corrected in the minds of all mankind.

Summary

Ok, so now we know that the daily refers to all the regular services of the temple. We know that the 2,300 evenings and morning represent 2,300 years, after which there will be a judgment. And we know that the cleansing of the sanctuary describes what will happen in this judgment against the little horn.

The Day of Atonement

Remember, Apocolyptic prophecy is largely concerned with what’s going on in God’s plan of salvation which He so beautifully illustrated in the sanctuary services. The cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8 and the judgment described in Daniel 7 are illustrated in the yearly sanctuary service called the Day of Atonement.

Remember the ram and the goat are both used in sacrifices in the sanctuary, but only on the Day of Atonement were they mentioned together in the Bible. Everything in Daniel 8’s vision is leading us to this special year service.

The pastor’s sermon that I watched was right in one sense, William Miller incorrectly believed that Jesus would return to the earth in a literal and physical 2nd Coming in 1844. Miller was wrong, and many were sorely disappointed. But their problem wasn’t that they got the time wrong—something we’ll explore in our next sermon—but that they got the event wrong. The sanctuary in Daniel 8 wasn’t talking about the earth, and it wasn’t going to be cleansed by fire. Instead, the sanctuary was in heaven and was going to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Go to Hebrews 9 with me and I think you’ll see how this work of Jesus is responding to the atrocities of the little horn.

Hebrews 9:24–28 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Christ, the Son of Man, the Prince of the Host, entered into the Holy Place of heaven. Not one made by human hands like Moses or Solomon or Herod or by a Pope or Priest. He entered into a heavenly sanctuary. The solution to both the problem of the little horn, and the issue of your heart and mine, is not in a temple made with hands, but in an essential work that Christ does in heaven.

Jesus appears in the presence of God ON OUR BEHALF. Remember Daniel 7:22 says that judgment will be made in favor of the people of God. Jesus comes to the judgment to represent God’s trampled, persecuted people. And then Paul points out the difference between the day of atonement where the priest took an animal’s blood into the temple once a year. Jesus only had to do this once “at the end of the ages” to put away sin with his own blood. Notice that there’s a time period referenced here —at the end of the ages. This is the last thing that happens before the second coming. It’s a final judgment before the end of all evil.

Because Christ was offered once to bear your sins and mine. And because He brought his sacrifice to the final judgment—the cleansing of the sanctuary, the heavenly day of atonement—you and I can eagerly wait for his soon return.

Conclusion

At the end of the Nuremberg trials Many of the top offenders were put to death. Others were put in prison for a really long time. But there were some who were acquitted, like Hans Fritzsche, the head of the German radio propaganda machine. Many argued that Hans was acquitted for political reasons, and just a few years later he was dragged in front of the German denazification court where he was given prison time for his part in the war.

When God‘s heavenly judgment wraps up, there will be many acquittals based on one reason—the blood of Jesus. And no one will be able to say it was for political reasons, and no one will be retrying the case after this judgment is over.

The reason for the acquittal is not that we’ve been found to be without fault, but because Jesus’ blood covers our sins. HE has been found without fault. He has brought His everlasting righteousness and applied it to our record.

I love that last part of Hebrews 9 where it says that Jesus is coming a second time,

Hebrews 9:28 (ESV)

not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Jesus’ chief job in the judgment is to deal with sin. He’s concerned about cleansing my record and yours, and overturning the power that Satan exercises through the beast and the little horn. But when he comes the 2nd time Jesus will not come to deal with sin—that’s already been finished. When He comes the 2nd time, He’s coming to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. He’s coming with His reward.

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, follows the same story line as Daniel, even using many of the same symbols and signs. It calls the little horn, Babylon. And then in Revelation 18:2 it says this:

Revelation 18:2 (ESV)

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit...”

Revelation 18:4 (ESV)

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people...”

You and I have to make a choice. Do we want Jesus’ sacrifice to be applied to our name in the judgment? Do we want His forgivingness? His invitation is to come out of Babylon and let Jesus wash away your sins with his blood and cover you in His righteousness.