Cleansing the Sanctuary, Pt. 1

- Have you ever been so nervous, frightened, or upset that you fainted. About 15% of adults are apt to faint at the sight of blood. And it's not uncommon for people to pass out at weddings or other public ceremonies that require prolonged standing or stress. People have even been known to faint in response to disturbing movies, or when they're startled. The medical term for this is vasovagal syncope. A condition caused by an extreme and rapid drop in blood pressure that causes an individual to temporarily lose consciousness. In Daniel chapter eight, we read that one of God's great prophets had a similar experience, when he saw something in vision that was so distressing, he fainted from shock and was sick for days. But what happened in this disturbing vision that so troubled the prophet? And what's the meaning of the terrifying image he saw? How does this longest Bible time prophecy relate to God's people and the anti-Christ? You might be surprised how the answers to these questions affect your life today. So join me now, as we take a closer look at this very important subject.

Want to welcome those who are watching "The Panorama of Prophecy." And tonight we're going to live up to our name. We're getting into some industrial strength, Bible prophecy study. It doesn't get any deeper than we're getting tonight. So I hope that you'll take a deep breath and ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit to just guide you in this seminar as we proceed. Just a little review very quickly. As we talked about the sanctuary on earth is modeled after a temple in heaven. And so, when we're talking about the Bible temple, you've got three tabernacles in the Old Testament. First one, they built in the wilderness. Moses instructed them to make it. It was portable, called it the tabernacle. That eventually kind of fell apart, and David supplied the plans and the materials for his son, Solomon to build the most glorious of the earthly temples. That one lasted for about 400 years. It was then destroyed by king Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

This is all in near history books in fifth grade, it talks about that. And after the Babylonian captivity, the Persian king let them go back to Israel. They rebuilt it, it wasn't near as glorious. But Herod the Great came along and he wanted to go and embellish it. He spent years fortifying the earthly sanctuary. And even during Jesus time, they said, "You're going to destroy this temple in three days, it's taken us 40 and two years to build this temple." Well, that was the one that Herod had renovated. It was the temple of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. That was destroyed by the Romans, and Jesus foretold that what happen. Here's another prophecy. Christ said, when the disciple showed Him the temple, "See you not all these things? There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down." He said, "This generation will not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. Bible generation is 40 years. Remember, God wiped out that generation because of their unbelief. They had to wander for 40 years. Jesus made that prophecy in 30 AD, in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the temple. There has not been another earthly temple since then to the present day.

But Jesus was very zealous about the temple. This was His idea. The plans came from God. That's why at the beginning of His ministry, when Jesus was teaching and He went into the sanctuary, He often taught in the temple. You remember the story of the woman caught in adultery, John chapter eight, He was teaching in the temple. They brought Him this woman. And He was very zealous of the temple. And when He would go for the various feasts, most of Jesus ministry was up around Galilee, but He'd come to Jerusalem for the Jewish feasts. They had turned the temple into a flea market. It had turned into a bazaar, it was like a circus. Because Josephus tells us 250,000 people came to Jerusalem for the Passover. And they'd get there, because they're traveling, they can't bring their sheep and their goats. They would sell them, and it was a great business. They would sell sacrifices.

And people were buying oxen and goats and sheep and doves at exorbitant prices. And then they'd say, "Oh, you can't buy things in the temple with the Roman money. That's unclean, because it's got Caesar's picture on it. You have to now convert it to the temple money. Then you can buy it with the temple money. Of course there is a currency exchange cost." And they were robbing the people. And Jesus walked in and He saw that spectacle. He was outraged.

And this leads us into our study for tonight, which is called "Cleansing the Sanctuary." Jesus did this twice during His earthly ministry. And it also reminds us of a cleansing that happened in the earthly temple and in the heavenly temple and in the church, very important study. So, when Christ walked into the sanctuary, and you'll find this in Matthew, Mark, Luke, they all talk about this. John talks about this experience. And He saw all this carrying on. He said, "Take these things away! Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise."

The Bible says the temple was to be a house of prayer, not just for Jews. Solomon said, "For all people." It's not just the Jewish God. He's the God of all people. Amen. And He said, "It's supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, and you've turned it into a den of thieves." And Jesus, just by His word, it tells us He made a whip of chords, but it doesn't say He whipped anybody. He stood there with that whip and they looked at Him as judge and they were overcome with terror. It's like they were looking into the eyes of the almighty and everybody went scampering out. And Jesus went by and He threw over their money tables and all the money went clanging down to the floor. All the animals were kicked out of their cages and they went stampeding out of the sanctuary. And in a few minutes, they were all gone and it was quiet.

And then it says, "The children." He wasn't mean, because the children came in and they sat and listened to Him and the children were singing. And so, I think people think Jesus went around the temple and He started beating and whipping people. It's not what happened. He just spoke. But He cleansed the sanctuary from all the worldliness that had come in.

In the Old Testament, they had a service where they cleansed the sanctuary from the sins that had been symbolically stored there through the year. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God wants to cleanse that sanctuary. Jesus often healed people, didn't He? Said He wants us to have an abundant life. The church, what? Know ye not the ye, plural, are the temple of God. Paul said to the church, "Whoever defiles that temple, him will God destroy." Tells about this anti-Christ power that sits over the temple of God, a defiling influence. And then the Bible tells us that He's got a temple in heaven. Christ cleanses them all. He is the great temple cleanser.

So, we've learned last night, it's in Psalm 77, verse 13, "Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our God," Psalm 77:13. So, we're going to take a look at a prophecy that was given to the prophet Daniel, that you'll find in Daniel chapter eight. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn there. And these are two prophecies between Daniel eight and Daniel nine, that ends up being the longest time prophecy through history, and it talks about the cleansing of the sanctuary. "In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel, after the one that appeared to me the first time."

That's in chapter seven. "I saw in the vision, and so it happened while I was looking, I was in Shushan in the Citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai, and then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there was standing beside the river, there was a ram that had two horns and the two horns were high, and one was higher than the other. And another one came up last. And I saw the ram pushing towards the westward, northward, 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. 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 the two horns, which I saw standing beside the river and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram and he was moved with rage against him and attacked the ram and broke his two horns. And 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 its place, four notable ones came up towards the four winds of heaven."

Meaning north, south, east, west. "And out of one of the four horns that came up in this goat was a little horn that grew exceedingly great towards the south and towards the east, and towards the glorious land. And it grew up towards the host of heaven, and it cast some of the hosts and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host, that's Christ. 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 sacrifice."

And here's the main thing. He cast truth down to the ground and he did all this and he prospered. Then I heard the holy one speaking to the other holy one." These angels that are talking in Daniel's presence. "How long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation?" You've heard of the abomination of desolation. "The transgression of desolation and the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot. He said unto me, 'For 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'"

Okay, we read it and now we're going to review what we just read, but you've got the biblical. I wanted you to get it right from the Bible, context for all of this. Question number one. Daniel had an amazing vision in which he saw a ram with two horns. Who does this ram represent? Now the good news is, later in Daniel chapter eight, you can see Daniel 8:20, an angel comes along and he says, "I'm going to help explain the vision." So it's not like we went to the newspaper to find out what it means. There's no doubt about what it means. An angel in the same chapter says, "Here's what it means." So that makes it pretty definite, don't you think?

The ram that you saw having the two horns, they are the Kings of Media and Persia. Media and the Persians came up later, but Persia became much bigger. Most of the history talks about it as the Persian empire. Next question, Daniel then saw a goat with a great horn between his eyes. What does this mean? Before I go to the answer, it's interesting if you know your Bible. Daniel chapter seven, he has a vision of four animals. You get a lion and a bear and a leopard and a strange beast. They are all, according to the Jews, unclean animals.

Now you get to Daniel chapter eight and these are clean animals. The Jews were all shepherds. A goat, ram, they were clean animals that they used to have in their flocks. When Babylon was in power, they persecuted the Jews. The Persians and the Greeks, they allowed them to, most of the time they allowed them to practice their religion. So Daniel saw this goat with a great horn between his eyes. Who is he? The male goat is the kingdom of what? Greece. And the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

Now, this is really phenomenal when you think about it, because when Daniel's making these prophecies, the likelihood that Greece was going to rule the world, would've been unlikely when Daniel made the prophecy. Philip, the king of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, he wasn't even alive then. And so, the notion that they would, at some point rule the world, they were just tribes up in the north of the Mediterranean there. And then later they foretell that Rome is going to rule the world. Rome wasn't much beyond Romulus and Remus. These twin brothers that were supposedly reared by wolves. They were just some tribes that were primitive.

The idea that they would rule the world, you know, right now, if I made a prophecy and said, "Yeah, 300 years, Tasmania is going to be the world power. Nothing against any Tasmanians here, but I mean, who would predict that? And so, you have to realize, we know that Daniel foretold these things before they happened. The very fact he got the kingdoms right, is one reason it's such a remarkable book. Don't go anywhere, friends. In just a moment we're going to return for the rest of today's presentation. You know, the ancient Hebrew sanctuary was a fascinating structure, filled with symbolism regarding the coming Messiah and the sacrifice that He would make to offer salvation to all of humanity, but just what were these symbols? What exactly do they represent? And what important messages do they have for us today?

We have a special free resource we'd like to give you concerning this mysterious topic. It's called "God Drew the Plans." This fascinating, but easy to read study guide will help you find a deeper understanding of God's temple in heaven and on earth. And even better, show you how to build a forever relationship with Jesus, our savior, and true high priest. To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen and ask for offer number 129 or visit the web address. And after you read this incredible resource, make sure and share it with a friend. Well, let's get back now to today's presentation and learn some more amazing facts from the Word of God.

And he says, "The big notable horn." You know, you've probably seen rams and sheep fighting before they butt each other. And typically, the one was the best rack of horns wins. But this big notable horn, that is the first king, which is no doubt, Alexander the Great, because he dies early. It says, "And when he is strong, he's suddenly broken. In his prime, Alexander the Great dies." Just about the same age as Jesus, I think he was 32. He conquered the world, but he became depressed when a soldier said they didn't want to march any farther and conquer anymore. And he had a drunken feast in Babylon.

We don't know if he died from poisoning, from alcohol, many speculate malaria, because he did not die right away. And as he was dying, his young wife Roxana, a Persian gal, she said, "Who will rule in your place?" She was actually pregnant at the time. She was wondering, you know, is your son's not even born. Is he going to rule? And Alexander said, "The strongest will rule," which is what happened. He died, his empire was divided among his four generals.

And that's our next answer. Says, "And as that broken horn, horn was broken, so that forced it up in its place. Four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not according to his power." So you've got the four divisions of the Greek kingdom, and that's Ptolmys, Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus. And so, these four generals basically carved up the kingdom to the four winds, north, south, east, west. And there was a lot of strife and the Greek influence still spread around the world for years. Then a little horn sprouts up. What did this little horn represent?

Now this little horn is the antichrist power that you find other places in Daniel. He's in Daniel chapter seven. He's also found in Daniel chapter 11. And he is the power that Christ is talking about when he talks about the abomination of desolation. This is one that speaks great words against the Most High, wears out the saints of the Most High. And ultimately, what do you call it? He establishes the mark of the beast and begins to persecute those that will not worship the way that they're commanded to worship. This little horn sprout up from one of the four. What does this horn represent? Well, we know that in the one of the northern, western empires of Greece, it kind of transitioned power to Rome. And you can read about this in Acts 18. What was the ruling power when Jesus was born? "Claudius Caesar commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome." Rome were the ones that imprisoned John when he gave the vision. He had been imprisoned by the emperor.

And so, then you got the Roman power, but the Roman power does not stay purely political pagan power. Christianity began to explode through the Roman empire. Tells us that this little horn power goes through a transition. "In this horn, were like the eyes of the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words." And it says, "He shall be different from the first ones." Just like when you get down to the legs in Daniel chapter two, the legs are iron, but the feet are iron with clay. In this vision, you've got another power, but it's not quite the same, because it's a commingling of religion and government. It is religious and civil.

Now, what happened? Just giving you a quick overview of history so that everybody knows. As Rome was first established, you know, Christianity began to spread quickly through the Roman empire. Even in Paul's day, he said that "The gospel's gone into all of the earth." But then as the Christians grew, they began to be persecuted. The devil wanted to wipe them out. Christianity was declared , because there was so much connection between Christians and Jews. They both used the same holy book. And when the Jews rebelled against Rome, the Romans said, "Christians and Jews are forbidden religion," and they were terribly persecuted. You've heard about how Nero fiddled as Rome burned, and he blamed the Christians, and Christians were burnt at the stake and they were fed in the lions and they died in the coliseums, were slaughtered by gladiators. And the devil hoped to wipe out Christianity through persecution. But the more they persecuted them, the more they grew.

So then the devil came up with plan B. He said, "If I can't destroy them from the outside, I will destroy them from the inside. I'll legalize it, and I'll dilute Christianity. I'll commingle it with some of the pagan religions." And with the conversion or at least the pretended conversion of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor. He legalized Christianity. His mother, Katherine claimed to be a Christian. He said he was going to conquer under the sign of the cross. Everybody suddenly wanted to be a Christian. And all the pagans in Rome, they began to say, "Well, you know, we want to be Christians." And they knew almost nothing about it. Constantine ordered his army to march through the Tiber River and he said, "Now you're all baptized, you're Christians." He didn't really understand the teaching of baptism. They didn't know. Jesus said, "Go teach and baptize." They weren't taught. They had no idea. They went into the water, dry pagans, and they came up wet pagans. They didn't know.

And a lot of the pagan priests, didn't want to lose their status. And they said, "We'll convert to Christianity." And they said, "But what do we do with all our idols?" All over Rome. I think one historian said, "There were more idols in Rome and than there were shingles on the roofs." There were idols everywhere. You can read about that. And Paul writes about it in, or Luke writes about it in the book of Acts. So they had idols of Mercury and Jupiter, Apollos and Venus and Diana of Ephesus. And they said, "What do we do with our idols?" They said, "Well, we can win more people from paganism if we give them Christian names." So, this was a big transition that happened that it talks about.

Question number four. Daniel was told that this little horn would defiled the sanctuary. How long till it would be cleansed? All right, we got to stop for a moment and reestablish, for any that didn't catch it, what that sanctuary is. In the Old Testament, when God told Moses to build a sanctuary, he said, "It's patterned after the one in heaven." So you got the model, sanctuary on earth, the tabernacle, and you got one in heaven. How many is that? Two, one in heaven, one on earth. That was destroyed. Then there was Solomon's temple.

Then you've got the one in heaven. How many is that? Two, right. Then that was destroyed by the Babylonians. And then you got the temple of Ezra, Nehemiah, King Herod. That's the one Jesus taught in. You got one on earth, one in heaven. How many? Two. And then that was destroyed, and now how many are there? Two, because Jesus said, "Destroy this temple made with hands and I will make one without hands in three days." But He spoke of His body, the church.

So, does God still have a sanctuary on earth? Has that sanctuary been defiled by the devil and false teachings? Has the truth been cast to the ground? The sanctuary in heaven, whenever you pray and you ask God to forgive your sins, Christ takes your sins, and He pleads them before the Father. But there's a time coming when there's no more sin in the universe. The sanctuary on earth, the church, and the sanctuary in heaven are going to be cleansed. And there's a process in that cleansing. And He wants to cleanse you. See, Jesus cleansed the temple.

First temple that needs cleansing is? Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord wants to cleanse that, amen. Let me just give you a couple more verses on this. For those who missed it, speaking of the beast's power, there will come a falling away. It's when the truth is cast to the ground. "The man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or worship, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself, he is God." And then we just read in 1 Corinthians 3:17, "If any man defiles the temple of God, him will God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." How did Jesus feel when they defiled the temple? He chased them all out, didn't He? Ephesians 2:19, "Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints." It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or Gentile. "And of the household of God. And we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building fitly framed together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are builded together for a habitation of God."

God not only wants to dwell in you, your body temple. God wants to dwell in His people, the church temple. You still with me? First Peter 2:5, "You also as lively stones, living stones, are built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." And then you go to Revelation three. "He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God."

Now, I don't want to go to heaven and be a pillar. If you just want, all day long, you're pillar, or is he talking about you are going to be part of the household of God in that kingdom? So when the antichrist power defiles the sanctuary and when he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, that temple that needs cleansing is the temple on earth, is people. And there's a cleansing that happens in the temple in heaven.

Let's go back to our vision, Daniel chapter four, and this is question four. Daniel was told that this little horn, and of course it's in Daniel eight, this little horn would be filed the sanctuary. How long until it would be cleansed? We showed that to you twice now. "For 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

So we got this time period. How did Daniel respond when he saw the little horn power persecuting God's people and obscure the truth? At the end of this vision, when he sees the persecution, he sees what the future of God's people are. Daniel's an old man at this point. Daniel 8:27, he says, "I, Daniel, fainted and I was sick for days, and I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it." He knew the part about Greece and Persia and Rome, but he didn't understand this anti-Christ power, this little horn power that was going to persecute.

So, before the angel can finally give it all to Daniel, he faints. Which means, the angel has to come back and give him one of the most important things, which is what? Starting point for the time period in the prophecy. "At the beginning of your supplications," go to Daniel chapter nine now. I started reading too soon. I want you to go to Daniel nine, and here is the second part of this prophecy. Daniel fainted, so the angel comes back and Daniel offers his prayer saying, "Lord, how long will Your people be captives here in Persia?" He was reading the prophecies of Jeremiah. He said, "When are they going to go home? When is the Messiah going to come?" Is the prayer of Daniel's heart. "At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out and I've come to tell you." So the angel comes to explain this vision in Daniel chapter nine, and it's going on with the vision of Daniel chapter eight.

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