From Contamination to Purification
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Daniel 8, Dan. 2:38, Gen. 11:4, Leviticus 16, Heb. 9:23–28.
Memory Text: “And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed’ ” (Daniel 8:14, NKJV).
The vision reported in Daniel 8 was given to the prophet in 548 or 547 b.c., and it provides some significant clarifications about the judgment referred to in Daniel 7. Unlike the visions of Daniel 2 and 7, the vision of Daniel 8 leaves out Babylon and starts with Media-Persia, because at this time Babylon was in decline and the Persians were about to replace Babylon as the next world power. The vision of Daniel 8 parallels that of Daniel 7. The language and the symbols change in Daniel 8 because it brings into sharp focus the purification of the heavenly sanctuary in connection with the heavenly Day of Atonement. Thus the distinctive contribution of Daniel 8 lies in its focus on aspects of the heavenly sanctuary. Whereas Daniel 7 shows the heavenly tribunal and the Son of man receiving the kingdom, Daniel 8 shows the purification of the heavenly sanctuary. So, as the parallels between these two chapters indicate, the purification of the heavenly sanctuary depicted in Daniel 8 corresponds to the judgment scene of Daniel 7.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 29.
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