Where in the Bible, the source of truth, does it say that it ever got defiled? I know EGW didn't start the false doctrine of the investigative judgment, so no one can blame her. It came from a prophecy by Hiram Edson.
The 2,300 mornings and evenings is 6.3 years, the first Jewish revolt. Daniel 8 is about Greece and this prophecy is pointing to the defilement of the temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
The 2300 evenings and mornings prophecy reflects the cleansing of the Sanctuary by the sacrifice / blood of the Lamb of God. There is absolutely nothing in the Book of Daniel that speaks to AE, the Ptolemy's, the Seleucids', etc., They certainaly can be found in our history books IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE 3RD and the 4TH KINGDOMS.
This prophecy speaks directly to the work of the Messiah and His mission He would fulfill in the last week of the prophecy - as I mentioned in my previous response,
look for Him in these prophetic vesres not characters in our history books.
Hebrews 9:11-12:
"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption."
Hebrews 9:23 says:
"Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
Hebrews 9:24:
"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."
If you study the last week of the prohecy (70th week), when the Messiah would first arrive on the very first day of the last week and was baptised in the Jordan by John AND was anointed by His Father at the same time, this began His ministry. God purposely "set aside" this final week for Jesus to fuilfill His mission (9:24). The Jews were given the responsibility to restore everything that was either taken away or destroyed by the Babylonians - not only the physical elements such as the Temple, the walls and streets, etc., but also all the Levitical ceremonies, the animal sacrifices, the feast days, all the Sabbaths, etc. And they were completely successful. By the end of the 69th week of the prophecy, everything was fully restored, BUT ONE ITEM. It was the first item taken away by Jeremiah before the Babylonians could obtain it - it was the Ark of the Covenant - the Presence of God in the Sanctuary. Thia was the only element the Jews could not restore.
Every element within the "restoration prophecy" was restored in the exact same reverse order they were either taken away or destroyed, thua, the Ark of the Convenant would be the last item to be restored by the coming of the Messiah AFTER all the other elements were restored - only AFTER the end of the 69th week. Jesus is the only one who could restore the Presence of God in the Sanctuary.
The 70 weeks of years prophecy is about the restoration of His people, His city, the Sanctuary, etc., and the coming of the Messiah at the end of that prophecy (last week). Unfortunately, God knowing His people would reject His Messiah would also include those prophetic verses found in 26 and 27 that would reveal the destruction of these same elements that were restored.
God gave Gabriel the visions and the 70 weeks of years prophecy recorded in the various chapters of Daniel. But it would be Jesus Hinself who would reveal the 2300 evenings and mornings prophecy to Daniel. Gabriel had asked God to tell us when these things would happen, but in 8:14, God responded with a very different answer - He gave the time element to the "cleansing of the Sanctuary," not to any of the 4 items asked by Gabriel. God personally gave Daniel the "mareh" vision. This is a short term "appearance or sight vision" that referred to the 2300 time elemnt. Gabriel would be instructed by God to give to Daniel both the "chazon" vision or the long term vision as well as the Chapter 9 prophecy (not vision), and then later the last two visions that make up Chapters 11 and 12,
So, I would ask you and others, once again, to step back and look at these visions, verses, prophecies and how they provide a very consistent, continuing, interreated series of prophecies that speak to the coming Messiah only. They are not meant to be broken up into different periods, either actors during the time of AE or some mythical anti-Christ figure some 2000 years in the future.
These ALL speak to ONE major theme - God's plan of salvation for mankind as told through His people as they return to Jersalem through the 4 and only 4 kingdoms mentioned in the Chapter 2 metal man image. It is all about HIm.... Daniel does indeed interpret Daniel without any assistance friom our flawed history books. By bringing in our history books, we are preventing our interpretations from focusing on the Messiah... we are mixing the common with the holy. Again, God has given us all we need within these 12 chapters to learn of His prophecies that did come true.....
