As we have already seen, there must be a judgment before Christ comes. The angel announces in a loud voice that “the hour of His judgment has come” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). The book of Daniel gives us the time when this judgment begins.

 Read Daniel 8:14. What specific timetable does Daniel give us regarding the cleansing of the sanctuary?

 Each Jew clearly understood the meaning of the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary. It occurred on the Day of Atonement, which was the day of judgment. Although Daniel understood the concept of the cleansing of the sanctuary and the judgment, he was confused about these 2300 days.

 Read Daniel 8:27 and Daniel 9:21, 22. What was Daniel’s response to the vision of the 2,300 days, and what was God’s response to him?

 At the end of Daniel 8, Daniel fainted and exclaimed, “I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it” (Dan. 8:27, NKJV). That is, the vision of the 2,300 days (the rest of the vision had been already explained; see Daniel 8:19-22). The next chapter, Daniel 9, records the angel Gabriel coming to explain to Daniel the 2,300-day prophecy. “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand” (Dan. 9:22, NKJV).

 Gabriel amazes Daniel as he reveals an answer to his prayer much broader than he ever imagined. The angel Gabriel took Daniel down the stream of time and revealed the truth about the coming Messiah, giving the exact dates of the beginning of His ministry and His cruel death, events that tied directly to the cleansing of the sanctuary, in Daniel 8. In other words, Christ’s death and the judgment are inseparably linked.