The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 329

offered upon Calvary, ended that system of offerings which for four
thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of God. Type had met
antitype, and all the sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system
were there to cease.
The seventy weeks, or 490 years, especially allotted to the Jews,
ended, as we have seen, in A.D. 34. At that time, through the action
of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its rejection of the gospel
by the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the followers of
Christ. Then the message of salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen
people, was given to the world. The disciples, forced by persecution to
flee from Jerusalem, “went everywhere preaching the word.” “Philip
went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”
Peter, divinely guided, opened the gospel to the centurion of Caesarea,
the God-fearing Cornelius; and the ardent Paul, won to the faith of
Christ, was commissioned to carry the glad tidings “far hence unto the
Gentiles.” Acts 8:4, 5; 22:21.
Thus far every specification of the prophecies is strikingly fulfilled,
and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed beyond question at
457 B.C., and their expiration in A.D. 34. From this data there is
no difficulty in finding the termination of the 2300 days. The seventy
weeks—490 days—having been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810
days remaining. After the end of 490 days, the 1810 days were still to
be fulfilled. From A.D. 34, 1810 years extend to 1844. Consequently
the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 terminate in 1844. At the expiration of
this great prophetic period, upon the testimony of the angel of God,
“the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Thus the time of the cleansing of
the sanctuary—which was almost universally believed to take place at
the second advent—was definitely pointed out.
Miller and his associates at first believed that the 2300 days would
terminate in the spring of 1844, whereas the prophecy

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