The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days

ROME IS THE POWER IN QUESTION

1. This power was to come forth from one of the four kingdoms of Alexander’s empire. Let us remember that nations are not brought into prophecy, till somehow connected with the people of God. Rome had been in existence many years before it was noticed in prophecy; and Rome had made Macedon, one of the four horns of the Grecian goat, a part of itself B.C. 168, about ten years before its first connection with the people of God. See 1 Mac. 8. So that Rome could as truly be said to be “out of one of them,” as the ten horns of the fourth beast in the seventh chapter, could be said to come out of that beast, when they were ten kingdoms set up by the conquerors of Rome. S23D 13.1

2. It was to wax exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. (Palestine. Psalm 106:24; Zechariah 7:14.) This was true of Rome in particular. Witness its conquests in Africa and Asia, and its overthrow of the place and nation of the Jews. John 11:48. S23D 13.2

3. It was to cast down of the host and of the stars. This is predicted respecting the dragon. Revelation 12:3, 4. All admit that the dragon was Rome. Who can fail to see their identity? S23D 13.3

4. Rome was emphatically a king of fierce countenance, and one that did understand dark sentences. Moses used similar language when, as all agree, he predicted the Roman power. Deuteronomy 28:49, 50. S23D 13.4

5. Rome did destroy wonderfully. Witness its overthrow of all opposing powers. S23D 14.1

6. Rome has destroyed more of “the mighty and the holy people,” than all other persecuting powers combined. From fifty to one hundred millions of the church have been slain by it. S23D 14.2

7. Rome did stand up against the Prince of princes. The Roman power nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. Acts 4:26, 27; Matthew 27:2; Revelation 12:4. S23D 14.3

8. This power is to “be broken without hand.” How clear the reference to the stone “cut out without hand” that smote the image. Daniel 2:34. Its destruction then does not take place until the final overthrow of earthly power. These facts are conclusive proof that Rome is the subject of this prophecy. For an extended notice, see Advent Library, No. 33. S23D 14.4

The field of vision, then, is the empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. S23D 14.5

That part of the vision that now engages our attention is the time-the reckoning of the 2300 days. S23D 14.6