" From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks," --namely, sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in the autumn of B. C. 457. From this date, 483 years extend to the autumn of A. D. 27. [SEE APPENDIX, NOTE 3 ALSO DIAGRAM OPPOSITE P. 328.]  At that time this prophecy was fulfilled. The word " Messiah" signifies " the Anointed One." In the autumn of A. D. 27, Christ was baptized by John, and received the anointing of the Spirit. The apostle Peter testifies that " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." [ACTS 10:38.] And the Saviour himself declared, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." [LUKE 4:18.] After his baptism he came into Galilee, " preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled." [MARK 1:14, 15.]  {GC88 327.1}

        " And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." The " week" here brought to view is the last one of the seventy it is the last seven years of the period allotted especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from A. D. 27 to A. D. 34, Christ, at first in person, and afterward by his disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to the Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings of the kingdom, the Saviour's direction was, " Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [MATT. 10:5, 6.]  {GC88 327.2}

  " And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." In A. D. 31, three and a half years after his baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the great sacrifice 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.  {GC88 327.3}

        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 Sanhedrim, 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." [ACTS 8:4, 5 22:21.] Peter, divinely guided, opened the gospel to the centurion of Cesarea, 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.]  {GC88 328.1}

        Thus far every specification of the prophecy is strikingly fulfilled, and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed beyond question at B. C. 457, 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 Dan. 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.  {GC88 328.2}

Our calculation of the prophetic time was so simple and plain that even children could  understand it. From the date of the decree of the king of Persia, found in Ezra 7, which was given in 457 before Christ, the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14 were supposed to terminate with 1843. Accordingly we looked to the end of this year for the coming of the Lord. We were sadly disappointed when the year entirely passed away, and the Saviour had not come. {CET 49.2} 

  It was not at first perceived that if the decree did not go forth at the beginning of the year 457 B. C., the 2300 years would not be completed at the close of 1843. But it was ascertained that the decree was given near the close of the year 457 B. C., and therefore the prophetic period must reach to the fall of the year 1844. Therefore the vision of time did not tarry, though it had seemed to do so. We learned to rest upon the language of the prophet: " The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 2:3. {CET 50.1}

  Mr. Miller and those who were in union with him supposed that the cleansing of the sanctuary spoken of in Daniel 8:14 meant the purifying of the earth by fire prior to its becoming the abode of the saints. This was to take place at the second advent of Christ therefore we looked for that event at the end of the 2300 days, or years. But after our disappointment the Scriptures were carefully searched, with prayer and earnest thought and after a period of suspense, light poured in upon our darkness doubt and uncertainty were swept away. {CET 56.2} 

Instead of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 referring to the purifying of the earth, it was now plain that it pointed to the closing work of our High Priest in heaven, the finishing of the atonement, and the preparing of the people to abide the day of His coming. {CET 56.3}

The 2300 days had been found to begin when the commandment of Artaxerxes for the restoration and building of Jerusalem went into effect, in the autumn of B.C. 457. Taking this as the starting point, there was perfect harmony in the application of all the events foretold in the explanation of that period in Daniel 9:25-27. . . . The seventy weeks, or 490 years, were to pertain especially to the Jews. At the expiration of this period, the nation sealed its rejection of Christ by the persecution of His disciples, and the apostles turned to the Gentiles, A.D. 34. The first 490 years of the 2300 having then ended, 1810 years would remain. From A.D. 34, 1810 years extend to 1844. " Then," said the angel, " shall the sanctuary be cleansed."   {FLB 208.3}