23/06/2026
The Two Desolations in Daniel
Daniel 8:13 brings to view two desolating powers:
“the daily” — the daily, or continual, desolation;
and
“the transgression of desolation” — the papal abomination that maketh desolate.
The word “sacrifice” was supplied by the translators. The prophecy speaks of the daily itself, just as it speaks of the transgression of desolation itself.
“Then I saw in relation to the “daily” (Daniel 8:12) that the word “sacrifice” was supplied by man’s wisdom, and does not belong to the text, and that the Lord gave the correct view of it to those who gave the judgment hour cry.“ {EW 74.2}
Daniel names the two desolations and declares their work: the sanctuary and the host are trodden under foot. This gives the daily its true place in the prophecy. The two expressions stand in the same prophetic line. One question includes them both. One work of desolation is connected with them both.
The daily desolation is paganism: the long-standing work of heathen power against the cause of Jehovah, His worship, His truth, and His people. This work is seen through the kingdoms by which God's people were scattered, oppressed, and trodden down among the nations: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Pagan Rome.
When Daniel 11 and 12 speak of the daily being taken away, the long-standing desolation of paganism is before us in its Roman form. The power removed is Pagan Rome; the power set up in its place is Papal Rome.
In its Roman form, the daily desolation is traced from 158 B.C., when the Grecian oppression of Israel came to an end and Rome began to exercise its power over God’s people, to A.D. 508, when the daily was taken away to give place to the papal power.
The transgression of desolation is the papacy: Rome in a professed Christian form, casting truth to the ground and wearing out the saints of the Most High. Its prophetic supremacy extends from A.D. 538 to A.D. 1798, the 1260 years of papal persecution set forth in Daniel and Revelation.
Thus, where the prophecy speaks of the daily being taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate being set up, the two desolations meet in Rome in her two great forms: first pagan, then papal.
Daniel 11 and 12 carry the same order forward. In Daniel 11:31, the daily is taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate is placed. In Daniel 12:11, the same order appears again: the daily is removed, and the abomination that maketh desolate is set up.
Christ uses the same prophetic language in His warning concerning Jerusalem:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Matthew 24:15
Luke gives the sign in plain words:
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” Luke 21:20
In the Lord’s warning, the abomination of desolation was Rome before the destruction of Jerusalem. The context fixes it as Rome in her pagan form. This shows that the language of abomination and desolation belongs also to the pagan Roman power.
Daniel 9 had already spoken of desolations and abominations in the plural:
“and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” Daniel 9:26
And again:
“for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation...” Daniel 9:27
This agrees with the twofold Roman work brought to view in Daniel: the daily abomination - paganism - and the papal abomination set up in its place.
Thus the daily abomination was taken away, and the transgression of desolation was set up in its place. Pagan Rome was remodeled into Papal Rome.
Paul speaks of this same work under the name of “the mystery of iniquity”:
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7, 8
The mystery of iniquity was already working in Paul’s day, yet the man of sin had his appointed time. Pagan Rome then held the field. While that power remained, it stood as the let, or hindrance, named by the apostle. When the daily was taken away, the way was opened, and the man of sin was revealed in his papal form.
John presents the same transfer in Revelation 13:2:
“and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
The power, seat, and great authority which belonged to the dragon are here given to the first beast of Revelation 13. Daniel marks the same transfer in the words, “the daily shall be taken away,” and “the abomination that maketh desolate set up.” Paul marks it as the hindrance removed and the Wicked revealed.
“In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Revelation 13:2.” {GC 54.2}
This transfer reached into worship. Pagan Rome had idols of wood and stone; Papal Rome carried the same spirit in false doctrines and theories. The form was changed, but the principle remained. A false conception of God is idolatry as truly as an image made with hands.
“It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone.” {GC 583.1}
“Thousands have a false conception of God and His attributes,” and “are as verily serving a false god as were the servants of Baal.” {5T 173.4}
At the head of this corruption stands the doctrine of the Trinity. It sets before men a God whom Scripture has not revealed, and turns the mind from “one God, the Father,” and “one Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 8:6. Christ declared life eternal to be this: “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. Thus the worship of the Father through His Son was obscured beneath the mystery of a triune god.
Babylon bears the name “Mystery,” and the Spirit warned of “seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” Revelation 17:5; 1 Timothy 4:1. In the same Roman system, Sunday was exalted in the place of the Sabbath, and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation were darkened, though they bear witness against that power and its work.
Daniel brings that power and its work before us in the great question of the vision:
“How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” Daniel 8:13
The vision had passed from Medo-Persia to Greece, and from Greece to Rome. In Rome the work of desolation appears in its two forms: the daily, and the transgression of desolation. The question is therefore a question of time: how long this work should continue to tread down the sanctuary and the host. Truth had been cast to the ground; the covenant people were under the power of the nations; and the sanctuary was to be brought to the time appointed for its cleansing.
The answer follows:
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14
The answer carries the sanctuary to the time of cleansing. The 2300 days begin in 457 B.C., with the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, and reach to 1844.
The host is the covenant people of God, set apart to Him, and scattered through transgression. Moses had given the sentence, “I will scatter you among the heathen” (Leviticus 26:33). Daniel marks the same line in the scattering of “the power of the holy people” (Daniel 12:7).
Here the seven times, or 2520, come into their place. They measure the long scattering of the covenant people under the power of the nations. In the line of Judah, they reach from 677 B.C. to 1844.
Thus the 2300 days give the sanctuary line; the seven times give the line of the scattered host. In 1844, the sanctuary is brought to the time of cleansing, and the scattered host is brought to the gathering work of the remnant. Isaiah 11:12.
Thus the question concerning the sanctuary and the host reaches its appointed point.
“Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15
