5. “To seal up the vision.” – Events that transpired within these 490 years, would t “seal,” or establish the entire vision of the 2,300 day-years.
6. “To anoint the most holy.”- During this time Christ would be anointed of the Holy Spirit, identifying Him as the promised Messiah after being baptized by John the Baptist. This has to be the primary application of the prophecy. It is also true that in the type, when the time came to begin the service in the earthly sanctuary, the entire sanctuary was anointed (Exo. 40:9); and when Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary to perform the work of which the earthly service was a type, the heavenly sanctuary was anointed before He began His ministry in the first apartment. Note: The heavenly sanctuary is also spoken of as the “most holy” in order to distinguish it from the earthly.
Wonderful changes were wrought in the history of the early church during the 490 years. After the angel had enumerated the events to take place during that period, he told Daniel where to locate it in the history of the world, by announcing the date of the beginning of the period: