Page 291 - Daniel

sense if “time” refers to a year—though at this point the exact length of
that year remains undetermined.

In the book of Revelation the apostle John provides additional
information that helps identify the length of a year more precisely. In
12:14 the nation Israel (pictured as “a woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars”
[12:1], from Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9–11) flees into the

wilderness for “a time, and times, and half a time.” The passage is one of
several in which John describes the persecution of Jewish people. The
time element for the persecution is the same as that given by Daniel. But
a few verses earlier John said the woman will be protected in the
wilderness by God “for 1,260 days” (v. 6). For these verses to harmonize,
the three-and-a-half-year period must be composed of 360-day years.

In Revelation 13:5 John makes the time element more specific. An evil
leader, called the beast, “was given a mouth uttering haughty and
blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-

two months.” During this time he is “allowed to make war on the saints
and to conquer them” (v. 7). The three-and-a-half-year persecution is
said to be forty-two months in length. This assumes each year contains a
total of twelve months.

Finally, in Revelation 11:2 John announces that the nations will
“trample the holy city for forty-two months.” He then identified two
prophets raised up by God during that period. “And I will grant
authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed in sackcloth” (v. 3). The three-and-a-half-year period is again

said to be composed of forty-two months, each of which must have
thirty days (42 × 30 = 1,260).

CONCLUSION

The prophecy of Daniel 9 forces interpreters to choose how they will

approach the book. is the message prophecy or “pseudo-prophecy”?
Should the numbers be taken literally or symbolically? Does the entire
message find its fulfillment in the past, or do seven years of prophetic
history still remain to be fulfilled?