The Danielic Imperative, Episode 20

ThornCrown Network

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:02

I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.

00:13

When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield exposing the air and combating the air.

00:24

We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so the next few statements that I'm going to make,

00:30

I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.

00:37

We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.

00:57

It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said,

01:07

Woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.

01:13

As opposed to, Blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. It is on.

01:23

We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. Welcome back to our listeners.

01:32

And I just want to say that I appreciate all who have been listening to the previous 19 episodes of the

01:38

Danielic Imperative, a podcast that explores Daniel's eschatological timeline as the foundational precept of New Testament and times revelation.

01:48

It takes a lot of work to prepare each episode, but I know it also takes a lot of work to listen to each episode.

01:55

So I certainly appreciate those who have put in the time and effort to listen. In the previous two episodes, we corrected the universal assumption that the stone of Nebuchadnezzar's vision in chapter 2 of Daniel only hits the statue once and showed rather that the stone strikes the statue twice.

02:13

That was episode 18. And we identified from the scriptures the transition point from legs of iron to feet of iron and clay in 69

02:22

A .D. with the death of the seventh emperor of the Roman Empire and the transition from the feet of iron and clay to the toes of iron and clay in 293

02:32

A .D. when Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into 12 diocese. And by 381

02:39

A .D., after some modest administrative reorganizations to Diocletian's initial arrangement over the course of the 4th century, the

02:47

Roman Empire was finally divided into 13 diocese. That was episode 19. As we have insisted from the beginning of the series, the scriptures, when

02:57

Daniel 7 is harmonized with Revelation 17, in fact point us to a 13 -way division of the empire as the harbinger of the rise of the little horn

03:06

Antichrist of Daniel 7. Because if Daniel saw 10 horns and knew the little horn had removed 3 of the first horns, but Antichrist still has 10 horns in his retinue when

03:17

Christ returns to destroy him at the end, then there must have been 13 to begin with. And Daniel had simply picked up the narrative in Daniel 7 after the 3 horns had been removed.

03:28

Just like he picked up the narrative on the four -headed leopard of the Greek Empire after Alexander was already long gone.

03:35

Thus, while the world has awaited a 10 -way division of the Roman Empire as the harbinger of Antichrist and the great apostasy of Paul's admonition to the

03:45

Thessalonians, we should have been looking for a 13 -way division all along. And that 13 -way division occurred by 381

03:52

A .D. And in 382 A .D. we have our first record of the Roman Catholic claim that the

03:58

Roman Catholic religion is founded upon the three apostolic sees of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, which by then were the three chief metropolitan cities of 3 of the 13 dioceses of the

04:09

Roman Empire. And sure enough, the same year, the emperor declares Roman Catholicism to be the religion of the empire, naming

04:17

Pope Damasus of Rome as the pontifex of the new religion. And shortly thereafter, the emperor gives up that title.

04:25

And to summarize our observation looking back, at the transition from legs to feet, our

04:30

Lord set up a heavenly kingdom that was not of earth, in accordance with Daniel 2 .44. And at the transition from feet to toes,

04:38

Antichrist Roman Catholicism set up an earthly kingdom that was not of heaven, in accordance with Daniel 7 .12

04:44

and 24. If we do not recognize those two strikes of the stone in Daniel 2, and we scour the history books in search of a ten -way division of the

04:52

Roman Empire, we are led headlong into an interpretation of history in which the church has an earthly empire, and Roman Catholicism is the name that is attached to that kingdom, confusing the heavenly kingdom of Christ with the earthly kingdom of Antichrist.

05:08

That is the reason many Protestants revert back to Rome, thinking that they must connect themselves to the earthly manifestation of Christ's heavenly kingdom.

05:17

And that is why otherwise intelligent Protestants finally capitulate and bow the knee to relics, images, slivers of wood, the

05:24

Eucharist, the Pope, and the apparitions of Mary, and accept the sacrifice of the mass, prayers to and for the dead, baptismal regeneration, and clerical celibacy.

05:35

And even those who do not revert back to Rome are nonetheless led to the assumption that Antichrist did not rise until late in the 5th century, or perhaps not even until 800

05:45

AD. And thereby legitimize all of the idolatries and abominations that arose from 350 onward, as if they were merely unfortunate distortions to Christianity, but not fatal to it.

05:57

That is why even intelligent Protestants accept some of the grossest violations of God's law as compatible with Christianity, embracing

06:05

Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, John Paul II, and others as our brethren in Christ.

06:15

But if we recognize the two strikes of the stone in Daniel, and the 13 -way division of the 4th empire, and the fact that Roman Catholicism claimed three of the thirteen dioceses as her own, and came up among the remaining ten, we can not only identify the great falling away in the latter part of the 4th century as the fulfillment of Paul's admonition to the

06:36

Thessalonians, but we can also distinguish between Christ's heavenly kingdom and Antichrist's earthly kingdom, and avoid the temptation to confuse the two and walk away from the true apostolic faith.

06:48

But what happens after the rise of the earthly kingdom of Antichrist, which is the earthly kingdom of Roman Catholicism?

06:54

And actually I should ask, what happens prior to it? What constitutes the first strike of the stone in Daniel 2 .34

07:01

that causes the feet to break into pieces, causing the toes to materialize in the form of a fragmented

07:07

Roman empire? As I mentioned in the previous episode, the first strike of the stone in Daniel 2 .44

07:14

and the judgment against the 4th empire in Daniel 7 .11 correspond to the courtroom scene that takes place in Revelation 5, when the

07:23

Lamb begins to open the seals of the scroll. And notably, that judgment is administered from heaven against the 4th empire of Daniel's visions.

07:31

The second strike of the stone in Daniel 2 .35 and the judgment against the little horn in Daniel 7 .26

07:37

correspond to the judgment scene in Revelation 19, when the Lord comes to smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron and destroy the beast and the false prophet.

07:47

And notably, the judgment is administered on earth against Antichrist. We will begin our analysis of the seals, trumpets, and vials of Revelation, or bowls, depending on your translation, very soon.

08:00

But for now, let us turn our focus back to the toes of Daniel 2 and the horns of Daniel 7. As Daniel's angelic interpreter observed, the saints of the

08:10

Most High shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

08:16

That sure sounds like three and a half years. And in fact, some of the early writers assumed that the wicked one of prophecy, that man of sin, would rise when the

08:25

Roman Empire divided ten ways and then would rule for three and a half years and then it would all be over.

08:31

Some of the early writers interpreted those three and a half years as a literal 1 ,260 days that constitute the second half of the 70th week of Daniel.

08:41

Other later eschatologists interpreted time, times, and the dividing of time as prophetic days of years, just as the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9 have been interpreted as 70 weeks of years.

08:53

Or what about the 2 ,300 days of Daniel chapter 8? Are they 2 ,300 years?

08:58

Some creative eschatologists have even interpreted the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings through the lens of 2 ,300 evenings and mornings of sacrifices, that is, two sacrifices per day, for a total of 2 ,300 sacrifices over the course of 1 ,150 prophetic days, which are to be interpreted as 1 ,150 years.

09:21

But that raises one of the most puzzling questions in eschatology. How on earth are we to recognize when we are supposed to interpret days as years?

09:30

And when are we supposed to interpret days as literal days? Well, the answer is in the scriptures.

09:36

The practice of interpreting a prophetic day as a year is in accordance with the day -for -a -year principle of prophecy, stated in Numbers 1434, which says,

09:46

After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know the breach of my promise.

09:59

And Ezekiel 4, 6, which says, And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.

10:08

I have appointed thee each day for a year. But obviously, we cannot simply assume that every reference to a day in prophecy is a reference to a solar year.

10:18

For example, Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, in John 2, 19.

10:25

Even though he was prophesying something, clearly he was not speaking in terms of prophetic days of years.

10:31

After all, he was not three years in the ground. It was a reference to his resurrection, which was three days after his crucifixion.

10:39

How do we know this? From context. John 2, 21 says, But he spake of the temple of his body.

10:46

And besides, Jesus said this was the sign of Jonah, and Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, according to Jonah 1, 17 and Matthew 12, 40.

10:56

Clearly, from context, we know that Jesus was prophesying three literal solar days in the ground until his resurrection.

11:03

In another case, when the Lord said to Abraham, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life, and lo,

11:10

Sarah thy wife shall have a son. In Genesis 18, 10. We do not immediately assume that because this is prophecy, it must have been a year of prophetic days, and therefore

11:20

Sarah would give birth to a son 360 years later. No, the context shows that we are talking about a year of ordinary time.

11:29

For Abraham was 99 years old when the Lord promised a son, according to Genesis 17, 24, and he was 100 years old when

11:36

Isaac was born, according to Genesis 21, 5. So let's be careful not simply to assume that every reference to days in prophecy is a reference to days of years.

11:47

As the listener may have guessed from our examples so far, Jesus' resurrection and Isaac's birth were prophecies that are understood in ordinary solar days or years because the context requires it, and the examples from Numbers and Ezekiel refer to prophetic days of years because the context demands.

12:05

This caution we are offering for the consideration of our listeners is due to the propensity of eschatologists, especially historicists, we think, for assigning prophetic days of years to every time prophecy in Daniel and Revelation, assuming that every reference to time is a reference to prophetic time or prophetic days of years.

12:26

So we end up scouring the history books, or worse, making prophecies about 2 ,300 years based on the reference to 2 ,300 days in Daniel 8, and searching for 1 ,290 years and 1 ,335 years based on the

12:42

Daniel 12 references to 1 ,290 and 1 ,335 days, and even searching for a 391 -year and 15 -day time period based on the reference to an hour, a day, a month, and a year of Revelation 9 .15,

12:57

because a year equals 360 years, a month equals 30 years, a day equals one year, and an hour equals 1 24th of a year, or 15 days.

13:07

If we are to understand a prophetic time period as prophetic days of years, the context has to tell us so, and what we are going to do today is evaluate some of the most significant of the prophetic time periods in Daniel and Revelation, and there are quite a few.

13:22

I'll read through them now. Daniel 7 .25 And he shall speak great words against the

13:29

Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.

13:35

And they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time. Daniel 8 .14

13:42

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

13:50

Daniel 9 .24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the

14:08

Most Holy. Daniel 12 .7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and in half.

14:24

And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

14:30

Daniel 12 .11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

14:42

Daniel 12 .12 Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred, five, and thirty days.

14:49

Revelation 11 .2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the

14:56

Gentiles. And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. Revelation 11 .3

15:03

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

15:12

Revelation 11 .9 And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and in half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

15:23

Revelation 11 .11 And after three days and in half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

15:35

Revelation 12 .6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days.

15:46

Revelation 12 .14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

16:00

Revelation 13 .5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

16:12

Okay, that's a lot of time prophecy in Revelation and in Daniel. We're going to work through these times of prophecy today.

16:20

There are others that we'll have to wait until we get to our discussion on the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation, and we'll require a discussion on the transition of civil power from the

16:30

Roman Empire to the devil, who enjoys a brief period of civil power on earth, to Antichrist, who receives his seat and power and great authority from the devil.

16:41

But let us begin today by stating that we cannot simply assume that every day refers to a year, that every time period can be interpreted as prophetic days of years, and we cannot assume that every time, times, and a half, or 42 months, or 1260 days, is always referring to the same period.

16:59

Some of the prophecies, like the 70 weeks of Daniel 9, can be immediately placed in the day for a year category, not simply because there is such a thing as a day for a year in prophecy, but rather because of what is revealed to us in Leviticus 26,

17:14

Jeremiah 25 and 29, Zechariah 7 and Daniel 9. The Jews were punished for 70 years and did not repent of their errors.

17:23

So, in accordance with Leviticus 26, when the Jews were punished and do not repent, their punishment is multiplied sevenfold.

17:30

70 years becomes 70 weeks of years. That one was easy. The rest are not so obvious.

17:37

But the scriptures provide considerable assistance to us, particularly in their references to the lunisolar calendar, with its attendant implications regarding the concept called intercalation.

17:47

Once we get through intercalation, we will be able to tackle the biggest items on our list, which are the 2300 evenings and mornings, the time, times, and a half, the 42 month periods, the 1260 day periods, and the 1290 and 1335 day periods.

18:05

Those comprise the bulk of time periods in Danielic eschatology, and we believe the listeners will probably be surprised at how easy it is to determine which ones fall into the category of a prophetic day equals a year, and which ones fall into the category of a prophetic day equals a literal solar day.

18:24

Let's return now to the concept of intercalation, something we covered in episode 14. Second only to the day -for -a -year principle of prophecy, the principle of intercalation is the most important concept in understanding prophetic times in Danielic eschatology.

18:39

By understanding intercalation as revealed to us in the scripture, we can discern which 42 month and 1260 day periods are literal and which are prophetic, and then apply the day -for -a -year principle only where the scriptures require it.

18:56

So what is intercalation? In our modern calendar, February 29 is an intercalary day, added once every four years in order to keep our calendar aligned with the solar year.

19:08

That intercalary day is necessary because the calendar year is 365 days, but the solar year is about 365 and a quarter days.

19:19

So once every four years, we have to add a day back in to catch up. That is an intercalary day.

19:25

The Jewish calendar has a similar but much, much larger problem. It is a lunisolar calendar, which means that the

19:33

Hebrew calendar goes by the motion of the moon for its months, but by the motion of the sun for its years.

19:38

As such, each month can be 29 or 30 days long, and thus a normal year can have 353, 354, or 355 days, which can be more than 12 days shy of a solar year.

19:54

After three years, such a calendar can be off by more than a month. So just like we have to add an intercalary day every four years on February 29, about every three years, the

20:06

Jews had to add an intercalary month, something that takes place seven times every 19 years.

20:12

The 12th month of the Jewish calendar is Adar, and it is 29 days long.

20:18

But in leap years, the 12th month is called Adar 1, and it is 30 days, and the 13th month is called

20:25

Adar 2, which is 29 days. In that case, a leap year can have 383, 384, or 385 days, which can be as much as 20 days longer than a solar year.

20:39

So those are your two kinds of years in the lunar -solar calendar. Either a year is about 354 days, plus or minus, or it is about 384 days, plus or minus.

20:51

Now, there are three facts that necessarily follow, and they are extremely important, so I want to appeal to the patient attention of the listener.

21:00

You cannot understand Danielic eschatology without these concepts, which is to say, you cannot understand

21:06

Danielic revelations about days, weeks, months, and years if you do not understand what

21:11

God has revealed to us in the Scriptures about His lunar -solar calendar. And remarkably, almost all of eschatology has been developed without that information.

21:21

God revealed a lunar -solar calendar to Moses, and the logical implication of a lunar -solar calendar is the intercalary month that has to be added to keep the lunar -solar calendar in sync with the solar year.

21:34

And the necessary implication of that is something that unlocks the calendration of Daniel and John and shows us which time periods are days of solar years and which days are just solar days.

21:47

Okay, here are the three main points. First, about every three years the

21:53

Jewish calendar has 13 months in it, and even then, the lunar -solar calendar still drifts from the solar year.

22:01

Second, every three -and -a -half -year period in the lunar -solar calendar therefore has at least 43 months in it, and that means a three -and -a -half -year period of 1 ,260 days is always, always, always 43 months long, not 42 months long.

22:19

Because the Jewish month can be 29 or 30 days, every 42 -month period in the lunar -solar calendar is about 1 ,230 days, and it takes a 43rd intercalary month, the month of Adar 1, to get it back to 1 ,260.

22:37

There is simply no such thing as a 1 ,260 -day period in a lunar -solar calendar that is only 42 months long.

22:45

That fact is absolute and irrefutable. It is a mathematical certainty.

22:52

There simply can be no such thing as a 1 ,260 -day period that is 42 months long in regular time in the lunar -solar calendar.

23:01

A three -and -a -half -year period of 1 ,260 days is always 43 months, which leads us to our third point.

23:09

Third, because one intercalary month every three years still does not synchronize the lunar -solar calendar to the solar year, every four to nine years a second intercalary month is added, and that means that about 20 % of the time, a three -and -a -half -year period will contain two intercalary months, making the three -and -a -half -year period 44 months long, or 1 ,290 days.

23:36

Okay, let's summarize these three points. First, every three years or so, the

23:42

Jewish calendar has a 13 -month year. Second, because of that, every three -and -a -half -year period must have 43 months to make it 1 ,260 days.

23:53

And third, because even one intercalary month every three years still does not synchronize the calendar to the sun, another leap year has to occur.

24:02

So, about 20 % of the time, a three -and -a -half -year period will contain 44 months, bringing it to 1 ,290 days.

24:11

I can just imagine what our listeners are thinking. Wait, the Scripture says that a 42 -month period is 1 ,260 days.

24:19

Just look at Revelation 11, 12, and 13. It's right there in the Scriptures. Yes, yes, indeed, it is right there in the

24:27

Scriptures. And that is exactly our point. And this is where the implications of the lunar -solar calendar will help us.

24:33

Daniel and John used the lunar -solar calendar to convey something very, very important to us.

24:39

But if we carry our assumptions with us into the Scriptures, our assumptions will cloud the message, as we have shown repeatedly.

24:46

When you think about all the three -and -a -half -year periods, all the 42 -month periods, and all the 1 ,260 and 1 ,290 -day periods we just heard from the

24:55

Scripture, you can understand the significance of these principles of the lunar -solar calendar. We cannot assume that in the

25:02

Jewish calendar every month is 30 days. It is not. And we cannot assume that every year is 360 days.

25:10

It is not. And we cannot assume that every three -and -a -half -year period is 42 months long or 1 ,260 days long.

25:18

They are not. And we cannot assume that 1 ,260 days is 42 months.

25:23

In fact, it never is. All those assumptions have to be checked against these principles of the lunar -solar calendar.

25:30

And these principles are derived from the Scriptures because it is God's revelation to Moses that requires the use of the lunar -solar calendar in the first place.

25:40

We do not find this explicitly stated in the Scriptures, but we do find implicit references to it, as in 1

25:47

Kings 12 .32, where Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah.

25:56

Normally that feast day would be on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, but if an intercalary month had been inserted beforehand, that would move the feast day to the eighth month.

26:07

We do not know when the Jews formalized the addition of the thirteenth month, but we can infer from the

26:12

Scriptures that intercalation was not only necessary, because the calendar is lunar -solar, but also practiced, because we see that odd one -month shift in a key festival, and because when we get to Daniel we find an oddity that can only be explained by intercalation.

26:27

That is, we find a three -and -a -half -year period that is 1 ,290 days long. And as we showed in episode 14 of the

26:35

Danielic Imperative, the only way to account for a three -and -a -half -year period that is 1 ,290 days long is if there is a three -and -a -half -year period that has two intercalary months in it, which is a scriptural and prophetic acknowledgment of intercalation in the

26:49

Hebrew calendar. So how does this help us in our eschatology? Well, it helps a lot, actually.

26:56

Let's look at the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings of Daniel 8 .14. And he said unto me,

27:02

Unto 2 ,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Does this refer to 2 ,300 years?

27:10

As we noted in a previous episode, what gets translated as days here is actually evenings and mornings in the original, and that is why the angel

27:19

Gabriel in Daniel 8 .26 says, The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been told is true.

27:24

There are several reasons this 2 ,300 -day period must be taken as true days, or literal days, or about six years and four months.

27:33

First, the words translated as days in Daniel 8 .14 is actually evenings and mornings, just like the seven literal solar days of creation.

27:41

Second, the events that are taking place during the 2 ,300 days are to occur during the 70th week of Daniel, which concludes with the anointing of the

27:51

Most Holy. As we have shown already in episode 14, the sanctuary and the altar are anointed top to bottom with oil when they are dedicated, according to Exodus 40, verses 9 -10.

28:02

And the 2 ,300 days and the 70th week conclude with the cleansing of the sanctuary and the anointing of the

28:08

Most Holy. And since the 70th week has already been determined to be an actual seven years, and the 2 ,300 days are known to occur within that last week, those 2 ,300 days must be literal days.

28:20

Third, and this is where the lunisolar calendar comes in, the 2 ,300 days begins with the trampling of the sanctuary and the host and ends with the cleansing of the sanctuary.

28:31

As we showed in episode 14 of the Danielic Imperative, the trampling of the sanctuary and the host began on Rosh Hashanah of 170

28:39

BC and concluded on Hanukkah of 164 BC. The time between those two festivals, six years apart, can be 2 ,268, 2 ,269, or 2 ,270 days, if there are only two intercalary months during that period.

28:58

However, when there are three intercalary months in that period, the length of time between Rosh Hashanah in one year and Hanukkah six years later can be 2 ,298, 2 ,299, or, that's right, 2 ,300 days.

29:14

And finally, it is noteworthy that the only way you can get to 2 ,300 days between those two festivals is if you take intercalation into account, and intercalation is only necessary if literal solar days are in view.

29:27

So it is clear that the 2 ,300 days are literal solar days, not prophetic days of years.

29:35

Okay, let's move on to the 1 ,290 days of Daniel 12. There is an angelic conversation taking place and one angel asks to another,

29:44

How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? Daniel 12, 6. And the answer is given, that it shall be for a time, times and a half, and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

29:57

Daniel 12, 7. After Daniel asks a clarifying question in 12, 8, O my

30:02

Lord, what shall be the end of these things? The answer is given in 12, 11. From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be 1 ,290 days.

30:16

When evaluated in context, the time times and a half refers to the 1 ,290 days that it takes to take away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation until the rededication of the temple at the end of the three and a half year period.

30:32

Which is a reference to Daniel 8, 13, concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation.

30:37

And Daniel 9, 27, which says, In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

30:44

And Daniel 11, 31, which says, He shall take away the daily sacrifice and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

30:51

This establishes something very important. Not only does the time times and a half of Daniel 12 refer to the little horn of Daniel 8, whom we have identified as Antiochus IV, a

31:02

Greek ruler of the Seleucid line, after the division of Alexander's empire. But it also shows that the 70th week of Daniel 9, the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings of Daniel 8, and the time times and a half of Daniel 12 are all coterminous.

31:16

They end with the rededication of the temple on Hanukkah in 164 BC. And that means, just like the 2 ,300 evenings and mornings are literal solar days because they occur within the 70th week, which is itself a literal seven -year period, the 1 ,290 days of Daniel 12 occur within the 2 ,300 literal solar days.

31:37

And therefore, they too must be literal solar days. Finally, based on what we know of the lunisolar calendar, the fact that a three -and -a -half -year period has 1 ,290 days in the first place shows that the three -and -a -half -year period in view has two extra intercalary months in it, as we discussed earlier on.

31:55

And as we noted, intercalation is only necessary when literal solar days are in view. And to the point we made when discussing the 2 ,300 days, the only way to get 2 ,300 days between Rosh Hashanah in one year and Hanukkah six years later is if there are a total of three intercalary months in that period, which is only possible if there exists within that 2 ,300 days a three -and -a -half -year period that has two intercalary months in it.

32:20

Thus, not only are the 2 ,300 days and 1 ,290 days shown to be literal, but the fact that we are even discussing a 2 ,300 -day period from Rosh Hashanah to Hanukkah and a three -and -a -half -year period that is 1 ,290 days long shows that intercalation is a scriptural principle generally and an eschatological principle specifically.

32:43

And to wrap up our analysis of eschatological time periods in Daniel, not only is the 1 ,290 -day period literal, but so is the 45 -day extension, which yields the 1 ,335 -day period of Daniel 12 -12.

33:00

Okay, so let's move on to Revelation and start analyzing the time, times, and a half, and the 42 -month periods, and the 1 ,260 -day periods that we find there.

33:13

We will look first at the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. Revelation 11, 2 -3 says,

33:47

So, what are we to do with this? Are we talking about a 1 ,260 -year period here?

33:56

Well, we know something very important from the seven kings of Revelation 17 and our analysis of the feat of Daniel 2, namely that Revelation must have been written during the time of Nero, and thus, this prophecy is looking forward from the time of Nero in the period of the iron legs, to the destruction of Jerusalem that takes place in the period of the feet.

34:18

That is important. Second, we know that we are talking about the city of Jerusalem because we are told that the bodies of the two prophets shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called

34:29

Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. That's Revelation 11, 8.

34:35

Also, Jesus said Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles in Luke 21 -24, and He said it would take place within that generation in Luke 21 -32.

34:45

So, obviously, the 42 months of Gentiles treading Jerusalem underfoot cannot refer to a prophetic period of days of years.

34:52

It has to be literal because it was to be accomplished within that generation. And because it is a literal 42 months, and because we understand from the lunisolar calendar that 1 ,260 days is 43 months, we can also conclude that the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses is not concurrent with the 42 months that the

35:11

Gentiles tread the city underfoot. Remember, in the lunisolar calendar, 1 ,260 days is always, always, always, always 43 months.

35:22

It is never 42. And thus, the 42 months of the Gentiles treading Jerusalem underfoot and the 1 ,260 -day prophetic ministry of the two witnesses cannot refer to the same time period.

35:35

Additionally, we also have the contextual evidence from the chapter that the 1 ,260 -day prophetic ministry of the two witnesses must precede the 42 months of the

35:44

Gentiles treading Jerusalem underfoot because when the two witnesses are murdered, their bodies are left in the streets.

35:51

So there are still streets. And the people make merry and celebrate, which is not something you would do in the city that had just been leveled.

35:59

And, shortly after their murder and resurrection, 10 % of the city falls, according to Revelation 11 .13,

36:06

which is not something that could happen if the Gentiles had already laid the city even with the ground, such that not one stone laid upon another, according to Luke 19 .44.

36:16

And thus, the 1 ,260 days must be literal too because they precede the 42 months.

36:23

And those 42 months are complete within one generation of Jesus' prophecy. So, using the lunisolar calendar, we conclude that the 42 months and the 1 ,260 days cannot be the same time period.

36:38

Using Jesus' prophecy and our analysis of Daniel 2 and Revelation 17, we find that the 42 -month period must take place within one generation and therefore cannot be a prophetic period of 1 ,260 years.

36:52

And finally, we show from context that the 1 ,260 -day prophetic ministry of the two witnesses must occur prior to the literal 42 months, which themselves must take place within one generation of Jesus' prophecy.

37:07

Now, before we move on to the next time period, we will observe that the prophet's dead bodies lie in the street for three and a half days after being murdered.

37:16

So, what we are looking for in the historical record is not merely a 1 ,260 -day period of literal days that precede the 42 -month destruction of Jerusalem, but rather a 1 ,263 -and -a -half -day period of literal days.

37:32

And we have the evidence from history and from the lunisolar calendar to identify that exact 1 ,263 -and -a -half -day period prior to the 42 -month destruction of Jerusalem.

37:43

And we will discuss that 1 ,263 -and -a -half -day period in an episode in the very near future.

37:51

Okay, so that's Revelation 11. Now, let us turn our attention to Revelation 12, in which the woman flees to the wilderness to be nourished by the

37:59

Word of God and protected from the face of the serpent. Revelation 12 .6 says, And the woman fled to the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

38:12

And Revelation 12 .14 says, And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly to the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

38:26

The context here is that Satan has been cast down to earth and the martyrs of the faith have victory over him by yielding to martyrdom.

38:34

Here is the text of Revelation 12, verses 10 -13. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,

38:43

Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.

38:49

For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

38:55

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death.

39:03

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea!

39:10

For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

39:16

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man -child.

39:26

So the devil is cast down to earth and has his way with the saints, but they are so faithful to Christ that they face death unafraid, resisting the devil to the deadly, bloody end.

39:37

Importantly, and this is very important, this is a time when the devil had the civil power of the sword, that is, of capital punishment.

39:46

He is cast down to earth, and people are dying because he is putting them to death. I will kindly ask the listeners to bookmark that in their minds.

39:55

The devil is cast down to earth and has the civil power of the sword. We will come back to that in a future episode, because that concept of the devil's earthly civil power emerges repeatedly in Revelation, and it is very important to us, particularly in understanding some of the more obscure time periods, like the ten -day persecution in Revelation 2, the five -month torment in Revelation 9, and the hour and the day and the month and the year of the sixth trumpet.

40:25

But for now it is important that we know that the devil, after being cast down, did everything in his power to persecute the saints by the sword, but there would come a time when he was no longer able to do so.

40:37

His wrath knows no limits, the scripture says, because he knows his time is short.

40:43

And then something significant happens. The devil changes his tactics from civil persecution to doctrinal persecution.

40:51

In other words, the woman, the church, after surviving victoriously in a bloody persecution, flies to a place prepared for her in the wilderness, and the devil's only recourse is to persecute her with what comes out of his mouth.

41:05

Note that important change in tactics. Unable to cause the saints to give in through the civil power of the sword, he resorts to tempting them with doctrinal error.

41:16

The saints had overcome him by dying, and then the woman mounted up on wings of an eagle to her place of safety, where she is nourished away from the face of the serpent,

41:27

Revelation 12, 14. And the devil tries to sweep her away with the flood that comes out of his mouth,

41:33

Revelation 12, 15. In fact, the devil had tried to cause her to be carried away of the flood, which is resonant not only of Christ's words to build our house on the rock of his word to withstand the flood, but also of Paul's warnings not to be carried away by every wind of doctrine.

41:51

If you have been paying attention to our series, you'll know that the effort to cause the bride to stumble coincided with the eruption of doctrinal error in the latter part of the fourth century, which resulted in the rise of what we now know as Roman Catholicism.

42:06

For those of you who also listened to our other podcast, The Diving Board, that is why

42:11

Roman Catholicism emerged when it did. The doctrinal errors of Rome correspond to the devil resorting to tempt the church with doctrinal error after the attempt at civil persecution failed, as reflected in Revelation 12.

42:25

And the fact that the vast majority of professing Christians fell for the lie corresponds to the apostasy

42:31

Paul described in 2 Thessalonians 2. And the fact that it all looked perfectly reasonable and apostolic is what we call the presumption of apostolic continuity, an invalid and nearly universal assumption that corresponds to the delusion

42:44

Paul said God would send in the same chapter. As we have explained in the other podcast, there is simply no evidence for Roman Catholicism prior to the latter part of the fourth century, and the earnest

42:57

Roman Catholic zealot must ultimately come to terms with the fact that he does not know where his religion came from.

43:04

The presumption of apostolic continuity is used to fill that three -century gap between the religion of Christ and the religion of Roman Catholicism.

43:13

And by and large, Protestants tend to leave that presumption unchallenged, which is why Rome is enabled to claim apostolic origins for a religion that did not emerge until the latter part of the fourth century.

43:24

We'll return to that later, but there is a definite, observable shift in the devil's tactics as he shifts from civil persecution early in the fourth century to doctrinal persecution late in the fourth century, and we can identify that transition from the scriptures and from the historical record.

43:43

Now, the reason that shift from civil to doctrinal persecution by the devil is important to us is that the 1 ,260 days of Revelation 12 .6

43:52

and the time, times, and a half of Revelation 12 .14 during which the devil resorts to doctrinal persecution, that is, the flood that comes out of his mouth when the saints are nourished by God and are thereby protected from the face of the serpent, occurs after the devil has lost his civil power, that is, after his attempt to overcome the saints with violent civil action has ended.

44:18

And what happened to his civil power? Revelation 13 says he gave it up to the sea beast, to whom he gave his power and his seat and his great authority.

44:28

From that point forward, the sea beast of Revelation 13, the little horn of Daniel 7, is allowed to persecute by the civil power of the sword while the devil is limited to persecuting by false doctrine.

44:41

There are thus two persecutions occurring simultaneously, doctrinal persecution by the devil and civil persecution by the beast.

44:50

This is how the beast can prevail against the saints physically in Revelation 13 while the devil is unable to overcome the saints doctrinally in Revelation 12.

45:01

And to our point about the time period of these two persecutions, the time and times and half a time of Revelation 12 .14,

45:09

when the woman is in the wilderness surviving doctrinal persecution by being nourished by the Word of God, appears to coincide with the time, times, and the dividing of time of Daniel 7 .25,

45:20

during which the little horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them, oppressing them by the civil power.

45:27

And that time period in Daniel 7 appears to coincide with the 42 months of Revelation 13 .5,

45:33

during which the sea beast is able to make war with the saints and to overcome them in Revelation 13 .7.

45:39

But what does the lunar solar calendar tell us about three and a half year periods, 42 month periods, and 1 ,260 day periods?

45:51

We know from our study that three and a half years is never ever ever only 42 months under the lunar solar calendar.

45:58

And we know that 42 months is never ever ever 1 ,260 days in the lunar solar calendar.

46:05

Three and a half years can either be 1 ,260 days, which is 43 months, or 1 ,290 days, which is 44 months.

46:14

But three and a half solar years is never 42 months. 42 months can only be about 1 ,230 days under the lunar solar calendar, but never 1 ,260.

46:26

Three and a half years is never 42 months, and 42 months is never 1 ,260 days.

46:32

These are immutable laws of the lunar solar calendar, and Daniel's and Jesus' time periods cannot be understood without them.

46:40

And to draw out our point, Daniel 7, Revelation 12, and Revelation 13 have placed before us what would appear to be an impossible time period, in which 1 ,260 days equals 42 months equals three and a half years, and we know very well that that is impossible.

46:58

1 ,260 literal solar days would be 43 months, and 42 months would only be 1 ,230.

47:05

Because a literal interpretation of the 1 ,260 days or 42 months contradicts what the

47:11

Scriptures have revealed to us about the lunar solar calendar, our only option here is to understand the 42 months as prophetic months of 30 years each, and the 1 ,260 days as prophetic days of years.

47:25

Thus, using the lunar solar calendar, we find that the time, times, and dividing of time of Daniel 7, 25, and the 1 ,260 days of Revelation 12, 6, the time, times, and half a time of Revelation 12, 14, and the 42 months of Revelation 13, 5 must be a prophetic time period of 1 ,260 years.

47:48

The Scripture simply demands it. Unless we understand those 1 ,260 days as years, we end up accepting a scriptural error in the lunar solar calendar that Jesus was using to help us understand the future of God's people, and we cannot interpret those 1 ,260 days as years unless we understand from the lunar solar calendar the impossibility of accepting a literal reading of those 1 ,260 days.

48:13

And most importantly, the rules of the lunar solar calendar are imposed by the Scriptures and are not subject to the whim of the eschatologist.

48:21

There is no scriptural way around the laws of the lunar solar calendar, and Jesus had those laws in mind when the future of God's people was being revealed to Daniel and to John.

48:33

So here's a quick summary from today. Numbers 14, 34 and Ezekiel 4, 6 inform us of a year -for -a -day principle in prophecy, but the principle alone is not sufficient for interpreting a prophetic day to mean a year.

48:48

The 70 weeks of Daniel 9 are not literal weeks, but rather 70 weeks of years, not just because of the year -for -a -day principle, but rather because Daniel had been asking about the 70 -year punishment during which the

49:00

Jews had not repented, and according to Leviticus 26, failing to repent during such a punishment requires a sevenfold multiplication of the punishment.

49:10

Thus, the 70 years became 70 times 7 years. The 2 ,300 days described in Daniel 8 are to be understood literally because the 2 ,300 days are actually described as evenings and mornings, a reference to the literal solar days of creation.

49:27

Additionally, the 2 ,300 days occur entirely within the 70th week of Daniel, which itself had already been interpreted as a week of literal years, and it is not possible to fit 2 ,300 years into a seven -year period.

49:40

We also noted that the 2 ,300 -day violent period during which the

49:45

Jews and the sanctuary are trampled occurs between Rosh Hashanah in 170 BC and Hanukkah in 164

49:52

BC, a period that is only possible if there are three intercalary months in the intervening years, and intercalary months are only considered when literal solar days are in view.

50:02

So, the 2 ,300 days are literal. The time times -and -a -half of Daniel 12 .7

50:08

and the 1 ,290 days of Daniel 12 .11 are literal days because the only way that three -and -a -half years can be 1 ,290 days is if it is a 44 -month period.

50:20

That includes two intercalary months, and, again, intercalary months are only necessary when literal solar days are in view.

50:28

Additionally, the 1 ,290 days occur within the 2 ,300 days, which itself occurs within the 70th week, and, in fact, all three time periods are coterminous, making a year -for -a -day interpretation impossible.

50:42

The 1 ,335 days of Daniel 12 .12 are literal as well, in that they are a 45 -day continuation of the 1 ,290 literal days.

50:52

The 42 months of Revelation 11 .2 regarding the destruction of Jerusalem cannot be equal to the 1 ,260 -day prophetic ministry of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 .3

51:02

because of the rules of the lunar -solar calendar. But we know they are not 42 prophetic months of 30 years each because Jesus said the

51:10

Gentiles would tread Jerusalem underfoot within the generation, and the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses cannot be 1 ,260 years because their prophetic ministry precedes the destruction of Jerusalem, which, again, has to occur within one generation of Jesus' prophecy.

51:25

The 1 ,260 days of Revelation 12 and the 42 months of Revelation 13 cannot be literal days or literal months because they are tied to the 3 1⁄2 years of Daniel 7, and based on the laws of the lunar -solar calendar, 3 1⁄2 years cannot be 42 months, and 42 months cannot be 1 ,260 days.

51:45

Therefore, the time period of Revelation 12 and 13 cannot be literal. They must be interpreted under the day -for -a -year principle in prophecy, in which case

51:55

Revelation 12 and 13 refers to a period of 1 ,260 years. Now that concludes our discussion for today on how to interpret the prophetic time periods in Daniel and in Revelation.

52:06

Today we did not touch on the 10 -day persecution described in Revelation 2 .10, or the five months that the locusts are allowed to torment men at the blowing of the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9, or the hour and a day and a month and a year of the sixth trumpet in the same chapter, because we will need to have a little more in -depth discussion on the transition from the civil power of the devil to the civil power of Antichrist, and we will pick up there in our next episode.

52:36

My name is Timothy F. Kaufman, and you've been listening to the Danielic Imperative. Thanks very much for listening.