The Day For A Year Conundrum

 
The Day For A Year Conundrum

Published 20151107 -:- Revised 20250829

NB: I am dyslexic so please bear with me. Bible references are from MKJV unless noted otherwise.

Introduction

When God speaks to us in prophecy He sometimes uses a ‘strange’ way to express the period of time involved. It is known by the phrase, “A Day For A Year”. It is explained in two scriptures, Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34. But some people can find this confusing. 

Aim
In this talk I hope to clear up some of the confusion related to the well know prophecies in Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation and others and in particular those related to end times events.

Reason

I remember the Cuban Missile crises, and for years I have seen many Christians go into panic when the latest ‘world shattering’ event hits the news. Modern day Christians are living in fear! Yet God has given us the tools by which we should be able to live in assurance. Amos 3:7 “For the Lord Jehovah will do nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” The tools He has given us are the prophecies. So if we know and understand prophecy we will not live in fear of the unexpected.

References & Equipment

WEBA=Bible references are from MKJV or KJV unless noted. Some are from the World English Bible with Apocrypha, (WEBA).

WH  =Classic Time line of World History by Sebastian Adam [based on Ussher’s ‘Annals of the World’] (9m wall chart)

HCC =History of The Christian Church (by Philip Schaff) via e-Sword 1882 Edition. [Phrases underlined for ease of cross-reference.]

HYY  =History Year by Year (by Dorling Kindersley Ltd)

WP   =Wikipedia

CN    =e-Sword Commentary Notes by “NAME” on Bible Ref “BOOK CH: verse” e.g. [ref CN Clark on Dan 7:7].

EN    =Microsoft Encyclopaedia Encarta 2006. with reference word to be used, e.g. [ref EN i.e. Protestantism]

EB    =Encyclopædia Britannica 1999 Edition, with reference word to be used, e.g. [“Jewish Revolt, FIRST”]

UD    =Dated using James Ussher’s dates ‘The Annals of the World’

The Day for A Year ‘Code’

Can any of you remember the “Ten Code”? It was commonly used on the ‘CB’, Commercial Band Radio in the 70’s and 80’s? You would hear phrases like, “10-4” or “what’s your 10-20?” It wasn’t much of a code as such because anyone could get a list of the ‘Ten Code’ phrases from any CB Radio enthusiast magazines. Then get into the usage of the ‘lingo’; listen in to the CB Radio with ‘Code’ in hand, then suddenly you can talk in ‘Ten Code’ with any “good-buddy” trucker like a natural. Well Gods ‘A Day For A Year’ system is no different. He gives us the, ‘magazines’, i.e. scriptures to study up on. Then He gives us various examples and explanations to practice up on. Then ‘Bob’s you’re uncle’, the understanding of it comes natural. Lets examine the scriptures referred to above in the introduction.

Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6

In these two scriptures God states quite clearly His ‘Code’ so to speak. It is the basic reference for converting Prophetic Time, (PT) into Literal Time, (LT). It’s quite straightforward and as stated earlier it is simply, “a day for a year”.

Num 14:34 “According to the number of the days in which you searched the land, forty days, each day for a year …” Eze 4:5 “For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days: three hundred and ninety days. And you shall bear the house of Israel's iniquity. v:6 And when you complete them, even lie on your right side, the second. And you shall bear the house of Judah's iniquity forty days; a day for a year. I have set it for you, a day for a year.”

Why Doesn’t God Use Literal Time For Large Numbers?

Prophecies using literal time, usually only cover short periods. Why? I asked the Lord about this and He reminded me of an old 1962 movie, ‘The 300 Spartans’, staring Richard Egan as a King in Sparta. In the movie the King asked a messenger about the size of the vast Persian army coming against them. The messenger answered, “I counted until I ran out of numbers!” Large numbers were not an easy thing to keep track of in biblical times. You may recall seeing documentaries about genuine ‘out back’ Bedouin, counting livestock. They would sift a hand full of wheat, and would drop on to a sheet one grain of wheat or such per animal as they passed. Then put it all in a bag and give it to the master and say ‘here is the count’. If the master had 5 bags last year, and 15 this year, he has had a good year. It was like a proportionate way of keeping track of large quantities. Back in biblical times it was defiantly a “paperless society”!

The Lord gave my darling wife a passage to remind me of another example. Remember when God gave Abraham an idea of the size of his future lineage. Gen 15:5 “And He brought him outside and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be.” It is the same principal, large numbers were not in familiar use, and many people were illiterate. For example are you familiar with the very large number called a ‘Googol’? [Ref. WP Googol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]. We don’t bother with trying to ‘count’ it out in the usual vernacular; we just call it a Googol. So one could say God ‘invented’ the idea of ‘a day for a year’ so that smaller phrases like “seventy weeks” or “forty two months” could be remembered, then converted to literal time. And like I said at the start it was like a ‘code’ with which only the Hebrew were familiar. To any other ethnic group, phrases like ‘seventy weeks’ or ‘forty two months’ etc would be meaningless.

How And When Do We Apply The Day For A Year ‘Code’

God uses terms the likes of, “hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, time and times” to express periods of time which we refer to as Prophetic Time (PT). To which we must apply the ‘code’ of “a day for a year” to calculate Literal Time (LT). That gives us the number of literal years that God is talking about in the prophecy. If we don’t do that, then we will come up with some bizarre short prophecies. For example everyone knows the ‘Seventy Weeks’ prophecy, which is recognised as 490 literal years. Dan. 9:24, Gabriel explains the prophecy to Daniel, in which he was talking about the future restoration of Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the Temple and that Messiah would appear at the completion of the 69^th week. If we take the ‘seventy weeks’ literally, that comes to only a bit over 16 months. With all the activity Gabriel described it would be pretty ridiculous to expect every thing to happen in a literal 16 months! It would mean that Christ would already be about 28 years old when Daniel received the prophecy. 

NB: God only uses the word “year” to state literal periods of time in prophecy. There is one odd occasion in Revelation were the word year in a ‘Prolonged’ form, is used as Prophetic Time. I have listed it below under the heading, “Exceptions to The Rule”. When a prophecy is stated as so many “years” we don’t need to apply the ‘code’ of “a day for a year”! It’s already in Literal Time. I discovered this when I was trying to find prophecies with the word “year”. Does that sound confusing? Well let’s talk about the Literal YEAR first.

Literal Time The ‘YEAR’

Can you recall any prophecies that are actually stated in literal time of any sort? I did a search using ‘e-Sword’, for any generic version of “year”. It included yearling, yearn etc. It gave me over 900 verses to sift through! Then I looked only for when the word ‘year’ was used in the prediction of a period of time. Most are quite short periods of time but they are ALL Literal, [Strong’s word No. H8141. which simply means a year].  Some other literal times were expressed in days, months or years. But usually in the context of these passages below it is obvious that literal time is meant. For example when God gave David three choices of punishment, obviously literal time was meant. 2Sa 24:13 and 1Ch 21:12 “.. seven years of famine…flee three months before your enemies..Or..three days' plague..”

The prophecies regarding the exile to Babylon for seventy years are amongst the odd few of any long periods using Literal Time. Here are some I found. 2Ch 36:21  ..the Word of Jehovah..until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths…to the full measure of seventy years. Jer 25:11 “..shall serve..Babylon seventy years.” Jer 25:12 “..when seventy years are fulfilled..” Jer 29:10 “..When according to My Word seventy years have been fulfilled..” These were the same passages Daniel was referring to when he said in, Dan 9:2 “..I, Daniel, understood the number of the years by books, which came of the Word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”  So Daniel realised it was a literal seventy years

I have listed below all the passages I could find in which a period of time is prophesied using the word ‘year or years’. Most are in KJV because that’s the version from which I did the search. I don’t expect you to read all of them, it’s quite laborious, but I don’t wont you to just take my word for it.  I have reduced them to one line per verse so that you can see at a glance the interpretation is obviously in literal time. I have grouped together the odd few that seem to have a different interpretation for the usual expressions of time. See “Exceptions to the Rules”, below.

‘YEAR’ Interpreted As Literal Time in Prophecy

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know …they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Gen 17:21  “… Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year.”

Gen 41:26 Joseph interpreted Pharaohs dream, “..seven good cows are seven years…”

Exo 23:29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field

Num 32:11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land…

Num 14:34 & Num 32:13 ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years..

Eze 4:6  thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

In both of these scriptures God is stating his ‘day for a year’ rule but He is still talking in literal years to be fulfilled.

1Ki 17:1 Elijah prophesied there would be no rain, “..there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except according to my word.”

1Ki 20:22  ...at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

2Ki 8:1  Then spake Elisha unto the woman…for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

2Ki 19:29  And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year..in the second year..and in the third year sow ye, and reap,

2Ki 20:6  And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria..

Isa 7:8  … and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

Isa 16:14 & Isa 21:16  ...Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail;

Isa 20:3 And Jehovah said, Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, a sign and wonder…

Isa 23:15 Isa 23:17 …Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after..seventy years shall Tyre…

Isa 32:10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

Isa 37:30 ..Ye shall eat this year…the second year..in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof

Isa 38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD…I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

Isa 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Jer 28:3 and Jer 28:11 “Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels..” NOT of God yet still literal!

Jer 28:16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die…

Jer 51:46 ..a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land…

Eze 29:11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.

Eze 29:12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate…her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years …

Eze 29:13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians…

Eze 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons…seven years

Dan 9:2 I Daniel understood…the number of the years …the LORD…would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Dan 11:6 “And in the end of years they shall join themselves together;” Still literal, it simple means ‘after many years time’

Dan 11:8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt … and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

Dan 11:13 For the king of the north shall return…and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.

Joe 2:2 A day of darkness…a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like…even to the years of many generations.

In the New Testament the word for a Literal year is Strong’s “G2094 - et'-os -Apparently a primary word; a year: - year.”

Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [In this Jesus is quoting from Isa. 61:2 in which year is word no. H8141 = a year]

Luk 13:7-8  …Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree…let it alone this year also … [see ‘Exceptions’ below]

Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise…that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

Act 13:20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

Gal 4:10 You observe days, and months, and times, and years. [ref CN Barnes on Gal 4:10] meaning a sabbatical year = literal

Rev 20:2-7 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Revelation - Prophetic Time

All Time periods in Revelation use the terms “hours, days, months, seasons, time and times”; along with the odd one in Rev 9:15 ‘year’, which we explained above. They all should be interpreted using the ‘code’ of “a day for a year”! For the simple reason given in Mal 3:6 “For I am Jehovah, I change not”, and Heb 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.” God does not change the way He does things. So if God uses the terms “hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, time and times” in conjunction with His quirky ‘code’ in the Old Testament, there is really no good reason to think He is using the same terms to mean literal time in the New Testament.

So people who read Revelation, see the terms, “time, times and half a time” or “forty two months” or “1260 days”, and take them as a literal 3 ½ years. Well firstly they have NO scriptural bases for doing so. And secondly a literal 3 ½ years comes to a total of 1277 literal days. Thirdly, John was told that the Revelation was going to start happening REAL SOON, “shortly come to pass”, “the time is at hand”! So if the periods of time in Revelation were taken as literal, they only cover a minuscule period at the tail end of the last 1900 years? That view is called The Futurist system and it was presented to the church in relatively recent years, in the 1600’s. [ref HCC vol.1 ch.12:101]

To accept this view would mean that God has deliberately left the whole world in the dark without any guiding prophecy over the passed 1900 years. That is totally out of character for God! He has never left His people without prophetic vision to show His plan for them. If we apply ‘a day for a year’ to the Prophetic Time periods in Revelation, we find that the vision given to John covers a large proportion of our post Calvary history. When we apply the same symbolism as in the Old Testament we find God has given us ample guidance and vision.

Splitting of Prophecies?

Daniels seventieth week is the classic example of a prophecy being split into two parts. Such as 69 weeks and the 70^th week is for some mystical reason off in the distant future. It makes no sense what so ever! Refer Daniel chapter 9:25-27, and please read it carefully and try a few different translations. KJV Dan 9:25 “unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks..” (=69 weeks). The ESV uses the wording “to the coming of an anointed one” In other words Messiah shall appear after or at the end of the 69^th week. Then verse 26 “And after sixty-two weeks, (meaning the total of 69 weeks is finished), Messiah shall be cut off.” When was Messiah cut off? After the 69^th week…doesn’t that mean Messiah was cut of some time in the 70^th week? By that logic if Messiah is not cut off until the 70^th week; And The Seventieth Week Is Still Yet To Happen! Then Christ has not been crucified yet? Can you see the fault with the idea of putting the 70^th week off into the future?

Don’t you think Gabriel would have mad it very clear that the last week was some 2600 years off in the future? Lets say for the sake of argument that the seventieth week is off in the future somewhere. Just imagine heaven is like that TV show “The Apprentice”, and Gabriel walks in and says to God, “I’ve just fully explained to Daniel about the Seventy Weeks.”  God would say, “NO! You didn’t make it crystal clear that the last week is off in the distant future! ..YOU’RE FIRED!” Gabriel would hand in his wings, and front up to the camera crew ‘off stage’ and complain, “I said what I was told to say! It wasn’t in my job description to add details!”

If the teaching of Futurism, as mentioned above, had not been introduced in the 1600’s then the splitting of prophecies would not have happened. There is another prophecy that people split, but I don’t think that they are aware of it. In Dan 2. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a statue, and God gave Daniel the interpretation. The two legs of iron were the Roman Empire, the Eastern and Western Empires. They were followed by the feet of iron and clay. Historically the ten toes were the medieval Ten Kingdoms of Europe. The Futurist view claims the Ten Kings are still in the future. If Futurism is correct, then God really slipped up badly when He gave Daniel the interpretation! We are not in the Roman Empire now! We are not in the Ten Kingdoms YET! See it makes no sense. But Daniel chapter 2 cannot be split because it shows quite clearly the continuity of history. Yet the Futurists ignore that Dan 2 is a guide to interpreting all other prophecies.

There is nothing in Daniel chapter 9 to indicate it should be split into two separate events. No other prophecies have ever been interpreted that way! If we go along with the idea that we could split prophecies on the bases of the wording, then lets try some others! In this same prophecy the 69 weeks is in two parts, 7 weeks and 62 making 69 weeks. Why don’t we split them? What about Dan 7, Dan 12 and Rev 12 we have the, “time, times and half a time”! You could have a field day with all of them by splitting them into three separate events. Or depending on what version we read, in Rev 11:2, and 13:5 “forty and two months”. There is no precedent for splitting any prophecy.

Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, Seasons, Time And Times

So what are these phrases or units of Prophetic Time (PT) that God uses? We will briefly cover each unit individually and how they have come into being. Remember the simple rule a day = a year (LT).

HOUR – Now this is a curly one, because the hour was either a 12^th or a 24^th part of a day. [Ref CN Barnes on Rev. 9:15]. So if we work on a 12^th of a day (PT), that is a 12^th of a year (LT) = 1 month (LT). Or if we use a 24^th of a day (PT), that = one 24^th of a year (LT) = ½ a month (LT) = 15 days (LT)

DAY --    the day (PT), is as above one prophetic day equals one literal year. As per Num 14:34. the ‘forty days  (PT) = 40 years (LT).

WEEK -- A week (PT) is logically 7 day (PT), which come out 7 years (LT).

MONTH -- Lets first talk about the month and why is it 30 days. Firstly the Hebrew Calendar is a Lunar based system. You can search this out via the Internet. May I suggest [WP  Lunar month - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ]. “The average length of the synodic month is 29.530589 days. Thus it is convenient if months are in general alternately 29 and 30 days”. So twelve Lunar months would come to some odd number like 354.367 days. In the secular world we us the solar year which is 365¼ days! So the Hebrew Calendar has a 30-day month, and slowly drifts behind the solar year. Then every few years they add in the additional month of Adar. Hence Adar I and Adar II.

Others might refer to Genesis and the story of Noah. Gen 7:11 “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up… Gen 8:3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters had gone down. Gen 8:4 And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.”

Do the ‘maths’! The 17^th of the 2^nd month to 17^th of the 7^th month equals exactly 5 months =150 days = 30 days per month!

SEASON -- A season (PT) is again logically three months (PT), which comes to 90 days (PT), which comes out to 90 years (LT)

TIME and TIMES. The phrase ‘Times’ in Hebrew plural means twice Time. [ref CN Gill para 5 on Dan 7:25]. So a Time in (PT) is equal to 360 days (PT), which come down to 360 years (LT). So the old favourite “a time, times and half a time = 1260 years (LT)

Lets Just Work Through The Bible

Some prophecies are a combination of units; lets just work through the bible systematically by the prophetic words used. I have also hunted through the Apocrypha and found some prophetic references. If I have missed any, by all means please let me know.

Hours

99 per cent of the time the word ‘hour’ is used in a literal sense. But only in Revelation there are the odd few that sound as though they should be interpreted as prophetic. I’ll give you my thoughts on each verse.

Rev 8:1”And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Possibly prophetic, but it would only come out to something ridiculously short like 15 or 7 literal days of silence, meaning ‘peace on earth’.

Rev 9:15 “..four angels…prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” Go to the bottom of these notes; see ‘Exceptions To The Rule’. Basically because the rest of the verse is prophetic, then the ‘hour’ must also be prophetic.

Rev 17:12 “And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have received no kingdom yet, but will receive authority as kings one hour with the beast.” This one is interesting! [ref CN Barnes and Clarke on Rev 17:12]. ‘one hour’ could mean, ‘at one and the same time’.

Rev 18:10; 17; 19  “…Woe to the great city, Babylon, that strong city! For in one hour your judgment came...v:17 For in one hour such great riches was desolated… v:19…For in one hour she was ruined.” There are three options for interpretation here. If taken as literal we would expect something like a nuclear blast in one literal hour. The historic interpretation claims this to be fulfilled during the revolutionary days when the Pope, (the head of the Babylonian system), was taken prisoner by Napoleon’s General Berthier. Or during the 1936 to 1940’s onslaught of the Anarchist in Spain, Nazism and Communism that tore the Church of Rome apart. I go with the second option because the prophecy starts with, ‘Woe to the great city, Babylon’, indicating one location.

Days

Last Days -- We find phrases like, “in the last days”, “in the later days” or “later years”. Refer, Gen 49:1, Num 24:14, Isa 2:2, Jer 23:20, Eze 38:8 and many others. It can easily be interpreted as later years (LT). But by the context of each passage we can see it is referring to a period of time of some, ‘many years’ off in the future, and generally in reference to the lead up to the second coming of Christ. It can also be interpreted as the past 2000 years, refer to the section below, ‘Exceptions To The Rule’, “The Long Day”     

Those Days -- Another couple of catch phrases, “After those days” and “After many days”. Again by the context we can work out the period of years to which God is referring. Generally it is in reference to Christ’s ministry.    

Jer 31:33  ..the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their...hearts…

Joe 2:29  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

Eze 38:8  “After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword..” This is a double reference. First the appearance of Christ, ‘shalt be visited’. Then ‘shalt come into the land’ the return of the Jews to Israel.

In The Day or In That Day -- If you do a search for these two phrases you get about 230 references all up. But these few all refer to ‘The great and terrible day of the Lord’! It is the battle of Armageddon and the restoration after it during the millennium. Isaiah and Zechariah have dozens of them. And here are a few more you can check for me please and tell me if I am wrong. Psa 110:3 Nah 2:3, Zep 1:18, Zep 2:3, Mal 4:3, Mat 10:15, Mat 11:24, Mat 12:36, Mar 6:11, Luk 17:30, Rom 2:16, 1Co 5:5, 2Co 1:14, Php 2:16, 1Jn 4:17

The following are obvious references to a prophetic time period.

Dan 8:14 “… Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed”, I believe this is 2300 years (LT). [ref CN Clark on Dan 8:14], [ref CN ‘TSK’ on Dan 8:14] and [ref CN Meyer on Dan 8:14]

Dan 11:20 “Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes…within few days he shall be destroyed…” Possibly meaning a few years

Dan 12:11 “from..daily sacrifice..and..desolating abomination set up, a thousand two hundred and ninety days”. See below

Dan 12:12 “Blessed is he that..cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” See notes below.

Hos 3:3 - 4 “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king,…a prince,…a sacrifice,…an image,…an ephod, and without teraphim:” Many is not a specific number, so many days or years is simply a LONG time. Again the context gives the meaning.

Rev 2:10 “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days.” This is the ten years (LT), known as the severest persecution under Emperor Diocletian, 303 to 313 AD. [ref EN , “Diocletian's reign is especially remembered, however, for the renewed persecution of Christians”]

Rev 11:3 “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” This would be 1260 years (LT) that the true witnesses of the gospel were under the persecution of Papal rule. For centuries anyone who opposed the Church of Rome was butchered or burnt at the stake. [ref HCC vol.6 ch.7:60, “The last case of an execution by the Spanish Inquisition was a schoolmaster, Cayetano Ripoll, July 26, 1826”]. Also you can Google “The 1260 years of Papal Supremacy. - Bible Light”. The Popes power ended in 1798 when the Pope was take prisoner by Napoleon’s General Berthier. Consider the passage in Dan 7:25 “And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints…they shall be given into his hand until “a time and times and one-half time”, which is the 1260 years that the Papacy ruled Supreme.

Rev 11:9 - 11 “And they..shall see their dead bodies three days and a half,” That equates to 3 ½ day = 3 ½ years (LT). You can refer to my talk entitled “CHURCH HISTORY Part 3 - Who Were The Reformers”. Or [ref CN Gill on Rev 11:3],[ref CN Meyer on Rev 11:1-13]

Rev 12:6 “And the woman fled…they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.” That is 1260 years (LT). My take on this passage is. (1) The woman is NOT the church as many would say. If she was the church, then you are saying that the church Produced Christ? That is Nonsense! Go back and look at her description; she is Israel the wife of Jehovah. It is through Israel that Christ came. (2) The portion of Israel that ‘fled into the wilderness’ was the ‘Lost Ten Tribes’. (3) The symbolism starts with the birth and resurrection of Christ. To which we add 1260 years. By this stage the ‘Lost Ten Tribes’ had migrated to the British Isles and Scandinavia. (4) So what happened in 1260AD? [ref HYY page 147 ‘The Second Baron’s War 1264]. Israel-Briton had been protected from most European conflicts for 1260 years, and was now starting to shake off all foreign interference. Israel the woman was now coming into the world stage. 

Weeks

2Esdras 7:39 to 42 abbreviated, WEBA “This is a day that has neither sun, moon, stars, cloud, thunder, lightning, wind, water, air, darkness, evening, morning, summer, spring, heat, winter, frost, cold, hail, rain, dew, etc. etc,…v:42 “save only the splendor of the glory of the Most High, whereby all shall see the things that are set before them: v:43  for it shall endure as it were a week of years.” Obviously not a mere 7 years. The passage is a similar style to the phrase in Dan 7:18 ‘for ever, even for ever and ever”. The implication is it will endure for a very, very long time.  

Dan 9:24 “Seventy weeks are decreed as to your people and as to your holy city…”

Dan 9:25 “Know therefore …to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks…”

Dan 9:26 “And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself...”

Dan 9:27 “..he shall confirm the covenant..for one week:..in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease..”

These were covered above under the heading of ‘Splitting of Prophecies?’ Everyone accepts these as a week = 7 days = 7 years (LT).

Months

Eze 39:12-14 “And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.” I think this would have to mean a literal seven months. If not it would be 7x 30 days = 210 days = 210 years (LT)! That is a long time to be cleaning up the dead after the battle of Armageddon.

Eze 47:12 “And all trees for food shall go up by the torrent, on its bank on this side, and on that side. Its leaf shall not fade, nor its fruit fail. It will bear by its months, because its waters come out from the sanctuary…” Again the context gives the meaning. It is speaking of a tree fruiting at a given time, meaning a literal month.

Zec 11:8 “I also cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also despised me.” In the context of the rest of Zechariah chapter 11, we have the thirty pieces of silver that was a prophetic reference to the money paid to Judas. So the ‘one month’ may well be prophetic time which could be 30 days (PT) = 30 years (LT). But I am open to suggestion.

Gal 4:10 “You observe days, and months, and times, and years.” Covered above under the heading of “YEAR Interpreted As Literal”

Rev 9:5 “And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was like a scorpion's torment when he stings a man.” [ref Gill on Rev 9:5]. Using Old Testament symbolism the ‘scorpion’ represented a scourge from the east. Try this idea, take the ‘five months’ as 5 x 30 days = 150 days = 150 years (LT). History shows that Mohammed’s followers, (from the east), commenced their attack on Christendom in the year 612AD. Exactly 150 years later in 762AD the Eastern Caliph moved it’s capital from Syria and established Baghdad. Then Arab-Christian hostility subsided. [ref HYY pages 108 and 114]

Rev 9:10 “And they had tails like unto scorpions, …and their power was to hurt men five months.” Refer Rev 9:5 above

Rev 9:15 “And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” See below under ‘Exceptions to The Rule’

Rev 11:2 “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” So 42 months = 42 x 30 days =42x30 years = 1260 years. [ref CN Gill on Rev 11:2] and [ref CN Barnes on Rev 11:2]. Also you might find of interest, [ref CN Geneva on Rev 11:2]

Rev 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.” As above =1260 years. This is the ‘Little Horn’ speaking great blasphemies. Who in European history has been doing that for centuries? One of the Popes MANY claims of authority is; “Where Peter (or his successor) is, there is the Church." "There is No Allegiance to Christ Without Submission to the Pope"). [ref HCC vol.6 ch.10] [ ref HCC vol. 6 ch.1:8]. The ‘Puppet’ Pope, [ref HCC vol.3 ch.5:64, ‘Vigilius, a pliant creature’], came to power in 538AD. In 1798 the Pope was take prisoner by Napoleon’s General Berthier. Do the Maths! 1798 - 538 = 1260 years. From the historic interpretation view that was the end of the 3 ½ (prophetic years) = 42 months = 1260 real years.

Rev 22:2 “In the midst of the street…was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month” As per Eze 47:12 above the context gives the meaning. It is speaking of a tree fruiting at a given time, meaning a literal month

Season
2Esdras 13:26, WEBA “the same is he whom the Most High has kept a great season, which by his own self shall deliver his creature: and he shall order those who are left behind.” Refer to Baruch 6:3 below, ‘a long season’. This whole chapter is a vision of Armageddon and Christ is the ‘he’ whom the Most High has kept a long period awaiting this moment.

2Esdras 14:5, WEBA “and told him many wondrous things, and showed him the secrets of the times, and the end of the seasons; and commanded him, saying,” This is God changing the Prophetic Times and Seasons of Kingdoms as He chooses. Or in other words, directing the number of years that a Kingdom will exist or when it will rise and when it will fall.

Baruch 6:3, WEBA “So when you come to Babylon, you shall remain there many years, and for a long season, even for seven generations: and after that I will bring you out peaceably from thence.” Daniel was amongst the first to go into captivity in 605 BC. The last recorded return was Nehemiah in 445BC. That comes to 605-445=160 years, defiantly longer than a season which = 90 days = 90 years.

Dan 7:11 “Then I was looking because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I watched until the beast was slain, and his body was destroyed and given to the burning flame. Dan 7:12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” This should be read in conjunction with Dan 2 and ‘The Statue’. The Little horn & Beast are the Ten Toes, or the Papal-European system. The Stone is not Christ as many think; it’s the Anglo-Saxon people, (Ephraim-Israel). They came into prominence under Elizabeth I, tackling the Spanish, France, Germany, and Italy etc, who were tail end of the Papal-European. The other kingdoms that Daniel saw were the Babylonian, Medo-Persians and the Greeks kingdoms. They did in effect remain untainted by Papal Rome. So their kingdoms linger a season =90 days + time 360 days = 450 days = 450 years (LT).

Dan 2:21 “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” See 2Esdras 14:5 above. God setting up and pulling down kingdoms as He sees fit.

Act 1:7 “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”

1Th 5:1 “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.” For both of these see 2Esdras 14:5 above.

Rev 6:11 “And white robes were given unto every one of them;…that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” In other words ‘wait a while, more martyrs will join you shortly.’

Rev 20:3 “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” This is when Satan is loosed after the 1000 years in the bottomless pit. He will gather any who are willing to challenge Christ’s rule. A season is 90 days = 90 years, so ‘a little season’ could mean it might take Satan some time short of 90 years to launch his final attack.

Times

Dan 11:24 “He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.” time = 360 days = 360 years (LT). [Ref HYY page 60 ‘The Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt for 275 years]. Also you can [ref CN Barnes and Gill on Dan 11:24]

Seven Times Punishment Warning.

Hands up if you have ever heard of “The SEVEN Times Punishment”? You can find it in Lev. 26: 14-46. When God is saying to the Israelites I put before you life and death, choose ye life etc. God is basically saying in this passage, “the bottom line is” if you walk contrary to me; refuse my correction; continue to break my commandments; etc. etc. Then He will walk contrary to them, He will scatter them among the nations and He will punish them SEVEN times.

Lev 26:18  “And if you will not yet listen to Me for all this, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.”

Lev 26:21  “..you walk contrary to Me, and will not listen to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.”

Lev 26:24  “then I will walk contrary to you and will punish you seven times more for your sins.”

Lev 26:28  “then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.”

But what is SEVEN times? You have all heard of the old favourite, “Time Times and Half a Time”, well seven times is double that.

So Time Times and Half a Time (PT) = 3 ½ time = 42 months = 1260 days (PT) = 1260 literal years. So 7 Times = 2520 literal years. [ref CN F.B. Meter on Daniel 12:7]. Now that figure is a very useful tool for interpreting major world events in relation to Israel and Judah. If you pick any major event in Israel or Judah’s history you can add 2520 years and you will find some amazing corresponding event! But getting the right start date is the tricky bit. You can refer to my talk “BRITISH ISRAEL – National Promises -- Seven Times Punishment”

The classic is the fall of Jerusalem in 604. Just add 2520 years and we get, the year 1917. [Or –604 +1 (no year zero) +2520 = 1917]. That was the year, according to prophecy, that Jerusalem was to be no longer under the control of the Gentile Nations, and the seven times punishment was finished. So what happened in 1917? In World War I the Turkish army fled from Jerusalem and General Allenby walked into Jerusalem 11.Dec.1917. Without a shot fired. Jerusalem was no longer under Gentile rule! The Jews WORLD WIDE were then able to return to Jerusalem.

Daniel Chapters 10, 11 and 12

I am no expert on interpreting prophecies; I suggest you go to [ref CN Barnes, Gill or Meyer on Dan chapters 10, 11 & 12], and there are many other commentaries obtainable through ‘e-Sword’. These three chapters are one continuous vision. Cyrus and Darius the Mede are the same person, [ref UD 560 BC par 902]. Presumably it is Gabriel speaking, he tells Daniel in Dan 11:1 ‘I stood up for Darius the Mede’. Then he unfolds history from then to the second coming of Christ, Dan 12:2. So this throws a lot of impact on the angels question, “Until when shall be the end of these wonders?” Dan 12:7 is a full talk in itself! [ref to my ‘Blogg’ entitled “Daniel Chapters 10, 11 & 12”].

Dan 12:6 “And one said to the man clothed in linen on the waters of the river: Until when shall be the end of these wonders? Dan 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was on the waters of the river, when he held up his right and his left hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when (they or he) have made an end of scattering the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.”

[time, times & ½ =1260 days =1260 years (LT). I suggest Google 1260 Year Prophecy of Papal Supremacy (AD538-1798 ... ]

Dan 12:8 “And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the end of these things? Dan 12:9 And He said, Go, Daniel! For the words are closed up and sealed until the end-time. Dan 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried. But the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the desolating abomination set up, a thousand two hundred and ninety days shall occur.”

“From the time”, this gives us the starting date. Compare Mat 24:4-17, Mar 13:5-17 and Luk 21:10-22. All three passages are an account of the same speech by Jesus. You will find that, “the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet”; is described in plain language by Luke as “Jerusalem compassed with armies”. That happened in 70 AD with the fall of Jerusalem, [ref EB,  “Jewish Revolt, FIRST”]. So 1290 days = 1290 years (LT), starting from 70AD = 70 + 1290 =1360 AD? That’s what it comes to, but it makes no sense to me either. So I’m open to suggestion if you have any ideas. The other alternative is to look at the passage in reverse. Who is doing the scattering? Refer Daniel 12:7, some translations say “he”. Now go to Lev 26:33 “And I (God) will scatter you among the heathen.” That finished in 1917 when the Jews were invited to return to Jerusalem. That also evolved the end of the Turkish, (or Gentile), rule or the Holy Land. So perhaps we should use the Mohammedans calendar, as in my paper “Daniel Chapters 10, 11 & 12”.

Dan 12:12  “Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”

This one I do know. the Mohammedans calendar also applies in this verse.  Google “1335 and 1917” or Jerusalem 1917-1335 - Constant Contact. And it was also the end of the Seven Times Punishment. It is more than just a coincidence of dates.

Exceptions to the Rules

A Day Is As A Thousand Years?  There are some passages that are NOT LITERAL and also they DO NOT follow the rule of “a day for a year”. For example we have the phrase, “A Day is as A Thousand Years”. Peter refers to Psalms 90:4 and explains this for us this way.  2Pe 3:8 “…that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Lets nickname this phrase a ‘Long Day’. So if we then apply this ‘Long Day’ to some other scriptures, they then start to make a bit more sense. Lets try the following.

Gen 2:17 “but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Well some people would tell us that the day Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he “spiritually” died. That’s reasonable. Adam and Eve could no longer ‘face’ God when they heard Him walking in the garden Gen 3:8-23. Alternatively if we applied the ‘Long Day’, we could say this. If Adam and Eve had NOT eaten of the forbidden fruit, but ate of the other trees, including the Tree of Life, they could have lived FOREVER! Refer Gen 3:22. So the first thousand years of their life could be interpreted as “the day” or ‘Long Day’ that God was referring to when He said, ‘in that day you shall surely die’. If we follow that line of thought, then Adam took the best part of one thousand literal years before he died. In other words Adam only lived for one ‘Long Day’.

GOD’s GREAT WEEK  Also on this bases of the ‘Long Day’ we get the principle of what is known as “Gods GREAT WEEK”. It is not mentioned in scripture, but if you go to e-Sword, [ref Graphics Viewer, Larkin, Chart 57- The Weeks of Scripture, “The Week of Millenniums”]. History runs as follows; from Adam to Christ is 4000 years. From Calvary to the return of Christ is 2000 years. The Millennial reign of Christ is 1000 years. Totalling 7000 years, that is seven ‘Long Days’, referred to as “Gods GREAT WEEK”.

Hos 6:2 “After two days He will bring us to life; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” All of Hosea chapters 4,5 and 6 are prophetic and they seem to flow one to another, so it is fair to assume that the word ‘day’ could be interpreted as a year of literal time. So it could be said that Hosea was saying, “If we behave as God asks us to do for ‘2’ years, in the third year God will make us mighty in His sight”. Or alternatively if we apply the ‘Long Day’ it could be interpreted as this. From Christ to the second coming is 2 ‘Long Days’, after which ‘He will bring us to life’. In the third ‘Long Day’, which is the millennium, ‘we shall live in His sight’. It is interesting how God can give in one prophecy a possible double fulfilment.  

Luk 13:7 ‘The Fig Tree’

Yes it is just a parable, but what if we look at it on the bases of the ‘Long Day’? Luk 13:7 “And he said to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none. Cut it down, why does it encumber the ground? v:8 And answering, he said to him, Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and throw manure. v:9 And if it bears fruit, well; and if not, then after that you shall cut it down.” Judah is often referred to as a ‘vine’ or ‘fig-tree’ in prophecy or parables, refer Hos 9:10, Joe 1:7, Nah 3:12 and others. In the commentary notes, [ref CN, Barnes on Luke 13:7], he refers to the three years as Christ’s ministry. I have the view that we could start from Abraham and interpret it this way. God, the owner of the vineyard, is talking to Christ, the gardener, and says, ‘this fig-tree is in its third thousand years!! Christ says, give it another thousand years, if nothing; then rip it out!’ Could that have meant that if the gospel had not ‘flourished’ after the year 1000 AD. God would have cut His losses, destroyed the world, and start a new creation?

“YEAR” The Odd One

This is the odd occurrence of the word year, which I mentioned above. Rev 9:15  “And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” This is Strong’s word no. [G1763 = eniautos or en-ee-ow-tos' Prolonged from a primary word å̓́íïò enos (a year); a year: - year]. Also [ref CN, Barnes or PNT or Gill on Rev 9:15].  Being the Prolonged form of ‘year’, it is not the literal form, so I believe we should apply the, ‘the day for a year’, as do the commentary notes.

Therefore it is to be interpreted as a ‘year’ (PT). Back to basics; we convert every thing to days - add it up - then a ‘day for a year’.

We get; (day) +(30 days) +(360 days) =391 days =391 years (LT); Plus the hour = 15 days (LT). That’s still only a bit over 391 years.

I tend to go along with Gill’s and A.J. Ferris’s commentaries, the 391 years represents the rise of the Turks. The Turks crossed the Euphrates in 1062 AD. and began their slaughter of the Eastern Third of the old Roman Empire. Exactly 391 years later they took Constantinople 1453 AD. and the onslaught subsided. [ref The Second Advent: How, When, Where? / A. J. Ferris. - Fourth Edition.]

Conclusion

As you can see I have only delved into prophecies that have some period of prophetic time associated with them. I hope I have managed to explain them to your satisfaction, and also I hope I have given you some food for thought. Remember the context will help you to determine whether or not to take the passage in question as prophetic time or literal time.  Then we just add up the days and apply ‘a day for a year’. Also you may need to find the start date for the commencement of a prophecy. Remember the biblical term “The WORLD” does NOT always mean the whole planet, it meant the Roman World. Refer Luke 2:1 “..there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” It didn’t include India, China etc. So don’t get into a tangle trying to apply prophecies to the whole world.

I believe the biggest problem with trying to understand these grand old prophecies is our lack of knowledge of history. If you wish to make a hobby of studying prophecies and history, a cheap way is to download FREE all the reference material from “e-Sword”. There are about 30 sets of commentary notes, hundreds of maps, numerous charts, a time line and a sizable reference library. Also these days we have so much information available online. It’s so easy to scan through history and filter out the appropriate event that fits the prophecy perfectly.

Thank you for your time. I hope you have enjoyed the talk

God Bless You, yours Adrian