Ending a Dark Period

“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 for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished” (Daniel 12:7).

— David Rice

The closing chapter of Daniel, chapter 12, is unique. It contains three sequential time prophecies: the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days — representing 1260, 1290, and 1335 years — which take us to the Harvest of the Gospel Age.

When Jesus explained to his disciples the parable of the wheat and tares, he said the harvest is the ending period of the age (Matthew 13:39). The usual Greek word for “end” is the noun telos (5056), which can mean either an ending period of time or a final conclusion. In Matthew 13:39, however, “end” is a different Greek word, sunteleia (4930), which means an ending period, in contrast to a final consummation. “The word does not denote a termination, but the heading up of events to the appointed climax” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words).

Christians generally recognize that today we are at the end of the age, the ending period of the Gospel Age, as we would express it. Thus, we are in the Harvest. We are, therefore, in the time of Revelation 14:14 when Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest, has returned and is gathering the saints from Christendom with the “sickle” of truth and ultimately to their home in glory. “I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle” (Revelation 14:14).

In this Harvest Jesus has a crown on his head, indicating his presence with royal authority.¹ This helps us connect the present Harvest to the time predicted in the time prophecies of Daniel 12, since verse one also begins with a sign of royal authority possessed by Jesus. “At that time shall Michael stand up.” The expression “stand up” appears six times in the previous chapter when referring to one entering upon regal authority. “There shall stand up yet three kings in Persia” (Daniel 11:2) — Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius the Great. Sometime later, another “Mighty king shall stand up” (Daniel 11:3), referring to Alexander the Great. Later references are 11:4, 7, 20, and 21. Michael, of course, is our Lord Jesus, the archangel, or chief angel, before he came to earth.

(1) An editor observes that the Greek for “crown” in Revelation 14:14 is not a reigning “diadem,” but stephanos, a laurel wreath of victory.

Thus, Daniel 12:1 refers to the time when Jesus takes royal authority, which, according to Revelation 14:14, appears to be at the opening of the Harvest. Daniel 12 then provides three time prophecies — 1260, 1290, and 1335 years. It appears that the last of these takes us to that time when Christ returns with royal authority, opening the Harvest.

Verse Twelve

Daniel 12:12 is consistent with this. “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 days.” Notice the three words in bold. The same three words are found in Luke 12:36, 37, where Jesus speaks of his coming at the close of the age. Jesus told his disciples to “wait for their lord, when he will return … blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching.”

The blessing associated with the return of Christ is a feast of spiritual food — understanding and truth. “He shall … make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”² This is a fitting blessing for the Church at the end of the age, for during much of the age, the Christian world was dominated by Papacy with many corrupted teachings that distorted the actual plan of God.

(2) Luke 12:38 speaks of the second, or the third watch. In R2953 the Jewish day is divided into four parts. The night likewise was divided into four watches. Matthew 25:6 puts the return of Christ at “midnight,” between watches 2 and 3, which Luke 12:38 refers to. Starting with daybreak, that puts the return of Christ at the end of six periods, and the start of period seven — at the opening of period the Church of Laodicea.
The message to Laodicea says, “I stand at the door, and knock” (just as Jesus knocks at his return in Luke 12:36). “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). This feast of truth nourishes the Church here upon his return.

This obscuring of the truth through the age is connected to the three time prophecies of Daniel — specially to the first one, the 1260 years. The first refers to the time of obfuscation, the second to regaining understanding, the third to a feast of truth respecting God’s Plan.

The Three Time Prophecies

The narrative of Daniel 11 and 12 actually begins in chapter 10, and thus consumes three chapters of the book. This is unique, for each of the first nine chapters of Daniel are distinct narratives in themselves, whereas chapters 10, 11, and 12 are one collective narrative.

Daniel 10 begins in the third year of Cyrus. In his first year, Cyrus decreed that the Israelites could return to their homeland and rebuild their temple. This return is described in the opening chapter of Ezra. Chapter two of Ezra gives a list of the returning Israelites. Chapter 3 records that the returnees were back and settled in their cities in “the seventh month” of Cyrus’ first year. Ezra 3:8 then records that in the opening of the 2nd year of Cyrus, the foundation of the temple was re-laid, to the rejoicing of many, but also to the tearful remembrance of its previous glory (Ezra 3:13).

Ezra chapter four then explains that the enemies of Israel lodged complaints against them, which caused the temple building to cease “unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia” (Ezra 4:24).

Back in Babylon, Daniel heard of the cessation of the work and was troubled. This was the cause of his prayers to God and 21 days of semi fasting, seeking God’s grace. The 21 days themselves are predictive in nature, for from the third year of Cyrus, 536 BC, until the ultimate completion of the Temple in 515 BC, there would be 21 years (Ezra 6:15).

The temple of God refers symbolically to the Gospel Age Church, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Thus, it is interesting to observe that the development of the Church class takes portions of 21 centuries to complete.

Israel’s temple was delayed due to the influence of its enemies. So also with the Church, the centuries of the Gospel Age have seen its enemies cloud the truth, persecute saints, and work against the completion of the spiritual Bride class that Jesus has been cultivating through the age.

The three time prophecies in Daniel 12 are relevant to this — in this case to a delay establishing the spiritual temple. The 1260 years refer to a time when the Papacy would dominate the Christian world, bringing not only confusion of doctrine but corruption of moral and character values for much of the time. The1290 years, as discussed in the article “The Wise Shall Understand,” take us to a time when old errors would be recognized and rediscovered truths appreciated. The 1335 days then take us to the Harvest time, when a feast of spiritual truth would grace the Lord’s people, culminating in the completion of the Church.

The 1260 Years

In the three chapter narrative closing the book of Daniel, chapter 10 is introductory. Chapter 11 then gives a lengthy prophetic description of events from Daniel’s day forward to the return of Christ. A key text is Daniel 11:31, referring to “the abomination that maketh desolate.” This is meaningful to the time prophecies of Daniel 12, because they commence “from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up” (Daniel 12:11).

As explained in Volume Three (Studies in the Scriptures, Thy Kingdom Come) — and by Adventist students in the early 1800s — this refers to Papacy that would “take away the daily sacrifice,” the ransom, by establishing the doctrine of the Mass, supposed to be a re-sacrificing of Jesus in continuing repetition.

“Romanists claim that Christ and the apostles instituted the Mass; but the earliest mention of it we have been able to find was at the Council of Constantinople, AD 381. … By reason of this fundamental error Papacy became the ‘Abomination of Desolation,’ before it was … ‘set up’ in power, which … was in AD 539” (Volume 3, page 103).³

(3) See also Beauties of the Truth, August 1992, “A Little Horn,” by Br. Jerry Leslie.

In 533 AD, the Roman Emperor Justinian (ruling from Constantinople), seeking to unify his empire and Christendom generally, decreed that the Bishop of Rome would thereafter be the head of the Christian Church. However, at the time of this decree, Rome and Italy were controlled by Ostrogoths, of Arian persuasion, not agreeable to the Bishop of Rome.

Subsequently, Justinian sent his general Belisarius with an armed host to retake Italy and secure control. In 538 AD Belisarius found himself in Rome, but sieged by Ostrogoths. The siege was broken later in the same year. Belisarius, on leaving Rome to pursue the Goths, left the city in the care of the Roman Bishop. In 539 the capital of Italy, Ravenna, ruled by Goths, was taken by subterfuge. Thus Italy was subdued. Justinian controlled the empire, and his decree that the Bishop of Rome should control Christianity became effective.

In 1798 the Pope had been taken prisoner to France, and in 1799 he died in captivity. Papacy was temporarily headless, as the French Government refused to allow the election of a successor Pope. (Other countries did provide for this some months later.)

Nicholas Cheetham, a writer of Papal history, also recognizes 1799 as a turning point for Papacy. In his book “A History of the Popes,” 1982, he closes chapter 19 with the events of the year 1799.

Also supportive of this date is an article by Br. Richard Doctor, “The Papal Millennium,” Beauties of the Truth, Nov. 2017. On page 7 is testimony that the famous crowning of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III was on Christmas day of 799 AD. This act signaled a higher claim for Papacy, not merely as leader of Christians, but with claims of authority over even political rulers. Notably, from 799 to 1799 is 1000 years. This millennium is a counterfeit to the true one to be controlled by Christ and the Church.

Computing 1260 Years

The long prophetic narrative that takes us to Daniel 12 closes with Daniel 12:4. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” The angel is telling Daniel that the long prophecy just given is not for Daniel to understand. At the time of the end, then the prophetic understanding would be available. That is the “knowledge” that was to be increased.⁴

In Daniel 12:5-6, Daniel saw two other angels, one on either side of the river, speaking with Gabriel,⁵ the angel over the river. In verse seven, Gabriel gives the time prophecy — a time, times, and half a time. The second word, “times,” is in the dual — thus 1 plus 2 plus one-half, or 3½ “times” total. Daniel would have known this summed to 3½ times, but he would not have known the duration of a prophetic “time.”

However, he would have remembered that 3½ “times” was also the period mentioned in Daniel 7:25, respecting the time that the dreadful “horn” of Daniel 7:8 would have power, make “war with the saints,” and prevail “against them” (Daniel 7:21). This refers to the time Papacy, growing from the Roman beast, would have power and persecute many saints during the age.

It would not be until Revelation was given that the length of the 3½ “times” would be clarified. The period is referred to five times in Revelation.
42 months — Revelation 11:2, 13:5
1260 days — Revelation 11:3, 12:6
3½ times — Revelation 12:14

(4) See Amos 8:12 for another similar expression. There, “they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.” But respecting students of Daniel’s prophecies, they would run to and fro (seeking the meaning), and an understanding of the prophecies would be increased.

(5) Presumably Gabriel was the angel responding to Daniel in chapters 10-12. It is not Michael, for Daniel 10:21 distinguishes him from Michael. This prophecy speaks of Michael, Jesus, in Daniel 12:1, and it is appropriate for another agent to give Daniel this information respecting Jesus. Gabriel is given by name in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21, and presumably he is the one intended here also.

These references show that the “times” are prophetic years of 12 months each, with 30 days per month. Thus 3½ times x 12 months x 30 = 1260 days. Prophetic days are fulfilled as years, as often in prophecy (Ezekiel 4:6, “I have appointed thee each day for a year”).

Thus — If the 1260 years of Papal dominance is recognized as extending from 539 to 1799, then we have the following —
● 1260 years — end in 1799,
● 1290 years — end in 1829,
● 1335 years — end in 1874.
From this time forward, the saints have been spiritually nourished by an understanding of God’s Plan more deeply than in any previous period of the Church.