1. Days, Months, and Hours
Jesus said that only the Father knows the day and hour of His return.
Did you know that God used days and hours to explain the time of Jesus’ coming?
The Book of Daniel used days as years to describe the time of the end with great accuracy.
And Jesus compared the time of man to the twelve hours of a day in the Gospel of John, where He prophesied “the hour” to come. In the Book of Revelation, He described the ninth to twelfth hours of man.
From the first century, Christians and Jews understood that the seven days of creation represented a 7,000-year plan of salvation.
Days as years
2. THE MESSIAH’S COMING
God makes reconciliation for our iniquity up to seventy times seven.
God’s Messenger told Daniel: “From the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven-sevens and sixty-two sevens.”
As recorded in Ezra, the command came in 457 BC. 483 years later, Christ was anointed in His baptism. Luke said this was “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius.”
Days as years
3. THE CRUCIFIXION
God prophesied the day, month, and year of Jesus’ crucifixion.
God’s Messenger said, “the ruler of the people to come” would “confirm a covenant with many for one seven, but after half a seven, he would bring an end to sacrifice and offering.” This signified Christ’s death after three and a half years. The Targum of Hosea says, “I redeemed them by My Word on the 15th day of Nissan.” Data from the US Navy confirms the 15th of Nissan as the day of Jesus’ death in 31 AD.
Days as years
4. THE SECOND HALF OF A SEVEN
God’s messenger said that Satan, the ruler of the people to come would make a covenant with many for one seven. After half a seven, 3 ½ years, he crucified Christ. In the second half of a seven, he is the desolator on the pinnacle of a place of abominations. This is the “time, times and half a time,” when the saints were given into the hand of the little horn, the bishop of Rome. Satan is the little horn in Chapter 8 who exalted himself as high as Christ and desolated the place of his sanctuary.
Days as years
5. A DAY FOR A YEAR FOR INIQUITY
God requires a year for a day for iniquity. This is found in several Old Testament passages, beginning with Numbers 14:34.
In the Book of Daniel, the 70 weeks for Israel to reconcile iniquity were not 490 days, but 490 years.
Just as Jesus taught the gospel for 3 ½ years, the Antichrist corrupted it for 3 ½ years, but in days as years. Paul said that because they did not receive the love of the truth, God would send them a strong delusion.
Days as years
6. A TIME AND A SEASON
In 555 BC, in the first year of Belshazzar, God prophesied that the first three beasts, the Babylonian, Persian and Greek Empires would last for “a time and a season”—a year and three months, 365 days and 90 days, or 455 days. After 455 years, the Greek Empire fell to Rome. From here we understand the meaning of a time, times, and half a time as 3 ½ years in days as years—the 1,278 years when the saints were given into the hand of the little horn and the fourth beast.
Days as years
7. THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
In Daniel 12, God’s Messenger said that the time, times, and half a time would begin when the abomination of desolation was set up. In Daniel 8, we learn that the place of God’s sanctuary was cast down, desolated when the little horn exalted itself as high as Christ. In AD 193, the Bishop of Rome wrote letters of excommunication to the churches of Asia because they disagreed with his doctrine of Easter Sunday. The last testimony of receiving the holy spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues was given by Irenaeus in AD 180.
Days as years
8. HE SHALL CAST TRUTH TO THE GROUND
In Daniel 8, God’s Messenger said the little horn “shall cast truth to the ground.” In his letter to the saints, John wrote, “this is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” His meaning was in the third verse of his letter: “Indeed our relationship is with the Father and with His Son.” He concluded his second epistle, saying, “the one who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
The bishop of Rome, who exalted himself as high as Christ, said the Father was the Son.
Days as years
9. EXACTLY A TIME, TIMES AND A HALF A TIME
In Daniel 12, God’s Messenger raised his right hand and his left and swore by Him Who Lives Forever that “it shall be for a time, times, and half a time.” In verse 11, this was equated to 1,290 days—43 months of 30 days on the Jewish lunar calendar. The Book of Revelation called this 1,260 days, 42 months of 30 days on the solar calendar of the Romans. The exact number of days in three and a half years is 1,278. In 1471, after exactly 1,278 years, the Moravian Hussites became the first saints to break free from the power of the pope.
Days as years
10. TWO WITNESSES
In Daniel 12, God’s Messenger called the time, times, and a half a time, 1,290 days, 43 months of 30 days on the Jewish lunar calendar. In verse 12, the Messenger said, “Blessed is he who waits and comes to 1,335 days.” 45 days, or years later, Martin Luther began his reformation, which, according to the Lutheran Confession, began in 1516. Jan Huss and Martin Luther were two witnesses who breathed fire on their enemies. This fire was described by Jeremiah as the word of God.
Days as years
11. AFTER 3 1/2 DAYS
In the Book of Revelation, God showed us two witnesses. When they finished their testimony, the beast killed them. After the Hussites declared their independence from the pope, they were hunted like deer in the forest of Bohemia. John said their dead bodies lay in the street for “three and a half days.” Three and a half years later, in February and March 1471, the archbishop and king of Bohemia died, and the brethren were set free. John said the witnesses “went straight up into heaven in a cloud,” as they began the 1,000-year reign of the martyrs with Christ.
Days as years
12. ONE THOUSAND YEARS
God’s Messenger told Daniel that the sanctuary would be cleansed after 2,300 days. In Daniel 12, we learned that it would be corrupted for 1,290 days. The 1,010 days to cleanse the sanctuary are the 1,000-year reign of the martyrs—of those who would not worship the beast, or his image, or receive his mark. John identified the beast with the number 666. In AD 180, Bishop Irenaeus gave us the meaning of 666 as “Latienos.” For 1,000 years, the saints will purge the lawlessness of the Latin man from the kingdom of heaven.
the 12 hours of the day
13. THE TWELVE HOURS OF MAN
God described the time of man as the twelve hours in a day. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that “the hour is coming and now is when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” John said it was “about the sixth hour”—when Jesus met the Samaritan woman. The hour Jesus spoke of was the seventh hour of man, the apostolic age, which John called “the last hour,” because the Church was about to be desolated by the Antichrist. In the Book of Revelation, John described the final hours of man.
the 12 hours of the day
14. THE FINAL HOURS OF MAN
In the Book of Revelation, God showed us the ninth to twelfth hours of man. In the ninth hour, the ten kings reigned “as one hour with the beast.” This signified the political relationship of the 10 states of Western Europe with the bishop of Rome from the East–West Schism of 1054 until the Reformation. In the next “hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell.” This described the Reformation wars that killed one-tenth of the population of Europe. Revelation 14 calls our time “the hour of God’s judgment.” The final hour is “the hour to reap the harvest.”
the 12 hours of the day
15. SILENCE FOR A HALF AN HOUR
The hour of God’s judgment was preceded by “silence in heaven for about a half an hour.” In Revelation 6, the martyrs cried out in heaven, “How long, O Lord, faithful and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood?” They ceased crying out in 1648, when the Peace of Westphalia ended the Reformation Wars. A half hour, or 269 years, brings us to 1917, when “the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.” The saints kept the commandments of God, and the commandments of Christ according to His example, and “fire was poured out of the altar.”
The trumpets
16. The First Two Trumpets
The outpouring of God’s spirit brings seven trumpets and bowls of wrath on the kingdom of the beast. The first trumpet and bowl of wrath are sores on those who worship the image of the beast and receive his mark on their right hand or forehead. In the second trumpet— “A great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became as blood.” This is described in Ezekiel 47 as the holy spirit from the East that revives the Dead Sea— the old ground of Christianity, and brings death to the lawless.
The trumpets
17. The Third and Fourth Trumpets
God explained the third trumpet and bowl of wrath as plagues on the rivers and springs. The rivers and springs represent spirits. Those in the kingdom of the beast receive a bitter spirit. The fourth trumpet completes the cleansing of the kingdom of heaven, after the 2,300 days prophesied by Daniel. The fifth trumpet is described as five months, 150 days or years, and we can see that each of the first five trumpets will last about 150 years, “for I visit the iniquity of the fathers … to the third and fourth generations.”
a day as a thousand years
18. The Seven Days of Creation
There is one more measure that helps us understand God’s salvation plan. Moses said, “with the Lord a day is as a thousand years.” The seven days of creation represent a 7,000-year plan of salvation. This work of salvation was described by six statements of God to Christ, beginning with, “Let us make man in Our image.” In the seventh millennium, we will resurrect with Christ, and we will be like Him. Then God will rest from all His work.
a day as a thousand years
19. After Two Days He Will Revive Us
Hosea said “He shall come to us like the latter and former rain.” “After two days, He will revive us, and in the third day, He will raise us up.” This described two days, or 2,000 years, from the first outpouring of the holy spirit in AD 31. After 2031, the spirit of God will revive the saints of the West. Before 3,000 years are finished, we will all resurrect with Christ.
a day as a thousand years
20. In One Day Her Plagues Will Come
When the Reformation ended, God’s Messenger condemned the Great Harlot with a mighty voice, saying, “In one day, her plagues will come … for the Lord God who judges her is strong.” That one day brings us 1,000 years from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648—to the judgment Day. According to the timeline of Daniel and Revelation, this will occur after 2643. Then all whose names are not in the book of life will come into judgment.