A Day Isn’t Always 24 Hours. The Book of Daniel.

 

Many of you reading this are wondering when we are going to be getting into the book of Revelation.  That is where all the prophecy about the end of time is located, right?  Well, no.  In the first chapter we looked at prophecies from the books of Matthew and 1 Peter, for instance, to prove we are indeed in the end times.  In the second chapter we looked in the book of Daniel to prove that Bible prophecy is true and reliable and to learn the meaning of certain prophetic symbols.  We are going to look in Daniel once again before moving on to Revelation.  Not only do we want to understand what we find in Revelation, we want to know why each thing means what it does and how it fits in with the others. 

The book of Daniel gives us very useful timelines that we can follow like maps, where we can mark on them different events prophesied in the Bible.  These timelines are described as days, weeks, and months, but a day in prophetic language is actually a year.  (see Appendix 2). 

 

If one day equals one year (Ez. 4:4-6 and Num. 14:34), then…

 One week = 7 days = 7 years. One month = 30 days = 30 years. One year = 360 days = 360 years.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

This passage was spoken by the angel Gabriel to Daniel so it comes straight from heaven.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

Gabriel was saying that the Jews and the city of Jerusalem had 70 weeks, or 490 years (7 days per week multiplied by 70 weeks equals 490 years), of probation left to straighten out and start keeping their side of the bargain they had made with God way back when God brought them out of Egypt.  The start of the probation period would be when a decree was issued allowing the Jews to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. 

It was not long after the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonians that many of the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. 

 However, the city itself was still in shambles.  Seven years after Artaxerxes ascended the Persian throne, he sent a Jew named Ezra to Jerusalem with orders that, in part, called for Ezra to organize the city so it could rule itself independently while still being part of the Persian Empire.  Ezra was to appoint magistrates and judges and was to ensure the carrying out of the king’s laws. (Ezra 7:25, 26)  Although the decree from Artaxerxes did not specifically say that the city of Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, Ezra and the rest of the Jews knew the orders they held implied the rebuilding.  How else was a city to function without buildings for the government, the courts, etc?  So, Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

The 62 weeks, or 434 years (7 x 62 = 434), of the 70-week prophecy follow the seven weeks so it obviously begins in 407 BCE and goes through to 27 CE.  Did anything special happen in the year 27 CE?  Yes.  Luke Chapter 3 and Verse 1 says that it was the 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and Messiah the Prince, Jesus, began his ministry here on earth. 

Tiberius became co-emperor of Rome with Augustus in 13 CE, so his 15^th year would bring us to 27 CE.

DAY for a YEAR 

When a day is mentioned in prophecy, it stands for a year in actual time.  So if you see a prophecy of 1260 days, it actually means 1260 years.  One hour would be a literal two weeks, one week would be seven days or seven years, one month would be 30 days or 30 years, etc.  See:  Ez. 4: 4-6; Num. 14: 34

 

30 DAY MONTH / 360 DAY YEAR 

Everyone knows that a year contains 365 days and that not all the months in a year have 30 days, so how do we come to the decision to break down the months and years into 30 and 360 days?  Some scholars refer to ancient calendars as proof that the common year was 360 days, not becoming our familiar 365 day year until the Julian calendar was instituted.  Others talk about the simplicity of using a 360 day year and 30 day month still in use today when doing complex financial calculations.  I prefer the easiest explanation.  If you divide 365 days by 12 months you get 30.4 days per month.  Rounding that number down gives you 30 days.  Then, if you multiply 30 days by 12 months you get a 360 day year.  Also, in Revelation 11: 2 and 3 we are shown that 42 months is 1260 days, these numbers coinciding only if a 30 day month is used (42 x 30 = 1260).  The 365 day year we have now is only an average itself:  2006 only had 364 days, 2007 has 365 days, and 2008 will have 366 days.