Daniel 12:11-12 gives two time periods that deal with end times. I have never read a good explanation for these time periods. Most of the other time periods in Daniel have been explained to my satisfaction, but these two have been different. I now believe them to be literal time periods, not applying the day for a year principle that does apply to the time periods of earlier chapters.
Dan 12:11-13
11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away
, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall
be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred
and thirty-five days.
13 "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will
arise to your inheritance at the end of the days." (NKJ)
Actually there are three time periods to be dealt with in Daniel chapter 12. The 1290 days of verse 11, the 1335 days of verse 12, and the 1260 days, or ‘time, times, and half a time,’ of verse seven. I believe that the 1290 and 1330 are grouped together in context and that they begin at the same time. Verse 11 gives the beginning event for the 1290 days. Verse 13 gives the ending event of the 1335 days. Verse 13 says that Daniel would rest in the dust of the earth and arise for his allotted portion (or reward) at the end of these days. Which days? The 1335 days. What is the event of verse 13? It must be the return of Jesus when the dead in Christ shall rise and receive the reward that He brings with Him. So the 1290 days and the 1335 days begin at the same point and the 1335 days end at Christ’s return.
What event marks the beginning of the 1290 days? Verse 11 says that the event is when the regular (daily, or continual) sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up. So what is the abomination of desolation? These two events are tied together three times in the book of Daniel - 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. Look at these two other occurrences.
Dan 9:27
27 "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
; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate
, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on
the one who makes desolate." (NAS)
Dan 11:30-37
30 "For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened,
and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and
take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake
the holy covenant.
31 "And forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress,
and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination
of desolation.
32 "And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act
wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display
strength and take action.
33 "And those who have insight among the people will give understanding
to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity
and by plunder, for many days.
34 "Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will
join with them in hypocrisy.
35 "And some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine,
purge, and make them pure, until the end time; because it is still
to come at the appointed time.
36 "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify
himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God
of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for
that which is decreed will be done.
37 "And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire
of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify
himself above them all. (NAS)
The first instance in Dan 9:27 clearly talks about Jesus causing the sacrifice to cease when He offered Himself up as the one true Sacrifice. This situation does not seem to apply to the end times.
The passage in 11:31 definitely deals with the end times. Verses 32 and 36 describe the appearance of Satan (the fifth trumpet). Verses 33 and 35 describe the activities of God’s people under the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. It even talks about the martyrs of the sixth trumpet. And in the middle of that language, it talks about the abomination of desolation and the taking away of the regular sacrifice. So we can begin to associate the abomination of desolation with the fifth and sixth trumpets.
Jesus does refers to the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24:15 in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem. In the parallel account in Luke, it is identified as the time when Jerusalem is surrounded by Roman armies. Josephus' account of the destruction of Jerusalem said that the Roman standards, each with an eagle mounted on top, preceded the marching Roman armies. These idolotrous standards would have certainly been an abomination in God’s holy temple.
But remember that there can be multiple fulfillments of prophecy. I believe that this prophecy will be fulfilled a second time at the end of time. Particularly because Daniel did not rise 1335 days, or even 1335 years, after the destruction of Jerusalem. Remember that we already showed a correlation between the Signs of the Times in Matthew 24 and the 7 Seals.
To further highlight this interpretation of the abomination of desolation and the taking away of the regular sacrifice, I want to take you back to a text we discussed earlier. It is in Joel chapter 1.
Joel 1:4-13
4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust
has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust
has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping
locust has eaten.
5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers, On account
of the sweet wine that is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without
number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has
the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has made my vine a waste, and my fig tree splinters. It has stripped
them bare and cast them away; their branches have become white.
8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the libation are cut off from the house
of the LORD. The priests mourn, the ministers of the LORD.
10 The field is ruined, the land mourns, for the grain is ruined, the new
wine dries up, fresh oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley;
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The vine dries up, and the fig tree fails; the pomegranate, the palm
also, and the apple tree, all the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing
dries up from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers
of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God,
for the grain offering and the libation are withheld from the house of your
God. (NAS)
The language of Joel chapter 1 is very obviously the same as the language of the fifth trumpet. I have shown why I believe that the fifth trumpet is Satan’s impersonation of Christ on the earth. Look at verses 9 & 13. It says that the grain offering and libation are cut of from the house of the Lord. These were continual offerings that were to be made each day before the Lord in His temple. I would like to suggest that the ‘abomination of desolation’ is Satan impersonating Christ. I am not exactly sure what the continual offering symbolizes here, but there is no doubt that it will be cut off at the time Satan appears. This locks in the starting time of the 1335 and 1290 days. They begin when Satan appears and takes away the regular offering and the 1335 days end at Christ’s return.
I would like to suggest that the regular sacrifice symbolizes the universal legislation that mandates Sunday sacredness. I believe that the USA and other nominally Christian governments will make this type of legislation in the aftermath of the first four trumpets. But the rest of the world governments will not capitulate until Satan appears as Christ and legitimizes the claims of Sunday sacredness. Remember, the central issue is not about a day. It is about following the Commandments of God or the traditions of man. It is about accepting Christ’s righteousness verses self-righteousness. It is about taking something that God has hallowed and using it for a common purpose. I have attached two very brief studies that further illustrate the significance of the issue in Appendix B of this paper, entitled, "The Sabbath as a Sign", and "The Mark of the Beast".
Regardless of the exact symbolic meaning of the regular sacrifice, we have established the beginning and ending events of the 1335 days. I believe that the 1290 days end at the execution date of the death decree and are concurrent with the seventh plague. I do not have a very solid explanation of the intervening 45 days, except that the events of the seventh plague probably do not occur in a single day, but rather over a period of time.
Dan 12:6-9
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of
the river, "How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?"
7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of
the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and
swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times,
and half a time; and when the power of the holy people
has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished
.
8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My lord, what shall
be the end of these things?"
9 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and
sealed till the time of the end. (NKJ)
The 1260 days is not to be grouped with the 1290 and 1335 days. In this context, I do not believe that the day for year principle applies either. I do believe that this same time period referred to earlier in Daniel does refer to the 1260 years between 538 and 1798 AD and represents the period of papal supremacy. However, in this context I believe the time to be literal days. I do not have a good formula to use to differentiate when and when not to apply the day for a year principle. I do think that the time periods that deal specifically with the end times should be taken literally. Chapter 12 begins with the phrase, "At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise." I believe that this phrase applies to the close of probation and the outpouring of the 7 Last Plagues. The 1260 days certainly fits in sometime around these events. It begins when the end time "wonders" begin to occur and ends when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered.
Generally speaking, 3-1/2 years, or 1260 days, represents a time of ministry by the righteous and apostasy by the wicked. There were 3-1/2 years of no rain just prior to Elijah’s Mount Carmel experience, where the people were called to accept or reject God. Jesus preached for 3-1/2 years from His baptism to His crucifixion. The Apostles preached to the Jews for 3-1/2 more years after the cross before the Jews finally rejected the message, Stephen was stoned, Paul was converted, and the Gospel went out in force to the Gentiles. For these reasons, I believe that the 1260 days begins at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the sounding of the first trumpet and end either at the close of probation, the first plague, or the death decree. The death decree is the lowest point for the people of God in the sequence of end time events. Daniel 12:7 says that the 1260 days would end "when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered." I am not trying to establish absolutes here. I am just trying to construct an order of events and a general time structure based on Bible prophecy.
The evidence here is mostly circumstantial. My main point is that it could be at any time. There are many who believe in a 7000 year theory. There were approximately 2000 years from creation to the birth of Abraham, 2000 years from Abraham to the birth of Jesus, and there have been just over 2000 years from the birth of Jesus until now. According to this theory, the 7000th year would be the millennium between the first and second resurrections when the righteous would be with Christ, the wicked would be in the grave, Satan would be bound, and the earth would have a Sabbath rest. The best estimations put the end of the 6000 years in 1996. One author suggests that the time should not begin at creation, but at the fall, which he estimates to have been just a few years after creation week. That would put the 6000 years ending anytime in the next few years. It is also possible that the "end" began with the first seal, and that event could already have happened in either 1994 or 1997 with the documents that solidified the ecumenical movement.
In 1994, a comet crashed into Jupiter and caused a hole the size of the earth. This really awakened us to the real possibility that an asteroid or comet could impact the earth and cause massive devastation. Two movies came out in 1998 about asteroids or comets colliding with the earth. These movies paid lip service to the Biblical implications of such events in favor of the human solution - destroying the asteroid or digging tunnels to hide from the effects. I believe that God is warning us in very real ways about what is about to come upon this earth. Satan is quick to put his own slant on things. Within months after these movies were released, millions of people across the entire world saw them. Movies are probably the USA’s number one export to the world.
The Orthodox Jewish world believes that something significant will happen very soon. They also believe that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem sometime soon. They are even raising a goat to be the first sacrifice in the new temple. The goat must be seven years old in order to be the sacrifice. The goat will be that age sometime in the next couple of years. This is just one other deception that Satan is planting to prepare for his impersonation of the Messiah.
Within the Protestant Church the ecumenical movement is in full force. Para-church ministries like Promise Keepers have equated "sectarianism" with "racism" and have vowed to stamp out both within the church by the turn of the millennium. Catholics and Protestants are cooperating through organizations like the Christian Coalition to influence the legislative process and to stem the tide of moral decay in our country. The world religious community is preparing to celebrate the year 2000 together as a 'year of jubilee'. The Protestant world also recognizes that Jesus' return is imminent. The standard Protestant concept of the 'secret rapture' is spreading like wildfire. This is a false doctrine about Jesus' Second Coming. Millions of copies of the book Left Behind have been circulated within the Protestant community. This book is centered around the false doctrine of the 'secret rapture'. Satan is preparing the Protestant world for his end time deceptions.
In 1998, the Pope John Paul II published a papal encyclical entitled "Dies Domini" or "The Lord's Day", which proclaimed Sunday to be the Christian Sabbath, and made it an obligatory observance for Catholics. He actually even urged all Christians to ensure that civil legislation protected their right to keep Sunday holy. The counterfeit interpretation that Satan has planted in the theology of the Catholic Church about the manner of Christ's return is also coming to fruition. Let's take a brief look at that in this next section.
The Catholics have their own view of the last day events that is based on a mix of traditional Catholic theology and messages that have been given by apparitions of Mary. These events are still somewhat mysterious, but they generally describe a sequence of four events - a warning, a miracle, a sign, and a chastisement. These four events will usher in the millennial reign of peace. The warning is to be a great event that will turn the world’s attention back to God. The miracle is less well defined. A select few are reported to know its nature, but are to keep it a secret. It will in some way affirm the status of Mary in the plan of salvation. I believe that their miracle will be the appearance of Satan. The sign is supposed to be a continual reminder, perhaps visible, of the miracle and the warning. It will be something that people can return to in order to reaffirm their faith. The chastisement is supposed to be a punishment of all people because of the disobedience of a small group. These people must conform before the millennial peace can begin. Does this sound like the 7 Last Plagues to you?
Most of these accounts are third hand. I am told that most of them are reported in a book called the Thunder of Justice , which is a best seller in the Catholic bookstores. The apparitions of Mary have supposedly confirmed John Paul II as the last pope. He, himself, believes that he is the designated recipient of a message from Mary that was given to three girls in Fatima, Spain in the early 1900’s. He believes that he was given a sign when he bent down to see a Fatima medallion on a little girl’s neck when he was shot at, and nearly killed, a number of years ago. Whether he is to be the last pope or not, John Paul II will certainly not live for many more years. He is in rapidly failing health.
These things are certainly not conclusive evidence. The deceptions of Satan never are reliable. However, they seem to be consistent with how Satan might try to distort a Bible truth to his own advantage.
There are hundreds of little things that let us know that the time of Jesus' return is near. Impending shortages in the world water supply; a drastic reduction in the number of amphibians in the wild; wild fluctuations in world weather patterns; the possibility of cloning humans; wildly fluctuating economic indicators; wars, famines and moral decay, etc, etc. The bottom line is that the time is near.
The Great Controversy Scenes of Revelation 12-15.
I will not go into detail here. I have placed a number of studies in Appendix B that are brief explanations of topics such as the significance of the Sabbath, the mark of the beast, the identification of the anti-Christ beast of Revelation 13, and the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan. These studies are relatively brief. For better treatments of these topics I would recommend the booklet called, The Dragon, the Beast, and the Woman, available through Amazing Facts at www.amazingfacts.org. I would also recommend two books by G. Edward Reid, entitled, Even at the Door, and Sunday’s Coming.