Study 8: 12 times | tm91 ~ studies

12 Time Prophecies

INTRODUCTION

There are 12 time prophecies within the 2,300 year prophecy of Daniel 8:14. This study seeks to provide the starting point, the ending point to each of the time prophecies and a brief description.

1) 2,300 years. Starting point: Autumn B.C. 457. Ending point: October 22, 1844.

Daniel 8:14,26

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days (Margin: evening morning); then shall the sanctuary be cleansed...And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

* The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, as completed by the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus , went into effect in the autumn of B. C. 457. From this time 2,300 years extend into October 22, 1844.

2) 490 years. Starting point: Autumn B.C. 457. Ending point: A.D. 34.

Daniel 9:24

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

This period ended in A. D. 34. Then by the stoning of Stephen the Jews finally sealed their rejection of the gospel; the disciples who were scattered abroad by persecution “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4); and shortly after, Saul the persecutor was converted, and became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. {DA 233.3}

3) 483 years. Starting point: Autumn B.C. 457. Ending point: A.D. 27.

Daniel 9:24

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

From this time four hundred and eighty-three years extend to the autumn of A. D. 27. According to the prophecy, this period was to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One. In A. D. 27, Jesus at His baptism received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and soon afterward began His ministry. Then the message was proclaimed. “The time is fulfilled.” {DA 233.1}

4) 3.5 years. Starting point: Autumn A.D. 27. Ending point: A.D. 31.

Daniel 9:27

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week (3.5 years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

In the spring of A. D. 31, Christ the true sacrifice was offered on Calvary. Then the veil of the temple was rent in twain, showing that the sacredness and significance of the sacrificial service had departed. The time had come for the earthly sacrifice and oblation to cease. {DA 233.2}

5) 360 years. Starting point: B.C. 31 Ending point: A.D. 330.

Daniel 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.

The Battle of Actium occurred in B.C. 31 where Octavian emerged as a victor over Mark Antony. By this victory, Octavian (Augustus Caesar) began to be the sole ruler of Rome. This is also the beginning and rise of the Imperial Roman Empire.
A.D. 330 is the year when Emperor Constantine relocated the capital of Rome from Italy to Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, Turkey. This also marks the drastic decline of the Imperial Roman Empire.

6) 1290 years. Starting point: A.D. 508 Ending point: A.D. 1798 February

Daniel 12:11

And from the time that the daily sacrifice (added word by translator) shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

In A.D. 508, King Clovis of the Franks (Modern day France) was baptized into the Catholic religion. Thus, by his profession, Paganism is set aside and Papacy was given power and influence.
General Berthier of France marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 10 February 1798, and, proclaiming a Roman Republic, demanded of the pope the renunciation of his temporal authority. Thus, by the Franks Papacy was given power AND by the French, Papacy was delivered its deadly wound.

7) 1335 years. Starting point: A.D. 508 Ending point: A.D. 1843

Daniel 12:12

Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

I saw that God was in the proclamation of the time in 1843. It was His design to arouse the people and bring them to a testing point, where they should decide for or against the truth. {EW 232}

8) 10 years. Starting point: A.D. 303 Ending point: A.D. 313

Revelation 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: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

The 10 years of persecution also known as the Diocletianic Persecution commenced with the slaying of deacon Romanus.

9) 150 years. Starting point: A.D. 632 Ending point: A.D. 782

Revelation 9:4-5

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

This period commenced at the beginning of Abu Bakr's (1st Islam Caliph) reign. In the same year Mohammed died.
Fall of the Ottoman Empire.—The impact of Moslem Turkey upon Europe after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was as severe as had been the catastrophic conquests of the Moslem Saracens, during the century and a half after the death of Mohammed, upon the Eastern Roman Empire. (Great Controversy Page 691.1 Appendix)
After the death of Mohammed, he was succeeded in the command by Abubeker, A. D. 632, who, as soon as he had fairly established his authority and government, despatched a circular letter to the Arabian tribes, from which the following is an extract: — “‘When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women and children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries. And you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mohammedans or pay tribute.'“It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate; but it was so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, as given by Abubeker to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction, as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man; and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mohammedanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he would say.” (Daniel and the Revelation 1897 edition by Uriah Smith )

10) 150 years. Starting point: July 27, 1299 Ending point: July 27, 1449

Revelation 9:10-11

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon (Margin: A destroyer).

Othman, the first king of Ottoman Empire made his invasion of Nicomedia on July 27, 1299.

11) 391 years & 15 days. Starting point: July 27, 1449 Ending point: August 11, 1840

Revelation 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.

In the year 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire. According to his calculations, this power was to be overthrown “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August;” and only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote: “Allowing the first period, 150 years, to have been exactly fulfilled before Deacozes ascended the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391 years, fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken. And this, I believe, will be found to be the case.”—Josiah Litch, in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, August 1, 1840. {GC 334.4}

12) 3.5 years. Starting point: Nov 5 of 1793 Ending point: Summer of 1797

Revelation 11:9,11

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves...And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

This period commenced at the public burning of the Bible on Nov 5, 1793. This is the beginning of Bible being outlawed by the France National Assembly.
This period ended with the legalizing of the Bible once again in France.

13) 1,260 years. Starting point: A.D. 538 Ending point: A.D. 1798

This prophecy is mentioned 7 times in the following locations: Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, Revelation 11:2, Revelation 11:3, Revelation 12:6, Revelation 12:14, Revelation 13:5. While many Christians have taken a literal time approach to this prophecy, treating it as a 3.5 year period, we can see from the previous examples that 10 out of 10 times, a day for a year principles are applied to the time prophecies within the 2300 year period.

In the year A.D. 538, during the third Council of Orléans, Sunday law legislations were passed and enforced by the Catholic Church. It is also in the same year, the Pope was given their seat at the Vatican by Emperor Justinian after the expulsion of Ostrogoths. This began the long 1,260 years of Papal persecution.

On February 10, 1798, General Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed, and, proclaiming a Roman Republic, demanded of the pope the renunciation of his temporal authority. Upon his refusal, Pius was taken prisoner, and on 20 February was escorted from the Vatican to Siena, and thence to the Certosa near Florence. "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Revelation 13:10.