Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

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What does the phrase "a time and times and the dividing of time." mean?

 

The Book of Daniel was written in both Aramaic and Hebrew.

The word translated "time" in Daniel 7:25 is the Aramaic word,  "Iddan".

"Iddan" means "year".

 

and times - Without evidence to the contrary we might rightly understand this as two times because two is the simplest plural. An understanding of the Aramaic here confirms that two is intended. In some languages, including Aramaic, there is not only the singular (one) and the plural (many) but also the dual (two). “Times” here is from the dual of the Aramaic "Iddan" and should thus be more correctly “two times.” 

 

and the dividing of time - a half being the simplest division. The total is thus 3 1/2 times.

 

3 1/2 TIMES REPRESENTS 1260 LITERAL YEARS

“a time, two times, and half a time.” R.S.V. 

The majority of ancient and modern interpreters say that the Aramaic word “Iddan,” (translated “time”) means years. It is undoubtedly used this way in Dan 4:16, 23, 25, 32. The Greek version of the Scriptures, the Septuagint, translates the "seven times" of Dan 4:16 as “seven years,” thus 3 1/2 times = 3 1/2 years.

Comparing Rev 12:14 & Rev 12: 6 shows that 3 1/2 times = 1260 days and 1260 days = 42 months (cf. Rev 11:2, 3; 13:5).

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1260 days / 42 months = 30 days per month

30 days X 12 = 360 days in a Biblical prophetic year

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Thus the 3 1/2 ‘years’ are not literal years but ‘years’ of only 360 days each (3 1/2 x 360 = 1260). We might thus call them prophetic years.

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A prophetic year is of course made up of prophetic days and a prophetic day stands for a literal year (Eze 4:6; Num 14:34). See note on Dan 9:25 & Jesus in Matthew 18:22

Thus 3 1/2 times = 1260 days = 1260 years.

 

This period is mentioned 10 times in Scripture:

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1. Daniel 7:25

2. Daniel 9:27 

3. Daniel 12:7 

4. Revelation 11:2 

5. Revelation 11:3

6. Revelation 11:9

7. Revrelation 11: 11 

8. Revelation 12:6

9. Revelation 12:14

10. Revelation 13:5 

 

THE FLOOD

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Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 

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Genesis 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. 

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Genesis 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 

 

• Flood commenced: 17th day of the Second month - Genesis 7:11

• Flood ended: 17th day of Seventh month - Genesis 7:24

• Flood duration: 5 months from start to finish

• Flood was upon the earth for 150 days. 

• 150/5 = 30 days in a month.

• Prophetic year 12 months - 30x12= 360 days

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"Time" is one year  = 360 days

"Times" is two years = 720 days

"The Dividing of Time" is half a year = 180 days

Therefore, "time, times and the dividing of time" is 360 + 720 + 180 = 1260 days

 

 

3 1/2 YEARS END WITH DEATH

This period of 3 1/2 years is seen in other places:

• Christ’s ministry lasted 3 1/2 years (1/2 a prophetic week) and ended with His death.

• The drought lasted 3 1/2 year in Elijah’s days & ended with the death of the prophets of Baal.

• The Apostle’s ministry to the Jews lasted 3 1/2 years from the death of Christ

• At the death of Stephen the gospel went to the Gentiles.

• The ‘ministry ‘of the beast lasted 3 1/2 years and ends with it’s deadly wound.

• Based on the pattern, the little horn’s 3 1/2 years ‘ministry’ ends with it’s death and it did... 

• The 3 1/2 times or 1260 years began in 538AD (See notes on v 24).

• It ended for the Papacy in 1798

 

“In the 6th century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, [Rome] and the bishop of Rome [pope] was declared to be the head over the entire church. PAGANISM had given place to the PAPACY. The dragon had given to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Rev 13:2. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7.” Great Controversy p. 54.

 

From 538AD, the 1260 year supremacy of the papacy reached to 1798.

538AD + 1260 years = 1798.

 

IN 538 THE PAPACY BEGAN ITS 1260 YEARS SUPREMACY WHICH ENDED WITH THE PAPACY BEING ABOLISHED IN 1798

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“The ULTIMATE HUMILIATION of the Church came when Pius VI was driven from Rome by the French armies in 1798.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1989, Vol. 26, p938.

 

“In 1798 he [Berthier]...made his entrance into Rome, ABOLOSHED the PAPAL GOVERNMENT and established a secular one.” The Encyclopedia Americana, 1941 ed.

 

"Berthier advanced to the city by forced marches; summoned the castle of St. Angelo, allowing only four hours for its evacuation by the papal troops; the convicts were set at liberty; the gates of the city secured by the French; the pope, all the cardinals except three, and the whole people of Rome, made prisoners at discretion. . . . Shortly afterwards, Berthier made his triumphal entry into Rome; and a tree of liberty being planted on the capitol, . . . a proclamation was issued, declaring . . . a free and independent republic, under the special protection of the French army. A provisional government was acknowledged, as established by the sovereign people; and every other temporal authority emanating from the pope was suppressed, nor was he any longer to excercise any function." John Adolphus, The History of France, Vol. 2 (London: George Kearsley, 1803), pp. 364, 365.

 

"The object of the French directory was the destruction of the pontifical government, as the irreconcilable enemy of the republic. . . . The aged pope [Pius VI] was summoned to surrender the temporal government; on his refusal, he was dragged from the altar. . . . His rings were torn from his fingers, and finally, after declaring the temporal power ABOLISHED, the victors carried the pope prisoner into Tuscany, whence he never returned." George Trevor, Rome: From the Fall of the Western Empire (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1868), pp. 439, 440.

 

"When, in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued. But the Pope recovered; the peace was soon broken; Berthier entered Rome on 10th February 1798, and proclaimed a Republic. The aged Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison into France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he died . . . [in] August 1799, in the French fortress of Valence, aged 82 years. No wonder that half Europe thought Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope THE PAPACY WAS DEAD." 

Joseph Rickaby, "The Modern Papacy," in Lectures on the History of Religions, Vol. 3, [lecture 24, p. 1] (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1910).

 

“The papacy was EXTINCT: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The eternal city had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was dying a captive in foreign lands; and the decree was announced that no successor would be allowed in his place.” Rome: From the Fall of the Western Empire, George Trevor, p440.

 

FURTHER FACTORS POINTING TO 538A.D.

The decree of Justinian, issued in 533A.D., recognized the pope as “head of all the holy churches.” 

 

( Justinian’s Code, Book 1, title 1. Baronius Annals, A.D.533).

The overwhelming defeat of the Ostrogoths in the seige of Rome, five years later, 538A.D. was a death blow to the independance of the Arian power then ruling Italy, and was therefore a notable date in the development of the papal supremacy. With the period 533-538A.D. then commences the twelve hundred and sixty years of this prophecy which would extend to the period 1793-1798. The year 1793 was the year of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, and the year when the Roman Catholic religion was set aside in France and the worship of Reason established in its stead. As a direct result of the revolt against papal authority in the French Revolution, the French army, under Berthier, entered Rome, and the pope was taken prisoner Feb 10, 1798, dying in exile at Valence, France, the following year. This period 1793-1798A.D. during which this death stroke was inflicted upon the Papacy, fittingly and clearly marks the close of the long prophetic period mentioned in this prophecy. 

These two five year periods occurring before the establishment of papal power and before its wounding give additional support to the years 538 and 1798.

A.D.533-538  -  A.D.1793-1798.

 

In 1689 Drue Cressener (1638-1718) wrote the following incredible prediction about 100 years before its fulfillment:

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“The first appearance of the beast was at Justinian’s recovery of the Western Empire, from which time to about the year 1800 will be about 1260 years...For if the first time of the beast was at Justinians recovery of the city of Rome, then must not it end till a little before the year 1800.”

Drue Cressener, The Judgment of God Upon the Roman Catholic Church, p309, 312]

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