THE BIBLICAL TIMELINE

THE 1335 DAYS OF DANIEL 12:12

In this post we look at the 1335 days of Daniel 12: ¹²Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh (nāga') to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

Scripture translates the word nāga' as touch 92 times and as came 18 times; so we might read Daniel 12:12 as referring to he who touches the 1335 days. This word touch many times results in becoming spiritually clean or unclean; or even dying as in Genesis 26:11 and Exodus 19:12. So we expect something dramatic after the 1335 days—except we still haven't identified the pronoun, he, and what 1335 days Daniel 12:12 refer to.

We might suspect Daniel 12:12 refers to the end of the world. After the elect have waiteth for Christ to return we would consider them Blessed, as they enter heaven. But we must let the Bible tell us who is Blessed according to Corollary 3c: Only Scripture can define its own vocabulary (see June 11).

¹³Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to ever- lasting (Psalms 41:13). And we must let the Bible tell us who he is that waiteth. ¹⁸… therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you (Isaiah 30).

Evidently Christ had to wait. Only in ⁴…the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son… (Galatians 4), to go to the cross and demonstrate payment for sin so that He could have mercy upon you.

The 1335 days of Daniel 12:12 is 3.66 years. From January 21 we know Christ's ministry lasted about 3½ years.  If we ask who the Bible is about, but note that days don't occur in eternity, then Daniel 12:12 would refer to Christ. We can rule out any reference to man on the last day. The 1335 days should give us the date of Christ's Baptism.

We already know from January 12 that Christ's ministry ended at Pente- cost, May 22, 33 (6 Sivan 3793). To make sense of these 1335 days of Daniel 12:12 we can guess the day of Christ's baptism, i.e., when His min- istry began in the fall of 29 A.D. Then we can note the days between our choice and May 22, 33 to see if we get 1335.

Late September/October comes in the 7^th Jewish month of Tishri. Before we can pick a date intelligently we have to understand that God didn't im- pose ceremonial laws on the Israelites just so they'd have something to do. According to Colossians 2:16, every feast day, animal sacrifice, offer- ing and holyday pointed to Christ and a significant event in the N.T:  ¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: ¹⁷Which are a sha- dow (a sign) of things (Christ) to come… 

We find these special days in the book of Numbers. In Numbers 29: ¹…in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trum- pets (not trumpets but ram's horn or shôpār) unto you. 1 Tishri offers one possibility. It is the feast of Jubilee.

On December 21 we saw that the day of atonement falls on the 10^th of Tishri and points to Christ's birth: ⁷And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein (Numbers 29).

We also have the 15^th of Tishri that begins the feast of tabernacles (booths, i.e., the law of God) and points to the Rapture of the elect on the last day: ¹²And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days (Numbers 29).

The language of Exodus 23 shows that the feast of tabernacles (see also Ezra 3:1-7) points to the end of the world: ¹⁶And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Actually Tishri, the 7^th month, doesn't come at the end of the year; but God uses that language to point to the Rapture, when the final harvest (of the elect) has been brought into the new Jeru- salem (Revelation 3:12, 21:2). 

Since the Rapture and feast of tabernacles doesn't point to Christ's bap- tism, nor does the Day of Atonement, and we don't know yet what the O.T.'s 1^st day of Tishri points to in the N.T., the latter option seems the best bet.

We go to our calendar converter and plug in 1 Tishri, 3790 to get,

1 Tishrei 3790 corresponds to 25 September, 29 in Gregorian calendar/ Tuesday

When we go to another web site that calculates the time between dates, i.e, "Duration calculation results," plug in 9/25/29 to 5/21/33 and click the box labeled, "Include end date in calculation (1 day is added)," we get,

From and including: Sunday, September 25, 0029 (Julian calendar)
To and including: Thursday, May 21, 0033 (Julian calendar)
It is 1335 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 3 years, 7 months, 27 days including the end date

So Daniel 12:12 gives us 1335 days for Christ's ministry—500 years be- fore Christ's birth. (Of course our atheist friends argue that Daniel 12:12 was written after A.D. 33.) On the Gregorian timeline May 21, 33 falls on the Saturday before the first Pentecostal Sunday, and September 25, 29 lands on a Tuesday; but since a day remains 24 hours on any calendar, the discrepancy here doesn't matter.

We had good reason for choosing 1 Tishri 3790 and had already deter- mined the date May 21, 33 from Daniel 9:24-27 (see January 12) before consulting Daniel 12:12. So we've proven agreement between those verses.

For anyone who doesn't trust the computation, we can write it out:

      6 days in September of A.D. 29 (inclusive)

    31 days in October of 29

    30 days in November of 29

    31 days in December of 29

1095 = 3 x 365 days in 30, 31, 32

       1 day extra for 32, a leap year

     31 days in January of 33

     28 days in February of 33

     31 days in March of 33 (for a subtotal of 1284 days)

     30 days in April of 33

     21 days in May of 33

 1335 Total

From Christ's baptism to March 31, 33 is 1284 days. If we go to our cal- endar converter, click the radio button, "Show Calendar," and plug in March for year 0033 we see that Palm Sunday began on March 27. Four more days brings up March 31. From September 25, 29 to March 27, 33 (inclusive) totals 1280 (= 1284 – 4) days. Five more days from Palm Sunday to and including Friday and the cross totals 1285 days.

Nisan 10, 3793 began on what we consider Sunday evening, March 27, 33, around 6 P.M., Israeli time. Though Palm Sunday falls on Nisan 9, Mark 11:9-11 connects March 27 (Nisan 9) with Nisan 10: ¹¹And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

The ending of festivities of Palm Sunday and eventide connects to Nisan 10 and the selection of the sacrificial lamb. In Exodus 12, God tells Moses, ³…In the tenth day of this month they shall take…a lamb… (Christ). God commands Moses, ⁶…ye shall keep it (the lamb) up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and… shall kill it in the evening. Christ, as the Passover lamb of Exodus 12:3, went to the cross on Friday, 3793 Nisan 14 (April 1), the same day God commanded Moses in Exodus 12:6 to kill it (the lamb) in the evening. So the Passover points to the crucifixion.

Leviticus 23:15 concerns Pentecost: ¹⁵And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: ¹⁶Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

Adding 50 days (of Leviticus 23:16) to 1285 gives us the 1335 days. If we begin counting 50 days after the Sabbath, i.e., April 2, we get 28 (= 30 – 2) days in April and 22 (= 50 – 28) days in May. So 50 (= 28 + 22) days lands on May 22 (Pentecost), and agrees with Leviticus 23:16.

Seven sabbaths from April 2 totals 4 in April (the 9^th, 16^th, 23^rd 30^th) and 3 (the 7^th, 14^th, 21^st) in May, which puts us on May 21, 33 and totals 7 Sabbaths (4 + 3) in agreement with Leviticus 23:15.

We conclude the baptism of Christ occurred on 25 September 0029, i.e., 1 Tishri 3790.

On January 28 we look at the 1290 days of Daniel 12:11.

THE THREE GREAT TRIBULATIONS

Daniel 12 concerns end times that now interest us. The one exception is Daniel 12:12 that, as we saw on January 26, concerns September 25, 29 to May 22, 33, when the church age began. Now we want to know when it ends.

Recall we have three great tribulations: the first in B.C. 1877, during a worldwide seven year famine (see June 21). Jacob, grandchild of Abra- ham, had to leave the Promised Land and go into Egypt. There he and his family lived in Goshen under the auspices of Joseph, who as grand vizier answered only to Pharaoh. That Jacob had to emigrate in his remaining seventeen years proved a disruption, to say the least. In Genesis 12:7 God had promised Abram the land of Canaan to thy seed. Jacob probably fig- ured, incorrectly, that God had included him.

The second great tribulation ran from B.C. 609 to B.C. 539. In 587 Nebu- chadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and those still alive had to leave Judah as Babylonian slaves. The temple that Babylon destroyed represents the body of Christ, i.e., the precious stones, whom God saves (John 2:21; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Peter 2:5). Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem to create a famine and many Jews starved to death (Lamentations 4:4). He entered the temple and took away the ark; i.e., the word of God, the ten commandments.

Just as Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, Satan during the third great tribulation destroys the churches such that there shall not be left here one stone upon another, (Matthew 24:2). Satan enters the congregations (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4) to pollute the sanctuary of strength (Daniel 11:31) and takes away the daily (God's word in Daniel 8:11 see July 30), to create a famine (Amos 8:11-12) of the Bible.

In calculating the years between the first two great tribulations we look at |-1877 – (-587)| = 1290.

When we search Scripture for any mention of 1290 years we come to Daniel 12: ¹¹ And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. From July 28 we know the word sacrifice does not belong there; and the abomination that maketh deso- late defines Satan. Nebuchadnezzar destroying Jerusalem in B.C. 587 represents Lucifer devastating the congregations during the third great tribulation. So Daniel 12:11 speaks of all three great tribulations with (1290 x n) days (n = 1, 2, 3) between them.

Some readers may object to Daniel 12:11 using days instead of years. Only 1290 years—not days—takes us from B.C. 1877 to 587.

When we read any book we have to follow its rules to understand the context. Genesis 2:4 defines a day so that it can mean a period other than 24 hours: ⁴These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. In Genesis 2:4 the day refers to all seven days of crea- tion. Those who put a twenty-four hour interpretation on day in Genesis 2:4 don't expose Biblical myths or discrepancies as they suppose but rather their own ignorance of a simple literary device, the same one found in Daniel 12:11, where days refer to years.

By defining the word day as other than twenty-four hours God compares and identifies one period via another in the same verse. For example in another book we might read something like, "The day of her working life mirrored the day of her education." Here a simple sentence compares one "day" of a woman's life reflected off the other. The second use of the term "day" may include 12 to 20 formative years while the other may co- ver 30 to 40. That what goes on in her working life tells us what hap- pened in her schooling reveals her as a whole, i.e., the forest for the trees. Scripture uses this same literary device repeatedly.

In 2 Peter 3: ⁸But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Anyone putting a philosophic spin about time on this verse ignores the context and misses the point. As we see on February 4, God here com- pares one period of seven twenty-four-hour days with another defined as a literal seven thousand years.

We can begin understanding this parallelism by comparing such verses as Daniel 12:1, Jeremiah 30:7 and Psalm 24:6. Daniel 12:1 concerns a time of trouble: ¹And at that time shall Michael (Christ) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble (ṣārâ), such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time…

We find the same trouble (in the congregations) defined as Jacob in Jeremiah 30: ⁷Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble (ṣārâ)… Psalm 24:6 shows that Jacob identi- fies with Christ, who is called Jacob: ⁶This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. So the time of trouble (in Daniel 12:1) that speaks of the great tribulation refers to Jacob's trouble in Jeremiah 30:7.

The same pattern of trouble during the great tribulation of Jacob's day exists in B.C. 587 and in the congregations at the end of the church age. This trouble refers to the tribulation in Matthew 24:21; note the similar language: ²¹For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (Matthew 24) compared with there shall be a time of trouble (ṣārâ), such as never was since there was a nation (in Daniel 12:1). Matthew 24:21, written after A.D. 33, can only refer to the ending of the church age and third great tribulation. Therefore Daniel 12:1 refers not only to the trouble of B.C. 587 but to the one prophesized in Matthew 24:21.

Because God uses this literary device to talk to those in Jacob's and Jeremiah's day as well as us in our day, those who think the O.T. is for the Jews only sadly miss out. When Jeremiah tells those in Jerusalem that they must go into Babylon, he tells those in the congregations to abandon them and go into the world. In Jeremiah 21: ⁸…unto this people thou (Jer- emiah) shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.⁹He that abideth in this city (the churches) shall die by the sword (God's law that will condemn them), and by the famine (of God's word), and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans (Babylon, i.e., the world) that besiege you (the secular world ridicules God's word and the true believers; see 1 Corinthi- ans 2:14), he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

With all the above in mind we should expect the 1290 years that took us from 1877 to 587 to take us from B.C. 587 to this third great tribulation, when the church age ends. But -587 + 1290 + 1 = 704 A.D. (We add 1 because there is no year 0 on T2: …-3 -2 -1 1 2 3…). Though Europe was entering the middle ages, nothing that interests us happened in A.D. 704. Islam was rising up and Missionaries had taken the Gospel to China, In- dia, Iraq, Persia, Syria and Arabia, and many other groups, which refute any end to the church age as prophesized in Matthew 24. So now what do we do? I already revealed the solution, but we answer the question more fully on January 31.

THE THIRD GREAT TRIBULATION

From January 28 we have three great tribulations: the first one in B.C. 1877, when Jacob had to leave Canaan (the Promised Land) and go into Egypt (see June 21); the second one in B.C. 587, when the Hebrews had to leave Jerusalem and go into Babylon as slaves; the third great tribula- tion occurred in A.D. ? and church members had to abandon their congre- gations and go into Babylon, i.e., the world (see Contents: Part 1 regard- ing the church age; covered between June 30 and August 6).

On January 28 we looked at Daniel 12: ¹¹And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

We interpreted Daniel 12:11 to mean the interval between the first two great tribulations; i.e., |-1877 – (-587)| = 1290. We then attempted to get to the third great tribulation by adding 1290 years to B.C. 587. But we only got to the year 704 = -587 + 1290 + 1; or |-587 – 704| – 1 = 1290. To arrive anywhere near a plausible year for ending the church age we'd have to add another millennium plus a few hunderd years. So we add 1290 more years; i.e., 704 + 1290  = 1994 or |704 – 1994| = 1290.

Though 1994 makes sense for the third great tribulation and ending of the church age, we can't make that double jump—2 x 1290 instead of just 1290—until we show that Scripture allows it.

In 1 Kings 6: ¹And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

When we consult our Biblical calendar we find that the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt in B.C. 1447. Their rescue from bon- dage represents God's salvation for the elect; i.e., from the slavery to sin: ³⁸I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt (bondage to sin), to give you the land of Canaan (the Promised Land that represents salvation), and to be your God (Leviticus 25). Those not saved do not have Christ as their God; and only Christ can provide salvation. ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14).

We go 480 years from B.C. 1447 and -967 = -1447 + 480; or we can look at |-1447 – (-967)| = 480. Solomon began to build the house of the LORD  in 967. The house of the LORD represents Christ. ¹⁹Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up… ²¹But he spake of the temple of his body (John 2). So we have 480 years from the Exodus (representing salvation; i.e., Christ) to Solomon's temple (Christ). Now if we go 960 (= 2 x 480) years from the temple in B.C. 967, we land on -7 = -967 + 960; or |-967 – (-7)| = 960. B.C. 7 is the year of Christ's birth (see December 21). Since -1447 + (3 x 480) = -7,  the Bible uses x + 2x = 3x to go from 1447 to 7 B.C. 

Jacob entered Egypt in B.C. 1877 and Israel left in B.C. 1447, exactly 430 years later. ⁴¹And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12). If we now go 860 (= 2 x 430) years from B.C 1447, we land on -587 = -1447 + 860; i.e., |-1447 – (-587)| = 860. In B.C. 587 we have the second great tribula- tion and the Jews had to leave Jerusalem. So again the Bible uses the formula, x + 2x = 3x to arrive at a significant date.

In Zechariah 13 we find God dividing up the world into the same formula, 1/3x + 2/3x = x. ⁸And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. ⁹And I will bring the third part (the elect) through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my peo- ple: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (The 1/3^rd and 2/3^rd are symbolic numbers).

So Scripture allows us to go 2 x 1290 years from B.C. 587 to A.D. 1994. From B.C. 1877 to A.D. 1994 is 3870 (= |-1877 – 1994| – 1) years and 3870/3 = 1290.

We wonder what's with A.D. 1994. Recall that the first Jubilee year oc- curred when the Israelites entered Canaan in B.C. 1407; afterwards all others landed on every 50th year. So 1994 is a Jubilee year: -1407 + 3400 + 1 = 1994; or |-1407 – 1994| – 1 = 3400 = 50 x 68.

On a Jubilee year God pours out the Holy Spirit for salvation according to Joel 2: ²⁸And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: ²⁹And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

That 1994 is a Jubilee year alone makes it significant. The liberty pro- claimed every 50^th year in ancient Israel pointed to salvation (see January 19). But verses like Mathew 24:15-16 and Revelation 18:4 instruct us to flee out of the churches. Therefore this liberty must exist only outside of them (see also August 11).

In B.C. 1877, when Jacob went into Egypt, the 7 year famine had begun two years earlier: in Genesis 45 Joseph instructs his brothers to tell their father, Jacob, to come to Egypt, ¹¹And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

The second great tribulation of B.C. 587 lasted 70 years. ¹¹And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation (Jeremiah 25).

From our Biblical calendar we note that this tribulation ended in B.C. 539, when the army of Cyrus slew Belshazzar (Daniel 5:30); therefore, though Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in B.C. 587, this great tri- bulation actually began in B.C. 609 (|-609 – (-539)| = 70) when the army of Pharaoh-nechoh killed Josiah, the last great king of Judah (2 Chron- icles 35:20-24). At first Egypt dominated Jerusalem, then Babylon tri- umphed over Egypt and taxed the Jews. So by B.C. 587 the second great tribulation had already begun 22 years before: |-609 – (-587)| = 22.

Therefore we suspect that, though the Jubilee year of A.D. 1994 has sig- nificance, it no more marks the beginning of the third great tribulation than did the years B.C. 1877 and B.C. 587. On February 2 we look into how long this third tribulation has been going on since the year 1994. We would expect the church age to end at the beginning of this period. Pente- cost pointed to the harvest of first fruits (the saved) brought into the king- dom of God. The first Pentecost ushered in the church age and God saved 3000 souls (Acts 2:41). Therefore we now can make an educated guess as to the day, not the year, when the third great tribulation began.