The 1260 Days
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Welcome to this lesson! Let's pray together:
Our Lord,
In our study of the great prophetic periods contained in Your Word, we have now reached
the 1260 days.
We thank You in advance for granting us, once again, the help of Your Holy Spirit, so that
we may understand the meaning of this important prophetic period.
In Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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Daniel 7:8
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn,
a little one, coming up among them.
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In the lesson «The Four Mythical Beasts»,
we studied the vision of four beasts representing the succession of four great kingdoms:
Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire, Greece, and Rome.
Ten horns came out of the fourth beast's head, symbolizing the ten Barbarian tribes which
arose at the end of the reign of the Western Roman Empire.
Finally, a little horn came up among these ten horns.
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Daniel 7:25
The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and
times and half a time.
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The prophecy of Daniel chapter 7 announced that
the little horn's kingdom would last a time, times (meaning two times, as we will see in a
moment), and half a time: in total, 3½ times.
Now, the Aramaic expression «time» («iddam») corresponds
to a year of 360 days. So we have:
A time, that is, 360 days
+ Two times, that is, 720 days
+ Half a time, that is, 180 days
= 3½ times, that is, 1260 days.
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Revelation 12:6
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a
place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty
days.
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Ezekiel 4:6
I have laid on you a day for each year.
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This period of 1260 days, also found in Revelation, shows that the expression «times» really means «two times».
According to the prophetic formula «1 day = 1 year», these 1260 days represent 1260
years.
Now, history teaches us that a power reigned 1260 years, from A.D. 538 to 1798.
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Daniel 7:8,24
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn,
a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out
by the roots. (...)
The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall
subdue three kings.
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History confirms that this power is the papacy, the apostate Church which
reigned throughout the Middle Ages, from 538 to 1798.
The beginning of its reign is closely linked with the fact that it «subdued
three kings».
When and how did this happen?
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Daniel 7:24
The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this
kingdom.
And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones.
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As we have seen in our lessons about the seven trumpets, Rome had to face the
attacks of Barbarian nations, which forced it to take refuge in the eastern part of its
empire, as early as the fourth century A.D.
And while the Western Roman Empire was on the wane, the Church of Rome, which had been
proclaimed the Empire's official religion by the edict of Milan in A.D. 313, was quickly
gaining more and more power and influence.
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Daniel 7:24
The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this
kingdom.
And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall
subdue three kings.
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But three of the ten Barbarian nations still refused to recognize the authority
of the Roman pontiff. These three nations were:
- the Heruli;
- the Vandals,
- and the Ostrogoths.
Those three were Arian nations, that is, denying Jesus' divinity.
So, to succeed in freely dominating all Europe, the Church of Rome had to eliminate these
three nations, just as foretold by prophecy.
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Daniel 7:8
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn,
a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out
by the roots.
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Here is what history reports about these events.
In A.D. 487, 11 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire into the hands of the
Barbarians, Emperor Zeno of the Eastern Roman Empire, who was Catholic, managed to
persuade Theodoric, leader of the Ostrogoths, to invade Italy and drive out the Heruli.
The mission was so successful that the Heruli were annihilated in 493.
Thus was «plucked out» the first of the three horns that stood in the way of the little
horn.
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Daniel 7:8
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn,
a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out
by the roots.
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A few years later, in 527, Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman
Empire.
He was very involved in religious matters, and ruled over these three Christians groups:
- the Arians, who believed that Jesus was basically human;
- the Monophysites, who believed that Jesus was basically divine;
- the Catholics, who believed that Jesus was both divine and human.
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Daniel 7:24
The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this
kingdom.
And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall
subdue three kings.
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As time went by, Justinian joined more and more with the Catholics, to such a
point that, in 533, he issued a decree confirming the Bishop of Rome as the «head of all
the holy churches».
Faithful to his statement, he then made every effort to either convert or eliminate all
those who refused to recognize the sovereign authority of the Roman pontiff.
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Daniel 7:8
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn,
a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out
by the roots.
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Justinian thus launched a «holy» war against the opponents of the Church of
Rome, and dispatched his general Belisarius to attack the Barbarian nations which still
refused to submit.
So, in 534, the second horn was plucked out, when the Vandals were annihilated.
Then, the Ostrogoths, the third horn, admitted defeat when Belisarius drove then out of
Rome in 538.
From then on, nothing stood in the way of the Bishop of Rome as the «head of all the holy
churches», having full supremacy over the nations.
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Daniel 7:25
The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and
times and half a time.
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Revelation 13:5,7
And he was given authority to continue for forty-two
months. (...)
And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
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With the words «a time and times and half a time»,
«forty-two months» (42 x 30 = 1260), or «1260 days», the Bible describes the following 1260 years, from
538 to 1798, as a time marked by terrible persecutions.
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Daniel 7:25
The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and
times and half a time.
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More people were killed by the papacy, during its Middle Ages reign, than by
Hitler during World War II.
In fact, the papacy killed about 50 million people who refused to recognize its authority.
Historian W.E. Lecky wrote: «The Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any
other institution that has ever existed among mankind.» («Rise and Influence of
Rationalism in Europe», vol. 2, p. 32).
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The 1260 years (538-1798) were a period of persecution for the saints.
«"How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders
be?" 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.» (DANIEL
12:6,7)
«[The Gentiles] will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. And I will give
power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
clothed in sackcloth.» (REVELATION 11:2,3)
«Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. (...) And the dragon stood before the
woman (...). Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by
God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.»
(REVELATION 12:1,4,6)
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Daniel 7:25
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall
persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.
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Revelation 13:5,6
He was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God.
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In accordance with the fourth letter, fourth seal, and fourth trumpet, these
1260 years were a time of apostasy and deep spiritual darkness.
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Revelation 12:14
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that
she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and
times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
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While persecution prevailed everywhere in Europe, many groups of Christians,
refusing to recognize the authority of the apostate Church, took refuge in forests and
mountains, to enjoy religious liberty and freely live their faith.
Among them were the Waldensians, the Hussites, the Albigensians, and many others, who
clung to the Bible's teachings.
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Revelation 11:2,3
But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and
do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy
city under foot for forty-two months.
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred
and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
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Although a future lesson will identify the two witnesses, we can already see
that, during the 1260 years of spiritual darkness, the servants of God worked under very
difficult conditions to make God's message known to men.
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Daniel 12:6,7
«How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?»
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.
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How did the reign of the apostate Church of the Middle Ages come to an end?
The spectacular victories of Napoleon in Italy placed the Pope at the mercy of the
revolutionary government of France.
Now, the Church of Rome was regarded as the irreconcilable enemy of the French Republic...
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Revelation 13:5,7,10
And he was given authority to continue for forty-two
months. (...)
And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. (...)
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity.
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In 1798, by order of Napoleon, French general Louis-Alexandre Berthier entered
Rome and took Pope Pius VI prisoner.
The pope died in exile the next year.
When France broke the political power of the papacy, it fulfilled prophecy by putting to
an end the reign of the apostate Church, which lasted exactly 1260 years.
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Revelation 13:3
I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally
wounded, and his deadly wound was healed.
And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
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But, as we will see in a future lesson, the papacy was healed from this
humiliating dismissal.
In fact, after having lost its political power in 1798, the papacy recovered it in 1929
when Mussolini, by the Lateran treaty, restored temporal power to the pope, who was given
rulership over Vatican, a little country within Rome.
And, just as foretold, its influence over the nations has been amazingly growing since the
end of World War II.
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Daniel 7:25,26
The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and
times and half a time.
But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and
destroy it forever.
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Here is an interesting point. Daniel chapter 7
confirms this chronology:
- First, the papacy reigned for 1260 years, from 538 to 1798;
- Then, God's judgment began in 1844 («the court shall
be seated»), at the end of the 2300 days;
- Finally, after its temporary healing in 1929, the papacy's dominion will be
«consumed and destroyed forever».
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Revelation 12:9,13,14
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old,
called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him. (...)
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male Child.
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness
to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the
presence of the serpent.
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Future lessons about the great dragon and the woman will explain in more detail
these events which took place during the 1260 years.
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Revelation 12:14-16
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that
she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and
times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might
cause her to be carried away by the flood.
But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood
which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
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We will also study the historical events explaining exactly how the woman was
saved from the attacks of the great dragon.
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Revelation 12:16,17
But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its
mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her
offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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Finally, we will see how the great dragon, after the failure he experienced
during the 1260 years, will try once again to attack the believers who remain faithful to
the commandments of God and the teachings of Jesus.
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Let's thank God for His help:
Father,
Your prophetic Word has always been fulfilled exactly, and the 1260 days are a resounding
example of this.
We thank You for allowing us to look into Your Word, this valuable source of truth, and we
humbly ask You to continue to guide us through the presence of Your Holy Spirit within us.
In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
The test of Lesson 51 is waiting for you!