3. What about the seven years' tribulation?
Nowhere does the Book of Revelation talk about seven years of anything.
However, it does talk about 1260 days—which would only equal three and one half
literal years (3.5 x 360 = 1260).
But then are we seeing two periods of three and one half years? No.
In time prophecy, a "day" equals a year. (Ezekiel
4:6)
Daniel talks about a "little horn" coming out of the Fourth Universal
Empire "beast" which was Rome (Daniel 7:8, 20-26). This little horn persecuted
the saints for 1260 symbolic days from 539 A.D. until CE 1799, when Napoleon broke the
persecuting power of papacy.
In Revelation this little horn is described also as a beast in its own right with
"a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies" for the same period of time (42
"months" x 30 = 1260 symbolic days) (Revelation 13:1-7). The 1260 years are
already fulfilled! There is only one period of three and one half years.
"LITTLE" HORN OF PAPAL HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
GREW OUT OF PAGAN ROMAN EMPIRE
| Babylonian Empire |
| Medo-Persian Empire |
| Grecian Empire |
| Pagan Roman Empire |
Holy Roman Empire
Persecuted Saints for 1260 Years
(539 A.D. to 1799 A.D.) |
In reality, the concept of "seven years" is borrowed from a combined
prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9 concerning the cleansing of the sanctuary and a prophecy
about Jesus Christ's first advent.
The Vision of the Twenty-Three Hundred Days [Years]
Daniel 8:13-16 tells of a vision of "2300 days" which Daniel did not
understand. The angel Gabriel was commissioned to explain it to him, but the chapter ends
with Daniel saying:
"And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and
did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it"
(Daniel 8:27).
Neither Daniel nor his associates were
able to understand this vision. In Daniel the ninth chapter we learn
that Daniel went back to Jeremiah's writings concerning the seventy
years of desolation. He apparently was wondering if, after the seventy
years spent in Babylon, Israel might be restored to its own land.
Daniel’s main interest was in Israel. Gabriel's message left him rather
limp, perhaps believing that the sanctuary of the literal temple would
remain defiled until the end of "2300 days [years]."
Fearing such a long wait, Daniel then prayed to God confessing Israel's sins and
seeking God's mercy. Finally, in Daniel 9:21-27 Gabriel was sent the second time to
explain the vision. The only vision that needed explaining at the moment was the vision of
the "2300 days." The reason it could not be understood was that the angel had
not given a starting date or a closing date. Without some point to measure from, Daniel
had a "2300 days" yardstick, but no point to measure from.
Gabriel then made a second attempt to explain the vision of the "2300 days"
by adding another vision of "70 weeks [of years]" that would be "determined
[literally, are "divided" or "cut off from" the 2300 days] upon thy
people and upon thy holy city" (Daniel 9:24). In other words, Gabriel told Daniel
that four hundred and ninety years would be divided or cut off from the twenty-three
hundred years. Gabriel also provided a time from which to start both the 2300 years and
the 490 years. He said:
"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 (69 weeks): the street shall be built again, and the
wall, even in troublous times" (Daniel 9:25).
The wall was rebuilt in fifty-two days (Nehemiah
6:15) in 454 BCE. To illustrate:
|
<----------------------------------------2300
years--------------------------------------->
|
|
<--483 yrs--> <--7
yrs--> <--------1810 yrs remaining of the 2300 yrs-------->
|
|
< 454 BCE---------------------------------------------------------------------1846
CE > |
You cannot remove seven years from the 2300 years and still have 2300 nor can you
remove seven years from the 490 historical years and still have 490. To take seven years
of history and transplant it into the future is untenable. No explanation is adequate and
none has been given. Darby just did it. There is no prophecy that says the "Great
Tribulation" is seven years. Seven years was stolen from Daniel disannulling history.
After 69 "weeks," Messiah would come,
but he would be "cut off" in death in the middle of the last "week."
(Again, a "day" equals a year.)
So after Jesus' ministry of three and one
half years—in the "midst of the [last] week"—he would make the Temple
sacrifices obsolete...and therefore abominable to God. Still, favor continued another
three and one half years to the Jewish people until the first Gentile convert, Cornelius.
These
seven years of the last "week" were thus fulfilled.
DANIEL'S 70 WEEKS OF FAVOR
TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE
7 "Weeks"
(49 Years) |
62 "Weeks"
(434 Years) |
1 "Week"
(7 Years) |
|
Building Jerusalem |
Waiting |
Messiah |
|
|
69th |
70th |
| Last 1
"Week" |
|
3-1/2 Years |
3-1/2 Years |
^
"Cut off in
midst of week"
|
Therefore, there is no justification
for snatching this last "week" from the seventy weeks by moving it—after a
large gap of time—to the second advent.
