70th WEEK OF DANIEL
Power was given unto him [the beast] to continue forty and two months. -Rev. 13:5
. . . for a time, and times, and half a time . . . -Rev. 12:14
It is a fact, open to all who read, that the Book of Revelation presents a definite chronology of the period of pre-Kingdom judgments; and this is based on a single unit of measurement stated variously as 1260 days (Rev. 11:3; Rev. 12:6), 42 months (Rev. 11:2; Rev. 13:5), and 3 1/2 times (Rev. 12:14), i.e., years (see Vincent, Thayer, Flengstenberg, et al). While it is true that certain numbers in the Book of Revelation may sometimes be employed in a symbolic sense (cf. the "seven Spirits" of Rev. 4:5), it would be hard to find any such meaning in the number 1260. That the figures here are intended to be understood literally seems clear from the fact that evidently the same period of persecution in Revelation has been designated in terms of days (Rev. 12:6), months (Rev. 13:5), and years (Rev. 12:14). This one fact completely nullifies the year-day theory of prophetic interpretation. For the 1260 days here equal 42 months or 3 1/2 years, and therefore certainly not 1260 years.
Furthermore, if we examine the context of Rev. 11-13, we shall find not only one, but two periods to which this same unit of measure is applied. The first is the period of the two witnesses in conflict with the beast, stated as 1260 days, ending with their death at his hands (Rev. 11:3, 7). A second period follows in which the beast, having now put down all opposition and reached the place of world power, is given "forty and two months" to continue his reign (Rev. 13:4-8). Adding together these two periods of the same length respectively, obviously the total time equals exactly seven prophetic years of 360 days each.
The terminus of this total period of seven years is marked beyond dispute in the Book of Revelation. Since the last half of the seven-year period measures the career of the beast as an absolute world ruler, the end must be found in his defeat and doom at the glorious coming of Christ as described in Revelation 19:11-21. The beginning of the seven-year period is not so clearly marked. But since in the Apocalypse this seven-year period is prominently concerned with the total public career of the beast (as also in Daniel 9:27), it is a reasonable assumption that the beginning is marked by the going forth of the rider on the white horse under the first seal (Rev. 6:1-2). Thus the chronological picture of pre-Kingdom judgment presents a well-articulated and appropriate whole. Upon a world that has rejected the true Messianic King at His first coming, God will loose a false messianic ruler (the "strong delusion" of 2 Thess. 2:9-11), who rises to world power in the space of three-and a-half years and who will wield his terrible power during a subsequent period of the same length. At the end of the total period of seven years, the false messiah will be defeated and destroyed by the second coming of the true Messianic King.
The facts stated above are in perfect harmony with Daniel's great prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. In Rev. 9 a future "prince" out of the Roman Empire (Rev. 9:26b) makes a "firm covenant" with Daniel's people for a period of "one week", i.e., one period of seven years (Rev. 9:27, ASV). In the midst of this period he breaks with the people of Israel, stops their sacrificial system, and inaugurates a time of persecution lasting to the end of the week, obviously three and a half years. The same persecutor, the same persecuted people, and the same period of persecution, are referred to in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:5-7; with which compare Daniel 12:1, 7.
The literality of these time measures is now grounded in history. It is generally agreed by devout students of Biblical prophecy that the first sixty-nine "weeks" of Daniel's prophecy are "sevens" of years, and that they have been literally fulfilled by the first coming of Christ (Dan. 9:25). But if the first sixty-nine sevens of years are literal years, then so also must be the last seven of years. That this last seven lies prophetically in the future has been established by the testimony of Christ Himself. The argument is as follows: both Daniel and our Lord spoke of something called "the abomination of desolation." Whatever this thing may be, it is certain that Daniel located it within the last "week" of his great prophecy (Dan. 9:27 with Dan. 12:11). It is equally certain that Christ placed it at "the end" of the present age in connection with the terrible "tribulation" immediately preceding His second coming in glory (Matt. 24:15, 21, 29, and 30). Therefore, since our Lord has not yet come in glory, Daniel's final "week" of years must lie in the future. This is Christ's own interpretation, and should settle the matter. It also harmonizes perfectly with the New Testament doctrine of the Church, because in this view her career on earth must be placed between Daniel's sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, an area for which there is no recorded chronology.
The tremendous events envisioned in and following the last week of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 9:25,27), and subsequently developed more largely in Revelation 6-20, have never been certainly identified in any area of human history. This is evident from the utter confusion and disagreement among those who have tried to do so. Invariably, also, the chronology has to be forced into the mold of the year-day theory, and the events of history always fail to measure up to the predictions. If the rout of pagan hosts before the military forces of Constantine (Elliott), or the invasion of Rome by the Goths and Vandals (Barnes), can be called The Great Day of God's Wrath (under the sixth Seal, Rev. 6:17), then sinners can have nothing much to fear at the prospect of divine judgment.
It is sometimes argued that a period of only seven years is altogether too short to compass all the world-shaking convulsions of the end-time as set forth in Revelation 6-19. To this it may be answered that the very brevity of the time is proof of the mercy and grace of God. Speaking of these very days of the "great tribulation," our Lord said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:21-22). And the elect here are those of the nation of Israel, for whom this will be the "time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7), and of whom God had spoken through Isaiah: "In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer" (Isa. 54:8, ASV).
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