Since this is a book concerning Bible Prophecy, it would probably be a good idea to reveal early in the book how to decipher the many different time variables that are found in the Word of God.    If one does not know what is meant by 1260 days, it will be just a little bit short of next to impossible to interpret the events being defined.   We need to know how to calculate the exact period of time every prophecy of the Bible is conveying because it is these prophecies of time that will validate whether or not our interpretations are correct.  It would probably be a pretty sure bet that you have never discussed this subject at any time during however many years you have attended Sunday school or church.  This is a topic that goes virtually unexplored because Bible Prophecy is thought to be insignificant when compared to other aspects of the Word of God.  This, even though the common figure acknowledged by most people is that almost two thirds of the Bible is prophecy.  If this be the case, shouldn’t we be spending at least one third of our time studying it?  Believe it or not, by the time you finish this book you are going to see and understand why we should have been devoting a lot more time to the study of what our Lord has foretold us.

The Word of God does provide us with a key that can be used to unlock the time duration of all these prophecies.  It is quite simple, and works with every calculation, with only a few slight exceptions.  By slight exceptions we are referring to the out of the ordinary time periods.  A few examples of these would be the prophecies of a “time, times, and the dividing of time,” or prophecy which uses the word season.  Prophecies such as these cannot be solved in the same manner, but that is not to say that they cannot be solved.  In order to solve these the value will have to be determined by other hints and examples found in the Bible.  The answers are there, but it will take prayer and studying and the Holy Spirit to make them known.

However, before we go any further, there is another subject that ties in with and must not be ignored while on the topic of time in prophecy.  There are those that believe we should be using the Hebrew calendar when attempting to compute time periods.  They may be correct as everything in the Bible revolves around the Hebrew calendar which is actually God’s Calendar.  Even the Sign of the Son of Man and the Rapture of His saints are patterned after the Jewish wedding ceremony.  However, it should be pointed out that the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar equalize every 19 years.  The Hebrew calendar month is based on the moon which revolves around the earth once every 29½ days.  This causes the 12 month Hebrew year to be only 354 days.  For this reason 7 times in 19 years an extra month is added to the Jewish year.  Every third year and again on the 19th year an extra month is added at the end of the year.  In a 19 year cycle the Jewish calendar has 12 years with 12 months and 7 years with 13 months.  This practice keeps the seasons in sync so springtime events are performed during spring months and not during the winter months. This also keeps the Hebrew calendar in sync with the Gregorian calendar.  This means that if you are using the Gregorian calendar it is possible for a calculation to be a couple months off depending upon the starting and ending date of the calculation.  This can be further aggravated by the Hebrew New Year being 9 to 10 months after the New Year on the Gregorian calendar.

For the majority of time calculations this is not a problem, but there are a couple of prophecies where this does cause a problem.  However, you are still never going to be more than a year off, and that year you are off will have more to do with the start of the New Year being more than 9 months different than it will because of the length of the year or months being different.

In addition to those that want to calculate everything according to the Hebrew calendar which is not all that different and completely synchronized every 19 years with the Gregorian; we have some that want to be ultra-precise.  These are those that want to take a year and make it more than 365 days because technically there are 365.242199 days in a year.  So if you have a prophecy of 1,335 years, they want to multiply 1,335 x .242199 which equals 323.335 days and add it to the prophecy.  This really isn’t necessary because of the way our Lord quantifies the prophecies.

As you will see in the upcoming Bible Prophecy Time Increment Values chart, Bible Prophecy makes a day equal to a year.  So if a prophecy were to be for 1,335 days, you must take each day and make it equal to one year.  This means our prophecy of 1,335 days is really a prophecy of 1,335 years.  There is no need to multiply .242199 times the number of years and add it to the prophecy because this fraction of time is already accounted for as being a part of each year.  Only years are being counted so you don’t have to account for individual days.  Neither do you have to worry about the 11 days that are missing from September of 1752 when the switch was made from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.  It is difficult enough to understand why you must add one year to prophecies going from BC to AD; why further complicate the process by adding additional calculations when it is totally unnecessary.

One must also consider there is a reasonable chance that some of the BC events archeologists believe they know the date of, may actually be a year or even more off.  When it comes to dates, archeology is not exactly a precise science.  Try to search out the first year of reign of King David.  Better yet, find the year that Israel fled Egypt.  You will find figures that in some cases very more than 200 years, not to mention all the so called archeologists who claim it never happened to begin with!

While reading the balance of this book please take special note of the prophecies that take place totally AD.  You will find they are right on the money; yet these prophecies were written at least 1900 years ago.  Then ask yourself, what are the chances that anyone could not only accurately predict a specific event in general, but then tell you exactly when it would happen.  Most would consider it a miracle for someone to predict one precise event in the distant future by telling you what would be done and who would do it; but to tell you exactly when it would happen is actually another miracle in itself.

However, it is not a miracle to our Lord who knows the end from the beginning just as He told us in the beginning.  For this reason if you find a time calculation that occurred BC, you should take our Lords word for it.  If you don’t already, by the end of this book you will know on whose part the error is!  With that being said, let’s lay out the key to determine the time periods of most prophecies in the Bible and after that we will take on the more exotic ones.

Deciphering Prophecy

All of the prophecies in the Word of God that use specific periods of time such as an hour, day, week, month and year can be solved using a very simple formula or key.  Examples or witnesses as to what this formula is can be found in many different places in the Word of God.  Here are just a few verses that spell it out quite clearly.

Numbers 14:34 (KJV)
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

Ezekiel 4:6 (KJV)
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Both of these verses reveal a clear formula that each “day” is equal to 1 year.  This can also be seen in the story concerning Jacob and Rachel.  Jacob served Laban seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage, but when the seven years were up he was given Leah to wed.  He was then told by Laban to work another seven years for Rachel.  Here is the verse that conveys this:

Genesis 29:27 (KJV)
Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

In this verse a week is demonstrated to be equal to seven years.  Since there are seven days in a week this would make the value of each day to be one year.  This verifies the previous two verses provided since each day is equal to one year.

These examples demonstrate that prophecies of time should be based on a 1 day = 1 year basis.  Prophetic time increments such as hours, weeks, months, and years should be converted to days in order to discover the correct time value.  An example of how this works is that of an hour.  Since an hour is 1/24th of a day and there are 365 days in a year, 24 must be divided into 365 to find its value.  This works out to be a period of 15 days.  Now you know that when our Lord mentions an hour in a prophetic verse, he is referring to a period of 15 days.  By using the day as the key we can solve most of the prophecies of time in the Bible.

There is some debate among people that study Bible Prophecy as to what the time value of a year should be.  There are those that believe it should be the 354 days of the Hebrew calendar, but the Hebrew calendar year is inconsistent in that the amount of days in the year varies depending upon what year it is.  Then there are those that say we should use the Prophetical year of 360 days which is 12 times the 30 day month.  This would be fine except there is one (and only one) prophecy that will not work out correctly when using this value.  It is the only prophecy that uses the increment value of a year.  It is the hour, day, month and a year prophecy of Revelation 9:15 which we will go into later.

The truth of the matter is that except for that prophecy it really doesn’t matter much which value you assign to a year.  This is because of how the Hebrew calendar justifies itself with the Gregorian calendar every 19 years.  Also, when calculating the time in your research you are simply adding years, you are not in any way taking into consideration the number of days in any given year.  Below is a chart that can be used to solve every prophecy in the Bible that uses the time increments listed in the chart.

*Notice there is one value that does not fit the 1 day equals 1 year equation.  It is the One Day Only prophecy increment or any prophecy that directly relates to our Lord is given the value of 1,000 years.  The reason for this is revealed in ll Peter 3:8:

2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
But, 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.

Peter warns us that we are not to be ignorant of this one thing which means it must be a matter of great importance.  This verse in itself should be a wakeup call to all Christians as to the importance of Bible Prophecy.  Just like the rest of the Word of God, Bible Prophecy points us to Jesus Christ.  If prophecy was not important to His people, it would not be in the Word of God, yet you will seldom if ever discuss it in the church you attend.

If one were to interpret this verse literally, it does not stand up to logic.  The reason for this is that our Lord is eternal, so if you try to equate a time value to his existence it cannot be made to stand up mathematically.  In other words, since He is eternal a day cannot have a value of a thousand years or even a million years.  It can only be applied to a length of time in regards to this earthly existence.  So if you are speaking of the Millennial Reign (1000 years) of Jesus Christ it would make sense to call it the Day of the Lord.

However, this verse is speaking to Bible prophecy so it should be taken in a more figurative sense. This can be stated and proven by the verses that use the time variable of a day.  It allows us to solve some prophecies that cannot be made to make any sense unless you take this verse into consideration and make the verses that are speaking of one day only equal to 1000 years.

This equation of a Day being equal to 1000 years should be applied to Hosea 6:2 and Revelation 9:15.  This Day provides us with rather substantial evidence that our Lord has indeed put the earth on a one week time equivalent; 6 days or 6,000 years of unrest followed by 1 day or 1,000 years of rest.  Broken down the 6,000 years would be 4,000 years from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ and 2,000 years from Christ to the start of the Day of the Lord which is the Millennial (1,000 year) reign of Jesus Christ.

Time, and Times, and Half a Time

Next we have the prophecies of a more unusual sort, such as the “time, and times and half a time” as well as the “time, times and the dividing of time.”

Simply stated “time, and times, and half a time” as stated in Revelation 12:14 should be interpreted as “one year, plus two years, plus half a year” for a total of 3½ years.  (1 + 2 + ½ = 3½)  A “time” is given the value of one year and “times” the value of two years.  The original meaning of the “time” refers to a “stated period” or a “set feast.” The amount of time from one set feast to its recurrence, which would be a period of one year.

NOTE: Understanding the words “time” or “times” in addition to the word “seasons” is of utmost importance in understanding Bible Prophecy.  These words have multiple meanings depending upon the circumstances in which they are used.  Their meanings have been and are misused and misunderstood in current day teachings.  When used in reference to a “set feast” they refer to the Feasts of the Lord as revealed in Leviticus 23 and other places in the Old Testament.  These feasts are referred to numerous times in the New Testament, but because there is no word equivalent in the Greek Language the meaning of these “times and seasons” are not understood correctly.  These feasts are God’s (Complete) Master Plan that the church of today does not in the least bit understand.  These Feasts of the Lord will be further explained and explored later in the book.  Their importance CANNOT be overstated.  They are God’s Master Plan of Salvation.  They are multifaceted and are at the heart of Bible prophecy.  They reveal our Lords plan for us as well as the whole world.  They are of extreme importance and yet you will probably never hear your minister, pastor or Sunday school teacher spend a sermon or class dedicated to them.  There is so much to them that they would require much, much more than an hour or two to cover.

Just as the prophetical standard time values are proven by the solutions being known and accurate, so can this time, and times, and half a time.  Its solution is found in chapter 11 and it refers to the amount of time the woman is nourished from the face of the serpent.

The time, and times and the dividing of time of Daniel 7:25 is a little different.  This time variable is taught to mean 3½ years, but if it were exactly the same as the time, and times and half a time our Lord would have worded it the same.  This is much the same error as the 1260 days and 42 months being taught to be 3½ years.  There are more than 1260 days in 42 months, and these prophecies will never be correctly interpreted if you try to interpret them as such.

The “time, and times” interpretation is exactly the same and is to be interpreted as 3 years.  However, the “and the dividing of time” is different, and while it could be interpreted to have a value of ½ time or half a year, it is not necessarily and most likely not the case.  The “dividing of time” would be just what it implies, a fourth year that is divided into a portion that is not exactly defined.  It could be anywhere from 3 years and a day to 3 years and 364 days.  Its meaning would be any period of time that is greater than 3 years but less than 4 years.

The verse where this time variable is used is found in Daniel 7:25 and it is used to indicate the amount of time the little horn, who is the Man of Sin will persecute the saints of the Most High.

Daniel 7:25 (KJV)

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.   

As you will be shown in the chapters to come, this period of time is as precise a description as one could give for the amount of time that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the leader of ISIS and Caliph of Islam, exercised control over the saints of the most high.  This can be said because al-Baghdadi secretly fled his domain sometime in late 2017.  It is believed to have been sometime during the month of October when allied troops were moving in on him.  However, nobody except Baghdadi and a few people around him knows the exact date of his departure, but whatever date it occurred would be the time he lost power over his physical domain as well as the power he had over the saints of the most high.  (That does not mean he is no longer Caliph of Islam, but the land area he once controlled is no longer under his control.)

A (Long / Little) Season 

The duration of time called a Season is a bird of another feather and is beyond a shadow of a doubt the most difficult to make sense of.  What makes it even more difficult is the fact that there are examples that at first glance tend to de-legitimize any logical definition of seasons one might come up with.  That is to say there are examples of a long season being quite long, and there are examples of another long season being substantially shorter.

Joshua 24:7 says that the Israelites dwelt in the wilderness a long season which we know to be a period of 40 years from other Bible passages.  Then in the New Testament Luke 23:8 reports that King Herod was exceedingly glad because he had desired to see Christ for a long season because he had heard many things about him and thought he might be able to see some miracle.

We know that Christ’s ministry did not begin until He was thirty years old, and its duration was about 3½ years.  This means the miracles that King Herod was informed of could not have encompassed more than a 3½ year period of time.  Thus the long season that King Herod had desired to see Christ could not be more than 3½ years and would probably be considered to be even less than that.  The difference between Israel’s long season and King Herod’s long season is a span of 36½ years.  That is a very big difference!  How can this big a discrepancy ever be justified and how could we hope to find a solution to a time value with such broad based possibilities???

Believe it or not the answer was provided to you in the two previous paragraphs.  Hopefully you noticed that both of the long seasons mentioned previously were defined in some other place or in some other way in the Word of God.  With there being so many differing lengths of time being called a season, a long season or little season, it is only logical the actual length of time will have to be revealed in some other place and / or in some other way in scripture.  The answers are there, we just have to seek with diligence to find them.

The key to knowing what is meant by a little season is to understand the definition of the word season.  A season refers to a time appointed by our Lord.  When you look at it in this manner it drastically cuts down the number of possibilities.  This is telling us that the time value to be determined here is going to be one of the smaller time periods that our Lord appointed in the Word of God.  It will not be revealed here, but we will reveal it in the commentary on the Bible chapter in which it was used.  Also, like all things in the Bible, there is another witness that will confirm the correct time value.

Hopefully these contents have answered any questions you may have had regarding the deciphering of time increments used in Bible prophecy.  You are now getting into the chapters and writings where these prophecies of time are used.  Most places where prophecies of time are found should have a good explanation of their meaning and amount of time, but if they do not you can always refer back to this chapter.