The Prophecies of Daniel
Part 16: The Last 42 Months (Daniel 12)
We are now sixteen weeks into our studies on the prophecies found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. We have gone further and covered so much more then I ever thought we would when we started this series back in January. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t have even begun to imagine that there was so much information hidden in this text.
Well, today we are in the home stretch. We’ve finally reached the last chapter of the book of Daniel, chapter 12. I hope you had a chance to read this chapter over before this morning. And if you did, I also hope that by now you’ve been starting to think prophetically and have at least a basic interpretation or understanding of what this chapter is telling us about the future.
Chapter 12 is a continuation of the vision Daniel began receiving back in chapter 10. Chapter 10 is the introduction to this vision. In chapter 11 the first half of the chapter covered the immediate future concerning the Persian and Greek Empires. And the last half of the chapter was the prophecy concerning the distant future or the time of the end. It showed us the rise of the Antichrist, where he will come from, how he will gain his power and wealth, what countries would fall under his control, and when he would take over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. All these events will occur during the first 42 months of the seven-year Tribulation period.
In chapter 12 we continue this vision. We pick up where we ended in chapter 11, at the midpoint of the Tribulation period. And chapter 12 then is going to be giving us a more general overview of the last 42 months, which is a time of trouble and distress like this world has never known.
Daniel 12:1
Let’s begin by reading verse 1. Daniel 12:1 (NIV), “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as had not happened from the beginning of the nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone who is found written in the book – will be delivered.”
Okay, there are some interesting things to point out from this verse. The first thing is the phrase “at that time.” At what time? When will Michael arise? Since this is a continuation of the vision from chapters 10 and 11, and chapter 11 ended at 3 ½ years, then this first event of chapter 12 is happening at the midpoint of the Tribulation.
That leads us to the next question, who is this Michael who is a chief prince who protects Daniel’s people? Back in chapter 10:13 Michael was mentioned as coming to the aid of the angel Gabriel who was trying to bring this vision to Daniel. In that verse Michael came to fight the Prince of Persia who was delaying Gabriel from his mission. This Michael is the archangel Michael who is called a chief prince because of his high rank and power.
We are told here that Michael is the archangel who is in charge of protecting the Jewish people. And at the midpoint of the Tribulation he is going to arise. Now what does that mean? What is he going to do? Well, the answer is found in Revelation 12.
Revelation 12:7-9, 13-15, 17, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. [8] But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. [9] The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
[13] When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child [Israel, Jewish people]. [14] The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time [3 ½ years] out of the serpent’s reach.
[17] Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
These are just some of the select verses of this chapter, but the entire 12th chapter of Revelation covers this event which is only mentioned in one verse of Daniel 12.
So, when Daniel says that Michael is going to arise and there is going to be a time of great distress like never before he is referring to this event in Revelation 12. Michael is going to stand up and go to war against Satan and his angels, whose present dwelling place is what we call the second heaven or the air. Ephesians 2:2 (KJV), tells us that Satan is the “prince of the power of the air.”
And at this time Satan and his demons will be cast out of this place of power to the earth. This is when the Antichrist will be indwelled or possessed by the Devil. This is the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s Trouble. This is when the Temple will be desecrated and the abomination or idol set up on the Temple Mount.
Now look at the last sentence of Daniel 12:1. It says, “But at that time your people – everyone who is found written in the book – will be delivered.” The people being referred to here are Daniel’s people, the Jews. So the promise being made here is that at the time that the Devil is cast out of heaven to the earth and takes possession of the Antichrist and turns his rage upon the Jews on earth, they will be delivered or they will escape if they are found written in the book. This is the remnant of faithful Jews that will escape to a place prepared for them in the desert as spoken of in Revelation 12.
Daniel 12:2
Now let’s read verse 2. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and contempt.”
Here is a mention of one of the resurrections of the dead. There are several resurrections mentioned throughout Scriptures, but there is only one time that both the just and the unjust will be resurrected at the same time and this is at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. So we’ve jumped from the middle of the Tribulation period to the end of the Millennium in one verse. Chapter 11 was so detailed about the first 42 months of the Tribulation and we get to chapter 12 and we just have a very brief overview of what happens from Mid-tribulation onward.
Confusing Lengths of Time
But while it sort of brushes over the end of the Tribulation it does give us some very specific lengths of times that have confused prophecy scholars for centuries. Let’s read the final verses of this chapter and I’ll show you what I’ve discovered about these lengths of time.
Daniel 12:5-13, “Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river [Tigris River in Iran/Persia] and one on the opposite bank. [6] One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, ‘How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?’
[7] The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifter his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, ‘It will be for a time, times and half a time [3 ½ years, 1,260 days]. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.’
[8] I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, ‘My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?’
[9] He replied, ‘Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. [10] Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
[11] ‘From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. [12] Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
[13] ‘As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest [die], and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.’”
Time, Times and Half a Time [1,260 days]
There are three lengths of time given in these verses that are very specific. The first is “time, times and half a time” which is 3 ½ years or 1,260. This length of time is referring to the last half of the Tribulation period. This is the time of Jacob’s Trouble, the time that has been allotted to the Antichrist and the Devil to persecute the Jews. This length of time is easy enough to understand because it is explained throughout Scriptures. But the other two lengths of time are more confusing because they are not mentioned anywhere else.
Verse 11 and 12 mention 1,290 days and 1,335 days both starting at the time that the sacrifices are abolished and the abomination is set up in the Temple. We know that this event will occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation, but what we don’t know is what is happening at the end of these lengths of time that is so important that God mentions it here in these verses.
I have studied many prophecy scholars and study Bibles and commentaries and some don’t even make a reference to these days. Some try to explain them, but their explanations are weak and don’t make a whole lot of sense. So trying to understand these lengths of time is very difficult. And before last Monday, I even considered just telling you that I didn’t know what they were referring to. I just didn’t have enough knowledge or understanding to connect the dots. But I know you guys have been praying like crazy for me because I couldn’t believe what I discovered this week pertaining to these lengths of time.
At the Appointed Time
Remember last week when I pointed out the phrase “at the appointed time” to you from Daniel 11:29, 35? That phrase is the Hebrew word moed (mo-ade) which is referring to specific times or season usually in connection with the Jewish feasts which happen in specific season on specific dates every year. It is also connected with the Temple because this is where the celebration of the feasts were centered. It fact the feasts of Israel are called the moedim or the “appointed times.”
Well, because of your prayers the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me that these lengths of time in verses 11 and 12 are connected to appointed times or specific feast days or celebration and what those days are commemorating. In fact there is an entire study that can be done regarding how the feasts are symbols of Christ and how He fulfilled the first four feasts during His first advent on earth and how the last three feasts will be fulfilled in future events. We did this study in Sunday school some years ago. However, the prophetic connection between the feast times and future events goes so much further than what I ever realized.
The Starting Point
But let’s concentrate this morning on these specific lengths of time from Daniel 12. We know that the starting point of these times is the midpoint of the Tribulation when the abomination is set up in the Temple. But we don’t know when the event will take place on the calendar year.
As Daniel 11:29 mentioned last week, it will be at the appointed time, so it will be on a day that is celebrated or commemorated in Israel, but which day is it? If we can figure this out then all we have to do is count ahead 1,290 days or 1,335 days and we should come to another appointed time or special date that could tell us what these lengths of time are all about.
So, the first question is on what special date on the Jewish calendar will the sacrifices be taken away and the abomination set up? (I’ve included a handout with the Jewish months of the year on them for a reference.) There are seven main feast days that were established by God through Moses, but there are also minor feast days and days of commemoration and fasting as well. So, which one is the Temple desecrated on?
The 9th of Av
After some research I found that there is a special date on the Jewish calendar that is not a feast day but a fast day. It is a day they commemorate by fasting because of tragedies that befell their people on this day. It is the 9th of Av.
The entire month of Av is a month of mourning, but the 9th of Av specifically is a day of sorrow for the Jewish people. Consider all that has happened to them on this date throughout history.
The 12 scouts sent out by Moses returned with a bad report of the Promised Land and an entire generation of Israelites were condemned to death because of their unbelief on the 9th of Av.
The last independent Jewish outpost fell to the Romans on the 9th of Av.
King Edward of England expelled all the Jews on the 9th of Av in 1290 AD.
The last of the Jews were expelled from Spain on the 9th of Av in 1492.
The last group of Jews left Vienna in 1670 after expulsion from Austria.
The Turkish government banned all immigration of Russian and Romanian Jews into Palestine in 1882.
But perhaps more significant to us than all of these events is the fact that both the first and second temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on the 9th of Av. So if both of the other two temples were destroyed on the same day wouldn’t it be reasonable to conclude that the next temple will also be desecrated on the 9th of Av also, an appointed time on the Jewish calendar?
Well, I believe that it is very possible that the temple that Elijah and Enoch help to build the first 42 months of the Tribulation period will be desecrated by the Antichrist on the 9th of Av. And if this is true then we have a starting point for our lengths of time in Daniel 12:11 and 12.
1,290 days
So, let’s take the first length of time from verse 11. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.” So we need to count forward 1,290 from the 9th of Av to see what date that would be and what the significance of that date is. Hopefully, then we will known what is happening 1,290 days after the desolation of the Temple.
1,290 days translates to 3 years and 7 months if we use the 360-day year which all of end time prophecy is counted on. So looking at the list of the Jewish months, which I gave you, if we start in the month of Av and count forward 3 years we’re still in the month of Av. Then if you count forward 7 more months, we reach the month of Adar.
The Feast of Purim
Just like the entire month of Av is one of sorrow and mourning, the entire month of Adar is a month of celebration for the Jews in which one of their minor feast days occurs. It is the feast of Purim. If you want to understand the Feast of Purim its story is told in the Old Testament book of Esther. But in general the story of Purim takes place in the Persian Empire with a man named Haman who hates the Jews and plots a way to totally destroy them. But God raises up a young Jewish girl and places her on the throne of the Persian Empire so that she will be able to intercede on behalf of her people.
Esther 9:23-28, “So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. [24] For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. [25] But when the plot came to the king’s attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. [26] (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.)…[27] the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. [28] These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.”
What is interesting about the story of Purim is that the events that lead up to this day are foreshadows of the final half of the Tribulation period. Haman is a perfect picture of the Antichrist. He is the descendant of the Amalekites who were descendants of Esau, Jacob or Israel’s chief foe. In the end times these same descendants of Esau and his uncle Ishmael will be Israel’s chief enemy wanting to destroy them.
Haman was exalted in the Persian kingdom to the point that he wanted people to bow down to him. Only Mordechai the Jew would not do it. In the end times the Antichrist will also exalt himself and command that everyone bow down to him and worship his image, and only those who known and understand the truth will not do it.
The beast of Revelation 13, which represents the antichrist, has seven heads and ten horns, which are ten kings. There were seven princes in the Persian king’s court before Haman is exalted over them. Haman also had ten sons.
Purim is a celebration of the Jews deliverance from the hands of an evil man who wanted to destroy them. What Haman wanted to do to the Jews was done to him. And in the end Jesus will destroy the Antichrist and all of their enemies when He returns on them what they planned to do to the Jews.
So how does this connect with the 1,290 days? Since the 1,290 days ends at the time of the feast of Purim which celebrates the Jews deliverance from a man who wished to destroy them, I believe that 1,290 days after the desecration of the temple by the Antichrist the Jews will once again be delivered from a man who wishes to destroy them.
I believe this 1,290 days marks the complete deliverance of the Jews from all of their enemies. The power of the Antichrist over the Jews will end at 1,260 days but then there is the Battle of Armageddon and the judgment of the beast and the false prophet as well as the binding of Satan for 1000 years and the return of the exiled Jews from around the world.
I think that 30 days after the 1,260 days that marks the end of the tribulation and the reign of the Antichrist, we will see that all these events will be finished. The Jews will be freed from their exile to return to Jerusalem and will look upon their Messiah, Jesus Christ, the One whom they pierced and that is the 1,290 day mark, the time of deliverance, the time to celebrate Purim.
We’re going to stop there this morning. But next week we are going to continue with the same principle and apply it to the 1,335 days of verse 12 as well as the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:13 and 14. Be sure to bring back the list of Jewish months of the year next week also. Then we will wrap up this entire study on the prophecies of the book of Daniel.
Sermon Sources:
Hagee, John. His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Copyright 1999.
The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, King James Version. Edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. AMG Publishers. Chattanooga, TN. Copyright 1991.
The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, New International Version. Edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. AMG Publishers. Chattanooga, TN. Copyright 1996.
The Holy Bible. English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL. Crossway Bibles. Copyright 2002.
Larkin, Rev. Clarence. The Book of Daniel. Clarence Larkin Estate, Glenside, PA. Copyright 1929.
Months of the Jewish Year. www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm March 16, 2008.
Stone, Dr. Perry. The Antichrist Fact File. Two-hour VHS teaching. Copyright 2003. www.perrystone.org.
Stone, Dr. Perry. Breaking the Code of the Feasts. Cleveland, TN. Voice of Evangelism. Copyright 2007.
Stone, Dr. Perry. Daniel:Unlocking the Secrets of the Scroll. Two-hour VHS teaching. Copyright 2007. www.perrystone.org.
Stone, Dr. Perry. Plucking the Eagle’s Wings. Cleveland, TN. Voice of Evangelism. Copyright 2001.
Stone, Dr. Perry. Unleashing the Beast. Book. Cleveland, TN. Pathway Press and the Voice of Evangelism. Copyright 2003.
Strong, James. Abingdon’s Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with the Exclusive Key-Word Comparison. Nashville, TN. Copyright 1980.
www.torah.org/learning/yomtov.html
