I appreciate the response I have received about my last article, “The Sequel to the Rapture – Part Two.” My fellow Bible students and scholars…Bereans all… have brought to my attention the prophecy of Daniel 12:11 and how it relates to Daniel 9:27. Daniel 12.11: “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
That means the duration of the Great Tribulation (from the mid-point of the Tribulation when the Antichrist desecrates Israel ’s new temple and stops the sacrifices until the end, when Jesus returns to the earth at the Second Coming) is 1290 days.
So, is the total duration of Daniel’s 70th week (otherwise know as the Tribulation or Jacob’s Trouble) 2520 or 2550 days? Remember, the time starts when the Antichrist confirms the covenant with many, and ends when Jesus returns at the battle of Armageddon. I was under the impression, from Daniel 9:27, that the duration was for 2520 days (2 periods of 3.5 years or 1260 days)…but after much research I have changed my opinion. I am now convinced that the correct duration is for 2550 days. As a Bible student and researcher, I am not immune to making mistakes…everybody does; however, I would like to amend and correct my two previous articles concerning these end-time events and their duration.
There are 1260 days in the first half of the Tribulation and 1290 days in the last half of the Tribulation (or the Great Tribulation), for a total of 2550 days duration. Daniel 12:11 wanted us to know that there would be an extra 30 days in duration that would be added on to the last half of the Great Tribulation.
If, as most Bible scholars agree, the calendar that is used in Daniel’s prophecies is the 360-day (per year) biblical/prophetic calendar (http://www.360calendar.com/), then the apparent discrepancy of 30 days needs to be addressed. The answer is the leap year that is added to the calendar nearly every 6 years. During these leap years, an extra month of 30 days is added for that year. It seems likely that Daniel was giving us a big clue that the last half of the Great Tribulation would occur within the time frame of 1290 days (instead of 1260) because a leap year was involved sometime within those last 3.5 years. This narrows down the timing of when the Antichrist will be revealed.
According to the Calendar Converter, (http://www.360calendar.com/360-days-Calendar-Converter.html, that compares different calendars, the next yearly dates (using the 360 day calendar) for a leap year with 30 extra days added are 2012, 2018, 2024, 2030, and 2034. The 30 extra days need to be calculated within the last part of the seven years and not the first part.
If you believe that the start and mid-point of the Tribulation does not have to occur on Jewish feast days, then that means the 2013-2020 timeline would work out. Jesus would return on the Feast of Trumpets (like most Bible scholars believe) on 9/19/2020. The mid-point of the Tribulation would occur 1290 days earlier on 3-10-2017 (Adair 12). 1260 days earlier from this event would be the start of the Tribulation on 9/28/2013 (Tishri 24). Time is running out for the Antichrist to appear on this date.
The next dates that could feasibly work are from 2014-2021. Jesus would return on the Feast of Trumpets on 9/7/2021. The mid-point would happen on 2/26/2018 (Adar 11); and the start would occur on 9/16/2014 (Elul 21). The next dates would be 2018-2025…Jesus would return on the Feast of Trumpets on 9/23/2025. The Great Tribulation would start 1290 days earlier on 3/14/2022 (Adar 2, 11th day). 1260 days earlier from this event would be the start of the Tribulation and would occur on 10/2/2018 (Tishri 23).
The reason these dates work and the others don’t is because there are 1260 days in the first part of the Tribulation and 1290 days in the second part, due to the leap year happening within these end-time frames.
If you are like me and believe that the start, mid-point, and end of the Tribulation occur on Jewish feast days; the only dates that will work (in this decade) are 2017- 2024. Jesus would return on the Feast of Trumpets on 10/3/2024. The mid-point (start of the Great Tribulation) would occur approximately 1290 days earlier on Passover – 3/28/2021. The start of the Tribulation would occur on the Feast of Tabernacles – 10/5/2017.
The Antichrist will appear on the world scene and make or confirm a covenant or peace treaty with Israel for duration of 7 years. This will happen on the Feast of Tabernacles (some scholars believe Jesus was actually born during a Feast of Tabernacle). At the mid-point of the Tribulation, he will suffer a head wound and die. He will mimic Jesus’ resurrection during the Passover and Feast of First fruits. He will then create a “hell on earth.” He will, however, suffer defeat by the return of Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon during the Feast of Trumpets. He and the false prophet will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire where they will remain forever.
Regarding Daniel 12:12: “Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” If the end of the Great Tribulation does happen on the Feast of Trumpets on 10/3/2024, then 45 days later (the 1335th day) would be the 17th of Chesvan on the Jewish calendar. In Jewish history, this is the date that is given for the beginning of the great flood that destroyed the earth. Maybe these blessed individuals who make it to this date will witness the transformation of the earth to the former pristine environment of the Garden of Eden.
Regardless which dates are correct for Daniel’s 70th week, we know for certain that there is not much time until the Tribulation starts and this world will reap what it has sown. Fortunately for Jesus’ true believers, we will not have to endure the horrors of these Tribulation times because we will be taken out (raptured) of this world by the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15.52: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Your fellow Bible student,
Randy Nettles