Scripture's Calendar

How many days are in a year according to the Scriptures? The answer is found in Genesis 7:11 - 24 and 8:3,4.

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Gen. 7:11).

"And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days" (Gen. 7:24).

"And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat" (Gen. 8:4).

Here is what we have in these verses: The waters were upon the earth for 150 days. According to Genesis 7:11 the flood began in the second month, the seventeenth day of that month; and according to Genesis 8:4 the ark rested the seventh month, the seventeenth day. From the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month is exactly five months; and five months of 30 days each add up to 150 days. According to Genesis 7:24, the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days. Thus, the calendar of Scripture gives us a month of 30 days, a year of 360 days.
It is true that in our day we use a year of 365 º days; but according to Genesis, God determines time by 30 days to the month, 360 days to the year. So in prophetical chronology we use the calendar year of 360 days, and we have learned that God measures prophetic time a day for a year. Therefore, 30 days to a month would apply to 30 years - (7 weeks plus 62 weeks would be 483 years) - and by reckoning from the edict granted by Artaxerxes in 445 B.D. as the starting point of the 69 weeks, and the triumphal entry as the climax of the 69 weeks, we have the 483 years represented by the 69 weeks pointed out in Daniel 9:25, plus 6 to 8 years not accounted for.

So it seems that there is a small gap between the seven weeks and the sixty two weeks, in which there are years not accounted for, just as there is a gap between the sixty - ninth and the seventieth weeks.

One Bible scholar says: "In order to show that in sacred history and prophecy it is no unusual thing to skip years during which God's people are not especially concerned, it may be helpful to look at other dates.

"In 1 Kings 6:1 it is stated that it was in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of Egypt that Solomon began building the temple. If we will take the chronological Bible dates and follow them through from the Exodus to the 4th year of Solomon, we will find it is 611 years, or 131 years more than what is stated in 1 Kings 6:1. But by carefully going through the book of Judges and taking out the years when Israel was under the domination of foreign kings, and adding to it the 20 - year period in 1 Samuel when the ark was out of its accustomed place, we will find that they amount to just exactly 131 years.

In Judges 3:8 we learn that the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.

Judges 3:12 - 14 tells us that they were in servitude to the Moabites for a period of eighteen years.

In Judges 4:2,3 we learn that Israel was in servitude to the Canaanites for twenty years.

In Judges 6:1 they served the Midianites for seven years.

In Judges 10:7,8 they were in servitude to the Philistines for eighteen years.

In Judges 13:1 we read, "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

In 1 Samuel 7:2 the ark was out of its accustomed place.
So it seems evident that the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1 is a sacred cycle in which the years of foreign domination are not counted."

Sir Robert Anderson, a converted English lawyer, worked out the problem in his book called The Coming Prince, and used the date 445 as the one to coincide with the prediction of Daniel 9:25. He shows that according to Jewish reckoning, the 483 years would involve a total of 173,880 days. I quote from his book:

The 1st Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (the edict to rebuild Jerusalem) was 14th March, B.C. 445.

The 10th Nisan in Passion Week (Christ's entry into Jerusalem) was 6th April, A.D. 32.

The intervening period was 476 years and 24 days (the days being reckoned inclusively, as required by the language of the prophecy, and in accordance with the Jewish practice).

But 476 x 365 equals
173,740 days
Add (14th March to 6th April, both inclusive)
24 days
Add for leap years
116 days
Total

173,880 days


And 69 weeks of prophetic/[lunar] years of 360 days
(or 69 x 7 x 360) equals
173,880 days

It may be well to offer here two explanatory remarks. First: in reckoning years from B.C. to A.D., one year must always be omitted; for it is obvious, ex. gr., that from B.C. 1 to A.D. 1 was not TWO years, but one year. B.C. 1 ought to be described as B.C. 0, and it is so reckoned by astronomers.

Regardless of whose calculations we use, there seems to be a year or two difference. We can count on one thing however: The Bible is not wrong and God's calculations are not wrong. Any error that may occur is in profane chronology or could easily be in the time space not counted in God's timetable between the "7 weeks and the 62 weeks." The fact is, however, the difference in time in the calculations we have given is so small as to indicate that the "69 weeks" cover the time between the edict of Artaxerxes in B.C. 445 and the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Then we read, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (Dan. 9:26). We know that shortly after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the little donkey, He was nailed to the cross; He was "cut off."

Now this is the question to which we must find an answer: Is there a time - space between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel's seventy weeks of prophecy? The only place to find the answer is in the textbook of the Christian, the Word of God.

Daniel 9:26 clearly tells us that between the 69th and 70th weeks. Messiah the Prince (the Lord Jesus Christ) should be cut off. That was fulfilled in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus on Golgotha.

In the second place, Daniel 9:26 tells us that Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed: This occurred in 70 A.D. when Titus the Roman overran the city, butchered 5,000,000 Jews and left not one stone upon another.

In the third place, we learn in this verse that after the destruction of the Holy City, there will be a long period of wars and rumors of wars, which period Jesus spoke of as the times of the gentiles: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). We are still in the times of the gentiles and Gentile rulers still dominate world power throughout the earth. It is true that the fig tree (Israel) is budding and putting forth leaves, and by that sign we know that summer is near. Certainly we are living in the closing days of this age of grace - the period of time between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel's prophecy.

The Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 is the key to the interpretation of Daniel 9:26,27. In Matthew 24, the disciples came to Jesus and showed Him the buildings of the temple - tremendous buildings of stone; and Jesus said to them, "Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." This literally happened in 70 A.D. every stone was thrown down and the city was utterly destroyed.

Later, on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Jesus, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

In reply, Jesus gave the disciples a list of things that will take place before His coming again. He warned, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many." This is the age of religious deception.

There will be "wars and rumours of wars." These things must come to pass - "but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. all these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you (the Jews) up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my nameís sake." (We are living in that hour of which Jesus spoke. Jews have been butchered by the millions in the last few years.)

"And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold...and this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:1 - 14 in part).

The "end" is the time when Jesus will return - not FOR the Church in the [Sacrifice]/Rapture, but WITH the Church in the Revelation - to destroy Antichrist. Notice in the very next verse: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains."

Here Jesus specifically names four things: (1) Daniel; (2) the "abomination of desolation"; (3) the temple; (4) Judaea. In other words, Jesus points out a specific place and specific events that will transpire just before all hell breaks out on earth, and these things will occur in the middle of the seventieth week. After three and one - half years of peace, Antichrist will break his covenant with the Jews and make one last, desperate attempt to annihilate Israel from the face of the earth.

The following verses describe the revelation - not the Rapture. Then in verse 32 of the same chapter, Jesus gives the parable of the fig tree - and the fig tree is definitely Judah. (Study Jeremiah 24 in connection with this.) In this parable we are clearly instructed, "So likewise we, when ye shall see all these things, know that (the Revelation) is near, even at the doors."

In the true sense of the word, there are no "signs" of the Rapture; the signs given point to the Revelation - the time when Jesus will come in judgment to make His enemies His footstool. The Rapture is the time when Jesus will come to make up His jewels. At that time He will come as a thief in the night, and in a moment, "in the twinkling of an eye," all believers will be translated to meet the Lord in the clouds in the air. Danielís seventieth week separates the Rapture from the Revelation. The [Sacrifice]/Rapture [of the Church] will take place before the beginning of the reign of Antichrist; the Revelation will come at the close of the reign of Antichrist. There is definitely a time space between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel, and that space has already run through more than 1900 years.

We clearly see from the Scriptures, we have studied in detail that Daniel's seventieth week (as described in Daniel 9:24-27); the Olivet discourse (given by Jesus and recorded in Matthew 24:1-35); and the revelation given to John on the Isle of Patmos (the message contained in the seals, the trumpets and the vials - Rev. 6:1 through 18:24), all cover exactly the same period. This period has to do with the Jews here on earth; it has no reference whatsoever to the Church of the living God. We of the Church will not be here when these events take place; we will be with Jesus at the marriage supper in the sky, being rewarded for our stewardship.

God gave Daniel the blueprint of the seventieth week. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus gave His disciples a much fuller picture of Danielís seventieth week. John the Beloved, in exile, was given a minutely detailed report of Danielís seventieth week, and what Daniel said in one verse, John enlarged to a grand total of thirteen tremendous chapters!

This proves to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible is not the product of man, but that it is God's infallible, verbally inspired Word. There was no need for Daniel to write 13 chapters describing the Great Tribulation period; there was no need for Jesus to give the disciples 13 chapters in Matthew; but in this day and hours there is a drastic need for the preaching of these 13 chapters that describe the judgment which will fall upon this earth immediately following the [Sacrifice]/Rapture of the Church, when the Antichrist will reign supreme and blood will run like water in the streets.

Return to the Daniel Prophecy Homepage