The time prophecies of Daniel

The genealogy of the gap

The idea of a gap in the 70 weeks, or in the period prior to the 1260 days has been nurtured for centuries by scholars who embraced the year-day theory. 1260 days is the duration of the ministry of the two witnesses of Revelation 11, and the period for which the woman in Revelation 12, who represents the church, flees to the wilderness. The idea of a gap prior to the 1260 days was adopted by futurists and incorporated into dispensationalism, whose gap surpasses every historicist gap.

An interpretation that invokes a gap is flawed, as the 1260 days, and the time, times and a half, and related periods signify, not a certain number of earth-years or earth-days, but the whole age of the church, which is the heavenly city, a city not made with hands, and so is spiritual in nature. It remains forever. How could earthly units of days, and months, and years apply to it?

The time, times and a half of Daniel and Revelation and the 1260 days represent the last half of the “week” in which Christ confirms his covenant with his saints, or a portion thereof. The period is one half of “seven times,” and completes the week of Daniel 9:27, the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy. The first half-week of the 70th week is the earthly ministry of Jesus. There can be no “gap” in the 70th week, because Jesus has promised his disciples, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20] He continues his ministry of confirming the covenant throughout the church age.

Misunderstanding the “times and laws,” including the prophetic times is characteristic of the little horn of Daniel 7, which would wear out the saints of the most High. [Daniel 7:25]

The opinions of more than 100 authors on the significance of the prophetic 3 ½ years, 1260 days, and the time, times and a half, are summarized in the table below. The names are ordered by the middle column, which is the size of the “gap” that is invoked in the interpretation; that is, the period of time invoked from 30 AD, taken as the date of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the beginning of the 1260 days of Revelation 12:6 and 14, sometimes interpreted by the year-day theory as 1260 years, and sometimes taken as literal days.