1260 Day Prophecy

The Bible predicted that God's true people would be persecuted for a period of 1260 prophetic days. This prophecy foretold that God's church would flee into the wilderness to be kept safe. The 1260 days are also described as "a time and times and half a time" (Revelation 12:14), 42 months (11:2) and or three and a half years. These "days" are to be understood as prophetic days, or actual years according to the "day for a year" principle of prophetic interpretation (see Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:4—6). In Daniel 7, this is the period in which the "little horn" rules. A historicist interpretation of this prophecy places it from A.D. 538 to 1798 during which the apostate church sought to destroy "heretics" who were in fact God's remnant people.

Daniel 7 In Daniel's vision of four beasts that came up from the sea, the fourth was "dreadful and terrible" (Daniel 7:7). Daniel "wished to know the truth about the fourth beast" (v. 19) and the little horn that "was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them" (v. 21). The beast is identified as a kingdom and the horns on the beast as "ten kings" (v. 24). The little horn arises after them and subdues three kings. Then it says, "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time" (v. 25).

A "time" (year) and "times" (two years) and "half a time" (1/2 a year) can be understood as 3 ½ years (or 42 months). Since a prophetic year equals 12 months of 30 prophetic days, this would add up to 1260 prophetic days. In order to clearly understand the meaning of this time frame, we find elsewhere in Scripture the principle of taking a day for a year in prophecy. One application is found in Numbers 14:34. Israel failed to enter the Promised Land because of their lack of faith. Then God told them that for every "day" they spied out the land they would remain in the wilderness for a "year" (40 days = 40 years). And so, the 1260 days can be understood as 1260 years during which the little horn power would persecute God's people.

Revelation 12 The same basic prophecy is described in Revelation 12 when a pure woman, who represents the church, is about to give birth and a dragon waits to devour her child. When her Child (Christ) is "caught up to God and His throne" (v. 5) the woman (church) "fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (v. 6). Later in the chapter the dragon persecutes the woman who "was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent" (v. 14). Here we see the same prophecy repeated in different language. Who is this power led by the dragon (Satan) that goes off to "make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (v. 17)?

The Apostate Church The persecution of God's church first came through pagan Rome. The Bible predicted that apostasy would eventually come from within the church (see Matthew 24:4, 5 and Acts 20:29). As the authority of the local church eroded, the bishop of Rome emerged as the supreme power within Christianity. Under this leadership the Christian church fell even deeper into apostasy. Compromises between paganism and Christianity led to a system of false religion.

When the Roman emperor Justinian declared the bishop of Rome as the head over all the churches, his general (Belisarius) liberated Rome in A.D. 538. Now the bishop could exercise all the powers granted him as the "Holy See." This is the beginning date of the 1260 year prophecy. Soon the church, with the assistance of the state, attempted to force her decrees on all Christians. Many were imprisoned or executed during this time in the name of God. Then, in 1798, 1260 years after A.D. 538, the papacy received a deadly blow (see Revelation 13:3) when Napoleon's army placed the pope at the mercy of the French government. At Napoleon's orders General Berthier entered Rome and put an end to the political rule of the papacy. This marked the end of the 1260 year prophecy.