BIBLICAL TIME
AND THE
SEVENTY WEEKS
OF DANIEL

360 DEGREES TO A CIRCLE,
AND 360 DAYS TO A YEAR.

12 SECTORS OF 30 DEGREES,
AND 12 MONTHS OF 30 DAYS.

THE SOLAR CYCLES AND LUNAR CYCLES IN THE MATHEMATICAL AND GEOMETRIC PERFECTION OF GOD.


By Gavin Finley MD
- endtimepilgrim.org



1. Introduction
2. Sir Robert
Anderson
3. Nehemiah
and the Edict
of Artaxerxes
4. Biblical Time
5. Lunar Cycles
and the
Hebrew Calendar
6. 'Until Messiah
the Prince'
= 173,880 Days
7. The Gap
between the 69th
and 70th Week.
8. Lunar Cycles
measure out
the 69 Weeks
9. A Future
70th Week
10. A Word of
Exhortation
11. 32 A.D. was
the Year of
the Cross
12. Chart of
the 70th Week
13. Metonic
Cycles and the
70th Week

The player below contains a short ten minute
YouTube video for broadband users. It is entitled

"Biblical (or Prophetic) Time"



The player below contains YouTube video #1 of two videos
presenting Biblical proof that the Prophetic year is 360 days.

"The 360 Day Biblical or Prophetic Year #1."



YouTube video #2 presenting Biblical proof
that the Prophetic year is 360 days.

"The 360 Day Biblical or Prophetic Year #2."


BIBLICAL TIME, (OR PROPHETIC TIME);
IT IS DISPENSED TO US FROM THE THRONE OF GOD.
SO HOW MANY DAYS ARE IN THOSE MONTHS AND YEARS
WE SEE MENTIONED IN HOLY PROPHETIC SCRIPTURE?

#1 In Daniel 12:7 we read
7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river,
when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever,
that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time;
and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered,
all these things shall be finished."
The holy people, God's Elect, (His covenant people), will be disenfranchised, shattered, and without political power. for a time, times, and half a time; or three and a half years. This is the final half of the 70th Week of Daniel, the final 3.5 years of this age. How many days are in those three and a half or 3.5 years?


#2 In Revelation 11:2 the Apostle John was told that the Gentiles, the heathen or goyim,

.... will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months."
How many days are in those 42 months?


#3 In Revelation 12:14 we are told,

"....the woman 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.
How many days are in those three and a half or 3.5 years?


#4 And in Revelation 13:5 the Apostle John was told that the future Antichrist

" .... was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies,
and he was given authority to continue[a] for forty-two months."
So how many days are in those 42 months?

The answers to these questions are very clear and very definite. They are to be found in the following connecting scriptures. Because the Holy Spirit has not finished. He still has more to tell us about the final 3.5 years of this age. Indeed, He has two more verses to show us. And in these next two verses He is going to lay out the exact number of days!


#5 In Revelation 11:3 we see the time set forth for the ministry of the two witnesses. This is the first of our two Bible verses that speak of those latter day 3.5 years of trial and our scripture here tells us plainly and accurately that they will last 1260 days.

3 "And I will give power to my two witnesses,
and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."


#6 In Revelation 12:6 the Apostle John was told what will happen to the "woman", God's covenant people, during the Great Tribulation Period, the final half of the 70th Week of Daniel, those final 7 years of this age before Messiah comes. The 666 economic system of the Beast will be in play during those final 3.5 years. Quite obviously she will be in deadly peril. John saw the woman being threatened by the Dragon, Lucifer. This very drama is laid out in the heavens in the constellations revolving around Polaris, the north star. The lesser sheepfold is being encircled by the constellation of Draco. A similar scene is pictured in the constellation of Andromeda and the story has been told down through time. In the ancient oral legend of Andromeda the woman is threatened by a monster emerging from the sea, even as God's people in the latter days are threatened by a sea of nations raging against them. This is the drama of the Apocalypse. And here we see Hashem, the God of Israel, responding and beginning to come into His end time role as the Deliverer.

6 "Then the woman 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."
It seems that God will be taking care of His covenant people during the Great Tribulation. He will be leading them out "on wings of eagles" just like He did in the former time. The exodus brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, the superpower of that time. Again He will be taking His chosen on a journey, into an adventure, and away from the destructive systems of this world. They will arrive at a place of mystery, a geographical location the Holy Spirit merely identifies as "Bozrah". There they will be nurtured and fed for those 1260 days.

It seems that once again the God of Israel will be stepping into history. At Jerusalem central and out at the ends of the earth He will be performing His wonders before the angelic host and before the watching world. All this will be happening during the very time period of the Great Tribulation. Hashem will be carrying His covenant people across a bridal threshold. He will be carrying His beloved saints on "wings of eagles", even on the wings of a "great eagle". This is the Bozrah Exile. This Bozrah Exile and the Bozrah Deliverance at the end of the 70th Week is more than just a Jewish story. All of the 12 tribes of Israel will be there. And a remnant shall return.

These inspiring Apocalyptic scriptures in Rev. 12 and Micah 2 are almost never addressed by our Bible teachers today. The prophet Micah picks up the story. He describes this epic end time gathering in exile of God's Elect as "Jacob". And in this end-time drama the trickster and dodger of covenant matters is going to meet his brother Esau once again as he journeys. The covenant matters he has tried to avoid will be addressed, once and for all. And Jacob the shyster will become "Israel", "prince with God".

Our Old Testament Bozrah scripture relating to the flight and exile of the woman in Rev. 12 is found in Micah 2:12-13. Here is an article on the subject.

The two verses we see in Revelation 12 up above make up our "Rosetta Stone" for Biblical time.
We shall have more to say on this extraordinary duo of verses further down in this article.

GOD DISPENSES TIME TO US IN BEAUTY AND IN TRUTH
ACCORDING TO THE MATHEMATICS AND THE GEOMETRY OF A CIRCLE.
A 360 DEGREE CIRCLE OF 12 SEGMENTS EACH OF 30 DEGREES
SETS OUT A PERFECT SOLAR SYSTEM AND A PERFECT CALENDAR
ACCORDING TO THE ORDER AND PERFECTION OF A HOLY GOD.

In this article we shall discover that the Holy Spirit in the Bible itself has given us clear and unequivocal answers to all these questions relating to the latter half of the 70th Week of Daniel and indeed the whole of the 70 weeks. The God of Israel, the Ancient of Days, has foreordained the "set times" of Bible prophecy, both past and future. YHVH-God has not left us in the dark or left us with vagaries concerning the chronology of Bible prophecy as important as Daniel's Prophecy of the 70 Weeks. This applies to the future 70th week that will terminate with the second coming of Messiah as well to the past history of the former 69 weeks which terminated with the first coming of Messiah. And the time periods and chronologies pertaining to past and future events in holy history have been plainly written down for our benefit.

Our first teachings about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob demonstrate for us that God is holy. Accordingly we must assume that His Holy Word as it comes to us from His throne is laid out for us in perfect order and beauty. So when God sends information to us regarding time periods related to the unfolding of holy history here on earth we must find out what units of time He is using. As we proceed in this study we shall come to understand that God issues the time period into Bible prophecy the years are not years of 365.24219 days or lunar cycles of 29.530589 days. These are the solar and lunar passages of our present day damaged cosmos. When God issues time to us in terms of years and months He does it according to what the passages of the sun and moon would be in the mechanics of a perfect solar system and conforming to the mathematical and geometric perfection of a perfect circle. We serve a Holy God who does things in perfection. That is the way He is.

This would be a perfect solar system in which the earth revolved around the sun every 360.000000etc. days and the new moon to new moon lunar cycle of the moon would be 30.0000etc. days. This would then set the sun and moon to describe and mark out a perfect circle and a perfect calendar. This, in fact, is what we actually see in our two "Rosetta Stones" for Biblical time. We shall describe these a bit further on in this article.

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel is correctly and successfully laid out only when we reckon the years and months of Bible prophecy in this way. This is how Biblical time comes down to us from the Holy Scripture. Indeed, the 360 day year and the 30 day month is the currency of time we see issued to us from the throne of God. Proof of this is given in the books of Genesis, (for the Biblical/prophetic month), and the book of Revelation, (for the Biblical/prophetic year).

SCRIPTURAL PROOF #1, - THE FLOOD ACCOUNT. A
"ROSETTA STONE" IN GENESIS 7 IDENTIFIES THE
BIBLICAL OR PROPHETIC MONTH AS 30 DAYS.

In Genesis we are told that the flood of Noah began on the 17th day of the 2nd month. -Gen.7:11) On that day the "fountains of the deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened". Exactly five months later on the 17th day of the 7th month "the flood-waters receded and the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat". This five month span of time is stated twice in Genesis to be 150 days. -Gen.7:24 and 8:3)
150 divided by 5 = 30 days.
This is a bit different from what we see in our damaged solar system today. Five of our present months/lunar cycles would be 5 x 29.530 = 147.5 days. But the Genesis account records a span of precisely 150 days. So we must conclude that edicts coming to us from the throne of God up in the third heaven regarding time involve perfect months containing 30.0000000000 days each.

SCRIPTURAL PROOF #2, - THE EXILE OF THE WOMAN
THIS "ROSETTA STONE" IN REVELATION 12 IDENTIFIES
THE BIBLICAL OR PROPHETIC YEAR AS 360 DAYS.

So much for the Biblical month. How about the Biblical year? We are not left to guess about the biblical year. We have a single passage of scripture that tells us straight out how many days there are in three and a half Biblical years. Here is our scripture.
REVELATION 12
5. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6. Then the woman 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.
A eight verses later this same message is restated using different time units.
The exile of the woman is stated in terms of of 'times' (or years) rather than days.
14. But the woman 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.

The Flight to Bozrah during
the Great Tribulation.


Image by Australian photographer Peter Walton.
Click on the image to go to his work.

This scripture passage above speaks of the end time flight into exile of the Woman, (a Biblical picture of God's covenant people). She flies into exile from the face of the Dragon to a place of safety. This will be the most massive airlift of people this world has ever seen. As we saw in the scriptures above, the Apostle John gives us the time period of this epic exile in two verses. The time given is during the final 3.5 years of this age, the time period of the Great Tribulation. See the article on the flight to Bozrah and the Bozrah exile.

John the Beloved in two sentences eight verses apart gives two different descriptions of the flight of the woman and her subsequent exile at a wilderness place of safety and nurturing. In the first instance the time period is stated in terms of days. Then, eight verses later, in the same chapter the Holy Spirit restates the very same story using 'times' (or years) rather than days.

So our "Rosetta stone" for the Biblical year in Revelation 12 identifies 3.5 years as being 1260 days.
1260 divided by 3.5 = 360. So our biblical year is 360 days. This information is essential as we lay out the time-line of the 70 weeks of Daniel.

Surely God did this to inform His people that one 'time' or one year, whenever it is issued to us as a period of years in scripture equals 360 days. A Biblical year is not the 365.24 days we presently observe in our solar system. This 360 day year is the Biblical standard for time which is consistently kept throughout God's Holy Word from Genesis to Revelation.

This is critically important. This understanding of the biblical/perfect year being 360 days and the biblical/perfect cycle of the moon being 12 months of 30 days was the key to Sir Robert Anderson's success in the 19th Century. Sir Isaac Newton, two centuries earlier, had missed this and failed to lay out the time-line of the 69 weeks. Sir Robert Anderson was the first, (that we know of), in our modern era to actually succeed. Using Biblical years of 360 days he was able to unlock the mystery of Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks. He laid out the first 69 weeks of the 70 weeks/sevens. He discovered that there was an amazingly accurate time-line stretching out between the Nisan new moon of Edict of Artaxerxes Longinus in 445 B.C. and Palm Sunday, on the tenth day of the Nisan moon, 5,888 moons later during the passover moon of 32 A.D..

THE 69 WEEKS (OR SEVENS) OF YEARS CONNECT THE EDICT OF ARTAXERXES IN 445 B.C. WITH PALM SUNDAY, 32 A.D.
THE TIME-LINE FITS ACCURATELY FOR 69 x 7 = 483 YEARS RECKONED AS 360 DAYS.

The first 69 weeks of years is a time period of
69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days.
This was the number of days used by Sir Robert Anderson to successfully lay out the timeline between the edict of Nehemiah 2 and the Palm Sunday political appearance of Christ as "Messiah the Prince". Knowing that we have a God of order and complete integrity we can be certain that He is consistent in all that He does. So the calendar God uses to count the days of the the final half of the 70th week will be precisely the same as the calendar He uses to count out the days of the 69 weeks that preceded it. All of the seventy weeks of Daniel will be reckoned in terms of 360 day years. The biblical time-line will be issued to us using a 360.0000000 day year and a 30.0000000 day month. We serve a God of perfect order. And He is not one to change His mind about how He does things in mid-stream.

It seems that in holy writ

one year = 360 days and
one month = 30 days.

As the saying goes;

God said it.
I believe it.
That settles it!

THE BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW IS DIFFICULT FOR US TO GRASP.
IT CLASHES WITH OUR NATURAL WORLD VIEW, THE COSMOS WE
SEE AROUND US AND THE THE HUMAN VOICES WE HEAR IN OUR EARS.

Being earthbound creatures we find it difficult to think this way. That 360 day/30 day reckoning of years and months does not fit what we see of our present solar system. The earthly orbit around the sun and our present lunar cycle is not a circle of 360 days. The orbit takes 365.2422 days and it is not a circle but rather an ellipse. But the final half of the 70th week as given to us in the Book of Revelation is quite clear. 3.5 years = 42 months = 1260 days. So we must conclude that as issued from the God's throne the standard is as follows.

One year = 360 days = 12 months.
And each month is a time period of precisely 30 days.
The biblical or prophetic year is made up of twelve 30 day months.

So the biblical year does not match our present cosmos. It is not 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.51 seconds.
It is not 365.2422 days.
It is precisely 360 days.
This matches perfectly the 360 degrees of a circle. -->
If the orbit of the earth around the sun were a perfect circle, (it is actually an ellipse), then the passage of the earth through space would neatly and perfectly mark out exactly one degree each day. Such an ideal would be the perfect holy solar system of God.

HOLY, BIBLICAL, OR PROPHETIC TIME VS. THE TIME WE SEE IN THE NATURAL ORDER.
OR IN OTHER WORDS THINKING IN TERMS OF A BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW >br> INSTEAD OF THINKING MERELY IN TERMS OF THE OBSERVED NATURAL ORDER.

With the Bible as our source we do something very unnatural. We go with what the Holy Scriptures say. We discount the current solar and lunar cycles and go with what the Bible says. The scripture record gives us our foundation. We do not need to wander off into gnostic mystical reveries, allegories, or occultism or other medieval manipulations. As we have seen we have six direct scriptural references to the final 3.5 years of this age. They are found in the books of Daniel and Revelation. These six scriptures show us precisely how the final week/heptad/7 years is reckoned by God Himself. All we need to do is to close our eyes to what we see in the present natural order and cosmos and follow along with what God has said. Let us put our hand in His hand and go with the Bible says on the matter.

Is this difficult? For those of us who are of a naturalistic bent and who grew up in the scientific disciplines it is actually quite difficult. It was difficult for Sir Isaac Newton. But here was a man who not only studied the heavens and laid out the mathematics of the laws of motion and gravity but a man who wrote 1.5 million words on the subject of the Bible and Bible prophecy. Evangelical Scotland Yard Inspector Sir Robert Anderson was more successful. Using 360 day years he was able to make the jump to Biblical time. And our inspector was the one who cracked the case of the Seventy Weeks prophecy. See this article.

APPLYING BIBLICAL/PROPHETIC TIME
TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY OF THE 70 WEEKS

So here we are with Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. It is a period of 70 x 7 = 490 years. But 490 years of how many days? Which measuring rod of time do we use? Do we use our current earthly measuring rod of 365.2422 days? The Bible uses a measuring rod of 360 days for the biblical year. So which one do we go with? Both cannot be true where the seventy weeks is concerned.

This is where we must close our eyes here and go with God. And as we shut off the things of this world and this damaged cosmos, in our minds eye we can begin to see a beautifully choreographed solar system tracing out its cycles in a perfect universe. We would see the earth circle around the sun in a precise orbit of 360.00000000 days. As we would look closer we would see a moon tracing out a perfect lunar month with a new moon to new moon interval of precisely 30.00000000 days. The moon would trace this out 12 times a year for the perfect number of 12.00000000 months. The full moon would arrive faithfully at the spring equinox every year. Every year that first Hebrew month of Nisan would start the year for a perfect calendar of 12 months each comprising 30 days.

OK. Now we can now open up our eyes.
This idealized vision of a perfect solar system is the biblical year. In scripture a year comprises 360 days.

A week or heptad, (like a decade but containing seven years).
would be 7 x 360 days = 2520 days.

A "time, times and half a time (Dan.12:7) is half a heptad or half a "week" or 3.5 years.
Half a "week" would be 7/2 = 3.5 years x 360 days = 1260 days
Half a "week" would be 3.5 x 12 = 42 months each of 30 days = 1260 days.

This, dear saints, is not esoteric or arcane. The arithmetic here is quite straightforward and simple.
As we have seen, these well known numbers, 1260 days, and 42 weeks are found in Daniel 12 and in Revelation 11, 12 and 13. These days have been well marked out for us. We have no excuse for missing the message here as the Pharisees did in 32 A.D.. Our God has a precise time-line in which He will wrap up His business for this present age. The age of human gentile government under the four horsemen will come to an end in the Apocalypse.

God is sincere about bringing down tyrants and restoring this creation. This present world and this ecosystem is in a mess. Human government is only making it worse. This mis-ruled, war-torn, sin-sick, starving, polluted world desperately needs the coming of Messiah. During some future fall season of the year the trumpets begin to sound. And the 70th week of Daniel will open up. The final seven years of God's determined dealings with His Judeo-Christian people will have just begun.

Having established our yardstick for holy time according to the denominations of time God dispenses from His throne up in the third heaven we can now proceed on to the next article in our study of Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks.

MEASURING THE TIMELINE OF THE 69 'WEEKS' OR 69 'SEVENS'
OF YEARS. JOB #1 IS TO DETERMINE THE PRECISE NUMBER
OF DAYS IN EACH 'YEAR'OF THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL.

As we have seen in our previous discussions the seventy weeks, (or sevens), of Daniel are made up of seventy "sevens" of years or 490 years. These 490 'years' are 490 parcels of time. Now for that all important question. How many days are in each of these 'years'?

Let us not immediately assume that these 'years' are earthly years of 365.2422 days. This is where many have gone wrong in their calculations of the 70 weeks of Daniel. Remember that these 'seventy weeks (sevens) of years' are issued to us from the throne of God.

Fortunately we are not left to guess or to argue about this. We have an authoritative, scriptural, and well founded answer to that all important question. This is undoubtedly what Sir Robert Anderson noticed as he studied and read his Bible.

Tucked away in the book of Revelation there is a "Rosetta Stone" for biblical or prophetic time. It is given to us in the context of that very important prophecy of 'the woman and the dragon'. This prophecy concerns of the final 3.5 years of this age. The length of this very important time period and also the purpose for this time period is given to us twice in Revelation chapter 12. This passage of scripture gives us the timespan of the exile and nurturing, (or feeding), of 'the woman'. This wonderful information was brought to Daniel, (and us), by the angel of God's Word, the angel Gabriel. In verse 6 the time period for the exile and nurturing of the woman, a picture of God's Elect, is given to us in terms of days. And in verse 14 the very same time period is given to us in terms of 'times' or years. This is our 'Rosetta stone' for calibrating the biblical year. It is essential that we have the number of days in a Biblical year nailed down as we seek to calculate and lay out the proper number of days in the 70 Weeks of Daniel.

Revelation chapter 12 provides us with some very important information in determining the Biblical or prophetic year. The tracail of the woman, God's covenant people, is a time period of the last half of the 70th week of Daniel. This is the final 3.5 years of this age. It involves the exile and spiritual nurturing of the people of God. The period of time is given as 1260 days and also as 3.5 years.

Revelation 12 includes John's vision of the dragon and the woman. The 'woman' here is a picture of God's covenant people. John saw the woman being threatened by the Dragon. God is not going to abandon her in her time of great tribulation and travail. The man-child will be born. And He will deliver the woman from the face of the dragon.

How does He help her during the regime of the 666 phase Antichrist? This is an untold story. He gives her the wings of a great eagle. She is airlifted, possibly by the good graces of some country, (or countries), with an eagle in their heraldry. 'The woman' then flies off to a place of safety where she is fed/nurtured/taken care of for 1260 days/3.5 years.

Here then is our 'Rosetta stone" for the Biblical year. It is one of two keys to nailing down the Holy Biblical Time YHVH-God dispenses to the prophets and into Holy Scripture from His throne. The time-span of the exile of the woman, (which coincides with the Great Tribulation,) has been given to us twice in this passage of scripture in Revelation 12 The time span is given to us twice in precise units of time. This is a remarkable prophecy. The information God is giving us here allows us to calibrate the Biblical or prophetic year. The time is dispensed to us in terms of days as well as in terms of years. Here in Revelation 12 we have in effect a "Rosetta Stone" for biblical time.

So what is so wonderful about this? Well here is the good news. We can now know for an absolute certainty just how many days are in each 'year' of all 70 of the 70 'weeks' or 70 'sevens' of Daniel. Here are the details.

The time span for the final half of the 70th week is issued to us twice. In verse 6 the Holy Spirit tells us that the woman is nurtured/taken care of/fed for a period of 1260 days. And eight verses later, in Revelation 12:14 He gives us the same timespan, the nurturing of the woman, as time, times and half a time, or 3.5 years. These are those all important Biblical years that we are seeking to measure out as we do our calculations and lay out Daniel's 70 Weeks Prophecy. Here then is our scripture.

REVELATION 12
6 Then the woman 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.
Now, let us look down 8 verses in the same chapter.
Lo and behold, what do we see?
REVELATION 12
14 But the woman 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.
Verse 14 is a restatement by the Holy Spirit of the very same reassuring information. But this time He issues the time to us using a different unit of time. A 'time' in scripture is a year. The Holy Spirit tells us that the woman is 'nurtured' or 'taken care of' for a "time, times, and half a time" or 3.5 years.

This is some exceedingly helpful information! Now. If we divide these 1260 days by the 3.5 biblical years we get a biblical or prophetic year of precisely 360 days.

This is very important. It shows us without a shadow of a doubt that in that last 'week' or 'seven years' of the 70 weeks of Daniel God is issuing His holy biblical or prophetic 'year' as a 'year' made up of exactly 360 days. So much for the length of the biblical or prophetic year as we see it outlined in scripture for the last 3.5 years of the 70th week. Each year of the final seven years of this age as reckoned by God isa year of 360 days. It is not the solar year of 365.2422 days we see down here in this damaged imperfect cosmos. God's has spoken His Word on the matter even as he gives us two renditions of the same time period for the final half of the 70th Week using two different time units. And this vital data has been written into Holy Scripture for us. So there should be no question about it. We must leave our naturalistic preoccupations with the solar and lunar cycles in our cosmos here below. And we must go with God. ALL of the 70 weeks of Daniel should be reckoned as years of 360 days.

DETERMINING THE FIRST 69 WEEKS
OF THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL

Now we can turn our attention to laying out the time-line of the 69 weeks. Since we have a God who does things in perfect order and beauty we can be absolutely certain that God is totally consistent in His reckoning of all of the 70 weeks/sevens of years. As we have seen, God measures out the last half of the final 70th week in terms of years made up of of 360 days. So we can be absolutely certain that God is perfectly consistent in everything He does. So we can be sure that the previous 69 weeks of years in the 70 Week prophecy are also years of 360 days.

So we can discount all the chronologies men have put forward for the 70 Week prophecy that are calculated on the basis of solar years of 365.2422 days. Every single one of them will be wrong. This is where Sir Isaac Newton was sidelined as he attempted to calculate the 70 Weeks Prophecy back in the late 1600's.

So what can we conclude here? It seems that God reckons time according to the ideal of a holy and perfect solar system. In such a solar system the planet earth would orbit around the sun in perfect circle and each cycle would last 360.0000000 days. In this perfect ideal solar system the moon circles around the earth in perfect holy months of 30.0000000 days and finishes the 12 revolutions precisely as the earth finishes its revolution around the sun. Each of the four seasons would be 90.000000 days.

So here is what we have established so far. Any reckoning of the 70 Weeks of Daniel must be calculated on the basis of a 360 day Biblical year. Chronologies which do not follow this perfect pattern will end nowhere. They are not going to lay out a time-line connecting two auspicious days in holy history. They will terminate in no-man's land on calendar dates which are famous for nothing. Their calculations will be flawed from the start.

MANY HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH BIBLICAL TIME,
ESPECIALLY OF YEARS MADE UP OF 360 DAYS.

But, some will say, this reckoning of 360 days to a year does not agree with the earthly things we see around us? We have measured the solar year from Stonehenge. We have done our work here below with precision. And we see a year of 365.2422 days. And right now we see a lunar month of 29.530589 days.

This is a stumbling block for those without a Biblical world view.
The author, schooled in the sciences struggled with this matter of the Biblical year for years. So did Sir Isaac Newton. Our rationalism and naturalism, which currently dominates science is a bondage to our minds. We have trouble believing and accepting the revealed Word of God in the Bible. This is because we have been Hellenized by our passage through the Greek culture and so down in our hearts we have a humanistic naturalistic earthbound mindset.

But God has spoken in His Word. He has given us a time-line of 69 weeks or sevens of years. We have to lay it out in history across nearly five centuries. Here is where we must decide. Do we measure out our Biblical time-lines with solar years and lunar months based on what we measure in the damaged and imperfect cosmos we see today? Or do we go with the measuring stick for prophetic time God has given to us in Holy Scripture? In laying out our time line for the 69 weeks do we use the solar year our own human eyes see? Or do we use the year God has shown us that He Himself is using for the latter half of that final 70th week? In short, do we insist on using terrestrial time? Or do we use the sacred heavenly time God has dispenses to us based on His divine currency of time?

Presented in this way the answer for an evangelical would seem obvious. But it is surprising how many liberal scholars find this to be a real stumbling block. Their earthy scientifically correct view of the year seems to be all that they can see. The Biblical reckoning of time, (a year = 360 days), is a leap of faith. It is too much of a stretch for them. It is very hard for earthly minded people to make the jump. What is going on here?

This may in fact be what God has planned all along. This may be just another instance of how God guards His Word. Those who are meant to know will find out. Others will not.

Why should it be this way? For committed Christians the answer is obvious. God's people are His agents. We are in a spiritual war. Like all wars it is an information war. This information on the 70 Weeks of Daniel involves the end-time. The saints will need this information in times to come. But the less the enemy and his agents know about all this the better.

Think of it. God's Word has been hidden for a long time now. But as we come towards the end-time this information will be unsealed. God will make His message available to His saints. He speaks to them in Biblical and devotional code. The Bible and the Holy Spirit work together to convey confidential messages. Christian believers who are in blood covenant devotion to God will understand. They will "get it". Daniel was told to "seal up the prophecy until the time of the end. For many shall run to and fro and knowledge will increase". (Dan.12:9) He was also told that "the wise would understand." (Dan.12:10)

So there is a reason for this information on Bible prophecy to be "sealed up". God is getting His message out to His people when they need it, and especially as they approach the end time. He is also preventing His Word from getting into the hands of the wrong people. As they come up to the threshold of the end time drama the prophecies in Daniel will be unsealed. The secular and profane religious powers, as usual, will throw up a wall of disinformation. But the true and correct prophetic information will have been unsealed and opened up to the saints. This is just as Daniel has prophesied in Daniel 12.
 


On to Section 5
The LUNAR CYCLES and the HEBREW CALENDAR.

Back to Section 3
of Daniel's Prophecy of the 70 Weeks.
The EDICT of ARTAXERXES
GIVEN TO NEHEMIAH in 445 B.C.
in the HEBREW MONTH of NISAN





Some more devotional articles on apocalyptic Biblical themes for the enquiring Christian.