You know the time– the 1290 and 1335 day/years and the “Peace and Security” Herald
“You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime… put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13)
We have entered that 10-year period between 2024–2034 which we highlighted on our very first visit to PNG back in 2011 in our Daniel studies. It is a time frame during which several time periods seem to coalesce. Towards this we have been labouring, in the hope of being numbered at last among those at Christ’s coming who belong to him. In entering this timeframe, we have been met with extraordinary events. We have been asked to review some of those time periods in God’s prophecy through Daniel in the light of current world events with respect to Russia, Europe, the so-called United States of America, the Middle East, and especially Israel.
In concluding the last great vision, Daniel, the beloved prophet, was told, “The words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at (or labours for) the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.” (Daniel 12:9-13).
These time periods are set in the context of the parable of the Maccabees summed up in Daniel 11:34 - 35 as bro. Thomas states in Exposition of Daniel:
“Thus were ‘they holpen with a little help’ from heaven, and their struggle for independence crowned with success. Yet in that struggle ‘many’ did ‘cleave to them with flatteries,’ trial was therefore necessary that the approved might be manifested to the Deity. Hence it was determined that the party of the wise shall be weak (i.e. some of the wise shall stumble ESV) ‘to try them and to purify and make them white for the time of the end;’ (the lesson of ‘the man of the one’ which introduces this last great vision Ch. 10-12) for then their services will be needed to assist in the overthrowing of the kingdom of Babylon, and in taking the kingdom under the whole heaven as shown to Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar (Daniel 7). The era of the Asmoneans was not that end; for, having particularized the events of the era, the revelator (Gabriel) added, it is ‘still for a time appointed’.”
The 430 day/year time period
Bro. Thomas continues in Exposition of Daniel:
“We have now arrived at the end of the 35th verse (Daniel 11) the event of which brings us down to the conclusion of the 430 years from the destruction of the city (Jerusalem) and Temple in the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar.”
This most important time period of 430 day/ years we note is a threefold multiple of the 1290 symbolic days of Daniel 12:11. As we are at present reading God’s prophecy through Ezekiel it is appropriate for us to remember that Ezekiel in chapter 4 records how he was instructed to lie first on his left side for 390 days and then on his right side for a further 40 days, a total of 430 days, as a “sign to the house of Israel and Judah, for I have laid upon you (Ezekiel) the years of their iniquity. Even so shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles where I drive them.”
Bro. Thomas in Chronikon Hebraikon states: “This number is evidently an important and significant totality in Bible chronology.”
In the first place we find that 430 years passed between the making of the promise to Abram and his seed (Genesis 12:1 – 3, 7) to the typical fulfilment of the promises at the Exodus. That is from the laying of the spiritual foundation to its typical fulfilment in Israel’s redemption and destruction of Pharaoh– the Gog of the Exodus enacted parable.
In the second significant usage of this time period, we note that 430 years also elapsed from the laying of the foundation of Solomon’s Temple to its destruction in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar because of Solomon’s commingling of idolatry with the worship of Yahweh. This idolatry continued with only a few exceptions in the kings which followed, despite Yahweh’s constant appeals, long suffering and deliverances, coming to an unredeemable climax in the reign of Manasseh who “worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, ‘In Jerusalem will I put my name’… He did much evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom Yahweh destroyed before the people of Israel.” (2 Kings 21: 4, 7-9) Yahweh’s “anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And Yahweh said, ‘I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.” (2 Kings 23:26-27) In the reign of that last wicked prince of Judah, Yahweh said through Jeremiah, “This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it” (Jeremiah 32: 31-34). Judah was severely punished at the end of this 430-year period as it will be at the end of the 1290 or the extremity of those abominations which alert the wise of the approach of “the decreed end” which will be “poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9: 27; Revelation 16: 17).
The third application of the 430, as bro. Thomas previously mentioned with respect to Daniel 11:35 and Ezekiel 4: the prophet being commanded to lay on his side for a total period of 430 days, directs us to that elapse of time from the destruction of the Temple in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar to the period of the Maccabees or breakers. The Maccabees symbolize the breakers of the little horn of the goat and the smitters of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. They are Yahweh’s “little help” (symbolizing “the little stone” of Daniel 2) by which Judah is delivered from the hand of the King of the North. It is also interesting to note, in passing, a series of starting points and ending points for this particular 430-year period, creating a commencing epoch and an ending epoch similar to that which is established in that most important chapter establishing prophetic chronological interpretation– Daniel 1 and it’s implied 70 years, so that the wise might understand that, of necessity, an Epoch of commencement points require an Epoh in which God’s purpose is concluded.
In 597 BC a second major deportation of Jews to Babylon – King Jehoiachin and Ezekiel are carried away by the order of Nebuchadnezzar along with all Jerusalem and the treasures of Yahweh’s house (2 Kings 24:10 – 16). In 167 BC, 430 years later – Mattathias Maccabees along with his five sons began to resist Antiochus Epiphanes king of the Seleucid Empire.
In 586 BC Temple in Jerusalem destroyed in the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar – 430 years later 156 BC; according to 1 Maccabees[1] 9:73 “the sword ceased from Israel and Jonathan Maccabee dwelt in Mishmash, Jonathan began there to judge the people and he destroyed the wicked out of Israel.”
In 572 BC Ezekiel receives the Temple vision (Ezekiel 40 – 48) of the beginning of the millennium – 430 years later (142 BC) Simon Maccabees, the sole remaining son of Mattathias gains independence from the Seleucids and therefore independence of the Jews, and reigns as a Prince/priest over Judah.
The parable of the Maccabees
Bro. Thomas in Exposition of Daniel notes the abrupt change of topic in the prophecy between the Daniel chapter 11 verses 35 and 36; he says, “no more is said about Judah’s warfare with the Greek powers of the north or south until the prediction is resumed in the 40th verse, which may be regarded as continuous with verse 35.” With bro. Thomas’ words guiding us we may read the parable of the Maccabees or breakers of the little horn of the goat and smitters of Nebuchadnezzar’s image without the other prophetic interludes as one continuum – Daniel 11:31 – 35, versus 40 – 45, 12:1 – 3 and verses 10 – 13. From the time Israel was sent this “little help” in 167 BC to the commencement of “the time of the end” in 1917—heralded by the king of the south in its “time of the end” iteration of the British power’s temporary occupation of Egypt and it’s “thrust” at “the king” (Daniel 11: 40; v’s 36), forcing the Turkish occupier of the old Byzantine empire out of the Middle East, Palestine and Jerusalem and the issuing of the Balfour declaration with respect to a homeland for the Jews—some 2085 years elapsed.
These many centuries are to Yahweh but “as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” The Lord Jesus in the mount Olivet prophecy said, “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” The Lord then quotes from Daniel 8 of prominent personages of the Jews who would play an integral part in this “time of the end” crisis spoken of as “signs in sun and moon and stars” (Luke 21: 25). Then he alludes to the parable of the Maccabees in relation to the nation’s “distress”, “perplexity”, “people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world,” drawing our attention to a defined Epoch, “when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
The parable of the fig tree and all the trees
To illustrate this epoch, he told his disciples a parable of “the fig tree, and all the trees” (Luke 21: 29-32). The growth and independence of all the trees or nations were in fact to be heralded by Israel’s national resurrection. Thirty years would pass from the events of 1917 to when the United Nations adopted a resolution which proposed the dividing of the British mandate of Palestine into two states—one Jewish and one Arab— which precipitated civil war and eventually led to the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948.
“Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.” In Israel the fig tree begins to bud in early April and is fully leafed by May—a few weeks. And so it was within a few weeks of years from 1947 to 1967 Israel by Yahweh’s providence gained a decisive victory which culminated in the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights. The status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention, the resolution of which guided by God’s providence, is now in the process of being temporarily worked out in Israel’s favour to prepare Israel for its great humbling, followed by the humbling of all nations.
“You see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.” Summer is the time of harvest (Jeremiah 8:20; Amos 8:2; Daniel 2:35; Joel 3:11 – 14; Revelation 16:16). In Israel, a fully leafed fig tree takes 70 to 120 days for its main crop to be ready to be harvested. As the Lord Jesus directed his disciples to consider both the “fig tree”, and “all the trees” it would be appropriate that the number 70 with respect to this parable of the fig tree could play an auspicious part in both the epochs to which it most assuredly applies—Christ’s first and second advent—in the dissolution of Judah’s commonwealth in A.D. 70, and when “the son of man comes in a cloud with power and great glory.” We remember under the Law of Moses, the Jewish year’s final feast of ingathering held in the 7th month was characterized, amongst other burnt offerings, by a total of 70 bullocks offered in decreasing number each day of the feast from 13 concluding on the 7th day with 7 bullocks. This indicated under the Law’s typical representation, that time in Yahweh’s plan of redemption when “seven bullocks (perfected work) will coincide with the seventh day (perfected time) and the work of God will be finished” (The Law of Moses pg. 208). This aggregate number of bullocks, in the context of the final feast of ingathering, coincides with the total of the clans of the sons of Noah whose 70 nations over spread the earth (Genesis 10). It is also the same number of souls comprising Jacob’s company who went down into Egypt to become, at the end of that first 430-year period, the nation of Israel redeemed from Egyptian bondage (Genesis 46:26).
Linking the use of the number 70 in these contexts with how it is “sacrificially” emphasised in the final feast of ingathering, we are presented with a spiritual representation of how “all families of the earth” would at last be “blessed in Abraham” through his seed of promise. Just as the Passover lamb’s purpose was to redeem Israel from Egyptian bondage, so God’s great purpose of redemption would not be complete until it would be realised in the kingdom age, when “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” and “the first fruits of them that sleep” will accomplish this divine work of redemption by RESURRECTION. This next stage commences “at his coming” when “those who belong to him,” will shine forth as the Elohistic seed of Abraham, and will be divinely employed to “destroy every rule, authority, and power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1Corinthians 15: 23- 26); so that at the final ingathering at the end of the millennium, “God may be all and in all.”
Seventy years from when the Israeli fig tree came out in full leaf (1967) brings us to 2037 or 120 yrs from the commencement of “the time of the end” in 1917, which was heralded by the king of the south thrusting against Turky as the occupier of the throne of the little horn of the goat or Constantinople (Daniel 11: 40) driving it out of Israel and the issuing of the Balfour declaration. Could the year 2037 be the year when Michael, the great prince, who stands for the children of Daniel’s people, at last arises? If so approximately 10 years before, or 2027 “the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of a trumpet of God” and “many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
1335 years from AD690
At the present time (in 2025), Israel’s enemies have temporarily been humbled, that Israel may dwell securely in the midst of the earth. As we discussed in the article, “When my people Israel are dwelling securely” this was providentially accelerated through the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7th 2023, and Israel’s response, with the Biden Administration’s extraordinary support, crushing Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and their associated organizations and extended leadership. This support has continued under the Trump administration.
Yahweh has used the vain, proud, boastful, and vindictive American autocrat—the divinely appointed divider and weakener of the so-called United States both at home and abroad. Within America he is wondrously dividing and weakening the country by his authoritarianism, emphasised by his political prosecutions. These he refers to as his “campaign of retribution,” attempting to imprison, fire, intimidate or otherwise silence those he sees as his political foes, the likes of which we see in ‘banana republics’ but never thought it would be seen in the home of “liberty and freedom”! The American autocrat is attempting to turn the US into something much less than a democracy, by assailing its institutional checks and balances. His weakening and dividing policies are also seen in his dysfunctional egregious government, overseen by unqualified inept avatars, from health to financial departments, whose sole qualification is being cringing sycophants, preparing the disaster that awaits this arrogant and boastful country some time, we believe—as we have said, since our earliest visits to PNG— between 2026-27.
He has weakened the US abroad in such a myriad of ways that we will have to devote an entire article on that subject, as we have been asked to do. At the inauguration of his first term, he proclaimed, “The American carnage stops right here, right now. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first.” Friend and Foe have fallen foul of the US autocrat’s tariff policies so that he has made “America” not “great” but to stink, particularly with all its western allies. His “America first” policies providentially are leading to American isolationism and the rise of the military power of the Beast in Europe and its eventual alliance with Russia. The American autocrat and his secretary of Defence (now) “War” avatar has insulted and belittled the US military, removing many experienced officers and emphasising that they have to concentrate on the “enemy within!” Trump had told the American public his agenda before they re-elected him, overseen by the providence of God. This agenda was all about retribution, all about going after Americans – “the enemy within”! In an interview just before his re-election Trump acknowledged that the US has enemies like Russia and China but he said we have the “enemy within” and of those (enemies) “the enemy within” is the greater threat. Since his re-election Trump has radically changed the notion of American national security to focus on this “enemy within,” weaponizing the Justice Department, the FBI, and using unprecedented executive orders against this “enemy within” i.e., anyone who he considers his political enemies! In the meantime, America’s real enemies are growing stronger by the day, using the US Autocrat’s own MAGA policies against it. In cutting almost all foreign aid America has not only ruined its soft power status, shooting and grievously wounding itself, turning friends to seek alliances with America’s competitors and enemies, forgetting that the means by which America remained a superpower after WW2 was by its alliances and by its welcoming kindness and charity that set it apart. No more!! “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” No, it’s MAGA, MAGA, MAGA, we won’t even concern ourselves about the poor of own people! Cannot the catholic evangelical’s messiah see the wisdom to “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.” No, its MAGA, MAGA, MAGA. The god of this world which dj Trump worships has blinded the minds of his unbelievers, for they assuredly will be taken unawares!
Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of staff and the ideological force behind many of Trump’s policies of grievance, articulates and enforces Trump’s malice towards all his political enemies, uniting with Trump calling them “human scum.” He uses the language of “elimination” as the architect of Trump’s extreme anti-immigration policies inflicting chaos, harm, and fear on immigrant communities all over America. He exerts huge influence in the Trump administration with respect to foreign and domestic policy. Extraordinarily he is from a family of Holocaust survivors! We see the extreme right in America unite with the extreme right in Israel producing the most hateful consequences. At a recent memorial for the slain right wing commentator Charlie Kirk where tens of thousands of MAGA supporters attended, Miller said,
“You cannot defeat us, you cannot slow us, you cannot stop us, you cannot deter us, we will carry Charlie in our hearts every single day and fight all that much harder because of what you (the left) did to us. You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilisation, to save the West, to save this republic.”
This is the divided America, weakened by the extremism of the catholic evangelicals and their messiah, that Yahweh has caused to develop to facilitate His “time of the end” purpose, one part bearing inextricable influence upon other parts, whether in the Middle East or Europe or China or Russia or in Israel.
The American autocrat has been providentially prepared, even by attempted assassinations, to be fully convinced that as the catholic evangelical’s messiah, he is the “peace and security” herald, the divine instrument of its realization. And so he is—utterly, cluelessly, boastfully so!! (1Thessalonians 5: 1-3). Note Paul’s words brethren and sisters, “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them…and they will not escape.”
Here is the Trump trumpet herald just before Yom Kippur 2025, like the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the 7th month and on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th that killed almost 1,200 Israelis and saw appalling atrocities committed. The subsequent conflict in Gaza, and the horrific spectre of 65,000 people killed, rampant starvation and a population perpetually on the move away from Israeli bombardment, caused reverberations around the globe which led at last to the Trump trumpet herald, which cannot but be heard! That is the point. Daniel’s people, “those whose names shall be found written in the book" will “understand" its true significance.
“This is a big, big day, a beautiful day, Potentially one of the great days ever in civilisation. Things that have been going on for hundreds of years and thousands of years. We’re gonna… At least we’re at a minimum very, very close, and I think we’re beyond very close… And I’m not just talking about Gaza. Gaza is one thing, but we’re talking about much beyond Gaza. The whole deal, everything getting solved. It’s called peace in the Middle East.”
"So today is a historic day for peace. Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have just concluded an important meeting on many vital issues, including Iran, trade, the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and most importantly, we discussed how to end the war in Gaza, but it’s just a part of the bigger picture, which is peace in the Middle East, and let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East… First time in thousands of years, I think you can probably say, if you really look into it, if you study back, if you’re a scholar, you would say thousands of years… I don’t think anybody else could have done it or even come close, but we’re right there. We’re right there.
“Everyone understands that the ultimate result must be the elimination of any danger posed in the region. And the danger is caused by Hamas. The tyranny of terror has to end, and this is, again, something that we’re looking for. This is eternity. This is for forever.
“In our meeting today, Prime Minister Netanyahu was very clear about his opposition to a Palestinian state… But what he’s doing today is so good for Israel. I noticed that they have large crowds gathering in Israel all the time, and they have my name up. They like me for whatever reason, maybe… They’ve (the Jewish protestors) had it. I think it’s a very popular thing you do. (I doubt Netanyahu thinks it is good for him personally or for his extreme right government!!) … He doesn’t know about getting back to a normal way of life… But now the people want to get back to peace. They want to get back to normalization in a true sense…
“There shouldn’t have to be a shot fired. And maybe for eternity. Wouldn’t that be nice? I hope it’s true. I can tell you the leadership of that region feels that there’s a good chance of it being true… Bibi (Netanyahu) and I, and he understands it’s time. It’s time. History has shown. And the people of Israel want it. And the people of the Middle East want it. The people of enemies of Israel want it… Israel is not going anywhere. They’re going to coexist with other people and countries in the region, from Syria to Lebanon to Saudi Arabia. The promise of a new Middle East is so clearly within our reach. This is the closest we’ve ever come to real peace — not fake peace, not political fool’s peace.”
It is of course no surprise, that the "amazing thing," “Potentially one of the great days ever in civilisation,” “let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East,” “This is forever,” etc., etc., that the US president, addicted to daily, nauseating, hyperbolic language to describe most things he does, that on this occasion the best peace deal ever—or at least in 3,000 years — will require further painstaking negotiation. With Netanyahu, speaking in Hebrew, presenting an entirely different account about what Israel had in fact agreed to, and Hamas no doubt requiring further detail and concessions, Netanyahu will not want to relinquish, it leaves the world’s greatest deal maker much yet to do. All the Arab nations who met with the US president in New York on the side lines of the UN gathering welcomed the peace plan, but no doubt would have felt misled by the difference in what had been presented to that group and what was announced at the White House on 29th September at the Trump/ Netanyahu press conference. The underlying perception is that just as Vladamir Putin played Trump as “a useful fool” with respect to undertakings about Ukraine when they met in Alaska, to the reported shocked dismay of Trump’s own personal staff, so too has Netanyahu played and manipulated Trump. Netanyahu knows how to use Trump's chronic debilitating narcissism, and then cunningly manipulates to ensure the terms he supposedly agrees to are sufficiently ambiguous to be interpreted in such a way to ensure his own political survival! It would seem, at the time of writing, that any Hamas agreement, like Netanyahu’s, would be highly conditional, and the extent of this will come to light in the days to come. Certainly it would be unlikely that Hamas would agree to disarming before Israel’s occupation of Gaza ends—something Netanyahu, when speaking in Hebrew, says he will not agree to! Hamas will no doubt require a detailed verifiable time frame of Israel’s withdrawal which will have to be negotiated through Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries in the days to come. How much of these ongoing negotiations Israel will agree to or pressured to agree to by Trump’s negotiating team remains to be seen.
If we could however imagine just for a moment that Trump did force Netanyahu to actually choose between his ally in Washington –“the peace and security” herald, and his allies at home– the extreme right who want the war to continue and drive the Palestinians out of Gaza and then the West bank, why didn't Joe Biden do the same and pressure Netanyahu when a similar peace deal was prepared nine months ago—and at least 20,000 more Gazans were still alive? There is but one answer, if Yahweh has decreed “war” nothing the American autocrat proclaims will bring peace if that is not the means Yahweh has determined Israel is to dwell securely! Likewise when Yahweh’s purpose decrees “peace” there is nothing Israel’s Netanyahu will be able to do to prevent that from happening. It is notable that Israel’s disastrous failed attempt to assassinate the Hamas negotiators in Qatar by an extraordinary aerial bombardment—assembled to discuss this very US peace agreement—almost certainly turned the US and their Arab allies against Israel, and has forced Netanyahu to accept elements of this plan which he may never have agreed to otherwise. There is no doubt that after all Israel’s boasting of their success over their enemies, that this arrogant stunning provocation, so full of risk, has providentially manipulated Netanyahu to accept a peace deal when he wanted war to continue! Let us remember Yahweh has more aims in providentially manipulating the rulers of the nations than Israel’s temporary security. “I make peace, and create evil: I Yahweh do all these things” (Isaiah 45: 7). Yahweh will do this in the way and at the time and through the instruments of His choosing, to accomplish all His purpose.
Yes, Israel must “dwell securely,” “without walls, and having no bars or gates,” in the midst of the earth, supported by the later day “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its young lions” as Yahweh through his prophet Ezekiel has said (Ezekiel 38: 11-13). This however is not that “real peace” and “eternal peace” the Catholic evangelical’s messiah boasts and thinks he will procure by his “Nobel peace prize deal making ability.” What these "unbelievers" whose minds have been blinded that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, is that this peace is for that “little while” (Isaiah 63: 18-19) in preparation for the invasion of the cruel king’s confederacy (Isaiah 18: 12-14; Ezekiel 38, 39). The Russian tyrant, whom the autocrat of the so-called United States is so fond of and by whom he is so easily manipulated, and whom Antiochus Epiphanes was the arch-type. The Russian Gog’s destiny is to be destroyed on the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 39: 4) and the later day Moabitish power, of whom Trump is the most wonderful representative, “his arrogance, his pride, his insolence; in whose idle boasting he is not right” will also meet his day of “wailing” (Isaiah 16). The epoch of this development is fast approaching as bro. Thomas again reminds us in Exposition of Daniel, “the nearer it arises, the more important do all questions become, bearing upon Judah’s land and Zion and the city of their king.”
The 1290 and 1335 of Daniel 12
These time periods, as previously noted, are given in the context of the parable of the Maccabees. In Daniel 12:10 we read “Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” These words are a clear reference back to the Maccabees of Daniel 11:35. In this parable the Maccabees represent “the wise” of all ages, with the prophet Daniel principal among them.
Bro. Thomas’s translation of verse 11, “And after the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away even for to set up an abomination making desolate…” is referring to a detestable outrage that would bear upon the locality of the altar sacrifice of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as a direct result of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the little horn or Roman power. Yet the language used is couched in the historical background of the Maccabees’ resistance to the invasion of the King of the North and his sacking and destruction of Jerusalem and its temple that is depicted in Daniel 11:31. This led to the rise of the Maccabees. Just as we have seen how the Maccabees are a type of “the wise who shall shine as the brightness of the firmament” so too is Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucids, in their “extreme indignation against the temple worship, a type of the violence of the little horn that should come up against Jerusalem out of his territory” (Exposition of Daniel). Just as Antiochus executed his bloodlust against Jerusalem in desecrating its temple and taking away the regular burnt offering, so too did the Roman power or “little horn of the goat” —in occupying the territory of the King of the North— later repeat this in A.D. 70 with a far greater and more permanent effect.
Verse 11 continues, “even for to set up an abomination making desolate 1290 days.” This period relates to the desolation of the holy land which is clearly alluded to in Daniel 9:27. If we combine these two passages we would read, “And on the wing of abominations shall come one (the little horn of the goat or Roman power) who makes desolate (the temple and Jerusalem A.D. 70) even for to set up an abomination making desolate 1290 days, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
From the commencement of the Gentile abominations in A.D. 70 until the very end when Yahweh pours out his judgement on the desolator (the latter-day representative of “the little horn of the goat”—“the King of fierce countenance” Daniel chapter 8) or the Russian Confederacy—the Holy Land, and particularly Jerusalem, will be over spread, like out-stretched wings, by abominations. These “abominations” refer to idols, as we noted in regard to Israel and Judah’s idolatrous practices, except that here it is what the Gentiles inflicted. First the Romans, which replicated Antiochus’ desecration of the Temple in the days of the Maccabees, followed by Catholic idols, then by Muslim shrines. The historian Josephus records that when Jerusalem was taken in A.D. 70, the Romans took their ensigns into the temple and set them over the eastern gate and offered sacrifices to them. The Golden Eagle with outstretched wings grasping a thunderbolt was featured on these ensigns (note Deuteronomy 28:49). The Romans erected an image of a swine over the southern gate of the temple, and an image of Jupiter on the site of the Temple itself.
The Lord Jesus said “When you therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (let the reader understand)” Matthew 24:15. In 135 A.D., some 65 years later, the Roman Emperor Hadrian destroyed what remained of the ruins of the Temple site as a result of a second Jewish revolt. He ordered much of the site to be filled in using approximately 500 feet of earth which covered the top of the site where the temple stood. Enlarging the temple mount site, he built a temple for Jupiter and then ploughed the whole area with salt. He changed Jerusalem’s name to Aelia Capitolina, combining Hadrian’s family name with a reference to the cult of Jupiter, the chief god of the Capitoline Triad. He prohibited Jews from entering the city except for one day a year so that they could mourn the destruction of both temples. This ban continued under the Christian emperors. Emperor Hadrian also placed a statue of Zeus on the area of Christ’s tomb and a statue of the Aphrodite on Golgotha.
When Constantine became the first Christian Roman Emperor he tore down the temple of Jupiter. Assuming that Hadrian had built the Temple of Jupiter on the top of the spot where Solomon’s Temple once stood, he built an octagonal church on the same site where the equally pagan holy trinity could be worshipped instead of the pagan Capitoline triad! He also ordered the excavation of Golgotha and the supposed location of Christ’s sepulchre, and ordered shrines to be built and beautifully decorated. Constantine’s mother Helena, when visiting Jerusalem and the “holy sites”, was supposed to have found the cross of Christ which supposedly had been buried there. This work began in 326 A.D. and continued for 10 years. Further shrines were built to form a complex of majestic and harmonious Christian churches not only throughout Jerusalem but throughout the holy land such as the church of Nativity (Bethlehem) another on Mount Zion and on Mount of Olives in the place of the Ascension in Bethany etc..
The Dome of the Rock
These abominations established by the Little Horn of the goat were but a precursor, and prepared Jerusalem and the Temple site for an abomination which was to continue till “the time of the end.” In the seventh century, coinciding with the rise of the little papal horn with eyes and a mouth in the west (Daniel 7), the Islamic era began in the east, eventually taking control of the Holy land. A significant 70-year period (A.D. 622–692) formed a commencing epoch which saw the Hegira or flight of Mohammed in 622 A.D. from Mecca to Medina. Mohammed swore to eradicate idolatry and to subdue the Jews. Arabs conquered Syria and Iraq followed by Egypt between A.D. 633-638, and moved into the holy land, conquering the Byzantine power which then occupied the region. Caliph Omar in A.D. 638 came to Jerusalem and ordered the clearing of the 35-acre site of the Temple Mount, and rediscovered under a dunghill the ancient rock from which tradition says Abraham offered Issac, and where the Ark of the covenant had been placed in the holy of holies; the rock from which Islam preached that Mohammed in vision was said to have ascended to heaven. On the southern end of the site he ordered a wooden mosque to be built where the present-day Al-Aqsa Mosque stands.
In A.D. 685 Caliph Abd-Al-Malik ended Jerusalem and ordered further clearing of the Temple Mount site, and discovered the foundation of Constantine’s church. On these foundations he ordered the construction of what is known as The Dome of the Rock (A.D. 685 – 691). The Dome of the Rock was built to emphasise the superior truth of Islam over both Judaism and Christianity to out-shine the splendour of the Christian churches, and to stand as a political and religious message—a place of Islamic pilgrimage. The place where Yahweh had set His name and divine presence amongst His people was now in fulfilment of His word to be identified with “an abomination that makes desolate 1290 Day/years.” When we add 1290 years to this commencing Epoch of the Islamic era, we are brought to a corresponding concluding Epoch of 70 years which introduces “the time of the end”.
The Epoch which corresponds to the commencement of the time of the end
This Epoch which corresponds to the commencement of the time of the end, 1290 years from the commencement of the Islamic era, immediately introduces the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 which, as part of the drying up of the Euphrates power (Revelation 16:12), the Ottoman Empire is defeated and, in the process, stripped of the bulk of its European provinces. Although not involved as a combatant, Austria-Hungary became relatively weaker because of the conflict, and set the stage for the July crisis of 1914 of the assassination of the Archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne—a prelude to the First World War. As a direct result of WW1, the British in 1917 drove the Turks out of the Holy land and issued the Balfour declaration of the establishment of a Jewish homeland. In 1929 or 1290 years after Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem ordering the initial clearing of the Temple Mount site, Palestine saw riots generated by the Grand Mufti who spread false rumours among the Palestinian Arabs that the Jews planned to attack the Dome of the Rock. This caused the British to begin to reconsider its policies concerning the Holy land, an essential step towards Israel gaining and asserting its independence. Between 1936 – 39 the Arabs of Palestine revolted in an attempt to stop the establishment of a Jewish homeland attacking both the British Army units and Jewish settlements. The British, burdened by the overwhelming financial legacy of the Second World War and end of empire, surrendered their responsibilities with respect to the problem of Palestine, and handed it over to the newly formed United Nations. In fact, the problem of Palestine was among the first resolutions which the United Nations Security Council had to face and in 1947 the United Nations voted to petition the land of Palestine into two states, one for the Palestinian Arabs and the other for the Jews, guaranteeing war and the very survival of the just reborn Jewish state. The British mandate over Palestine ended on May 5, 1948 with the Arab leaders promising to invade Palestine at that date to crush the Jews. The combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Iraq were poised on the Holy land’s borders, while the Jordanian army had already taken up positions within Palestine. In a remarkable parallel with “the little help” Yahweh provided by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire, the Jews, with next to no aircraft, tanks or artillery, against astonishing odds, gained the victory over all its enemies, protected by the archangel Michael and Gabriel who stands in the presence of Yahweh, with the divine armies of heaven, marshalled by the Lord Jesus himself, continued “preparing the way for the kings of the East” (Revelation 16:12). Time magazine reported at that time: “Out of the concentration camps, ghettos, court rooms, theatres and factories of Europe the chosen people had assembled and won their first great military victory since BC 166 – 160 (or the time of the Maccabees). Israel’s victory came after the worst of a thousand persecutions.” Seven times over Judah, or 2520 years dating from Ezekiel receiving of the vision of the Temple of the future age in BC 572 Israel was reborn, preparing the circumstances for Israel to at last dwell securely in the centre of the earth, which is essential before the invasion of that land by Gog and the thief like entrance of Christ and his immortal saints, when all nations will be gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew – Armageddon (Ezekiel 38: 8–12; Revelation 16:12 – 16; Daniel 11:40 – 45).
The modern state of Israel was, by these remarkable events, reborn. However, Jerusalem and the area of the Temple Mount continued not to be under the control of the Jews. This is most important, as the 1290 day/year prophecy centres on Jerusalem and the Temple Mount where Solomon’s Temple had been constructed. In 1948, full control of the eastern portion of Jerusalem, including the Old City and its historic Muslim, Jewish, and Christian holy sites, returned to Islamic rule when King Abdullah I of Jordan took control of that part of the city, and the area of the Temple Mount was off-limits to Israelis. The Six-Day War of June 5th-10th 1967 dramatically changed this dynamic. Again, with Maccabee-like victories the territory under Israel’s control tripled in size, greatly enhancing the nation’s ability to defend itself. For the first time in more than 2000 years, in fact not since the time of the Maccabees when the Jews drove the Seleucids out of Judea, Jerusalem was free from a Gentile-occupying force! An initial fulfilment of the 2300 evening/mornings of Daniel 8 had elapsed from the similar miraculous and angelic controlled victories of Alexander the Great at Granicus May 334 BC.
The Yom Kippur War of 1973 was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria with the intent to retake the Sinai and the Golan heights which had been lost to Israel during the Six-Day War. The Arab states launched a surprise attack on Israel in these Israeli occupied territories on Yom Kippur. Israel on this occasion was taken off guard and initially lost considerable territory; but within three days Israeli forces retaliated and pushed the Syrians back to the prewar ceasefire lines, and then during a four-day counteroffensive, pushed deep into Syria and began to shell the outskirts of Damascus. Likewise, Israel pushed back against the Egyptian advances and eventually encircled the Egyptian third Army and the city of Suez. This led to escalating tension between the United States and Russia and as a result a second ceasefire was imposed to end this war. Israel, unlike its present Netanyahu leadership, despite its success, then recognised that it may not always be able to dominate the Arab states and ultimately led to the peace process. The 1978 camp David accords agreed to return the Sinai area to Egypt and normalise relations—Egypt becoming the first Arab country to recognised Israel. As a result Egypt continued to drift away from the sphere of influence of the then Soviet Union, at last leaving its sphere of influence altogether, again setting up a “time of the end” confrontation between Russia and Egypt (Daniel 11:42 – 43) prior to Russia’s latter-day invasion of Israel, following the pattern set out in Daniel Chapter 11, in the ancient confrontations between the King of the North and Egypt.
The Jerusalem law passed by the Israel Knesset July 30, 1980
This legislation sought to legitimise by official recognition, what Israel had obtained, with respect to Jerusalem as an outcome of the Six-Day War, “the integrity and unity of greater Jerusalem in its boundaries after the six Day War shall not be violated.” The Kensett adopted the following: "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" and names it the seat of the Israeli president, government, and supreme court. The law requires that the holy places in Jerusalem be protected from desecration and that the freedom of access for members of all religions to their sacred sites be maintained. It further states that “no authority that is stipulated in the law of the State of Israel or of the Jerusalem municipality may be transferred either permanently or for an allotted period of time to a foreign body, whether political, governmental or to any other similar type of foreign body.” The status of East Jerusalem remains a highly controversial international issue and is the central reason why the Israeli – Palestinian conflict cannot be reconciled. The United Nations Security Council resolution 478 pronounced this 1980 Jerusalem law which declared Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal and indivisible capital” was “null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.” The council has also repeatedly condemned Israeli settlement in territory captured in 1967 including East Jerusalem. This 1980 Jerusalem law was passed just before the 1290 years were to expire from the setting up of “an abomination that makes desolate” on the Temple Mount approximately AD 692.
We suggest that Daniel 12:11 indicates to the wise a 1290-year period which is bookended by an epoch of 70 years commencing at the Islamic era AD 622 – 692 (from the flight of Mohammed to Medina to the construction of the Dome of the Rock) +1290 years which concludes in another 70 year epoch AD 1912 – 1982 and incorporates the drying up of the Turkish power, in particular as it would affect Israel and Jerusalem in 1917, the Balfour declaration, the rebirth of the Jewish state in 1948; the taking of East Jerusalem and increasing of Israel’s territory threefold in 1967; Israel’s victories of the Yom Kippur war in 1973 and finally in 1980 “the declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s “eternal and indivisible capital” – though all the world would not have it so!!!
It goes without saying, why we as God’s children are so interested in Israel, Jerusalem, and God’s people Israel; the Psalmist on behalf of the lowly and of the meek as represented by the aged prophet Daniel in Babylon prays; “My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O Yahweh, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favour her; the appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of Yahweh, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For when Yahweh builds up Zion; then shall he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise Yahweh” (Psalm 102). Therefore, “For Zion's sake,” Yahweh said, “I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.” In response the watchmen Yahweh set on the walls of Jerusalem are said to “all the day and all the night are never silent” for that spirit of prophecy imbibed in those who constitute the family of God continue relentlessly to “put Yahweh in remembrance and take no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62). “For if their (the Jews) rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? (Romans 11: 15).
We have noted that the 1290 combines within its threefold multiplication the giving of the promises to Abram, “in whom all families of the earth would be blessed,” to its incipient fulfilment in Israel’s redemption from the Egyptian bondage; the laying of the foundation of Solomon’s Temple to its destruction; and from this, sins condemnation, to the nations salvation by the hand of the Maccabees, as an incipient fulfilment of that time when “all Israel will be saved,” when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” or the complete number God is taking out of the Gentiles is complete, so that by this means, natural Israel will be saved (Romans 11: 26). It is very appropriate that with a time period that combines within its threefold multiplication: 3 x 430 = 1290, a numerical representation of Yahweh’s purpose, that another time period should be closely related expressing how this shall be accomplished as the reward for the obedience of faith. “Blessed is he who waits and labours for the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:12 – 13).
The 1335 years
Bro. Thomas suggests that the 1335 years has a beginning common with the 1290 and that “when the 1335 terminate, the resurrection of the dead predicted in Daniel 12:2 will come to pass; for the revelator said to the prophet, ‘go thou away till the end: for thou shalt and arise to the thine inheritance at the end of the days’” (Exposition of Daniel). The linking of these two time periods with a common starting point concentrates our minds on the 45-year difference. This 45 is clearly linked to the reference of Daniel’s “inheritance” or “Lot” (KJV) “at the end of the days” which is the key. When we consider the 1290 and its 3 x 430 numerical representation of Yahweh’s purpose, the first usage as a general principle often lays down the scriptural principles of how it is used thereafter. The 430 years which elapsed from the initial gospel being preached to Abram to Passover night of the Exodus was followed by Israel’s 40 year wandering in the wilderness, till all that generation who had been redeemed from Egypt and had rebelled against Yahweh had perished. Joshua at 80 years old conducted the new generation of Israel into the land of Canaan, followed by five years of conquest. Bro. Thomas in Chronikon Hebraikon states: “the division (of the land) was affected five years after their (Israel’s) first occupying of it in Joshua’s 85th year” (Joshua 14:2). Daniel is promised when the 1335 terminate he will arise to his inheritance – lot or rest after the type of Israel’s wilderness probation concludes in their entrance into the land under Joshua, at last obtaining their allotted inheritance, 45 years after their departure from Egyptian bondage. The 1290 and 1335 are divinely entwined, sharing the same commencement point— a notable event which left a monument, a sign post in time—which continues to dominate any pictorial representation of Jerusalem, the true significance of which the vast majority of Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Atheists are blind to! An inscription inside the Dome of the Rock indicates its completion date as AH 72. "AH" stands for Annum Hegirae, or “in the year of the Hijrah". It signifies dates calculated using the Islamic (Hijri) calendar, which begins with the Hijra – the Prophet Muhammad's fleeing from Mecca to Medina in 622.
The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, so Year 1 AH (Anno Hegirae) started on July 15, 622 AD. AH 72 occurred 71 years after AH 1. If we add 622 to the base year (start of AH 1) + 71 years, we get 693 AD; but adjusting for the lunar year which is approximately 11 days shorter than solar years, AH 72 in the Islamic calendar corresponds to the Gregorian year 692 AD. Adding 1335, we come to the year 2027.
We are again reminded of what bro. Thomas in Exposition of Daniel stated, “When the 1335 terminate, the resurrection of the dead predicted in Daniel 12:2 will come to pass; for the revelator said to the prophet, ‘Go thy way, till the end: for thou shalt lie down and arise to thine inheritance at the end of the days’.” The 1335 will therefore terminate with the resurrection, when the saints no longer must “wait” and “labour”. The termination of the 1335, at the resurrection of the dead, was shown to Daniel as representative of all the saints at the beginning of the last great vision which incorporates chapters 10, 11 and 12. In Daniel 10: 8–11 the prophet is caused to experience a typical resurrection from his grave and is made to stand up from this death state, in which he had “retained no strength.” In this representation, though standing, he does so “trembling” (Daniel 10: 11). So will all the saints who having been resurrected, for we all must pass through that necessary judgement process at Sinai, from which region the prophets show the multitudinous “man of the one” (Daniel 10: 5– 6) comes in power and great glory against the enemies of Israel assembled at Jerusalem in that great battle of God Almighty. This “man of the one” is developed from the process of judgement, as it is written, “We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10) and again, “’As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So, then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11 – 12). According to Daniel’s parabolic representation his lips are therefore “touched” so that he can open his mouth and make confession. Daniel’s trembling lips, however, were but for the briefest moment, for this man greatly beloved, in all his humility, earnestness and confident expectation, had during his probation, constantly drawn near the throne of grace, having received mercy, finding grace to help in his times of need, and was always heard because he feared God. To this man greatly beloved, and to that class he represents, having finished their race and having kept the faith, was laid up a crown of righteousness, which says Paul, the Lord, the righteous judge, will award on that day—and not only to the Daniels and the Pauls, but also to all who have loved his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7 – 8). “‘Oh man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.’ And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened…” (Daniel 10:19).
Daniel and all those he represents who thus pass through this judgement process at Sinai and are found worthy, will be given the gift of God which is eternal life, and in the words of Daniel 12:13 “they shall rest”; but that is not all, for they must also “stand in their lot” or inheritance. This can only happen after Gog falls on the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 39:4) or as the extended parable of the Maccabees reveals in relation to the time of the end; “the King of the North” “shall come to his end and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:45). This will be accomplished by the work of “Michael” or “he who is like Ail,” who will arise to stand for the children of Daniels people or natural Israel in the land at the time of this crisis. The breaker of Israel’s enemies or the Maccabees of “the time of the end” executes the judgements of Armageddon in that “time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation to that time.” They are developed by resurrection, having themselves been delivered from the tyrant of sin and death, “everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” As is so often the case in prophecy, the climax or glorious end is put first, and then what follows is how that climax or end is developed. So that in Daniel chapter 12:2 the resurrection and judgement process which takes place at the end of the 1335 is described after the destruction of the King of the North on the mountains of Israel at the end of chapter 11 and the arising of Michael the great Prince by whose hand this victory is obtained. This may occur some ten years after the conclusion of the 1335 and the resurrection, or in terms of the previously discussed parable of the fig tree, 2037 AD, or 70 years after the Israeli fig tree began to be in full leaf.
“But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your lot at the end of the days.”
[1] The Books of the Maccabees are a collection of texts primarily detailing the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. They are considered Apocrypha and are not inspired, and are therefore not in the Hebrew Bible
