The principle of repeat and enlarge applies to our own personal lives. We are creatures of habit created in the image of God. As we repeat thoughts, words, and actions that are kind and pure we become not only more likely to repeat them again, but we open up new possibilities of doing good. As we keep studying our Bibles, especially the life and teachings of Christ, we not only learn the deeper things of God but we also learn to love Him more. 

Principle Nine: A Day Represents a Year

This principle is essential for us to understand the time prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Is the time prophesy of Daniel 8:14, the 2300 day prophecy, 2300 literal days or 2300 years? Is the time prophecy of 1260 days found in Revelation (12:6, 14), 1260 literal days or 1260 years? You can imagine how important it is for us to know whether we are dealing with 1260 days or 1260 years. 

The Bible makes clear that a day represents a year in Bible prophecy. The Bible says:

“And our children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” Numbers 14:33, 34. See also Ezekiel 4:5, 6. 

Priniciple Ten: The Importance of Numbers

Three represents the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, there is a counterfeit: dragon, beast, and false prophet. See Revelation 12; 13; 16:13, 19; 19:19–20. 

Four represents things that are worldwide like the “four corners of the earth.” Revelation 20:8.

Six is the number for Babylon. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, built a golden image that is 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide. See Daniel 3:1. Six instruments are played to deceive the people to worship the golden image. See Daniel 3:5. The Babylonian king, Belteshazzar, worshipped six gods. See Daniel 5:23. When we get to the book of Revelation, spiritual Babylon is also associated with the number six. Spiritual Babylon is mentioned as a harlot woman six times. See Revelation 17:3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 18. There are six things associated with her dress. See Revelation 17:4. The number for spiritual Babylon is 666. See Revelation 13:18.

Seven is the number representing completeness. There are seven churches representing the complete Christian era. See Revelation 2–3. There are also seven seals and seven trumpets, which also refers to the complete Christian era. The seven last plagues represent all the plagues which will completely destroy this old world. There are seven days in a complete week. For more “sevens” within the book of Revelation, turn to the end of this section.

Eight represents a resurrection from death or going from old to new. There were eight people on Noah’s ark going from an old world to a new world. Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week or the eighth—the day after the seventh. This world will exist for six millennia before the second coming of Christ. After this, our world will lie in waste for the seventh millennium. See Revelation 20:1–4. When the eighth millennium begins, Christ will create a new heaven and a new earth. See Revelation 20–22.

Twelve is the number of God’s kingdom. There were the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples. The New Jerusalem has twelve foundations and twelve pearly gates. See Revelation 21:12, 14.

Thirteen is the number representing rebellion. The term dragon, representing Satan and his agencies, occurs thirteen times in the book of Revelation. See Revelation 12:3, 4, 7 (twice), 9, 13, 16, 17, 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13; 20:2.

Megiddo, which is the root word for Armageddon, is mentioned thirteen times. Joshua 12:21; 17:11; Judges 1:27; 5:19; 1 Kings 4:12; 9:15; 2 Kings 9:27; 23:29, 30; 1 Chronicles 7:29; 2 Chronicles 35:22; Zechariah 12:11; Revelation 16:16. The thirteenth time is the battle of Armageddon, the last great battle or rebellion of our world against her Creator and Redeemer.

Principle Eleven: The Triple Application

As we have seen, the Old Testament was a literal account of literal Israel, using literal names and places. During the church era, these same names and places are used symbolically in prophecy describing the church and her experiences. However, when Christ creates a new heaven and a new earth at the beginning of the eighth millennium, things become literal again. For example, there was a literal Jerusalem in the Old Testament, and there is a spiritual Jerusalem in the New Testament: the church. See Revelation 11:1, 2; 14:20; Joel 2:32. However, at the commencement of the eighth millennium there will be a literal New Jerusalem. See Revelation 21:22.

In the Old Testament there was a literal nation called Israel. Today, spiritual Israel is made up of believers throughout the world. However, not so long from now, Jesus will gather His people from the four corners of the earth. Then once again, there will be one literal nation. My prayer is that we will all be found among them.

Additional Notes on the Day-Year Principle

In Revelation 12:6, we read, “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Here we have a time prophecy concerning the true church [the woman] fleeing from persecution [into the wilderness] where God takes care of her for 1,260 days or “a thousand two hundred and threescore [60] days.”

Now the question arises, is this time prophecy referring to 1260 literal days or 1260 years? To answer that question let us turn to the book of Numbers 14:33, 34, where we read, “And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” 

In the previous passage of Numbers 14:33, 34, we have the words “day” and “year” closely linked together in a prophetic setting. God had promised to Israel the land of Canaan. But in their faithlessness, they sent out spies to make sure it was safe to enter in. All but two of the twelve spies came back with an evil report. The ten faithless spies said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we… The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:31–33.

Therefore, the Lord punished Israel for her faithlessness, and declared that for each faithless day that they searched out the land, they would remain in the wilderness for a year. “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”

Another clear example of this principle is found in the book of Ezekiel 4:4–6, which reads, “Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.” 

The prophet Ezekiel was ordered of God to lay on his left side for three hundred and ninety days to represent the three hundred and ninety years of Israel’s iniquity. Then the prophet Ezekiel was asked to symbolically represent the iniquity of Judah as well by laying on his right side for forty days, representing Judah’s forty years of iniquity. As the Lord told Ezekiel, “I have appointed thee each day for a year.” 

Therefore, when we come to Revelation 12:6, we have a time prophecy of 1260 days. By applying the day for a year principle, we understand that this time prophecy represents 1260 years.

What does history have to say about this specific verse? 

“In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority.’ Revelation 13:2. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7. “Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons, or to suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headman’s ax. Now were fulfilled the words of Jesus: ‘Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake.’ Luke 21:16, 17. “Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: ‘The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.’ Revelation 12:6.

“The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could approach God except through him; and, further, that he stood in the place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed. A deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest of punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring, and cruel men, nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself, who exercised his power through them.” The Great Controversy, 54, 55

“The forty and two months are the same as the ‘time and times and the dividing of time,’ three years and a half, or 1260 days, of Daniel 7—the time during which the papal power was to oppress God’s people. This period, as stated in preceding chapters, began with the supremacy of the Papacy, a.d. 538, and terminated in 1798.” Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 439.

“The periods here mentioned—‘forty and two months,’ and ‘a thousand two hundred and threescore days’—are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 years of papal supremacy began in a.d. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798.” Ibid., 266.

It is clear that the 1260 day prophecy found in Revelation 12:6 refers to 1260 years, representing the oppression of papal rule from 538 to 1798. This 1260 years of persecution is referred in Revelation 13:5–7 as “forty-two months” and in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 12:14 as a “time, times, and the dividing of time.” I would like us to take time to understand why 1260 days is the same as 42 months and the “time, times, and the dividing of time.”

If I were to ask you how many days are in an average month, you would say “thirty.” You would not say “twenty-eight days” because that would only represent 336 days in one year (28 days x 12 months). You would not say “twenty-nine days” because that would only represent 348 days in one year (29 days x 12 months). You would not say “thirty-one days” because that would represent 372 days in one year (31 days x 12 months). The only logical answer is “thirty days” in one month, which equals 360 days in a prophetic year. As we know, there are exactly 365 days in a literal year, but we will see that God Himself has defined a prophetic year as 360 days. 

But let us carry on with our math. If we multiply thirty days in an average month with forty-two months, do we get 1260 days? The answer is “Yes.” Forty-two months is the same as 1260 days. But then how would we logically understand “a time, times, and the dividing of time”? 

As we will see “a time” equals one year. “times” equals two years, and “the dividing of time” equals six months. But what is one year, plus two years, plus six months? Isn’t that forty-two months? Yes, it is. And what did we conclude concerning forty-two months? It is the same as 1260 days. Therefore, “a time, times, and the dividing of time” must also equal 1260 days. That seems simply enough, but we still have to prove it. Now, one way to prove that 1260 days equals “a time, and times, and the dividing of time (or half of a time),” is to turn our attention back to Revelation chapter twelve. In this chapter we have these two time prophecies recorded.

“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Revelation 12:6.

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” Revelation 12:14. 

The first thing that we want to notice is that these two verses are speaking about the exact same thing. Notice the comparisons:

Verse 6 woman                       Verse 14 woman

Verse 6 fled                               Verse 14 fly

Verse 6 wilderness               Verse 14 wilderness

Verse 6 place prepared      Verse 14 her place

Verse 6 feed                              Verse 14 nourished

Verse 6 1260 days                Verse 14 time, and times, and half a time         

Both verses are referring to the time when the true church (the woman) was being persecuted by the false church (the church of Rome). Because the persecution was so severe the woman (God’s true church) had to flee into the wilderness and hide amongst the peaks and valleys of the mountains. God would feed or nourish His persecuted church for those 1260 years under papal rule from 538 to 1798. As we read earlier in The Great Controversy, page 54, 55

“Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: ‘The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.’” Revelation 12:6.

It would seem evident that 1260 days and “a time, and times, and half a time” would represent the exact same period of time since they refer to the exact same players and events. But there is another way to prove that they are synonymous. By using the prophet’s code we know that the 1260 days and the “time, times, and dividing of time” are the same. Let us go back and look at chapter twelve of Revelation. 

Verses 1, 2: The Early Church Described 

          Verses 3–6: Satan’s Three Attacks

          Satan attacks the church through the centuries for 1260 years. Verse 6

                  Verses 7, 8: War in Heaven 

                         Verse 9: Satan Cast to the Earth 

                                   Verse 10: Victory of Christ

                                   Verse 11: Victory of His People 

                         Verses 12, 13a: Satan Cast to the Earth 

                  Verse 13b: War on the Earth 

          Verses 14–17a: Satan’s Three Attacks 

          Satan attacks the church through the centuries for 1260 years. Verse 14

Verse 17: God’s Last Day Church Described 

Notice that the 1260 day prophecy in verse six is perfectly mirrored by the “time, and times, and half of time” in verse 14. These two time prophecies are on the exact opposite side of the center, which shows that they are related. How are they related? They refer to the exact same period of time. Therefore, if I can apply the day for a year principle to the 1260 days, then I can apply that same principle to the “time, and times, and half a time.” 

But let us take this a step further. Some are troubled that I say a year in Bible prophecy represents 360 days and not 365 days. Now I do not simply take the liberty to say a Biblical year is 360 days, The definition of a month is 30 days in the Bible. 

God applied this principle in the time of the flood. The Bible says, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of the heaven were opened. . . . And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” In these verses, we know that there was five months from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of seventh month. Moses tells us that these five months represent 150 days. Hence, in computing time in the Bible there are 30 days in a month, 360 days in a prophetic year, and 1260 days in a span of three and one-half years, or forty months.

Additional Notes for the use of the Number Seven in Revelation

Seven Churches-Revelation 1:20

Seven Seals-Revelation 5:1

Seven Trumpets-Revelation 8:2

Seven Last Plagues-Revelation 15:6

Seven Spirits-Revelation 1:4

Seven Golden Candlesticks-Revelation 1:12

Seven Eyes-Revelation 5:6

Seven Heads-Revelation 13:1

Seven Thunders-Revelation 10:4

 Other Sevens

There is a seven-fold description of Jesus Revelation 1:5, 6, 8

The “Word of God” is mentioned seven times Revelation 1:2, 9; 6:9; 17:17; 19:9, 13; 20:4

God Almighty Revelation 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 16:14; 19:15; 21:22

“Patience” is mentioned seven times Revelation 1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12

“Earthquake” is mentioned seven times Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13 twice; 11:19; 16:18 twice

“Blessed” There are seven beatitudes Revelation 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14

References to Christ’s sword Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 16; 13:10; 19:15; 19:21 Twice

Christ’s shed blood, and Him being slain Revelation 1:5; 5:6, 9, 12; 7:14; 12:11; 13:8

Jesus lives Revelation 1:18 (twice); 4:9; 4:10; 5:14; 10:6; 15:7

Judgment is mentioned seven times Revelation 14:7; 15:4; 16:7; 17:1; 18:10; 19:2; 20:4

God’s prophets Revelation 10:7; 11:18; 16:6; 18:20; 18:24; 22:6; 22:9

Prophecy Revelation 1:3; 11:6; 19:10; 22:7; 22:10; 22:18; 22:19

The book of life Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15; 21:27; 22:19

The kingdom Revelation 1:9; 11:15 (twice); 12:10; 16:10; 17:12; 17:17

The saints Revelation 8:4; 11:18; 13:7; 13:10; 14:12; 17:6; 20:9