Fellow Christian

by Tom W.
(Ashland, OR. USA)

I have studied Daniel 7-12, and Revelation for years. I am in agreement with your article. My question has been on the 1260 days, or time, times and half a time. Some put this period in the past, some in the future, I think the future, the church I belong to thinks the past!!!

My heart and mind tell me Jesus wants us to get this right; that soon this time period will be in the present tense. And will we recognize it?

PS: Wasn't it in approx. 300 AD the pope and Constantine changed Sabbath to Sunday?

Ray's reply:

I'm glad you were able to agree with Tom's article. If we are diligent Bible students, I believe we will understand such time prophecies when appropriate and certainly when they become "present tense." I can see 1260 days in the past as an application of the prophecy but not as its ultimate fulfillment.

This page compares the various mentions of this time period. It points out an obvious problem - the time periods of 1260 days and time, times and a half (3 ½ years) and the third one that you didn’t mention - 42 months are not equal using our present-day calendar.

This page describes a possible way that they could all become equal again. It involves some rather cosmic events. However, you will see that the documentation provided gives considerable evidence that, at one time in the past, they were equal.

Yes, it was in about 321 AD that Constantine, the Roman Emperor at the time, (nominally) accepted Christianity and made the move to sanctify Sunday (in defiance of the fourth commandment which designates the seventh-day Sabbath as the holy day). Wikipedia's article on Constantine the Great says "Later in 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing the venerable day of the sun, referencing the sun-worship that Aurelian had established as an official cult."

While Constantine's proclamation of the Edict of Milan decreed religious tolerance, his other actions introduced many pagan practices into Christianity. It seems that true Christianity did better when it was persecuted.