I’ve always thought of the phrase “the middle of the week” to mean exactly 1,260 days into the Tribulation until I started studying this in depth.
Working backwards from the end my timeline came out like so. I’d like to explain some of the reasoning below.
(click to enlarge)
Here are the verses in question:
“From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. [Daniel 12:11 NASB]
“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” [Daniel 9:27 NASB]
Does not “the middle of the week” mean exactly 1,260 days until the end? That’s what I thought. So, why does Daniel 12:11 say 1,290 days?
Daniel 12:11 clearly gives the Antichrist 1,290 days in Jerusalem. The stop to the sacrifice and the setting up of the Abomination of Desolation is said to happen in the middle of the week, yet 1,290 is 30 days longer than 1,260 days or 3.5 years. There’s a 30 day gap here. Is this a discrepancy? No, and here’s my reasoning.
The 30 Days of Transition
Think about how long it might take an invading nation to secure a headquarters in a hostile country amid resistance. It can’t happen instantly. Now magnify that by the intensity of the love the Jewish people have for their Promised Land and the intensity of the hatred the surrounding nations have for the Jews. Thirty days to set up the capital of the most antichristic Biblical Kingdom in the history of the world from Jerusalem is about as fast as you can get, at least in my mind. And so I named this period of time the 30 days of transition.
If you don’t see my reasoning, yet, perhaps this will help. How is the 30 days still considered the middle of the week? Think of it this way. It would be like saying “In the middle of the last decade I lived in Thailand for a year.” Because there is only a mere 1 year period in the midst of the ten, it can be considered to have happened in the middle of the decade.
Likewise, because there is only a mere 30 days gap, as compared to 7 years, what happens during the 30 days can still be considered as happening “in the middle of the week”.
The Two Witnesses
Consider this, also. The ministry of the 2 witnesses starts as a direct response to the actions of the Antichrist which take place “in the middle of the week”.
“Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” [Revelation 11:2-3 NASB]
Revelation 11:7-12 tells us there are at least 3.5 days after the end of the ministry of the 2 witnesses when the Antichrist is still in power because their bodies are lying around in the streets for this long while the population celebrates.
When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. [Revelation 11:7-12 NASB]
This pushes back the start of their ministry to at least 3.5 days before the 1,260 day mark.
Scripture actually says there is more time afterward than even that because the 3rd woe hasn’t started yet [Revelation 11:14].
This means the Antichrist is still in power after they are resurrected. So, their ministry does not start exactly at the 1,260 day mark as I previously thought. It starts some days before – some days within the 30 days of transition. Remember, after the 1,290 days, the Antichrist’s rule is over.
The Antichrist’s reign ends 1,290 days after he transitions to Jerusalem and there are at least 3.5 days after the end of the ministry of the 2 witnesses when he still reigns. Therefore, their 1,260 day ministry has to start at some time within the 30 days of transitional turmoil and not exactly to the day of the 3.5 year mark.
I tried to explain this in a simple way. Whether you agree or not, I hope you at least see my reasoning. If you have any questions or you see something I don’t, please let me know. And, please know that many God-loving people before me have studied these things much longer than I and they have come to different conclusions. I do not mean to say this is definitive. I hold everything with an open hand.
P2ALM 
20 responses to “Visual Timeline of the Tribulation: The 30 Days of Transition [Daniel 9:27 & 12:11]”
My dear P2alm this is not correct. This is not scripture what you speak of here. The Rapture takes place BEFORE the Tribulation. 1 Thes 4:16-18 etc. Why would Paul say encourage each other w/ the good news we’re going to ESCAPE the judgment etc? Also, who populates the the millennial kingdom if we are all Raptured at the end of the Tribulation also if we don’t know the exact hour we’re raptured, then how would it be that you’d pin point it exactly at the end of the 7 years? Then we’d know, there are many many many other scriptures that refute what you’re saying here. Sorry, you are so wrong here. Sad to see you so wrong when on other subjects you are so right.
brother, i do not want the pre-trib/post-trib rapture debate to be a dividing point for Christians (it doesn’t have to be), but i do want to challenge you in 3 areas to give you something to think about.
first, consider that born-again Christians have already escaped God’s judgment through the finished work of Christ on the Cross [John 3:36; Romans 5:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9]. we will never experience God’s wrath. that is the Gospel. consider that you can’t even participate in the rapture unless you are already saved from God’s wrath. therefore, the rapture is not a vehicle of salvation from God’s wrath. that’s not it’s purpose.
second, let us focus on Christ’s own words in the Olivet Discourse. in it, Christ, who has told us everything in advance [Mark 13:23], tells us when the resurrection/rapture takes place:
Jesus’ own words should settle the matter for us. if Jesus tells us here when it takes place, then the other Scripture people often quote to argue in favor of a pre-trib rapture cannot be correct because we know that the Holy Spirit, the Author of Scripture [2Pe 1:20-21], who teaches us in the Word [John 14:26] cannot contradict Himself [John 16:13] since He is God [Acts 5:3-4]. therefore, multiple interpretations leading to inconsistent conclusions in His Word cannot be true.
third, read through 1 Corinthians chapter 15. my question for you to consider is: is Paul teaching about the Rapture or the Resurrection?
P2alm,
If you read the book of Esther and look at the typology, Haman (a type of Antichrist) casts lots to determine WHEN he will destroy the Jews. It is determined that it would be the 15th day of the 12th month, which happens to be exactly 30 days before Passover when the daily sacrifice and offering is stopped. It is the Feast of Purim, and it celebrates the day Haman and his ten sons (Antichrist and ten kings) were executed.
Well that’s one of the most interesting things someone has told me a long time! I’m completely lost when it comes to the feasts. It’s not something I’ve studied.
I’m reading through Esther now. Do you mean the 13th day of the 12th month [Esther 3:13; 8:12]?
How does this differ from my conclusion? Or doesn’t it?
It agrees with your conclusion.
where might a find a correct study/book of the feasts? i see you wrote an article on Pentecost. i haven’t read it yet but i’ll be printing it out to read it.
I have several books about the Feasts, but you can find stuff on the internet.
There are many “interpretations” of the Feasts, so you have to be careful that the interpretation agrees with Scripture and doctrine. An example, there are seven days between the Feast of Trumpets (Rapture) and the Day of Atonement (Second Coming). Pre Tribbers says this represents the seven year Tribulation. Well, if Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts on the exact DAYS of the Feast, the He will do the same with the Fall Feasts. The seven days between Trumpets and Atonement are seven DAYS, not seven years.
What article on Pentecost are you talking about?
that’s good. now i want to compare it with the feasts and refine it. i need to go over my original conclusion anyway. it’s been a little while.
Hebrew4christians.com was a website I favored when doing my studies on the feasts. You might find it as useful as I did. Keep up the good work brother.
hey, thanks for the tip, brother!
“The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.”
Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Adar.
The Feasts are very interesting and amazing. So is typology.
I don’t know if you study typology, but the King represents God, Vashti represents Israel who refused to attend the seven day banquet (wedding feast) and is rejected, replaced by Esther (adopted daughter of Mordecai) a type of the Church. She intercedes for Israel, saving them from the Antichrist Haman. Eventually Haman is executed and Mordecai (Jesus) is exalted.
one of the areas i’ve noted typology is in the Book of Daniel concerning the relationship between Antiochus Epiphanes (a type of antichrist) and the Antichrist [Daniel 11; Beware the King of the North in Daniel 11]. i never knew Esther had any prophetic overtones. I’ve always viewed Haman as a type of antichrist, anyone who persecutes Jews is (and, in my opinion, any world leader that would oppose tyranny on people is as well) but I never thought to look for the sequence of events. that’s very interesting because now it makes me want to map out the events in the book.
i do notice near/far fulfillment of prophecy and patterns of judgment and deliverance in the OT that i believe will play out at the end as well.
The Old Testament is full of typology (We have to be careful, though, that the typology agrees with the plain interpretation of Scripture)
There is an amazing amount of details in Esther that i didn’t mention. Ruth is also full of prophetic typology. Naomi (Israel) loses her Husband (God). Ophrah (unbelieving remnant who returns to Moab, the “world.”) Ruth (the Church who befriends Naomi and returns, is grafted in with the remnant.) The harvest at the end of the Age. Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz (Jesus) on the threshing floor (The chaff is removed from the wheat by something called a “tribulum” in Greek). Boaz marrying Ruth. Etc, etc.
Another example, the Philistines (Palestinians) were at war with Israel. Goliath (Antichrist), was their champion.
Now notice the similarities between the story and Daniel and Revelation:
His height was SIX (666) cubits and a span. He had a BRONZE (Greece) helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its IRON (Rome) point weighed SIX (666) hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him (False Prophet?)…
Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a LION (Babylon) or a BEAR (Medo Persia) came and carried off a SHEEP (believers) from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
David (Jesus) defeats Goliath with a STONE (that became a great mountain and filled the earth) and becomes King over Israel.
But, there is also another partial typology within the story. II Thessalonians says that Jesus will defeat the Lawless One with the breath of his mouth, in other words, his WORD. The five stones from the BROOK (Living Water) represent the Torah (Law), the five books of Moses. During Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness, Jesus defeated Satan by quoting three passages from Deuteronomy (one of the five “stones”). So Satan’s initial defeat was prophesied in the Wilderness Temptation, but will be finalized in the defeat of the Antichrist at the Second Coming.
Many typologies have double references. For example, Peter says the flood of Noah represents baptism that saves us (Jesus’ first coming), but it also represents the final judgement and Jesus’ second coming, when the earth is cleansed from unrighteousness.
Thirdheaventraveller,
1) The “comfort one another” has absolutely nothing to do with escaping God’s wrath through the rapture. The comfort was from knowing that Christians have hope of a resurrection and being with the Lord, a hope that unbelievers don’t have. Read it again:
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope…we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep…the dead in Christ will rise first…After that, we who are still alive…Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
2) Not every unbeliever dies during the wrath of God, or Armageddon:
“16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.” Zechariah 14
There are 0 (zero) verses that support a pre Trib rapture, unless twisted or taken out of context. One example, Pre Tribbers insist the church will be gone before the Antichrist appears, even though the Bible clearly says the Day of the Lord and our gathering together to Him don’t happen until the man of sin is revealed, which happens mid Trib.
Pre Tribbers also claim the entire Tribulation is the Day of the Lord and the wrath or God. According to the Bible, the Day of the Lord and his wrath occur AFTER the sun, moon and stars are darkened and the heavenly bodies are shaken (Joel 2, Acts 2, Revelation 6). Jesus says this happens AFTER the Tribulation:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24)
In other words, the Sixth Seal of Revelation occurs IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days, THEN the Rapture, followed by wrath. Matthew 24 PARALLELS the Seals of Revelation, which is a summary of the entire Tribulation.
The Seals must be removed BEFORE the wrath contained within the Scroll can be poured out. The Seals describe Satan’s (and his followers) destruction of God’s creation, providing justification for God’s wrath against him.
” Not every unbeliever dies during the wrath of God, or Armageddon:
“16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.” Zechariah 14″
i’m so glad to meet someone else who has seen this as well. and i’m also glad to meet someone else who takes Jesus at His Word in Matthew 24.
Well written reply, p2alm. I had a quick question regarding the 2 witnesses. Essentially, since the witnesses die and are resurrected at the end of the 1260 day period, would you also place their resurrection close to, if not precisely, when Jesus returns to establish his kingdom? This has been my understanding in the matter for sometime but I was curious to hear your take on it.
Hope you don’t mind if I answer. Since they are raptured just prior to the Seventh Trumpet, I suspect they are rapture at the same time as the rest of the Church.
Thanks bro. Yeah, just from my own readings on the witnesses and the timing of their death and resurrection, I figured it would e really close to the first resurrection of the elect. I also really like your explanation of Purim and how that also serves to provide an example of Christ just as the other feasts do. I had figured out most of the other ones but I hadn’t looked into that one, so thanks for sharing!
Thanks bro. Yeah, I figured from my own studies that the two witnesses would be raised around the same time as the first resurrection. And I think that the other things you’ve shared on here are really awesome and worthy of consideration. Studying and practicing the feasts is something I’ve done recently as I have to say that they’re really eye opening. Hopefully, we can all keep in touch and strengthen one another. God bless, friend.
I agree about the timing of the two witnesses (I had reached the same conclusion but you are the first person that I’ve seen write about it). They will most likely appear 3.5 days before the abomination occurs. After the two witnesses are resurrected, the 144,000 witnesses are sealed and the wrath of God is poured out (but not upon the remnant of Israel).
Your theory about “30 days of transition” is dangerously in error. For you to suggest a 30-day transition period falsely implies that people might have a window of time between the abomination and the great tribulation. The great tribulation begins immediately after the abomination that causes desolation – that is why Jesus told those in Judea to immediately flee and not even go home to get their belongings. The Antichrist takes power at the time he commits the abomination and immediately begins his 1,260 day reign.
My theory: The 30 days most likely belong after the great tribulation – it provides a time frame for God to pour out His wrath. The 45 days would fit the amount of time that it takes the armies of the world to recover from the wrath of God before they can fully gather at Armageddon.
Regarding recent events: Did you notice Obama turn from the truth and use insidious political correctness regarding the war on Islamic terrorism? He won’t call it a war on terror. He won’t say that they are Islamic terrorists. He won’t call them radical Muslims or Islamic extremists. He calls them religious extremists. Since Muslims are not allowed to go against another Muslim, he rallies the so-called peaceful Muslims by saying that the extremists are perverting Islam. Of course, he won’t admit that the terrorists are simply following the teachings of the Koran and are trying to usher in the last hours. Meanwhile, calling them dangerous religious extremists helps to prepare the way for the end times persecution of the Jews and Christians. The people who won’t worship the beast or take its mark like the rest of the world will be considered dangerous religious extremists due to their unwillingness to conform.