#13. The Mystery of 1260

–and Why Christianity Can’t Unravel It

Of all the numbers found in biblical prophecy, 1260 is the most baffling.  It seems very significant because it is mentioned in the two most prophetic books of the Bible—twice in the Old Testament Book of Daniel (7:25 & 12:7) and seven times in the New Testament Book of Revelation (11:2, 3, 9 & 11; 12:6 & 14 and 13:5).  Sometimes it is given as 1,260 days while other times it is given as 42 months (x 30 days = 1260 days) and still others give it as 3-1/2 years (= 42 months) or more poetically as “a time, times and the dividing of times” (1 + 2 + 1/2 years).  But all 9 references refer to the same period of 1260 “days” which, in the language of prophecy, is 1260 years.

Aside from its frequency, it is also the only prophetic number which appears in BOTH Testaments.  Daniel’s other prophecies include other well-known numbers such as 2,300 “days” and 490 (70 “weeks”).  But these numbers are not found again anywhere in the New Testament. The Revelation of St. John mentions “666” and “144,000” but these are not found in the Old Testament.  However, 1260, alone, is found in both Testaments. It must have some great significance.

But looking back over history, can anyone find a 1260-year period which was so especially significant that it would bear repeating in so many passages?

Biblical scholars have had no success in unravelling this mystery.  Joachim of Fiore, a 12th-century monk, proclaimed that it indicated that Christ would return in 1260 AD to initiate a new age. Clearly, that did not happen.  Isaac Newton, who studied biblical prophecy in-between his studies of physics, anticipated the date as being the end of Pope’s power as a ruler of both the Church and the Catholic state.  Since that started with Charlemagne in 800 AD, his prediction was 2060 AD.  But it missed the mark by a couple of centuries–the Catholic state ended in 1870 when the Pope became a “prisoner of the Vatican”.

The famous unraveller of biblical prophecy of the 1830s-1840s, William Miller, whose work initiated the modern evangelical movement, seemed to struggle with this.  He finally settled on a rather complex formula, in which 1260 years was simply one of four periods leading up to 1843-44.  None of the other three periods had been clearly mentioned in biblical prophecies.  This was not a very satisfactory solution.

The problems was that no one recognized that prophecy serves as a link between religions.  The prophecies of the Old Testament are often links to the coming of Jesus.  An ancient prophecy of Zoroaster gave the Persian Magi (i.e. “the Wise Men of the East”) the directions they needed to find Jesus at the time of His birth, providing a Zoroastrian-Christian link.  Therefore, could the answer to the riddle of the 1260 prophecy possibly lie outside of the Christian realm?  If so, how would Christians ever find it, since they continued to regard everything outside of Christianity as heretical and unworthy of attention? 

Indeed, it would require traveling to the east, beyond of the Christian realms, before Zach and James could discover the startling answer to this riddle.  And you will share in their amazing discovery, as you read chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Volume I. 

Available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wise-Men-West-Search-Promised/dp/173245115X