The day-year principle, year-day principle or year-for-a-day principle is a method of interpretation of Bible prophecy in which the word day in apocalyptic prophecy is symbolic for a year of actual time. It is used principally by the historicist school of prophetic interpretation.[1]
This view was recognized by the Jews[2] as seen in Daniel 9:24-27, and as seen in Jesus' use of the day-year principle in Luke 13 verses 31-33, and in the early church.[3] Protestant Reformers were well established on the day/year principle. And it was also accepted by an assortment by Christian groups, ministers, and theologians.[4][5][6] It is still held by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Baha'is today.
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The day-year principle was first used in Christian exposition in 380 AD by Tychonius, who interpreted the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9 as three and a half years, writing 'three days and a half; that is, three years and six months' ('dies tres et dimidium; id est annos tres et menses sex').[7] In the 5th century Faustus of Riez gave the same interpretation of Revelation 11:9, writing 'three and a half days which correspond to three years and six months' ('Tres et dimidius dies tribus annis et sex mensibus respondent),[8] and in c. 550 Primasius also gave the same interpretation, writing 'it is possible to understand the three days and a half as three years and six months' ('Tres dies et dimidium possumus intelligere tres annos et sex menses').[8] The same interpretation of Revelation 11:9 was given by the later Christian expositors Bede (730 AD), as well as Anspert, Arethas, Haymo, and Berengaud (all of the ninth century).[8]
Primasius appears to have been the first to appeal directly to previous Biblical passages in order to substantiate the principle, referring to Numbers 14:34 in support of his interpretation of the three and a half days of Revelation 11:9.[9] Haymo and Bruno Astensis "justify it by the parallel case of Ezekiel lying on his side 390 days, to signify 390 years ; — i. e. a day for a year. — ".[10]
Historicists usually believe the "1,260 days" spanned the Middle Ages and concluded within the early modern or modern era. Although many dates have been proposed for the start and finish of the "1,260 days", three time spans have proven popular according to a survey by Leroy Froom. The majority of historicists throughout history have identified the "1,260 days" as being fulfilled by one or more of the following three time spans:[11]
Proponents of the principle, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, claim that it has three primary precedents in Scripture:[14]
There is also a fourth held by some. Luke 13:32 Some say Jesus uses the day for a year principle in these verses. He said 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' Jesus did not say this 3 days before the crucifixion, but earlier. Therefore, the days here can only mean years. The first, second and third year Jesus was going to continue his ministry and on the same third year he was going to be perfected (i.e.: crucified).
Jon Paulien has defended the principle from a systematic theology perspective, not strictly just from the Bible.[15]
Historicist and futurist interpreters typically understand the 'three and a half days' of Revelation 11:9 as three and a half years.
The Millerites, like the earlier Bible students of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras, were historicists and the immediate spiritual forebears of Seventh-day Adventists.[16] Seventh-day Adventists use the historicist method of interpretation[17] and understand the 'three and a half days' is further reinforced as a "time, times, and half-a-time, (TIME=1 year/360 days, TIMES=2 years/720 days, HALF-TIME=½-year/180 days, or a total of 1260 days) and correspond to three and a half years, and these years correspond to 1260 days, which, after again applying the day-year principle, corresponds to 1260 years. Adventists hold that the expressions “time, times, and half a time” (Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:14), “forty-two months” (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), and “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Rev. 11:3; 12:6) all apply to the same time period.[18] Adventists have traditionally understood it to apply to the vast middle period of 1260 years of papal supremacy in the Middle Ages,[19] and ending during the era of the French Revolution.[20]
Historicist interpreters have usually understood the "time, times and half a time", "1,260 days" and "42 months" mentioned in Daniel and Revelation to be references to represent a period of 1260 years.[21] These time periods occur seven times in scripture, in Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, Revelation 11:2, Revelation 11:3, Revelation 12:6, Revelation 12:14 and Revelation 13:5.
Seventh-day Adventists understand them to have taken place during the period from AD 538 to 1798 which they believe to be the “1260 days”, “42 months” or “time, times and dividing of time” of apocalyptic prophecy given in scripture. In Adventist thought, the 1260 days were a time of papal supremacy and oppression as prophesied in Revelation 12:6, 14-16.[22][23] This period began with the defeat of the Ostrogoths by the general Belisarius and ended with the successes of Napoleon of France; specifically, the capture of Pope Pius VI by general Louis Alexandre Berthier in 1798.
The distinctly Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the divine investigative judgment beginning in 1844, based on the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, relies on the day-year principle. The 2300 days are understood to represent 2300 years stretching from 457 BC, the calculated starting date of the 70 weeks prophecy based on the 3rd decree found in Ezra, to 1844.[24][25] The prophecy of 2300 days in Verse 14 plays an important role in Seventh-day Adventist eschatology. The Seventh-day Adventist Church traces its origins to the William Miller, who predicted that the second coming of Jesus would occur in 1844 by assuming that the cleansing of the Sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 meant the destruction of the earth and applying the day-year principle. The 2300 days are interpreted as 2300 years, starting at the same time as the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks found in Chapter 9, on the grounds that the 70 weeks were "decreed" (actually "cut off") for the Jewish people from the 2300-day prophecy. This beginning year is calculated to be 457 BC (see details here), so that the end of the 2300 years would have been in 1844. Although the Millerites originally thought that 1844 represented the end of the world, those who later became Seventh-day Adventist reached the conclusion that 1844 marked the beginning of a divine pre-advent judgment called "the cleansing of the sanctuary". It is intimately related to the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was described by the church's prophet and pioneer Ellen G. White as one of the pillars of Adventist belief.[26][27]
Baha'is believe that the 1260-day prophecy points to the year 1260 of the migration of Muhammad and his followers,[28] which corresponds to the year 1844 AD, the year the Báb pronounced himself to be a Messenger of God (see also below).
`Abdu'l-Bahá in the book, Some Answered Questions, outlines a similar calculation as stated above. By applying the day-year principle, he demonstrates that the fulfillment of the vision of Daniel occurred in the year 1844, which is the year of the Báb's manifestation.[29] However the prophecy states "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." (Daniel 8:14)
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