Time and times and half a time Archives » From Daniel to Revelation

Overview

Daniel received several prophecies about his future. However, in the last chapter of his book, he was told that his prophecies, specifically with respect to when the End would be, would only be understood in the End Time, a period leading up to the resurrection of the dead.

Revelation 10 uses an angel bringing a little open book to earth to symbolize that end-time understanding of Daniel’s prophecies. The angel says that although the “time, times, and a half” has passed, this is not yet the End. The End must only be expected just before the seventh trumpet blows.

Interlude

The sixth seal ends at the close of Revelation 6, but the seventh is not broken until Revelation 8. Revelation 7 is an interlude between these two seals. Revelation 10-11:14 is a similar interlude between the last two trumpets. Both interludes are in two parts:

The seal’s interlude includes the 144,000 (7:1-8) and the Great Multitude (7:9-17).

The trumpet’s interlude involves the vision of 10:1-7, beginning with, “And I saw” (Rev 10:1). and a lengthy explanation (10:8 – 11:13).

Revelation 10:1

I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;

Strong – This angel is “strong,” implying that his purpose is very important. There are also mighty angels in Revelation 5:2 and 18:21.

Coming down – In Revelation 1, John is on Patmos and sees the son of man in the midst of the lampstands behind him. Then, in Revelation 4:1, he is called up into heaven to view the scene of Revelation 4-5. He seems to remain in heaven as the seals are broken one by one (Rev 6:1, 3, 5, etc.), and when he sees an angel ministering before the altar of incense in the heavenly sanctuary (Rev 8:2-6). But, in 10:1, John sees the angel coming down from heaven, and in 10:4, he hears a voice from heaven, meaning that John is now on earth again.

Cloud – While Jesus ascended to heaven in a cloud (Acts 1:9) and will come with the clouds (Rev 14:14; 1:7), this angel is “clothed with a cloud.” This does not mean that He is Jesus. For example, the two witnesses also go up into heaven in the cloud (Rev 11:12). The cloud indicates that the angel comes from heaven and is sent by God. [Show More]

Rainbow – Since there is a rainbow around God’s throne (Rev 4:3; Ezek 1:28), the rainbow on the angel’s head confirms that he came from God. The rainbow likely recalls the emblem of God’s mercy at the end of the Flood (Gen 9:13-17), a symbol of God’s covenant with humanity, the expression of His settled purpose to benefit humanity in spite of its many failings.

Sun – Like Jesus, the angel’s face is like the sun (Matt 17:2; Rev 1:16), implying good intentions (Num 6:25).

Fire – This verse is part of the seven trumpets (cf. Rev 9:12; 11:14). The seven trumpets begin when the fire from the golden altar is thrown on the earth (Rev 8:5). There is fire in all the trumpets, reflecting the fire from the altar. We see the same fire in the angel’s feet like pillars of fire. Fire has cleaning properties (Rev 3:18). The purpose of the trumpets is to save the lost, as we can see, for example, in the angel’s shining face, the fact that the trumpets attack only a third of the world (Rev 8:7, 8, 10, 12, etc.), and in the prophesying and witnessing (Rev 10:11; 11:3). Therefore, the fire of his feet symbolizes his purpose of salvation. In the next verse, he will stand with those feet on the people of the world.

Jesus – Perhaps the strong parallels mean that the mighty angel is Jesus. However, Revelation never refers to Jesus as an angel. At least one can say that this angel functions with Christ’s full authority. Whatever happens in this chapter comes from Jesus. Whether this angel is Jesus will not make one bit of difference to the meaning of this vision. [Show More]

Revelation 10:2

And he had in his hand a little book which was open.
He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.

Book – A book symbolizes knowledge or information. A sealed book implies hidden knowledge. This book is open, meaning that the information is available. It was closed in the past, for in the Greek, it literally says: “the book, the one having been opened.” [Show More]

A scroll – The book probably was a scroll; long sheets of paper rolled up on a stick. [Show More]

Not the book in Revelation 5 – Some propose that the angel is Christ and that the little book is the scroll that is sealed with seven seals, which Christ received from His Father in Revelation 5. However, the two books are not the same. For example, the seven-sealed book will only be opened after the great day of God’s wrath (compare Revelation 6:17 to 8:1). In contrast, the little book in Revelation 10 is open and becomes the basis for the end-time message to the world (Rev 10:10-11), obviously before the great day of God’s wrath. [Show More]

Sea and Land represent the people of the world. That the angel stands on both the land and sea implies that the message is worldwide. [Show More]

Feet—The angel is so large that he can put one foot on the land and the other on the sea. The mighty angel’s dual location means that his message is worldwide, for everybody, everywhere. The fiery feet with which he stands on the people symbolize that people will experience his message, as contained in the little book that he brings to earth, as torment.

Revelation 11, which describes God’s two witnesses, continues the prophecy of Revelation 10. The two witnesses may be equivalent to the angel’s two feet because, similar to the angel’s feet of fire, they torment the people (Rev 11:10) and devour their enemies with the fire that flows out of their mouth (Rev 11:5). That fire symbolizes their message.

Revelation 10:3-4

3 And he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. 4 When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”

Thunders – It is not clear from the rest of Revelation who or what the seven thunders are. It could be a voice from God’s throne room. Thunder is mentioned repeatedly in the context of God’s direct presence (Rev 14:2), God’s throne (Rev 4:5), and the temple in heaven (Rev 8:3-5; 11:19; 16:18). [Show More]

Voice – The “voice from heaven” is not the voice of the mighty angel. This voice speaks again in Revelation 10:8 and is likely also the passive voice in Revelation 10:11, as well as much of what follows in chapter 11. In Revelation 11:1-3, “someone” spoke about His two Witnesses. That might refer to God or Jesus.

Seal Up – John understood what the seven thunders said, for he was ready to write it down but was prevented. He was instructed to “seal up” what they said. Notice the contrast; an angel comes from heaven with an open book to give this knowledge and understanding to the world, but immediately, something is hidden again. It must be something related to the book that must remain hidden. This is discussed further below under the “mystery of God” (Rev 12:7). [Show More]

Revelation 10:5-7

5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer 7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Him – Him who lives forever and ever, and who created all things, describes the One sitting on the throne, namely, God (Rev 4:9, 11). The Book of Revelation maintains a strict distinction between God and Jesus and never describes Jesus in such terms. Read Article.

Understanding the Prophecies

This oath in 10:5-7 is the key to the entire Revelation 10 and 11. It explains what this little open book is and when it is brought to Earth. The key is to see that Daniel 12:7 describes a similar oath. In both, a supernatural being, standing above the people of the world, lifts up his hand to heaven and swears by Him who lives forever and ever about when the End will come. Both oaths are also made in the context of a book which is first sealed but later opened. In Daniel, the book is Daniel’s prophecies, which were sealed (Dan 12:4, 9). [Show More]

This is one of the strongest verbal parallels in the entire Book of Revelation and means that the two oaths are related, namely, that the oath in Revelation 10 continues and elaborates on the oath in Daniel 12. The important conclusions are:

(1) The little open book in Revelation 10 is the book mentioned in Daniel 12:4, which is Daniel’s prophecies (cf. Dan 12:9).

(2) The “man” told Daniel that his prophecies would be sealed and only be unsealed in the period called “the end time,” when God’s people will study and understand it (Dan 12:9-10). (Young’s Literal translation refers to this period as “the time of the end” (Dan 12:4, YLT).) Therefore, “the end time” is a period leading up to Christ’s return. It must be contrasted with what Daniel calls “the end of the age,” which is a point in time in the End when the dead will be raised (Dan 12:13). That the book is open in Revelation means that the angel brings it at the beginning of “the end time.” Therefore, everything in Revelation 10 happens in “the end time.”

Time No More

In many translations, the angel said “delay no longer” (Rev 10:6 NASB), but the Greek simply reads “no more time” (Gr. chronos). Since this oath elaborates on the oath in Daniel 12, we need to find the meaning of this phrase in Daniel 12.

In Daniel, someone asked “how long” it would be until the wonderful things mentioned at the beginning of Daniel 12, including when Daniel’s prophecies would be understood (Dan 12:4-6). The answer was that “a time, times, and a half” must first pass (Dan 12:7). In other words, the “time, times, and a half” precedes the End Time.

Therefore, when the angel in Revelation says “no more time,” the many allusions to Daniel 12 mean that the angel in Revelation 10 announces the end of the “time, times, and a half.” This conclusion is supported by the fact that the events of Revelation 10 occur in the End Time, which is after the “time, times, and a half.”

Not the End

In the past, some interpreters took the announcement “no more time” to mean the End of the world. But they overlooked two things:

(1) In Daniel, the time prophecies do not lead up to the end of the world but to the “time of the end” (Dan 12:9).

(2) In the Greek, the first word in verse 7 (but) is stated very strongly, meaning that what follows will strongly qualify what was said before. In other words, time continues after the “time, times, and a half.” The angel added that the End will only be when the seventh trumpet blows (Rev 10:7; cf. 11:15). [Show More]

The Mystery of God

The angel said that the mystery of God will be finished when the seventh trumpet is about to sound (Rev 10:7).

In the New Testament, the Mystery of God is a message brought to the world through Christ (Rom 16:25-26), equivalent to the gospel (Col 1:25-28, see also Eph 6:19), in which the door of heaven was open to all, including both Jew and Gentile (Eph 3:3-6; 1 Tim 3:16).

In contrast, in Daniel, God reveals to Nebuchadnezzar mysteries concerning the future (Dan 2:27-29, 44-45). Since the context of Revelation 10 is Daniel’s prophecies, the mystery relates to the book of Daniel. In that book, one issue stands out as a mystery, and that is the question “how long” or “when” Go would bring this crime to an end. All the other issues in the book are explained by the book itself:

The only symbol in Daniel 8 that is not explained is the “2300 evenings and mornings” (Dan 8:14), which Daniel was instructed to “hide” because it has to do with the distant future (literally “many days” (Dan 8:26)).

In Daniel 12, the question “How long” resulted in the angel’s oath. But despite that oath, Daniel still did not understand (Dan 12:8).

Therefore, the mystery in Revelation 10 has to do with when the End will be; when Christ will return.

Since the angel said that the mystery of God would be finished as the seventh trumpet is about to sound, the question “how long” will be answered at that point. This is confirmed by the seventh trumpet, which begins by saying that the kingdom of this world has already become the kingdom of our Lord (Rev 11:15).

It is further proposed that the words of the seven thunders that were sealed up (Rev 10:3-4) relate to this issue, as is discussed further below,

Summary

Revelation 12 first mentions the war in heaven after Jesus was caught up to His Father’s throne. However, that war began before Christ. What happened after Christ is that Michael and his angels won the victory.

Verses 8 and 9 mention Satan’s defeat after the wilderness period in verse 6, but the wilderness period is mentioned again in verse 14. Furthermore, verses 13 and 14 make it clear that the woman flees to the wilderness AFTER Satan was thrown down to earth. The real chronological sequence, therefore, is as follows:

● Before Christ, there was war in heaven while the dragon waits to devour the Child;
● Christ is born and caught up to God;
● After Christ, Satan is defeated and thrown down to earth (Rev 12:8-12);
● The woman flees to the wilderness (Rev 12:6, 14).

Given this chronological sequence, it is proposed that Satan was thrown out of heaven immediately or soon after Christ’s ascension.

Chronological Sequence

The sequence of events in Revelation 12:5-14 is as follows:

The woman’s male child was “caught up to God and to His throne” (Rev 12:5).

“The woman fled into the wilderness” where she would be “nourished” for 1260 days (Rev 12:6).

The angels in heaven wage “war” (Rev 12:7).

Satan is defeated: “He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev 12:8-9).

Verses 10 to 12 describe the nature of the war in heaven (Rev 12:10-12).

In verse 13, the focus shifts from heaven to earth:

“When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child” (Rev 12:13).

The woman flees to the wilderness “where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time” (Rev 12:14).

The War began before Christ.

The idea of a war in heaven may seem strange to some. However:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12; cf. Col 1:20).

This sequence of events above may seem to imply that the war in heaven BEGAN after Jesus was caught up to His Father’s throne, but the following shows that that war was raging BEFORE Christ was born:

Daniel – God sent an angel to Daniel (Dan 10:5-6), but the supernatural “prince of the kingdom of Persia” prevented that mighty angel from reaching Daniel (Dan 10:13) for a full “three weeks.” He was only able to reach Daniel after another supernatural being (Michael) came to his assistance (v13). Furthermore, the angel said that he had to return “to fight against the prince of Persia,” and that “there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince” (Dan 10:20-21). In other words, the angels were already at war 600 years before Christ.

Jude – Satan has “power of death” (Heb 2:14). In Jude 9, we read of Michael, namely, that “Michael the archangel … disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses.” So, similar to Revelation 12:7-9, here we have conflict between Michael and Satan. And this must have been before the time of Jesus because Moses appeared bodily to Jesus (Matt 17:3-4). (Moses appeared with Elijah, but never died. He was taken up into heaven in bodily form (2 Kings 2:11).)

Other examples of the war in heaven, before the time of Christ, are Zechariah 3:1 and Job 1:8-9.

In other words, the war in heaven raged BEFORE Christ was born. Therefore, we must distinguish between the war and the victory. The war existed before Christ, but Michael and his angels won the victory only after Jesus was caught up.

Was Satan Defeated after the 1260 Days?

Between Jesus’ ascension in Revelation 12:5 and Satan’s defeat in Revelation 12:8, the woman hides in the wilderness for 1260 days (Rev 12:6). So, was Satan defeated AFTER the 1260 days?

To understand the correct chronological sequence, one has to understand that verses 6 and 14 describe the same wilderness period, for, in both, the woman flees into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for her, where she would be nourished for the same period (Rev 12:6, 14). For a detailed comparison, see – Time, times, and half a time.

Although these two verses describe the same wilderness period, verse 6 is mentioned before the war in heaven, while verse 14 follows after Satan was thrown down to earth (Rev 12:8-9). So, one question is, did Michael win the victory before or after the wilderness period? Revelation 12:13-14 give the actual chronological sequence because it explicitly links Satan’s defeat to the wilderness period:

“When the dragon saw
that he was thrown down to the earth,
he persecuted the woman
who gave birth to the male child.
But the two wings of the great eagle
were given to the woman,
so that she could fly
into the wilderness to her place
where she was nourished
for a time and times and half a time.”

The woman, therefore, hides in the wilderness AFTER Satan was thrown down to earth. In other words, the real chronological sequence is as follows:

- - The dragon waits to devour the Child (Rev 12:1-4);
  - The Child escapes and caught up to God (Rev 12:5);
  - Satan is defeated and thrown down (Rev 12:8-12);
  - Woman flees to the wilderness (Rev 12:6, 14).

What is the Wilderness Period?

Wilderness As indicated by Revelation 12:13-14, this is a time when God’s people have to hide from persecution. They become invisible. It is a very important prophetic period, for it is mentioned seven times in Daniel and Revelation. It is first mentioned in Daniel:

The “saints of the Highest One … will be given into his hand (the evil horn-king’s hand) for a time, times, and half a time” (Dan 7:25).

“It would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed” (Dan 12:7).

In both, God’s people are persecuted during this period.

This period is not specifically identified in this article because that is not necessary for the purpose of this article. But, as one can see from Revelation 12, it is a period between Christ’s ascension (Rev 12:5) and the end-time war (Rev 12:17). That supports the view that this is a very long period, and that the 1260 days are symbolic.

When was the Victory won?

Satans defeat Some people want to put Satan’s defeat a long time before Christ, when Lucifer was “cast … as profane from the mountain of God” (Ezekiel 28:16). Others want to put it at the end of time, when “the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev 20:10). But since the victory was won before the woman has to hide in the wilderness, it is proposed that Satan was thrown out of heaven immediately after Christ’s ascension.

Tag: Time and times and half a time

Revelation 10:1-7 – The Little Open Book