SPECIAL TOPIC: FORTY-TWO MONTHS

SPECIAL TOPIC: FORTY-TWO MONTHS (from Daniel)

The phrase "forty-two months" is prophetically characteristic of a period of persecution. The trampling of the outer court is a proverb for the people of God under the domination of unbelievers in different periods in history—Antiochus Epiphanes, the Romans, the Arabs, and the end-time Antichrist.

Forty-two months, or its equivalent, is mentioned several times in the apocalyptic books of the Bible. The origin seems to be the book of Daniel.

Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Rev. 12:14 mention "a time, times, and half a time" or 1277 days (assuming a "time" equals one year),
Daniel 8:14 mentions "2300 evenings and mornings"
Daniel 12:11 mentions "1290 days"
Daniel 12:12 mentions "1335 days"
Revelation 11:2; 13:5 mention "42 months"
Revelation 11:3; 12:6 mention "1260 days"

Another way to look at this enigmatic phrase is to see it as a sequence: one, two, but not a third; therefore, a divinely limited amount of time under which Gentile kingdoms persecute God’s people. God, in the book of Daniel, is in complete control (cf. Dan. 7:4,6,11,12,18,22,25,26,27)!

When all of these occurrences are taken into account, their variety seems to speak of the symbolic nature of the numbers, while their proximity to forty-two months seems to show that it is a symbolic number for a period of persecution. Since three and a half is half of seven (ex. Dan. 9:27), it seems to be a reference to a complete period of persecution that has been cut short (cf. Matt. 24:22; Mark 13:20; Luke 21:24).

SPECIAL TOPIC: SYMBOLIC NUMBERS IN SCRIPTURE