101 Questions on the Sanctuary and on Ellen White

9. The Year-Day Principle

Is the year-day principle a valid Biblical yardstick that can be used in the interpretation of symbolic time prophecies? QSEW 11.11

Yes. For example, Revelation 12:6, 14 and 13:5 state that the papacy would exercise control over the Christian world for 1260 days. Historical records reveal that the papal power dominated the world, not for 1260 literal days, but for 1260 years, from 538 to 1798 AD. The prophecy makes sense only when interpreted by the year-day principle. QSEW 12.1

As far as the 2300 days are concerned, the angel Gabriel said that this period would reach to “the time of the end” (Daniel 8:17). Adding 2300 literal days to 457 BC brings one only to 451 BC which is not in the time of the end. But when 2300 years are added to 457 BC one reaches the date 1844 which is in the time of the end. So the prophecy requires the days to be interpreted as years. QSEW 12.2

The vision of Daniel 8 included the ram, the he-goat, and the desolating activities of the little horn (Daniel 8:1-12). When the angel asked, “How long shall be the vision?” (v. 13), he was asking how long it would be from the time of the ram (Medo-Persia) to the time of the little horn (the papacy). Another angel answered that it would be 2300 days. It would be absurd to insist that the time interval from Medo-Persia to the papacy was only 2300 literal days. Only when interpreted by the year-day principle does this time period match the records of history. QSEW 12.3

Daniel further states that the seventy-week period (490 days) would begin in the days of Medo-Persia with Artaxerxes’ decree (Daniel 9:25) and would continue beyond the time of the crucifixion of Christ (Daniel 9:26). The 490 days, then, must begin in the fifth century BC and end in the first century AD. The prophecy makes sense only when interpreted by the year-day principle. The year-day idea is suggested also in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. (The time prophecies also may be reckoned on the basis of jubilees; see articles by Jean Zurcher in the Adventist Review, January 29, February 5, 1981.) QSEW 12.4

In his commentary on Daniel published by the Southern Publishing Association in 1978, Desmond Ford strongly supported the use of the year-day principle in interpreting the time prophecies of Daniel. He wrote: QSEW 12.5

“The context of the 2300 days, the 1290, and the 1335 days each stresses the cataclysmic events associated with the close of the great controversy between Christ and Satan (see Daniel 8:17, 25, 26; 12:3, 4, 9-13). QSEW 12.6

“The preceding point regarding the divinely indicated importance of the prophetic times finds support in the fact that ordinary days cannot be here intended by these prophecies. As the visions themselves embrace comprehensive rather than trifling themes, so the time periods emphasized are symbolic of extensive, rather than limited, eras. QSEW 13.1

“The context of both Daniel 7 and 8 forbids the idea that the periods mentioned could be literal. In the first case the little horn emerges from the fourth world Empire and endures till the time of the judgment and the advent, and 7:25 declares that the period of ‘a time, two times, and half a time’ extends over most of this time. How impossible this would be if three and a half years only were intended. QSEW 13.2

“Similarly, in 8:17 the prophet is told that the 2300 days would extend from the restoration of the sanctuary until ‘the time of the end.’ This means that a period of approximately 2300 years is involved. The treading down of the sanctuary brought to view in 8:11-13 could not begin before the restoration spoken of in 9:25, in the fifth century BC. And besides this, its terminus is expressly stated as belonging to the latter days, just prior to the final proclamation of the gospel by the ‘wise’ (see 12:3, 4). QSEW 13.3

“It has been largely overlooked by critics that 8:17, when linked with 12:3, 4, 9, 10, 13, makes it conclusive that the 2300-day period covers many centuries. Likewise in Revelation 12 the forty-two month period covers the greater part of the time between the first and second advents, when the church would be in the wilderness of persecution during the Dark Ages. This is granted by almost all expositors.”—Ford, Daniel, 301, 302. QSEW 13.4

At some point between 1978 and 1980 Ford apparently changed his mind so that he no longer advocates these well-expressed views. His arguments, however, were sound in 1978 and they are still valid. QSEW 13.5