Source Book for Bible Students

“Y” Entries

Year-Day Principle, General Nature of.—It may be summed up in these maxims: SBBS 585.8

1. That the church, after the ascension of Christ, was intended of God to be kept in the lively expectation of his speedy return in glory. SBBS 585.9

2. That, in the divine counsels, a long period of near two thousand years was to intervene between the first and the second advent, and to be marked by a dispensation of grace to the Gentiles. SBBS 585.10

3. That, in order to strengthen the faith and hope of the church under the long delay, a large part of the whole interval was prophetically announced, but in such a manner that its true length might not be understood, till its own close seemed to be drawing near. SBBS 585.11

4. That, in the symbolical prophecies of Daniel and St. John, other times were revealed along with this, and included under one common maxim of interpretation. SBBS 585.12

5. That the periods thus figuratively revealed are exclusively those in Daniel and St. John, which relate to the general history of the church between the time of the prophet and the second advent. SBBS 585.13

6. That, in these predictions, each day represents a natural year, as in the vision of Ezekiel; that a month denotes thirty, and a time three hundred and sixty years.—“First Elements of Sacred Prophecy,” Rev. T. R. Birks, p. 311. London: William Edward Painter, 1843. SBBS 585.14

Year-Day Principle, The Key to.—The beast’s predicted period of 1260 days reminds us that the time is now come for considering the propriety of that principle on which I have hitherto proceeded in my explanations of the several numerically expressed chronological periods enunciated in the Apocalyptic prophecy; viz., of regarding a day as meant to signify a year. The satisfactoriness of the historical solutions given by me on this principle, (supposing them to have been approved as such by the reader,) will of course have furnished evidence to his mind, of all other the most convincing, of the truth of the principle itself.... SBBS 586.1

In such prophecies it were surely reasonable to expect, even prior to investigation, that a certain propriety and proportion of scale between the symbol and the thing symbolized would be observed in respect of the time, as of other circumstantials, noted in the picture. Could it be supposed that Sacred Scripture would quite neglect that canon of propriety which natural taste has inculcated on the poet and the painter? I am speaking just now, it will be understood, of the observance of chronological proportion in a general way, not of the particular year-day scale of proportion.... SBBS 586.2

When considering the question at the present stage of the world’s history,-centuries not a few after the breaking up of Daniel’s fourth great empire, the Roman, from its old form, and its reconstruction into a new form, answering in all natural and reasonable views of things to the predicted decem-regal form that was to last even till the time of the consummation,-how can we possibly calculate the 1260 days, which was to be the measure of this its last form of existence, literally; or indeed on any other than an immensely larger scale of meaning? ... SBBS 586.3

There has further been furnished us a determinate precedent, as parallel as it is striking, in the prophetic history of Ezekiel. I allude of course to those two most remarkable symbolic actions of that prophet, which have been so frequently referred to in the year-day controversy by former commentators. He was on one occasion commanded by God to lie 390 days on his left side before the people; thereby to typify, in the symbolic character of their representative, the 390 years of the iniquity and concomitant debasement of the nation of Israel; on another, to lie 40 days on his right side, thereby to typify the 40 last years of Judah’s iniquity. And the meaning of these mystical days was declared by God himself. “I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days 390 days. I have appointed thee each day for a year.” [See Ezekiel 4:5, 6.] SBBS 586.4

A precedent more clear and complete than this could scarce be desired, as a probable key and guide to the meaning of the days in the symbolic visions that we have under consideration. And I think it deserving of remark that it was acted out publicly, in the midst of the captivity in which Daniel was included; and not very many years before the communication to him of the earlier of his prefigurative visions. So that already the key was provided, ere the visions were given, wherewith to unlock at the fit time the secrets (if such there were) of all the mystic periods involved.—“Horo Apocalyptico,” Rev. E. B. Elliott, Vol. III, pp. 221-227. London: Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, 1847. SBBS 586.5

Year-Day Principle, Established by the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.—The prophecy of the seventy weeks has always held the foremost place in the direct arguments for the year-day system. The reasoning is very simple in its nature. The word “week,” or shabua, is used elsewhere in Scripture to denote seven days; but in this prophecy it denotes seven years. Hence the words of time are enlarged beyond their literal or usual sense, in the proportion of a year to a day. And since all these predictions of time bear one common character, occur in the same prophets, and have the same general object, they ought to be explained by one common rule. In the one instance, which is decisively fulfilled, the proportion holds of a year to a day; and therefore it must be applied, in consistency, to all the rest.—“First Elements of Sacred Prophecy,” Rev. T. R. Birks, p. 333. London: William Edward Painter, 1843. SBBS 586.6

It is evident that in order to be intelligible, these measures of time must all be interpreted on one scale. What scale is it? Is it the grand divine scale of “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years”? or is it an hour for a day? or a day for a month? or a day for a year? or what is it? SBBS 587.1

The great answer to this important query is found in the fact that one of these periods has been fulfilled, and therefore supplies the key to all the rest. The seventy weeks of Daniel 9 elapsed between the decree of Artaxerxes and the advent of Messiah. That period was actually 490 years, the prophecy announced it as 490 days, or “seventy weeks,” and we are therefore led to conclude that in all the above analogous passages, where time is predicted in miniature and in mystery, in harmony with the miniature and mysterious nature of the symbols by which the prophecy is conveyed, a year is represented by a day, seven years by a week, thirty years by a month, 360 years by a “year,” and so on. This principle once admitted, the chronology of these prophecies becomes simple and accurate, and available for our present study of the periodicity of human history.—“The Approaching End of the Age,” H. Grattan Guinness, pp. 302, 303. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1880. SBBS 587.2

Year-Day Principle, Calendar of Sacred Times.—Four terms are employed in almost every nation, in the ordinary calendar of time-the day, the week, the month, and the year. These form a natural and ascending series, by which all periods are most conveniently expressed, and complete the system of popular and colloquial measurement of time. The case was evidently the same among the Jews as with ourselves. Now of these four periods, the day, the month, and the year (Daniel 12:11; Revelation 9:5; 11:2; 9:15), occur elsewhere in these dates of the symbolical prophecies. But the week occurs here only [Daniel 9:25]. It is evidently needful to complete the system; and being added, it does complete a regular calendar of sacred and prophetic times. But the week, whether we render it a week or a seven, does not denote a common week, but a period of seven years. And since it forms one element in this fourfold ascending scale, it does, by a natural inference, raise all the others in the same proportion. The prophetic dates, which otherwise would remain a heap of disjointed fragments, by this key become at once united into a consistent and harmonious scheme, mysterious yet definite, and combining the precision of a human calendar with the magnificent grandeur of a divine revelation. SBBS 587.3

This gradation of the prophetic periods will be more apparent, if we subjoin them in regular arrangement, according to the terms in which they are conveyed. SBBS 587.4

1. Three days and a half twice repeated (Revelation 11). SBBS 587.5

Tribulation of ten days (Revelation 2:10). SBBS 587.6

Twelve hundred and sixty days (Revelation 11, 12). SBBS 588.1

Twelve hundred and ninety days (Daniel 12:11). SBBS 588.2

Thirteen hundred and five and thirty days (Daniel 12:11). SBBS 588.3

2. A week and half week (Daniel 9:27). SBBS 588.4

Seven weeks (9:25). SBBS 588.5

Threescore and two weeks (9:25). SBBS 588.6

Seventy weeks (9:24). SBBS 588.7

3. Five months (Revelation 9:5, 10). SBBS 588.8

Forty and two months (Revelation 11:2; 13:5). SBBS 588.9

4. Day, month, and year (Revelation 9:15). SBBS 588.10

A time ([Greek word, transliterated “chronos”]) Revelation 6:11; 10:6). SBBS 588.11

A time, times, and half (Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 12:14). SBBS 588.12

[5. Six Hundred and sixty-six, unit undetermined (Revelation 13:8). SBBS 588.13

Two thousand three hundred, the same (Daniel 8:14).] SBBS 588.14

There are all the marks in this list of a connected and regular series. And since the weeks are sevens of years, the conclusion can scarcely be avoided, that the others also are to be reckoned, consistently with this pattern, and on the same scale.—“First Elements of Sacred Prophecy,” Rev. T. R. Birks, pp. 336-338. London: William Edward Painter, 1843. SBBS 588.15

The year-day theory, as applied to the time, times, and a half, first appeared about the year 1200.—Id., p. 402. SBBS 588.16

Year-Day Principle, General Acceptance of.—It is a singular fact that the great mass of interpreters in the English and American world have, for many years, been wont to understand the days designated in Daniel and the Apocalypse, as the representatives or symbols of years. I have found it difficult to trace the origin of this general, I might say almost universal, custom.—“Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy,” Moses Stuart, p. 74. Andover: Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell, 1842. SBBS 588.17

Year-Day Principle, Effect of Rejecting.—That entire rejection of all prophetic chronology, which follows, of course, on the denial of the year-day, is most of all to be deplored, from its deadly and paralyzing influence on the great hope of the church.... The prophetic times, indeed, when separated from the context, and viewed in themselves only, are a dry and worthless skeleton: but when taken in connection with the related events, clothed with historical facts, and joined with those spiritual affections which should attend the study of God’s providence; like the bones in the human frame, they give strength to what was feeble, and union to what was disjointed, and form, and beauty, and order, to the whole outline and substance of these sacred and divine prophecies.—“First Elements of Sacred Prophecy,” Rev. T. R. Birks, pp. 415, 416. London: William Edward Painter, 1843. SBBS 588.18