Time, times, and the dividing of time

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

A time for prophecy. Long times of self-rule. The "dividing of time" or 7 Church Ages split the last week in half.

First published on the 28th of August 2019 — Last updated on the 19th of August 2021

1 sentence of prophecy covers events 2000 years apart

DANIEL 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

Caution: There is no quick and easy answer to Daniel’s prophecy. We have to dig deep and think hard.

Many Scriptures have a double meaning.

HOSEA 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

This is obviously referring to when Moses called the Jews, the children of Israel, out of Egypt in the first exodus.

But it also has a second meaning. Jesus coming out of Egypt as a young Boy so that in the second Exodus He could lead the church out of Judaism.

MATTHEW 2:14 When he arose, he [Joseph] took the young child [Jesus] and his mother [Mary] by night, and departed into Egypt:

MATTHEW 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Please remember that any prophecy may have two interpretations.

ISAIAH 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

What does this verse mean?

ISAIAH 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD [this refers to the ministry of Jesus], and the day of vengeance of our God [this refers to the 3.5 years of great Tribulation]; to comfort all that mourn [the Bride in the Wedding Supper].

The ministry of Jesus was separated by 2000 years from the time of great Tribulation.

So this one verse refers to two events separated by 2000 years.

Please notice that the comma after LORD, represents a gap of 2000 years.

Even the punctuation in the King James Bible is exquisitely accurate.

When Jesus read from Isaiah, He only read the first half of the sentence.

LUKE 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Jesus knew His ministry only applied to the first half of this verse in Isaiah.

Statements that are written next to each other in a verse of Scripture can refer to different events that have nothing to do with each other.

Temple sacrifices end to confirm the 7 year covenant

The prophecy that the churches have really got wrong is in Daniel Chapter 9:27

DANIEL 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,

Church-goers assume “he” is the Antichrist who will “make” a covenant with the Jews for 7 years.

The Bible never says "the antichrist". That is a wrong expression.

There are many antichrists and they have been present for 2000 years. Antichrist is a spirit.

But the spirit world is very difficult to describe.

Jesus spoke to an unclean spirit (singular) but got the answer "we are many". (Plural).
MARK 5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

There were many spirits in the madman Legion that went into the herd of pigs. Many spirits are able to be in one person and yet be referred to as "thou unclean spirit" (singular).

So the spirit world is very different from what we are used to.

I JOHN 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

I JOHN 4:3 ... and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Antichrist is a spirit not a man.

There are many antichrists and they have been around for 2000 years.

There are many antichrists that have been influencing church-goers for 2000 years, so they have a long history.

The antichrist spirit of religious deception, political involvement, and Big Business demonology. Ever wondered why the churches got so rich?

"Pastor" is a well-paid job. One of the few careers where you start at the top. But so do grave-diggers.

In the Bible there is no "the antichrist", who churches claim will come at the end.

When Satan enters his final superman at the end he will be "the son of perdition", also called "the man of sin".

Judas the apostle, a church leader, was the son of perdition. The son from hell.

Church people do not like to admit this because then they have to look for the "final bad man", the end-time "son from hell", from amongst the church leaders, not the politicians in or around Europe.

JOHN 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Jesus is referring to Judas Iscariot as the "son of perdition". How did Judas achieve that awful state?

The spirit of Satan entered Judas. This drove Judas to betray Jesus, Who is the Word of God.

LUKE 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

:4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

Sadly, there are all too many preachers and church leaders who are influenced by these antichrist spirits to change, deny, ignore, or contradict the Word of God. The first step to fool people away from the true Bible is to print a changed Bible. By producing over 100 different versions of the Bible and condemning the King James Version, these spirits have successfully stopped a huge number of people from finding the true Word.

So they betray the Word by teaching people a corrupted version of the truth. The people prefer to believe the changed version of the Bible rather than the true King James Version. Thus preachers exalt their changed versions of the Bible above the King James Version which is the true Word.

Church leaders do not want to label the final "man of sin" as the "son of perdition" because that points a finger at the church leaders. So they prefer the unscriptural term "The Antichrist" because that could mean anyone as the Bible never mentions the term. Very cleverly, they distract the church-goers by pointing outside the church at various politicians in and around Europe.

The Dark Ages was the time when there was a great falling away from the Bible truth. The "man of sin" was exposed by the brave Martin Luther in 1520. The man was the Pope who claimed to forgive sin if you paid him money. This was called the sale of indulgences which collected enough money to build the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's church in the Vatican. They claim this is the temple of God, because the Pope is "Vicarius Christi" which means that he is "in the place of Christ". And they claim that the Pope can thus forgive sin, which only God can do.

But instead of collecting money from the people, Christ threw the religious money-makers out of the Temple three times. Making money out of religion made Jesus very angry.

He knew that demons inspired that greed for religious wealth.

Jesus threw them out on Palm Sunday and again the next day, Monday. Interfering with the religious leaders' income was going too far. They killed Him on Thursday.

Don't interfere with a church Pastor's money. Then things can get nasty.

So, the final "bad person" should be called "the man of sin" or "the son of perdition", just like the apostle and church leader Judas. Preachers do not want to admit this because that means that the betrayal of Bible truth is happening in the church with unscriptural doctrines like Trinity, Christmas, the seven-year tribulation, the pastor is the head of the church, Good Friday, etc. Not to mention all the wealth that the churches have collected.

II THESSALONIANS 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

II THESSALONIANS 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

"Many antichrists". The spirit of antichrist has always been present for over 2000 years.

The prophecies in Scripture deal with the history of this evil system that antichrist spirits (or spirit) have built up over the centuries. We do not have to wait in ignorance for some unknown politician to rise on the scene and waste our time trying to guess who he will be.

We need to look at the succession of Popes who have opposed the truth throughout the 7 church ages and who are teaching Protestants to do the same thing. The man of sin will arrive as the final Pope.

Many antichrist spirits in the Popes have produced a long "trail of the serpent" as they go back to the first church by claiming that Peter was the first Pope.

The beast represents a powerful spirit. The power of uplifting a man or woman until he or she is worshiped. That bad spirit that makes people worship or hero-worship a film star or rock star or sports star or church leader.

The beast is the denominational organization that crushes the people until they submit to human leadership and are then fooled or forced into believing unscriptural doctrines. A man is lifted up to be the head of the church. He then makes the rules that allow him to rule the church.

REVELATION 17:8 ... when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

"The beast that was". This crushing power of man-made denominational religion always "was" going right back to the start of the church, because they falsely claim that Peter was the first Pope.

So, there always "was" a Pope.

"And is not". The Pope dies.

"And yet is". A new Pope is elected to make the Succession of Popes the longest line of rulers in the world.

The Roman Catholic church is the only enemy of truth that has been around for all seven church ages, since the church began.

This terrible spirit of human-worship entered the Western world when Alexander the Great demanded to be worshiped as a god in the East as well as in Greece. Then the city of Pergamos built a temple to the Roman dictator and Pontiff, Julius Caesar who was worshipped as a god. When the pagan Roman Empire collapsed then their awful pagan and cruel spirit resurrected up on the ruins of the Roman Empire as the Roman Catholic church.

The Catholics say the Pope is infallible. But only God is infallible. So infallibility promotes the Pope to the Godhead. You can't get much higher than that. The antichrist Nicolaitan spirit uplifts a holy man above the people.

That is why Catholics pray to Mary and believe that she has been lifted up to Heaven. Woman worship. Another antichrist spirit.

Message people now claim that William Branham is the infallible Voice of God. This is the same Catholic spirit. The Protestant daughters return to the mother Catholic church.

EZEKIEL 16:44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

Back to Daniel's prophecy.

Church leaders with their tendency to deceive change or ignore the word "confirm" and just glibly say "make" a covenant.

The first trick of the antichrist spirit is to just change a Bible word to something different that suits their fake news.

DANIEL 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,

They then claim that this "one week" automatically makes a 7 year Tribulation even though there is no Tribulation mentioned in this verse.

There is just a mention of 7 years.

Modern-day churches assume the covenant is with the Palestinians who live in Israel so that the Jews can rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is. All this is conjecture, also known as wishful thinking.

Palestinians were always called Jordanian Arabs. That is why there were no protests from them when Jordan occupied the Westbank between 1948 and 1967. In 1967 the Egyptian Yasir Arafat went to Russia where he was issued with a Palestinian passport. Then he went back to Israel and began to claim that there was a "nation" of Palestinians. King Hussein invited the Palestinians to settle in Jordan but they then attempted to dethrone Jordanian king Hussein and seize his throne in September 1970. Some 20000 Palestinians were killed by the Jordanian army as they expelled the Palestinians from Jordan.

Church leaders cannot find any workable peace treaty that has been made between the Jews and the Palestinians that the so-called future "The Antichrist" has to confirm.

First, if the final man of sin “confirms” the covenant, then he does not “make” a covenant.

So the man of sin would have to be on earth for much longer than 7 years in order to first make the covenant, and then later confirm it.

Or someone else makes the covenant that is to be confirmed.

But nobody can tell us who made what covenant. Or when such a covenant was made.

No attempt at making a "peace deal" between Jews and Palestinians has been successful.

A very important point is glibly overlooked.

Simply stated, if a covenant is confirmed, then it cannot be broken.

There is no mention of breaking the covenant in Daniel 9:27.

The prophecy just says that the Temple sacrifice will cease in the middle of a 7 year period.

Now we have to think deeper.

In the midst of the 7 years the Temple sacrifices have to end.

BUT this does not BREAK the covenant. The ending of the sacrifices actually CONFIRMS the covenant.

So, Who made the covenant?

Who confirmed the covenant?

What stopped the temple sacrifices in a way that did not break the covenant? Despite stopping the sacrifices the covenant remained confirmed.

What is the seven-year period, the week?

A day can mean a year in prophecy.

NUMBERS 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year,

God made a covenant with Abraham and his seed

God made a covenant with Abram (later called Abraham) and his seed in Genesis Chapter 15 which involved sacrifice.

GENESIS 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,

Then God confirmed this sacrificial covenant in Christ at Calvary.

GALATIANS 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ,

How did Jesus confirm the covenant made with Abram?

Let us first consider how God made the covenant.

A woman symbolizes the church.

The true church is the Bride of Christ.

II CORINTHIANS 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

God used two female animals, a goat and a heifer, to show that His Old Testament sacrifices were referring to the future salvation of the church.

There was also a ram. The ram speaks of the sacrifice of Jesus. Isaac should have died but the ram came and took his place.

We Gentiles should have died for our sins, but Jesus came and took our place.

The scapegoat carried the Jews' sins far away. So, when He died, Jesus carried our sins far away down to hell and dumped them on the devil.

The red heifer was burned to ash. Our sins were burned to ash down in hell so that we can be free from them. The blood was sprinkled seven times. The blood of Jesus sanctified the church through 7 church ages.

Let us look at the covenant God made with Abram and then see how Jesus confirmed that covenant by giving it a much deeper meaning.

GENESIS 15:9 And he (God) said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

One bird represented salvation, the other one represented divine healing. Healing and salvation cannot be separated from the Sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary.

If you can get saved then you also can get healed.

The three carcasses were cut in half and the two halves were laid facing each other.

"Cut in half". Jesus was cut into two pieces when His Holy Spirit was ripped out of His Body on the cross as He died. The Body stayed on the cross, the Holy Spirit went down to hell.

The period of time that God is most concerned about is the restoration of the Truth after the Dark Ages when unbelief was rampant.

The restoration of truth out of the Dark Ages began when the man of sin had been exposed as the Pope by Martin Luther. But there would be a long struggle against entrenched church error. The antichrist spirits had really indoctrinated the church people.

God thus required three church ages in order to get the church to believe the original truth of the apostles. Humans change their thinking slowly and we are too easily influenced by error.

Church age 5. Sardis. Martin Luther in Germany restored salvation by faith in Jesus alone. The King James Version of the Bible was translated and checked for about 160 years and finally published in 1769.

Church age 6. Philadelphia. John Wesley restored holiness and outreach. This led to the great missionary age.

Church age 7. The church of the Laodiceans. This would require 3 stages.

Stage 1. Pentecost restored the gifts of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost baptism after 1904 in Wales and 1906 in Los Angeles.

Stage 2. Part 1. William Branham revealed the hidden mysteries of Scripture between 1947 and 1965.

Stage 2. Part 2. His recorded sermons placed us in the "days of the VOICE of the 7th angel" from 1966 onwards.

One month before he died and brother Branham was still looking forward for the "shout" which was the "message".
65-1127 I HAVE HEARD BUT NOW I SEE
Dear God, in this solemn moment, it's going to be a time like this when there really will be a clap of thunder someday, and the Son of God shall descend from the heavens with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise.

The message was not brother Branham revealing the truth of Scripture. The message is when we can prove his doctrines from Scripture for ourselves, just by using the Bible.

We are supposed, as individuals, to use his quotes to learn how to understand the Bible for ourselves until we become Scriptural.

The Laodiceans have made up their own 45000 different kinds of denominations and churches. They produced over 100 different versions of the Bible and 450 different New Testaments. A real spiritual swamp. The Bride has to carefully use the quotes of brother Branham to gain an understanding of Scripture (the 1769 Version of the King James Bible) so that they can be restored back to the beliefs of the first church age.

The message churches preferred to use his quotes to replace Scripture and develop unscriptural group-beliefs.

These two halves of each sacrifice represent the Old Testament and the New Testament that face each other across the four Gospels. The ministry of Christ in the 4 Gospels links the Old and the New Testaments. The New Testament church actually started in the Book of Acts. During the four Gospels, only Jesus knew what was going on.

GENESIS 15 :12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

Sunset. Getting dark. Abram fell asleep.

This has two meanings. The sun sets on our lives. A deep sleep is symbolic of death. The horror of death is the darkness of unbelief and having to pay for our sins.

The second meaning of falling asleep is that Abram could in no way contribute to his side of the covenant by his good works. Fast asleep, Abraham had to leave the covenant of salvation entirely in the hands of God.

Our good works cannot save us. The covenant that saves us from hell was entirely won by the efforts of Jesus. We could not do any works to get our sins forgiven.

Jesus confirms the covenant made with Abraham and Isaac

GENESIS 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

When Jesus died the sun went down at midday for three hours of darkness. Then the smoking furnace of the pit of hell. The wages of sin is death and then hellfire.

The burning lamp was the Holy Ghost. When Jesus died between the two halves of the Bible, the physical Old Testament, and the spiritual New Testament, then His Holy Ghost left His Body and carried our sins down to the pit of hell. There He overcame the devil and dumped our sins onto Satan in order to win our salvation.

Isaac was the natural seed of Abraham with whom God made the covenant.

2300 Bible years after Isaac was born, Jesus was the spiritual Seed of Abraham Who confirmed the Covenant by cleansing the sanctuary in Heaven with His Blood.

DANIEL 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Jewish history is dependent on these two events.

God's covenant made with Abraham involved his seed and thus could only take effect when Isaac was born.

GENESIS 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,

GALATIANS 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Thereby God confirmed by the Sacrifice of Jesus, the covenant that he had made with symbolic sacrificial animals, with Abram.

This sacrifice on Calvary is a covenant that will never be broken.

This confirmed Sacrificial covenant will last for all eternity.

But the sacrifice of Jesus ended all the animal sacrifices that were made in the Temple.

They became obsolete. No more oblations in the Temple. An oblation is something that is offered to God.

DANIEL 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,

God made a covenant with Abram that was looking forward to the ministry of Jesus.

The 70^th week was spread over 2000 years

If the Jews had accepted their Messiah, then the Millennium, the 1000 years of peace, would have been set up with the Jews ruling the earth.

Jesus started His ministry near the end of the year AD 29 and was killed in the year AD 33 when the Jews cut Him short after half a week. So Jesus only had a ministry of 3½ years.

So God still owes the Jews half a week, 3½ years.

God will thus turn to the Jews in the 3½ years of great Tribulation.

In the meanwhile, God has turned to the Gentiles in the seven church ages that cover 2000 years.

So the 2000 years of the Gentile 7 church ages pushes apart the two halves of the last week (or 70^th week) of Daniel’s prophecy.

Look at a diagram of the Old Testament Tabernacle.

In the Holy Place was a seven-branched candlestick representing the 7 church ages that had the light of the Gospel.

And a table with 12 loaves of shewbread representing the 144000 Jews in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation from the 12 tribes of Israel. This bread had to be eaten in the Holy Place. That is why the Jews have to be back in the Promised Land of Israel during great Tribulation time.

That is why the last 100 years have seen the Jews taking back their Promised Land. President Trump bravely opposed the 440 million Arabs by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Jerusalem in 2018. The Jews are ready for the return of the Messiah.

Your head is connected to your body by your backbone.

Jesus is the Head of the church and the Head of the Jews.

The neck has 7-vertebrae representing the 7 church ages.

Then comes the 12 vertebrae connected to the 12 ribs, representing the Jews of the 12 tribes of Israel in great Tribulation.

12 and 7 was the number of baskets of rejected scraps that the disciples collected after the 5000 and 4000 were fed.

Jesus expected the disciples to understand why 12 and 7 baskets of rejected scraps were collected.

MATTHEW 16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

:10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

Bread represents doctrine. Leaven (or yeast in the bread) is the error of the Pharisees and the Jewish religious leaders who made the Jews reject the Gospel in Pilate’s Judgement hall.

The disciples would collect this rejected Gospel and write and spread it as the New Testament to the seven church ages. Then, when the Gentiles reject the revealed written Word of God at the end of the 7^th church age, these rejected truths will go to the 12 tribes of Israel in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

12 and 7 are key numbers.

Let us return to Daniel’s prophecies.

We need to understand Daniel Chapter 9 in order to explain the time, times, and half a time.

Some quick background.

A Bible year is 360 days.

REVELATION 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

The Tribulation of 3½ years is given as 42 months or 1260 days. (A score is 20).

Thus each month is 30 days. 1260/42 = 30

Thus a Bible year of 12 months is 12 x 30 = 360 days.

But our Gentile or Roman years are 365.24 days

So each year we have 5.24 days extra.

So in 69 years, we have 5.24 x 69 = 361 extra days which is virtually equal to an extra Bible year of 360 days. (The error is less than half of one percent. Too small to make any difference.)

So 69 of our years equals 70 Bible years.

Every 70 Bible years sees us having one less of our longer Gentile years.

7 weeks of prophecy then 62 weeks of no prophecy

From 446 BC the Jews benefited from the prophecies of Zechariah and Malachi that stopped in 397 BC according to Dr. Scofield. This is a time interval of 49 years or 7 weeks.

In prophecy, a day can represent a year.

Laban said to Jacob:

GENESIS 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

So 70 weeks = 70 x 7 = 490 days = 490 Bible years of 360 days.

But 490/70 = 7 So there are 7 less of our longer Gentile years of 365.24 days.

Every 70 Bible years we lose one Gentile year.

So in 490 Bible years we have 7 Gentile years less.

Thus 490 Bible years = 490 – 7 = 483 Gentile years on our calendar.

DANIEL 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,

God promised the Jews another 490 Bible years which is 483 years on our Roman or Gentile calendar.

DANIEL 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

This commandment to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem was given to Nehemiah in 446 BC in the 20^th year of the king of Persia.

NEHEMIAH 2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king,

The gates were rebuilt where the streets met the city wall.

Nehemiah built the wall in 52 days.

NEHEMIAH 6:15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

These were troubled times because the builders had to hold a weapon in one of their hands.

NEHEMIAH 4:17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

Many encyclopedias give the date as 465 BC when Artaxerxes began to reign.

So his 20^th year will be 446 BC. (dates can be a little tricky).

The red number indicates that his first year was in 465 BC.

So Daniel’s 490 Bible years (483 of our Gentile years) begins in 446 BC.

There are three time periods.

DANIEL 9:25 … unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:

7 + 62 = 69 weeks to Messiah and then one final week to make the 70^th week.

Why a period of 49 weeks?

Dr. Scofield gives the time of the prophet Malachi as 397 BC. This is 49 years from 446 BC.

So the first time of 7 weeks was when the Jews had prophetic guidance.

Then followed longer times of 62 weeks when there were no prophets. The Jews were conquered by the Greeks, then won their independence under the Maccabees, and after becoming friends with the Romans were finally conquered by the Romans.

DANIEL 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Half-a-week after the 62 weeks Messiah would be cut off.

Messiah was not cut off or killed for Himself. He died for us.

“And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”;

The Romans destroyed the city and the Temple sanctuary in AD 70.

So the Romans are the people of the antichrist prince that shall come.

Today, the prince or world ruler that will come from Rome is the Pope.

The Pope is the only worldwide influential figure in Rome.

The Roman emperor Augustus who taxed the Jews and thus forced Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus, died in AD 14.

Later that year the Senate declared Tiberius to be emperor.

LUKE 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,

The 15^th year of Tiberius is 14 + 15 = AD 29.

John the Baptist emerged in AD 29 and after a 6 month ministry, he baptized Jesus Who was about 30.

LUKE 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age

Messiah’s ministry began near the end of the year AD 29 when He was baptized.

Jesus was almost 30.

7 + 62 = 69 weeks

How long are 69 Bible weeks? 69 x 7 = 483 days = 483 Bible years (a day represents a year in prophecy).

There will be 7 fewer of the longer Gentile years.

So it will be 483 – 7 = 476 Gentile years.

From 446 BC to almost AD 30 = 446 + 30 = 476 Gentile years on our calendar.

So the dates agree.

A time and times and a half time has 2 meanings

This has a double meaning.

It can refer to the 3.5 years of the Jews in great Tribulation.

A time (a year), times (plural, two years), and an half (of a year).

It can also refer to the time from the commandment to rebuild the wall to the time of the death of Jesus.

A time of 7 weeks (49 years) with the Jews expecting prophetic help. Times of 62 weeks (434 Bible years) with no prophetic help. Then an half week of Messiah (3.5 years).

This is a chilling warning. Cut off Messiah and God will cut you off.

Messiah started near the end of AD 29 and had a ministry of 3½ years, which is half a week.

The seven church ages are the mystery interval that the Jews knew nothing about.

God rejected the Jews in AD 33 when they killed Jesus.

So God stopped counting time for Israel.

Daniel’s last week or 70th week of 7 years was split in half.

The last seven years were divided into two equal portions that were pushed apart by the seven church ages.

When the church is caught up, then God will return to the Jews for their last half-week of 3½ years.

DANIEL 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

In the middle of the last week or 70^th week that began at the end of AD 29 (a week being 7 days) the sacrifice of Jesus in AD 33 caused all the Old Testament Temple sacrifices to cease as animal sacrifices became obsolete.

In AD 33 God stopped working with the Jews.

The Pagan Roman empire crucified Jesus and then destroyed 1100000 Jews in AD 70 when they destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.

In AD 135, the Roman emperor Hadrian killed 580000 Jews, further desolated the city with a pagan temple and scattered the remaining Jews into slavery and exile. This desolation of the Temple site continues to this date.

During the almost 2000 years when the Jews were scattered into the desolation of exile, endless persecutions and pogroms were poured out onto them in the different nations where they tried to settle.

After the death of Messiah, God left the Jews and turned to the Gentiles.

The Gentile church would pass through seven different church ages during the 2000 years of history.

Then Jesus will catch up the true church to meet Him in the air.

The world will go into great Tribulation which will last 3½ years.

That will be the last half week of human history as we know it. During that time God will turn to the Jews, using His two prophets Moses and Elijah. The 144000 Jews will turn to Jesus as Messiah and receive the Holy Ghost baptism.

They will then all be killed.

The price for Jewish salvation will be that they must die for their faith.

The Jews demanded the death of Jesus. They and their children took responsibility for this awful decision.

That was their great sin.

They have to keep paying for that decision.

MATTHEW 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

In the following diagram the red years are Bible years.

Jesus was supposed to have a ministry of 7 years but He was cut off at the halfway mark.

So one meaning of “a time, times, and an half” is the three-time periods allocated to the Jews from the command to rebuild the wall to the time of rejecting and killing Messiah.

That is the only time that God regarded the Jews as His people. Then they were in the wilderness of the nations for 2000 years until God returns to them in the last 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

“A time” of 7 weeks where they still had prophetic guidance.

“Times” which added up to 62 weeks where the Jews were left to their own devices and ended up with unscriptural Old Testament leaders like Rabbis, Pharisees, and Sadducees that had arisen during their Babylonian captivity.

Under the Maccabees, the Jews gained political freedom from the Greeks. Around 100 BC they conquered Idumea which was not in the Promised Land. They forced the Idumeans to adopt the Jewish religion. Herod came from Idumea and was thus able to take over as king of the Jews, by claiming to be a Jew. Herod became the cruelest of all Jewish kings and tried to kill Jesus.

Israel became a spiritual desert which was aggravated when Rome conquered them.

“And an half”. The ministry of Jesus the Messiah lasted 3½ years. Then He was killed.

This was the length of time in which God dealt with the Jews until God rejected them and turned to the Gentiles.

A ripped garment ended the Law

The Jews forced the Romans to crucify their Messiah.

The High Priest Caiaphas preferred to kill one Man rather than have the Jewish priesthood lose their place or position of power over the people. Rather than have the Romans take away the Jewish nation that was corruptly ruled by the elevated priesthood.

JOHN 11:47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

:48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Thus it was better for one Man to die, rather than have the greedy and self-important Temple priesthood deposed.

But by killing Messiah, the Temple lost all its spiritual power as the inner veil was torn and God had left the Holy of Holies.

The Law was finished when the High Priest tore his garments.

LEVITICUS 10:6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.

(If the High Priest tears his clothes, that is the end of the Law. And the nation will burn. Which is what happened in AD 70 when the Temple and Jerusalem burned).

Aaron was the High Priest. The High Priesthood went to his sons.

LUKE 3:2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,

JOHN 18:13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

Human traditions had replaced Scripture. The High Priest's position now went from a man to his son-in-law instead of to his son. That was unscriptural leadership.

Just like declaring the pastor as the head of the church. No Scripture says that.

Then it got worse as the High Priest Caiaphas rent or tore his clothes.

MATTHEW 26:65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, …

This broke the Law and thus ended the Law.

MATTHEW 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;

Caiaphas tore his clothes. God tore up the inner veil and left the Temple.

From then on the Temple was a spiritual desolation. A religious pretense.

Then 38 years later these same Romans came back to destroy the Temple in AD 70 by fire.

Thus they also destroyed the elevated priesthood. Those who served in the Temple were slain as Jewish robbers took over the Temple just before it was destroyed.

The Jewish nation was destroyed with over a million killed, 90000 Jews taken to Rome as slaves, and most of the rest scattered into exile amongst the nations. Of those who managed to stay in Israel, a further 580000 were killed in AD 135 by the Roman emperor Hadrian and the rest were scattered amongst the nations.

A prophecy of the Gentile church and Tribulation Jews

REVELATION 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

This Scripture refers to the Jews during the three and a half years of great Tribulation which is 1260 days long. The two eagle wings represent the two prophets, Moses and Elijah who rescue the Jews during that time and prepare them to meet their Messiah.

This Scripture refers, as well, as to the Gentile church.

Then 1260 days refers to 1260 Bible years of persecution of the church by Roman Catholics before the Pilgrim Fathers escaped from Catholicism in Europe to land at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

In the AD 320s the Roman Emperor Constantine began to persecute those who disagreed with the Roman Catholic church. After AD 382 the Roman Catholic church began to persecute those who disagreed. By AD 450 Pope Leo I started killing those who disagreed with him. Eventually, tens of millions would be killed in the Dark Ages.

The Waldensian church had to hide from Roman Catholic persecution during the long Dark Ages in wilderness areas like the Alps. When this prophecy refers to the persecuted true believers, then it requires a day to refer to a Bible year.

The Albigenses in southern France were destroyed by the 20 year crusade of Pope Innocent III.

1260 Bible years of 360 days equal 1260/70 = 18 years less of our 365.24 day Gentile years.

So on our Gentile calendar, this equals 1260 - 18 = 1242 years

1954-0513 THE MARK OF THE BEAST
This woman here, back in Revelations 12, when her Man Child was caught up to set on God's throne, and when it did, the woman fled into the wilderness where she was taken care of for a thousand two hundred and threescore days to exactly the date of Plymouth Rock, exactly, where the church come over here for freedom of religion, and she established here.

The Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

1242 years before that was 1620 - 1242 = 378.

What was the significance of AD 378?

In AD 378 the barbarians killed Roman emperor Valens in the Battle of Adrianople, which marked the beginning of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This was the first time that the fearsome Huns attacked the Romans.

The death of the pagan Roman Empire was necessary so that its cruel and pagan spirit could resurrect on the ruins of the Roman Empire as the Roman Catholic Church. The antichrist spirits entered the Roman Catholic Church and then infiltrated the Protestant churches.

In AD 378 Theodosius was chosen to replace Valens as Roman emperor.

He began to persecute the enemies of the Roman Catholic church.

From this time, the persecution of non-Catholic Christians intensified as tens of millions were killed in the Dark Ages until the Pilgrim fathers escaped to America and landed at Plymouth Rock.

During these centuries of persecution by the Catholic church in Europe, the true believers built their faith on the New and the Old Testaments, not on the church.

59-0815 AS THE EAGLE STIRRETH UP HER NEST

And I'm going to liken those two wings to the New and Old Testament that Jehovah Eagle spreads out before us.

From the point of view of the Jews,

the eagle wings represent the two great prophets, Moses and Elijah, who protect Israel during the 3 and a half years of great Tribulation from the onslaught of the man of sin, the son of perdition. A son from hell who hijacks the position of Pope. This gives him worldwide spiritual power as the head of 1.4 billion Catholics.

Plus the incredibly vast wealth of the Vatican.

Ten dictators will give him their military power.

REVELATION 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

They have power as kings. They have a king's power but no crown. They are dictators.

The final Pope, probably called Peter II, will isolate Israel from all the nations, leaving them in a wilderness of being unwanted, where everyone hates the Jews and nobody wants to know the Jews.

So this "time, times, and a half" also refers to the 3-and-a-half-years of great Tribulation when we apply it to the Jews.

The dividing of time represents the seven church ages

But now we come to a very subtle difference.

This next prophecy looks the same but is very different. This prophecy does not refer to 3-and-a-half-years.

DANIEL 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

This verse refers to the enemy of truth, the Roman Catholic church, attacking the true church who are the saints of God.

This has got nothing to do with the Jews in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

"Change times".

The pagan Roman Julius Caesar changed the length of a year to 365.25 days.

The Roman Catholic Pope Gregory 13 made a slight change to the year 365.2425 days.

In AD 325 the Roman Catholics changed the day of the crucifixion from Thursday to Friday. They also moved the date away from the full moon. If Jesus died on Friday then He could only spend two nights in the tomb before rising up on Sunday morning. He had to spend three nights in the tomb.

MATTHEW 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The Roman Catholics invented a fake birthday for Jesus on 25 December based on the sun god's birthday.

They changed the time of the Communion of Breaking of Bread from nighttime (the Lord's Supper) to daytime in the morning (the Lord's Breakfast).

The Roman Catholics changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday.

Two keywords that make a huge difference are “until” the time, times, and "the dividing" of time.

Not “a half time” for the 3-and-a-half-years but "the dividing of time".

This "dividing" is a new word that is easily misunderstood.

What does this mean?

“Until” does not indicate an exact length of time, but it points out when the time period ends.

The “dividing of time” refers to the 7 church ages.

The enemy wears out truth until the dividing of time is over. Until the 7 church ages are over.

Man-made church traditions and commandments will always oppose Scriptural truth until the 7^th church age ends.

The 2000 years of the 7 church ages push apart the two half-weeks of Daniel’s prophecy.

The 3½ years of the ministry of Jesus (first half-week) to the Jews is the end of time for the Jews as God turns to the Gentiles after Calvary. God then stops counting time for the Jews.

The church ages started on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came down.

The church ages end when the Holy Ghost catches up the church to be with the Lord in the air.

Then God turns back to the Jews.

So the Jews get their second half of Daniel’s 70^th week in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

In between these two half-week periods come the 7 church ages.

The 7 church ages divide this last time of 7 years (the 70^th week) into two equal blocks of time.

Thus the 7 church ages are “the dividing of time”.

This is the timeline that God used for the Jews so He uses the same timeline for the church.

DANIEL 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

In Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a giant statue, the legs of iron referred to the pagan Roman empire.

DANIEL 7:20 And of the ten horns that were in his head,

This pagan Roman empire was represented by a beast with one head, not seven heads.

Why is the fourth beast, the Roman beast different from the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, and Greece?

Because the pagan Roman empire was destroyed by the Barbarians and then out of the ruins of the Roman Empire arose the power of the Roman Catholic Church that was based on these pagan traditions. Thus the pagan traditions of the Roman Empire that started in Babylon infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church.

The mysteries of Babylon entered the Roman Catholic Church and turned that Church into Mystery Babylon the Great. The mother of the Protestant harlots who came out of her.

REVELATION 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The beast with 10 horns and one head refers to the pagan Roman Empire.

The 10 horns refer to a certain 10 of the many barbarian tribes that helped break up the Roman empire.

But these 10 barbarian tribes, intentionally or unintentionally, then played a major role in the rise of the Roman Catholic Church to conquer the barbarian conquerors of the pagan Roman empire.

Look at the pagan Babylonian and Pagan Roman beliefs that were sugar-coated with Christianity and are in the church systems.

Needless to say all these following terms are unscriptural.

Pontiff, Cardinal, Christmas, 25 December, Christmas tree, Lent, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies (Remember Hugh Hefner’s immoral Playboy empire where women were dressed up as bunnies. Why?). Ishtar was the Spring Goddess. Rabbits or bunnies were the fastest mammal breeders. The Spring Ishtar celebration was a wild and immoral celebration. The children conceived at that time would be born 9 months later in December. Thus they chose December for the so-called birthday of Jesus as it fitted in with their pagan tradition.

Good Friday and Easter Monday are unscriptural. Friday is named after Freya the fish goddess. They worshipped her by eating fish on a Friday. Roman Catholics followed this tradition for centuries and many Protestants do likewise. There is of course no Scripture telling us to eat fish on Fridays.

Then “Trinity” and “God the Son”. “God the Holy Ghost”. Confessionals. Monks. Nuns. Rosary. Sign of the cross.

“One God in three Persons”.

Signs of the Zodiac.

Somehow Santa got into Christmas. Why?

Move the “n” in Santa to the end of the word and you get : Satan.

Church-goers are easily fooled.

Roman Catholic errors will be believed by the Protestant churches and will wear out the few people who try to resist these mistakes.

Disagree with the Trinity and with Christmas and you will not be wanted by your church or by your family or friends. This rejection and isolation will wear out many and cause them to reject truth and just stay with church errors for the sake of peace and acceptance by the church community.

This intense mental bullying will continue UNTIL the end of the dividing of time, the end of the 7 church ages.

Lenin, the founder of Communist Russia, said that Christmas was the extension of Capitalism by religious means. A brilliant way to get rid of all the year-end stock that had not yet been sold.

So with the economic might of world business to back up Christmas, it is almost impossible to oppose it.

Rejection of truth will continue until the last church age ends. That is when the Lord catches up His church into the air.

MATTHEW 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Churches are so against baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

They baptize in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but cannot tell us what that name is.

Trinity has fooled them into thinking that three titles are a name.

MATTHEW 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

This is not salvation from the Lake of Fire. That salvation is by grace through faith. Not by works.

This salvation by endurance to the end means we will only be saved from the 3.5 years of great Tribulation if we keep on believing the revealed Scripture and opposing unscriptural church beliefs.

We must keep on being Scriptural despite church opposition, right until Jesus comes to fetch His saints up to Heaven.

Until the end of the seventh church age.

The only relief that the true church will get is when Jesus finally catches them up to Heaven.

LUKE 18:8 … Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Jesus will not find much Scriptural faith when He comes back.

Plenty of church services. Much style and entertainment, drum beat music, but little Bible truth.

Drums are never mentioned in the Bible so God does not want them.

ROMANS 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Church-goers no longer care to be Scriptural in all that they believe.

The Trinitarian church-goers will wake up with a jolt in great Tribulation. Their whole world will be turned upside down as the churches become killers of all those who dissent.

REVELATION 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

All the saved Christians (the foolish virgins, clean women) who were fooled into believing unscriptural ideas by their church leaders, will perish.

Tribulation fire in sea of glass purges foolish virgins

During great Tribulation time the only real power of God will be displayed by the two Jewish prophets, Moses and Elijah.

What will the foolish virgins learn from them?

REVELATION 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Revelation 15 is dealing with great Tribulation time.

The sea of glass where sins and unbelief and Bible errors are cleansed away, is full of fire.

These are the saved foolish virgins who have their church unbelief burned out of them by the awful fires of the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

Compare this with Revelation 4 when John, as an individual, represents the Bride that is caught up to Heaven at the end of the church ages. The Bride has been cleansed from unbelief because brother Branham taught them how to reveal the mysteries of Scripture so that they could understand the Bible.

Understanding the Bible is the only way to get rid of your unbelief.

So the Bride was cleansed from sin by the Blood of Jesus and washed from all unbelief by being washed in the water of the Word.

Their wrong beliefs being washed away by their understanding of the mysteries of the Bible.

REVELATION 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal:

The sea of glass was crystal clear and sparkling clean for the Bride, the wise virgins. They understood the Scriptures.

I CHRONICLES 18:8 Likewise from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, brought David very much brass, wherewith Solomon made the brasen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.

"The brasen sea" was a sea of brass. A huge brass vessel that stood on 12 brass bulls and held much water for the washing clean of the sacrifices.

The sea of brass on earth followed the pattern of the sea of glass in Heaven.

The sleeping virgins had to be saved before the 3.5 years of great Tribulation started. Jesus will no longer be on the mercy seat during those years of great Tribulation. Thus Gentiles cannot get saved then.

These previously saved sleeping virgins now have their denominational unbelief and church errors burned off them in the horrors of the Tribulation, where they will be killed for their faith.

They know enough truth to refuse to worship the image of the beast, which are the organized non-Catholic churches. Then they are killed.

Compare this with Revelation Chapter 4 where John is caught up to Heaven, symbolizing the catching up of the true church, the Bride, the wise virgins.

What does he see?

REVELATION 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal:

The sea of glass is clear like a crystal. No fire.

"No fire" means that the Bride will not go through great Tribulation.

The wise virgins had oil (the Holy Spirit) that could burn and produce light. Thus they had enough light to read the Scriptures so that they understood the verses.

They had enough light to illuminate the Bible mysteries so that they could find the Door to Heaven.

The Door is the revealed Person of Jesus Christ as He walks through the pages of the Bible.

Thus their unbelief had been removed as the Holy Spirit taught them the truth from Scripture.

The evidence of the Holy Spirit is being able to understand the truth of Scripture.

JOHN 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

A Spirit-filled Christian will never deny the revelation of truth.

But what do the foolish virgins hear in the Tribulation from Moses?

REVELATION 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

The Lamb, Jesus, is Lord God Almighty.

REVELATION 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

Only Jesus is holy.

Thus there can be no Trinity as the other two Persons would not be holy.

It will take the savage brutality of great Tribulation to knock the Trinitarian unbelief out of the minds of the foolish virgins.