KING'S BUSINESS PROPHECY FEATURE Edited by Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, Dean, Talbot Theological Seminary
a prophetic basis for the LORDS RETURN by Roy L. Aldrich, Th.D., President, Detroit Bible College
T h e y e a r - d a y theory is the simple proposition that some prophetic time periods of the Bible expressed in terms of days should be interpreted to mean years. In other words a day stands for a year in certain time sched ules of Scripture. By this device many have attempted to figure the time for the end of the age and the second coming of Christ. The Scriptural validity for the year- day theory is supposed to be establish ed by the following pasages: Nu. 14: 33, 34; Ezek. 4.T-6; and Dan. 9:24-27. The passage in Numbers records God’s judgment for the failure to enter the land at Kadesh-bamea: “ After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of prom ise” (Nu. 14:34). There is a day for a year principle here to emphasize the severity of the punishment. However, it should be noted that the forty days and forty years of this passage are literal days and literal years. There is no authority here for confusing the meaning of the terms; much less for applying confusion to other passages. The passage in Ezekiel describes one of the prophet’s symbolic actions. He was to lie on his left side 390 days to represent 390 years punishment for Israel, and then forty days on his right side to represent forty years punishment for Judah. There is a year-day idea in this passage but no authorization except imagination to apply it elsewhere. However, with such tenuous author ity the Millerites and others believed that Daniel’s prophecy of 2300 days (Dan. 8: 14) means there would be 2300 years from Daniel’s day to the coming of the Lord, and they figured the period would end in 1944. Act ually, Daniel 8: 14 mentions the time to the cleansing of the sanctuary, not to the coming of Christ. By the same logic the literal days of New Testa ment prophecy should be counted years, and the Lord’s resurrection should have come three years after his death (Jno. 2: 19). It is also believed by the date setters that the year-day principle was cer
their theory to find the length of Israel’s punishment, they multiply seven by 360 days of a prophetic year and arrive at the figure of 2,520. This is believed to represent the years from the beginning of the Babylonian cap tivity to the coming of Christ to estab lish His kingdom. Neither days nor years are mentioned in connection with the “ seven times” punishment. They list all the punishments threat ened in Leviticus 26 and multiply twenty-eight or thirty by 360. This would mean that the Lord’s coming would be millenniums in the future. If the 2520 year period is figured from the Babylonian captivity, it means that the end of the age should have arrived somewhere between 1914 and 1934. The reason for the latitude in the closing date is that authorities differ as to the time of the beginning of the captivity. Jerusalem was de stroyed after a series of invasions by the Babylonians. However, no ingen uity can stretch the close of the 2520 year period beyond about 1936. This means that the twentieth century date setters have also experienced their “bitter disappointment.” But never fear, they will come up with a new or ammended theory. The Anglo-Israelites and prophetic writers of many denominations in addition to the Adventists, have been brought to error and disappointment through the use of the year-day theory. It is too bad that it is yet defended as a standard device for prophetic interp retation. Apart from any argument, it has already been refuted by the simple application of this Scriptural test: When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presum ptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him (Deu. 18:22). It is time that the year-day theory was recognized for what it is: a prin ciple of error not only without Script ural basis, but actually contrary to the clear teaching of Christ that the time of His coming is secret.
tified by the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks.. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgres sion, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for in iquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to an oint the most Holy (Dan. 9: 24). This prophecy has correctly been interpreted to measure the time from the close of Babylonian captivity to the crucifixion of Christ. We believe the last of the seventy weeks is still future. But no year-day theory is needed for the interpretation of this passage. The Hebrew word for week is the same as the Hebrew word for seven. Thus Daniel said, “ Seventy sevens are determined upon thy people.” There is no mention of hours, days, or years as the unit of this time period. Prophetic students believe the time unit is years, because Daniel had just written about the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity (Dan. 9: 2). But, more conclusively, it is be lieved that years are meant, because only this unit accurately measures the period from Daniel to the Messiah. There is no proof of a year-day theory in this passage, and most expositors interpret it without any reference to such an idea. One of the most common uses of the year-day theory to predict the end of this age is based upon its applica tion to the “ seven times” punishments of Lev. 26. In this chapter God pro nounces the conditions of both blessing and chastisement in the land. If cer tain threatened chastisements do not bring correction, God warns that he will punish Israel “ seven times more” (Lev. 26: 18). It should be noted that this “ seven times” warning is repeat ed in verses 21, 24, and 28. In each case the “ seven times” punishment is in addition to the preceding series. In other words, God actually warns that He will punish Israel twenty-eight more times for continued disobedience. However, the year-day adherents not ice only one series of “ seven times” punishment in this chapter. Applying
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