A further link in the chain of evidence was found in the prophecy of Daniel, to which Jesus twice referred when prophesying about the setting up of his kingdom. (Compare Matthew 24:15, 21 with Daniel 11:31; 12:1.) The evidence there was that the “appointed times” would be seven in number. (Dan. 4:16, 23)a How much time would such “seven times” cover?

At Revelation 12:14 reference was made to “a time and times and half a time” or ‘three and a half times’ (“three years and a half,” New English Bible; also The New American Bible; The Jerusalem Bible). This same chapter, Re 12 verse 6, shows that these ‘three and a half times’ equal 1,260 days. Seven times, logically, would be double that: 2,520 days.

But after 2,520 days from the fall of God’s representative kingdom in Judah nothing had changed. And, since Jesus stated that the “appointed times of the nations” were still in progress in his day, six centuries after Judah’s overthrow, it is clear that more than 2,520 days are involved. What then?

Once more the Bible supplied the key. It revealed God’s use in prophecy of a day to stand for a year. (See Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6.) Applying this Biblical formula of “a day for a year,” the seven times amount to 2,520 years. So counting from 607 B.C.E. when the Gentile nations gained exclusive domination of the earth, when do those “appointed times” end?

The answer is 1914.