The 1,260 days and the ever-widening gap
A continuously swelling, portentous gap has developed in the time periods of biblical prophecy. It is thought that there is a gap in the 70 weeks, between the 69th and 70th week. The popular theory of dispensationalism assumes that the gap spans the present age of the church, which has been called a parenthesis by some.
However, the idea of a gap is not unique to dispensationalism. Long before the time of John N. Darby, a gap in prophecy was invoked by interpreters in the Historicist tradition. As centuries passed its dimensions increased. The gap applied to the period following the ministry of Jesus, and extended to the start of the 1,260 days, that were usually understood as years.
The size of the gap grew over time because prophecies about the little horn of Daniel 7 seemed to apply to the church, and the little horn of that chapter was identified by Protestants with the papacy. But there was little agreement on what event in the church’s history might have begun the 1,260 days, whether taken as 1,260 years, or as 3 ½ years. Preterist interpretations also invoked a gap, that was usually confined to the apostolic age. In the table below, some authors who attached dates to their proposed interpretations of the 1,260 days are listed on the basis of gap size. This gap is the span of time from the crucifixion, here taken to be 30 AD, to the start date proposed for the prophetic 1260 days. In dispensationalism, that date also begins the 70th week. Note that some authors proposed multiple alternative pairs of dates for the 1,260 days, and a few claimed they might be calculated by using other than natural years.
| Author | Gap | Proposed Dates |
|---|---|---|
| James Stuart Russell (1816-1895) Robert Young (1822-1888) Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. (1950- ) |
37 years | 67-70 |
| Henry Hammond (1605-1660) | 102 | 132-136 |
| Walter Brute c. 1391 | 105 | 135-1395 |
| B. H. Carroll (1843-1914) | 220 | 250-1510 |
| John Napier (1550-1617) | 270 | 300-1560 |
| Thomas Brightman (1562-1607) | 274 | 304-1546 |
| James Brocard (b. 1563) | 283 | 313-1573 |
| John Napier (1550-1617) | 286 | 316-1576 |
| Michael Servetus (1509-1553) | 295 | 325-1585 |
| Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638) | 332 | 362-1622 |
| Thomas Parker (1595-1677) | 360 | c: 390-1649 |
| Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680) | 376 | 406-1666 |
| David Chytraeus (1530-1600) | 382 | 412-1672 |
| Hanserd Knollys (1599-1691) David Robertson (1786-1846) |
398 | 428-1688 |
| Pierre Du Moulin (1568-1658) | 399 | 429-1689 |
| William Whiston (1667-1752) | 425 | 455-1715 |
| Joseph Mede (1586-1638) William Whiston (1667-1752) |
446 | 476-1736 |
| James Hartley Frere (1779-1866) | 502 | 532-1792 |
| Bishop Thomas Newton (1704-1782) Matthew Habershon (1789-1852) Edward Irving (1792-1834) Albert Barnes (1798-1870) Henry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910) |
503 | 533-1793 |
| Michael Paget Baxter (1834-1910) | 507 | 537-1797 |
| David Simpson (1745-1799) William Miller (1782-1849) Uriah Smith (1832-1903) |
508 | 538-1798 |
| Robert Fleming (c. 1660-1716) | 522 | 552-1794 |
| Roderick C. Meredith (1930- ) | 524 | 554-1814 |
| Matthew Habershon (1789-1852) | 553 | 583-1843 |
| George Stanley Faber (1773-1854) | 574 | 604-1864 |
| Drue Cressener (1642-1718) Robert Fleming (c. 1660-1716) |
576 | 606-1848 |
| Thomas Parker (1595-1677) | 576 | c: 600-1859 |
| David Pareus (1548-1622) William Whiston (1667-1752) John Gill (1697-1771) Bishop Thomas Newton (1704-1782) Joseph Galloway (1731-1803) David Simpson (1745-1799) George Stanley Faber (1773-1854) Edward Bishop Elliott (1793-1875) Albert Barnes (1798-1870) Henry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910) |
576 | 606-1866 |
| David Simpson (1745-1799) | 636 | 666-1926 |
| Bishop Thomas Newton (1704-1782) | 697 | 727-1987 |
| Albert Barnes (1798-1870) | 722 | 752-2012 |
| Bryce Johnston (1747-1805) | 726 | 756-1999 |
| Moses Lowman (1679-1752) David Simpson (1745-1799) |
726 | 756-2016 |
| Robert Fleming (c. 1660-1716) | 728 | 758-2000 |
| Isaac Newton (1642-1727) | 770 | 800-2060 |
| Johan Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752) | 834 | 864-1521 |
| 1028 | 1058-1836 | |
| Albert Barnes (1798-1870) | 1043 | 1073-2333 |
| Hans Hut (c. 1490-1527) | 1495 | 1525-1528 |
| Melchior Hoffman (1495-1544) | 1496 | 1526-1530 |
| Lodowicke Muggleton (1609-1698) | 1622 | 1652-1658 |
| Michael Paget Baxter (1834-1910) | 1837 | 1867-1871 |
| Joseph Franklin “Judge” Rutherford (1856-1942) | 1884 | 1914-1918 |
This table illustrates how the idea of a gap was developed over the centuries by Historicists. The concept subsequently became part of dispensationalism, and although its duration is usually not specified, theories of dispensationalism say that it now spans at least 1980 years, and is still growing!
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