1,260 Days … Again!

Once again, Revelation brings the 1,260-day prophecy to the forefront. As previously mentioned, this time prophecy began in AD 538. In this year, the last of the forces opposing the growing papal power, the Ostrogoths, was defeated, clearing the way for the ascendancy of the Roman Catholic Church.

As the Word of God and His law began to be attacked (Daniel 7:25), many of God’s faithful went into hiding. We’ve learned about the Waldensians, the epitome of this “church in the wilderness,” a small group of Christians who retreated into the rocky expanse of the Alps. There in isolation, they were fed daily by the Bible, which they had painstakingly preserved. Many even observed the Bible Sabbath.

Interestingly, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they were literally led by God’s law, the ark of the covenant, which “[searched] out a resting place for them” (Numbers 10:33). Just as He had with the Israelites, God “prepared” a wilderness sanctuary for the Waldensians, protecting, sustaining, and guiding them through His Word.

You might be wondering how “the woman,” the Jewish nation who bore the “Child,” turned into the Waldensians, Protestant Reformers, and true Christians living today. The symbol of “the woman” has always stood for God’s people.

In the Old Testament, this was represented by the Jewish nation, who made a covenant with God (Leviticus 26:12), but the Jewish leaders incited the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (John 11:53) and later stoned one of His disciples, Stephen (Acts 6:9–7:60). Such actions made Israel’s decision clear—they had rejected God. Thus, literal Israel became spiritual Israel (Romans 9:6–8; Galatians 3:26–29); “the woman” became the Christian church, as always, represented by those who are faithful to God.

Father God, may these examples of Your tender care over Your witnesses, on the page and in the flesh, give us strength to endure the persecution to come.

For Further Study: 1 Kings 17:3–6; Job 23:12; Matthew 24:15, 16

Key Bible Texts

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Revelation 12:6 KJV)