Forty-two Months

The Bible wants to be sure that you do not mistake the identity of this beast. Why? Remember, the beast is guided by the devil himself. God does not want you to be deceived. If you know the beast’s identity, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Today’s verse focuses on two of the beast’s identifiers: He blasphemes, and he also held power for 42 months. Let’s focus on the time prophecy of “forty-two months.”

Interestingly, there is also a time prophecy associated with a little horn that grows out from the fourth beast of Daniel 7 (v. 8). Bible prophecy reveals that the symbol of a horn means a king (v. 24) or kingdom (8:22). According to the Bible, this little kingdom ruled “for a time and times and half a time,” during which it “[persecuted] the saints of the Most High” (7:25).

How long is “a time and times and half a time”? From its original Aramaic, “a time and times and half a time” is more accurately translated as one year plus two years plus half a year, or three and a half years. Three and a half prophetic years and 42 prophetic months both equal the same time period: 1,260 literal years. They are simply different ways of referring to the Dark Ages, the period of papal supremacy that lasted from AD 538 to 1798.

If Scripture did not already make it clear, today’s verse seals the deal. Just as the little horn emerged from the fourth beast, so did papal Rome emerge from the pagan Roman Empire:

The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire [baptized]. … The very capital of the old Empire became the capital of the Christian Empire. The office of Pontifex Maximus was continued in that of Pope.

The sea beast is Rome in its papal form, the Roman Catholic Church.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your undeniable Word of prophecy, which warns us of and protects us from danger.

For Further Study: Psalm 10:2–4; Matthew 28:18–20; Revelation 11:2, 3

Key Bible Texts

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. (Revelation 13:5 KJV)