5. The length of time during which they were to continue is the same--forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days.
6. Both are to be gradually but finally destroyed (Dan. 7:26; Rev. 13:10).
These powers, then, appear at the same time, in the same territory, have the same character, do the same work, continue the same length of time, and meet the same fate. _These facts prove identity._ We have, therefore, positive proof drawn from the parallel prophecies in Daniel that the first beast of Revelation 13 signifies the politico-religious system of Rome.
The identification of the little horn of Daniel 7 with the leopard-beast of Revelation 13 is now complete. That both apply to the papacy has been conclusively shown. We shall now turn our attention to the length of time that this power was to reign. Daniel limits the triumph of the little horn to "a time and times and the dividing of time" (Dan. 7:25). "Time," in the singular, of course, signifies one time. "Times," plural, without a designating number, signifies two times. "The dividing of time" is rendered in chapter 12:7, also in both texts in the Revised Version, "a half." So the entire period is three and a half times.
The seven-year period of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity is described as seven _times_ (chap. 4:25). We therefore conclude that the period of three and a half times signifies three and a half years. This agrees with the reign of the leopard beast of Revelation 13, namely, "forty and two months" (verse 5), or according to the Jewish method of computing time--thirty days to the month--twelve hundred and sixty days. Notice that this also agrees both in the manner of statement and in point of duration with the flight of the woman into the wilderness, as described in Revelation 12. She was to be nourished for "a time, and times, and half a time" (verse 14), which period is spoken of in verse 6 of the same chapter as "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."
The terms ordinarily used to measure the duration of time may be and often are used in a symbolic sense; for time, as well as anything else, can be symbolized. Thus days may properly symbolize years; for they are analogous periods of time, the diurnal revolution of the earth being taken to represent the earth's annual movement. Other standards of reckoning may also be employed symbolically, but the one here referred to is doubtless most frequently employed. Such a system of reckoning time was known anciently. The Mosaic law recognized two kinds of weeks, the first of seven days' duration, the last day of which was a Sabbath; another week of seven years' duration, the last year being a Sabbath of rest for the land. This fact explains such expressions as "forty days, _each day for a year_" (Num. 14:34), and "I have appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezek. 4:6).