Seventh-day Adventist Pioneers
Answer

Questions on the 1335 Days

Joseph Bates

" Do the 1335 days of Dan. xii, 12. reach to the end of the wonders, [resurrection of the dead etc.] in answer to the question, [verse 6] How long? Etc. What blessing is given to those who wait and come to those days ? If they ended in 1844, what is understood by the last verse, “Thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days”? If the prophetic periods are all ended, in what time are we living now, and how long will it last"?

Your first question here is, Do the 1335 days of Dan. xii. 12 reach to the end of the wonders in verse 6 ?
We answer, they do not.
We understand that the same period of time from the beginning of the cleansing of the Sanctuary in 1844 to the breaking of the little horn without hand in Dan. viii, which extended beyond the 2300 days, will also be found between the 1335 days and the end of the Wonders in Dan. xii; because we further show that the 1335 days ended with the 2300 in 1844.

When the first angel's message [Rev. xiv, 7; x, 1-6] was given on time from 1840, and finished in 1844. proclaiming the judgment hour cry, and "that there should be time no longer," it was then understood and afterwards seen more clearly that this declaration was in reference to the long periods of time given to Daniel in chap, viii. 13 ; xii, 12. For he was expressly told that the vision should " be at the time of the end," and afterwards told to go his way. for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Chap, viii, 17 ; xii, 9.

So when this time of the end came, the words of the vision that had been sealed, were unsealed, and the book was open in the angel's hand declaring with an oath that there should be time NO longer. Referring of course to all the time which had been sealed up. The angel symbolizes a body of people giving the message in question.

Time here cannot mean duration as measured in months and years, for 1000 years are measured after this, and after that Jesus is set on his Father’s throne, “and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Therefore the angel could swear to no other time but prophetic time, which was the burden of his message.

In the typical day of atonement under the first covenant the earthly Sanctuary was cleansed at an appointed time once a year, at which time the lot was cast to obtain blood for a sin-offering which the high priest bore into the most holy place to make an atonement for the transgressions of Israel in all their sins. Thus all Israel were in their lot. In the antitypical day of atonement under the new covenant the time appointed for cleansing the Sanctuary is unto 2300 days. This being the day of atonement to cleanse the whole Israel of God, both the dead and living saints, from all their transgressions in all their sins.

It was previously declared to Daniel, " Thou shall rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." This shows most clearly that both of these periods, viz., the 2300 and 1335 days bring all of God's people in their lot, to be cleansed from all, their sins by the precious blood of Christ in the antitypical day of atonement. And when the great High Priest has accomplished the work for them all, even to the last, and the sins of Israel are all blotted out forever, the living saints will surely know (and so will you, if faithful) that " blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days." Daniel stands in his lot with all the righteous dead, that all their sins of ignorance may be blotted out before the resurrection.

In regard to your question about Daniel's standing in his lot at the end of the days, I refer yon to Bro. White's article on that point in the Review, Vol. IX, No. 13.

Your last question under this head is this, " if the prophetic periods are all ended, in what time are we living now, and how long will it last ?"

Answer. The prophetic periods as you see are all ended, and we are now living in the day of atonement; the finishing, crowning work of God ; being address- ed by the third angel, declaring " here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the Commandments of God, and the Faith of Jesus." When this message closes the work is done. The mandate will then go forth, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; he which is righteous, let him be righteous still." We are also living in the Laodicean, the last state of the church, in imminent danger of being spued out of the Saviour's mouth, unless we hastily repent and seek a closer walk with God. We see therefore that it will take every moment of our time to get ready for the auspicious hour that is now dawning. Let us haste then and tarry not in all the plain. God, and Christ, and holy angels are urging us onward. Time was given in the first message. In this last message time is not given, but signs which are unmistakable, showing that we are in the closing scene.

Joseph Bates, Review and Herald, June 4, 1857 (Vol. 10, #5).


The time times and an half or dividing of time, in Daniel vii and xii, or 1260 years commenced in A. D. 538, where Justinian made his head bishop the pope. These two periods added, ended 1798 when Berthier took away his dominion. This harmonized with the prophecy as saith Daniel vii,26, and xii,7.

The 1290 of Daniel xii,11, Eld. H. (Joshua Himes) declared in the "Signs of the Times," commenced in A. D. 508, when Clovis, king of France, with a large army abolished the daily Pagan worship and set up in its place the Roman Catholic religion, or what Daniel calls the abomination that maketh desolate. The same as shown also in chapter xi,31. Then the 1290 were added to the 508 which also ended in 1798. Does not Daniel xii,11, say there are to be 1290 from the time the daily is taken away?

Yes; then the foregoing addition is right, and there were no 30 years beyond 1798 to be added anywhere. In verse 12 a blessing is pronounced on those that come to the 1335 years from where the 1290 commence. Here then were 45 years to be added on where the 1290 ended, viz., in 1798; this brought us to 1843.

How many times he made his opponents yield the point when he stated that the 70 weeks of Daniel ix, were the beginning of the 2300 years of Daniel viii,14, and that the 25th verse pointed to a commandment or decree that would go forth to begin those years, and how readily he pointed them to Ezra vii,1,7,13; ix,9, and showed them from thence, and from history that that decree went forth in 457 B. C., which number subtracted from 2300 would leave us in 1843 Roman time, 1844 Bible time. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

“How like God and the Bible that looked and sounded then! Such harmony with the prophetic numbers made the world tremble. They ended with the mighty cry, "The hour of his judgment is come."”

Joseph Bates, Review and Herald, August 7, 1860 (Vol. 16, #12)


Index Page for "Pioneer Writings"

Bro. Bates answers questions on the 2300 days