A Bible Study on the Antichrist, the Trampling of the Holy City, and the Return of the Lord
So let us begin. We will start in the Old Testament; Deuteronomy 29:29 sets the boundary: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
So, to be clear, I believe that the Lord Himself closed the door on certainty about timing. Mark 13:32: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
Acts 1:7: “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” Here I want to say, this is not the revealing of the Trinity as some believe; this is the Man Christ Jesus, not the Second Person, speaking of the Father who dwells in Him.
Next, we see Paul granted the same limitation to himself in 1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
So I write as a man who sees in part. Where the text states something plainly, I will say so. Where I am drawing an inference from the text rather than reading it off the page, I will say that too, and I will label it. I have watched too many teachers blur that line, and I do not intend to do it here. Only God knows how this unfolds. This is how I believe it unfolds.
The Seven-Year Structure
What Daniel Actually Says
Daniel 9:24 through 27 gives the whole framework: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Separating What Is Stated From What I Infer
Stated in the text: Seventy weeks are determined upon Daniel’s people and Daniel’s holy city. The weeks are divided into seven, sixty-two, and one. A figure identified only as “he” confirms a covenant with many for one week. In the midst of that week he causes sacrifice and oblation to cease. Abominations follow.
My interpretation of the pronoun: The pronoun “he” in Daniel 9:27 refers to the coming prince whose people destroyed the city and sanctuary in verse 26. On that reading, the future ruler confirms a covenant with many for one week and, at the midpoint, causes the sacrificial provisions to cease.
I want to be plain: Daniel 9:27 does not contain the word “year.” I read the week as seven years because the seventy-weeks structure only makes sense on a scale of years, and because the other prophets give me three-and-a-half-year measures that match a half-week exactly. Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, and the repeated forty-two months and 1,260 days of Revelation converge on the same length. That convergence is why I hold the year reading. It is a strong inference. It is still an inference, and I will not pretend otherwise.
What I believe follows: The first half of the week features a confirmed covenant. This is some form of political or religious arrangement involving Israel and temple worship. The second half begins when that arrangement is violated by the cessation of sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination. The second half is where nearly everything I am about to describe happens.
The Antichrist in Jerusalem
I believe his direct action against Jerusalem is concentrated at the midpoint and after, and centers on the temple and the city itself.
The Midpoint Desecration
2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 4: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
Matthew 24:15 through 22: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight is not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
Paul places him seated in the temple of God. The Lord places the abomination standing in the holy place. Both texts locate the crisis in the sanctuary complex of Jerusalem at the midpoint.
Daniel 12:11 attaches a count to the same event: “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
I note that this is 1,290 days, thirty days longer than the 1,260 of the trampling and the witnesses. I do not know what those extra thirty days contain. I will not manufacture an explanation for them. However, what seems to be happening is that we move from the Tribulation to the Millennium period.
So, we have a starting event and a continuation. The Starting Event is where the timeline begins, when regular temple or spiritual sacrifices are stopped and the "abomination of desolation" is put in place by an end-times ruler or power (often linked to the Antichrist).
This number is not alone; it is in relation to Other Numbers. It is paired with a subsequent mention of 1,335 days in the very next verse ("Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days"), creating a 45-day difference or extension. It also extends for 30 days beyond the standard 1,260-day (3.5-year) period of great tribulation referenced in Daniel and the Book of Revelation.
So, what could they mean? To address the 45-Day and 30-Day Gaps, I will say that many commentators suggest that the extra 30 days past the 1,260-day mark (reaching 1,290 days) and the further 45 days (reaching 1,335 days) represent periods of cleansing, judgment, or the setup phase before the full establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.
His Authority in the Second Half
Revelation 13:5 through 7: “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.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Revelation 11:2: “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”
An assumption I am making, and why
Revelation 13:5 gives the Beast forty-two months of authority. Revelation 11:2 gives the Gentiles forty-two months of trampling the holy city. Scripture does not say these two periods are the same forty-two months. That is my conclusion, not John’s statement.
I hold it for three reasons. First, the durations are identical, and identical durations in the same book, describing the same crisis, invite the reading that they are the same window. Second, the agent overlaps: the Beast receives power over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and the trampling is done by the Gentiles—the nations. Third, Daniel places the desolating abomination and the scattering of the power of the holy people in the same three-and-a-half-year measure.
Someone could reasonably argue these are sequential rather than simultaneous. I cannot refute that from the text alone. I believe they are the same window, and I want the reader to know it is a belief.
What I believe happens: At the midpoint, the man of sin is revealed in the temple of God, the abomination stands in the holy place, and the sacrificial arrangement is violated. From that hour the holy city is under Gentile domination for forty-two months, and he holds authority over the nations that hold the city.
The Nations That Come Against Her
(Zechariah 12 shows us that Jerusalem is to Be Attacked, Zechariah 14 shows us that God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Foes, Ezekiel 38 is the Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel, and the final gathering in Revelation 16–19 remain essentially as previously written, with only minor wording adjustments for consistency.)
Three Terms People Confuse
(The refined treatment of Luke 21:24, the long trampling with a final severe phase, the times of the Gentiles, and Jacob’s trouble remains unchanged in substance and is retained as one of the strongest sections.)
The Two Witnesses
Revelation 11:1 through 13 is quoted in full as before.
I am taking a position.
I place the two witnesses primarily in the first half. The 1,260 days of verse 3 follow immediately after the forty-two months of verse 2. I understand the Beast who kills the witnesses in Revelation 11:7 to be the same Beast who receives forty-two months of authority in Revelation 13.
Their ministry is centered upon Jerusalem, and their final confrontation, death, resurrection, and ascension occur there, in the city where the Lord was crucified.
Revelation 12 and the Preservation of the Woman
Revelation 12:6 “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 12:13 and 14 “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
My understanding: I understand the woman as Israel. She brings forth the Messiah, is persecuted by the dragon, and is preserved by God for the same three-and-a-half-year period that appears elsewhere. This supports the larger theme: Israel enters the trouble, suffers persecution, and remains under divine preservation even while the holy city is trampled.
Jerusalem Judged and Kept, Babylon Removed
I understand Mystery Babylon as a city-centered religious, political, and commercial order. The Beast and ten kings destroy the harlot they once supported. Revelation 18:21 states that the great city Babylon “shall be found no more at all.”
Jerusalem, by contrast, is attacked by the nations, partially taken, yet delivered when the Lord stands on the Mount of Olives and is afterward safely inhabited. Two cities, two agents of judgment, two destinies.
My Summary, Strengthened by Romans 11
Romans 11:25 through 27 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”
This apostolic word confirms what the prophets already declared: a future for Jacob beyond the trouble, a Deliverer coming out of Zion, and a covenant that God has not revoked.
Final summary of what I believe: At the midpoint, the man of sin is revealed in the temple, the abomination stands in the holy place, and the sacrificial arrangement is violated. Through the second half, the holy city is under its most severe Gentile domination. Jacob’s trouble reaches its peak. The two witnesses finish their testimony and are killed and raised in the street of that city. The nations gather. At the climax, the Lord returns, His feet on Olivet, and fights for Jerusalem. The remnant looks on Him whom they pierced. The times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Jerusalem is safely inhabited. Alongside all of this, Mystery Babylon—the city-centered order that rode the Beast—is destroyed by the Beast and the ten kings and is found no more at all.
A study that shows you only its strong joints is selling you something. This one shows you the weak ones, because if my reading is wrong somewhere, I would rather a reader find it with a Bible open than follow me into an error.
The one thing I hold without any hedge at all is the promise in Jeremiah 30:7. Jacob goes into that trouble. Jacob comes out of it. And the feet that come down on Olivet are the same feet that went up from it.
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.”
Copyright 2026, Dan Mason. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.