The “1260 Days”

The “1260 days” (years) is the period during which the true Church of God was in the “wilderness” condition. She fled thither on account of the persecutions inflicted upon her by the Apostate Church, named “Jezebel,” which was set up in power in 539 A.D. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, page 256). The year 1799 A.D. was the end of these 1260 symbolical days of persecuting power, and the following year, 1800 A.D., was the end of the Papal Millennium, which began in 800 A.D. when Charlemagne was crowned “Emperor of the West” by the pope, in return for which he donated to the Roman Church the territory known as the “Papal States ” (See Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, pages 353-356).

The breaking of the sovereign power of the Papacy by Napoleon in 1799 A.D. was an important step in the Reformation, being as much as any a means of directing men to an appreciation of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. For whenever the false claims of the Antichrist are exposed, the saving power of Christ is proportionately made clearer.

We have seen how the important dates in the dawn of the Reformation are indicated at the lower opening of the Well-shaft (Sec. XXXVI). The north edge of this opening marks the beginning of Reform, namely, the unfolding to thinking men of the false assumptions of the Papacy; when pope, Boniface VIII made the astounding claim that only through him could anyone hope for salvation. While loudly proclaiming to the poor groaning world that escape from condemnation (symbolized by the downward course of the Descending Passage) could be granted only by the Roman Church through sacrifices of the Mass, indulgences, etc., its representatives took good care to obscure the only true way of escape, belief in the “sacrifice” of Christ, symbolized by the Well-shaft.

It is surely meet, therefore, that the confident and blatant assumptions by pope Boniface VIII should be counted as the beginning of Antichrist’s downfall. And now we find that the very place in the Great Pyramid which marks the date when the Papacy began to lose its world-wide sway also indicates the end of its sovereign power, 1799-1800 A.D., at the hands of the “man of destiny.”

In the time-measurement of Section LIII (“The 1335 days”) we saw how 539 A.D. is indicated on the horizontal line which represents the period of the “1335 days.” As 539 A.D. is also the beginning of the “1260 days” (See No. 5 above), this “date-point” on the horizontal line should, properly, form the starting-point of the time-measurement of 1260 Pyramid inches. On calculation, however, we find that the “539 A.D. date-point” is both too far above, and too far to the north side of, the lower Well-mouth. It cannot, therefore, form the commencement of a direct measurement of 1260 Pyramid inches to the lower Well-opening.

Nevertheless, the “date-point ” does, in a manner, form the starting-point of this measurement; for the horizontal distance from the “539 A.D. date-point,” to the vertical line of the north edge of the lower opening of the Well-shaft, is 450.3820+ Pyramid inches, and the vertical distance from the horizontal line, down to the floor of the Descending Passage at the north edge of the Well-opening, is also 450.3820+ Pyramid inches, plus a little over 2 inches, more than the number of inches required to correspond with the 1260 days, time-measurement (See diagram page 254). Thus we may transfer the 539 A.D. date-point” from the horizontal, to the vertical line. This is confirmed by the harmony of the time-measurements explained in the following two Sections (Nos. LV and LVI).

Beginning, therefore, the length of 1260 Pyramid inches from the point on the vertical line which is 450.820+ Pyramid inches below the horizontal line, it is found to terminate not on, but 2.0103+ inches short of the Descending Passage floor-line at the north edge of the Well-opening.

As the termination of the 1260 Pyramid inches stops short of the Descending Passage floor to the extent of a little over 2 inches (which is not a great deal in itself), we can see in this a consistency with the connected time-feature of the 1335 days for the measurement in that feature was also a little over 2 inches short of the precise amount, and when we find in the time-measurement of the next Section (No. LV), which shows how the Great Pyramid indicates the period of the “Time of the End” spoken of by Daniel, that here too the Pyramid-inch measure is a little over 2 inches short of the exact requirement, it is manifest to us that there is intention in this arrangement.

Great Pyramid Passages Page 255-256 par. 671-678