The Two 3-1/2 Year Periods In Revelation 12
By Ed Tarkowski

There is a huge time gap in Revelation 12 no matter how one interprets it.

1. Christ ascended 2,000 years ago (v5)

2. If the devil is cast out was when Christ ascended, then you have a 2,000 year gap to get to verses 6 (the woman flees to the wilderness in the middle of the tribulation).

3. If the devil is cast out in the middle of the tribulation, then you have a 2,000 year gap between the Child being caught up (v5) and verse 6, 13-17 (in v6, the woman flees into the wilderness BEFORE Satan is cast down).

Because the woman cannot flee before the Satan is cast down, scenario #2 is more logical.

WHY TWO PERIODS OF TIME: 1260 DAYS AND TIME, TIME AND A HALF A TIME?

What do we do with verse 6 since there can be only one period of 3-1/2 years?

1. Does it go with verse 5?
2. Does it go with verses 6-13?

Since there can ONLY be ONE period of 3-1/2 years, verse 6 must be a first mention later described in verse 15. Verse 6, then, goes with verse 5:

Verse 5 tells of the woman's Child being caught up to the throne and then, in one sentence, jumps to tell what eventually happens to the woman (v6) leaving a gap of 2,000 years. This leaves us verses 7-17.

Verses 7-17 also have the SAME gap. Verses 7-13 then go back again and describes what happened to Satan when the Child was caught up to the throne (v5):

Verses 7-13 go back to when the Child was caught up to the throne because it was then that Christ was exalted at His ascension and these four things were set in place: salvation, strength, kingdom and power and the devil was cast down.

There is then the 2,000 year gap again between v7-13 and v14-17 which points ahead to the middle of the tribulation.

The devil having but a short time seems to be a problem, but Robertson's Word Pictures says this:

"But a short time ([oligon kairon]). Accusative of extent of time, 'a little time.' The devil's departure from his warfare in the heavens reveals ([eid?s], knowing, perfect active participle) to him that his time for doing harm to men is limited, and hence his great wrath ([tumon], boiling rage)."

SHORT - It doesn't mean short so much as a sort-of-an-idea of how much time will pass, but it is a knowing that now that this happened, time is LIMITED to do anything else.

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