The shared 1,260-day period
The clearest connection is between Daniel’s “time, times, and an half” and Revelation’s 1,260 days. In Daniel’s vision, this period is linked with the oppression of God’s holy people. Revelation uses the same span for the ministry of the two witnesses and for the woman’s protection in the wilderness (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 11:3; Revelation 12:6).
Revelation also calls it forty-two months (Revelation 11:2). Forty-two prophetic months of thirty days equal 1,260 days. So these are not necessarily competing figures. They appear to be different ways of describing the same three-and-a-half-year period.
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.
Why Daniel gives two larger numbers
Daniel 12 is especially careful about where its count begins. The 1,290 days run from the removal of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination that causes desolation (Daniel 12:11). That is thirty days beyond 1,260.
Then Daniel speaks of blessing for the person who reaches 1,335 days, another forty-five days later (Daniel 12:12). The angel gives the numbers, but does not spell out what happens in each of those extra thirty and forty-five days. We can see the sequence, but not every detail behind it.
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Different starting points may be in view
One reasonable explanation is that the figures measure related events from different starting points. Daniel’s 1,290-day count explicitly begins with a particular act of desecration. Revelation’s 1,260 days may focus on the period of persecution, testimony, or divine protection within that wider crisis.
Daniel 9 also describes a ruler confirming a covenant and then, in the middle of the period, causing sacrifice and offering to cease (Daniel 9:27). Many Christians connect this with Daniel 12 and Revelation. Others understand parts of these prophecies as having been fulfilled in earlier historical events, while still pointing ahead to God’s final victory. The Bible gives enough to show a pattern, even where it does not satisfy every curiosity.
What the numbers are meant to do
These numbers show that suffering is neither random nor endless. God knows its limits. Daniel is told that the end will come, and that those who endure faithfully are blessed (Daniel 12:12). Revelation likewise presents God preserving his people even when the world looks hostile and out of control (Revelation 12:14).
Faithful Christians disagree about whether the days should be read as exact future calendar days, symbolic periods, or numbers tied to events that have both historical and future significance. It is wise not to build confidence on a chart more than on Christ. The central message is clear: evil has a fixed boundary, God remains sovereign, and those who belong to him have hope.
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.