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This question focuses on grammar not "what makes sense".
The first step to understanding a passage is parsing:
- identify the parts of speech
- assign the pronouns to the proper names
- assign the verbs and adjectives to the pronouns and proper names
- do not worry about the "true meaning": "dragon", "day of the Lord", etc
If the writer is competent, there is only one correct parsing.
Only then can you apply interpretation: what is "the dragon", etc.
Revelation 11:1-3
11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told,
“Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who
worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple;
leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will
trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant
authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed in sackcloth.”
It appears that nearly everyone uses this passage to equate "42 months" to "1,260 days".
Why?
Because 42 divides into 1260 a whole number of times?
Because the numbers are in adjacent sentences?
QUESTION
Is there a grammatical reason to equate 1,260 days to 42 months in any end-times passage?
Subsequent questions will focus on interpretation.
