If the sacrifices were to start up again, this forum along with many others would be inundated with posts full of speculation about what is happening. If the sacrifices were then to cease, again we would be inundated with speculation, including speculation that the second coming would be exactly 3.5 years away.
There is no way of getting around the idea that a future seventieth week coincides with knowing the day of His second coming.
In end time prophecies God is mainly interested in how his True Church does his daily work i.e. bringing spiritual meat before God's altar in heaven. The mistake many people make is that they believe a real temple shall be built in Jerusalem and real animal sacrifices shall resume. That is not the case and no way Arab countries would allow the physical temple be built in Jerusalem. It's one of the reasons why Iran wants the nuclear bomb.
Please note that when the sacrifices stop (i.e. the daily God's work ceases) it's time for the True Church to flee to safety. Like in 69 AD when the Church in Jerusalem escaped to Pella so shall it be in end time. So no, Matthew 24:36 is not incorrect either - only the chosen few shall know
when the time is right (and so far unknown) to flee and 3.5 years shall ensue afterwards of the beast dominion.
It's crucial to also understand that Daniel's last week contains segments of time within it and in between time flows. What I mean by this is that for the first 3.5 years a covenant shall be struck. then some time shall pass and then the rest of Daniel's week shall resume when the True Church flees. The two witnesses shall take then the role of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God until they are killed by the beast.
Let me give you a timeline from Revelation:
Day Of The Lord
From Rev 18:8 we have “Therefore shall her plagues come in
one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judged her.” Still, from Rev 18:6 “Reward her even as she rewarded you,
and double unto her double according to her works:
in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” From Job 41:13 “Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?” Also from Job 11:6 “And that
he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacted of thee less than thine iniquity deserves.” Lastly from Jeremiah 17:18 “Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and
destroy them with double destruction.”
The above implies that the day of the Lord shall be
2 years.
Seventh Trumpet
Rev 11 is about the protection of the very elect and the persecution of the Laodicean Church during the tribulation as Gerald Flurry mentions. It also talks about contemporaneous prophesying of two witnesses. Note that when the two witnesses die the seventh trumpet sounds and the angels with the seven plagues gather (Rev 15:1). Following Herbert Armstrong Rev 12, Rev 13 and Rev 14 are insets so the story flow jumps from Rev 11 to Rev 15 and 16. Also Rev 17 and Rev 18 are insets so story then flows to Rev 19 directly from Rev 16.
From all of this one can conclude that when the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet two years remain until it’s done (Rev 16:17). Since, 3.5 years are allotted to the beast (Rev, Daniel etc.) this implies that 1.5 years remain. How to account for them?
Sixth Trumpet
From Rev 9:15 a year and a month are prepared so we have 13 months or 390 days.
Fifth Trumpet
From Rev 9:5 five months or 150 days are given to the locusts.
First to Fourth Trumpet
Note that Rev. 8 has all four first trumpets together. This implies that probably those first four are going to be very close to each other in occurrence.
1260 Days
Hence,
from the time angel blows the first trumpet to when it’s all done, 0+150+390+720 =
1260 days pass. This accords with 42 months, or 3.5 years where the beast shall have rule. One can see this also from Rev 9:2 when this accords with the time the bottomless pit is opened and as we know the beast shall ascend out of the bottomless pit (Rev 11:7) and be given rule for 1260 days.
1290 Days in Daniel 12:11
At the time when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies of end time Antiochus, the elect shall flee to a place of safety and therefore the regular burnt offering shall cease. I believe that is happens 15 days before the seventh seal is opened and then half an hour of heavenly silence ensues. Note that half an hour refers to 15 days of heavenly silence from Rev 8:1. Please note that in Old Testament day was divided into 12 hours, so half an hour corresponds to 15 days. This implies that in order of events Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, 15 days pass to seventh seal then 15 days until end of heavenly silence, then seven trumpets otherwise
1290 days.
Two Witnesses
I believe the two witnesses together shall prophesy for 1260 days together. When they die and are resurrected the Day of The Lord starts. Note that in this calculation there is no need for two of them to prophesy the same amount of time together. I believe one of them shall prophesy for a longer time than the other. This is my reasoning:
From Dan 12:5 “Then I Daniel looked, and, behold,
there stood other two, the one
on this side of the bank of the river, and the other
on that side of the bank of the river. Note that
one is closer to Daniel and the other one is further away.
Also, from Dan 12:6 “And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?”. Lastly, from Dan 12:12 “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”
My interpretation is that the second witness shall prophesy 45+30+540 = 615 days and the first one shall prophesy for 645 days. The sign to the Philadelphians (chosen few) to prepare to leave shall be the start of prophesying of the second witness.
Why is this important? From Deut 19:15 “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” Further from Matt 18:19 “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Therefore, when the two witnesses agree on everything about the timeline and content of their prophecy then their collective mission starts and the elect prepare to flee to safety.
