We know that the Great Tribulation will last 1,260 days. But, regarding the first 42 months — do we know that those times, those days and months, are necessarily consecutive? That is, is it possible that there will be breaks in the progression of prophetic fulfillment to allow for the logistical problems of “everything coming together at the same time”?
Could there be, say, two or three months of fulfillment, followed by an interim for “stray parts” to fit together and catch up, followed by another period of fulfillment, and another “break,” to make the first 42 months of the Tribulation be strung out over a period of, say, 50 or 60 or 100 months of actual elapsed calendar time?
The Great Tribulation is the last half of a seven year period of time called the 70th week of Daniel. It comes from Daniel 9:24-27 where a 490 year period of time was given to Israel to accomplish 6 things. 483 years had elapsed when Jesus was crucified leaving seven years yet to be fulfilled. That 7 year period will commence with a covenant (treaty) between the Anti-Christ and Israel that includes building a Temple. In the middle of the treaty period the anti-Christ will cause the Temple to become desolate and the Great Tribulation will begin.
Even though the entire 490 year period has been interrupted by a 2000 year break, there’s no reason to believe that the first half of the remaining 7 years will not be consecutive. In fact the wording of Daniel 9:27 seems to require that they will be.