Microcodes & Macrocodes: The Appointed Times

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Technical > Bible Codes > The Appointed Times

Microcodes & Macrocodes: The Appointed Times by Chuck Missler

The Jew’s catechism is his calendar.

Samson Raphael Hirsch

There has been a great deal of interest in “Bible Codes.” The main flurry of controversy has been about the equidistant letter sequences that seem to be hidden within the Biblical text. An example of this occurs in Genesis 1:14:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

The word HaMoyadim (click for Hebrew text), here translated “seasons,” means “the appointed times.” When searched for as an equidistant letter sequence, the word appears only once in the Book of Genesis, at the interval of 70, clustering exactly where the word is spelled explicitly in the text, and where the calendar is established.

There are only 70 specially appointed times for holy days called HaMoyadim, in a year, as defined by Leviticus 23-52 sabbaths, seven days of Pesach (encompassing Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of First Fruits), one day for Hag Ha Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost), one day for Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets, which is coincident with Rosh Hoshana), one day for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), 7 days for Sukkot (Feast of Booths), and one day of Shmini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly).¹ 52 + 7 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 7 + 1 = 70, the very interval where HaMoyadim, “the appointed times,” is encrypted in the text. Coincidence?

The longer the word, the smaller its chances to be found in the text at any given interval. Statistically, the word HaMoyadim would be expected to occur only five times in the 78,064 letters of Genesis.

In fact, it appears in this hidden form only once in Genesis; and on that one occasion its equidistant letter interval is exactly 70, and centered within the span of that hidden appearance is precisely its only open appearance in the text.²

The odds against this have been estimated at more than 70,000,000 to one.³

Macrocodes

In addition to microcodes and the equidistant letter sequences, there are also macrocodes embracing the entire structure; they transcend the frame of reference of the individual document itself. They are similar to the “macros” that anticipate the formatting in our word processor programs.

Thus, macrocodes can be anticipatory: they look forward in time. These Biblical macrocodes, originating from outside our time domain, demonstrate their unique origin by presenting the structure of future events in advance, which is one of the properties of the Biblical record that establishes its uniqueness.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the use of the Jewish calendar ordained in the Bible.

The Seven Feasts of Israel

The Torah-the five books of Moses-details seven feasts during the Hebrew calendar:⁴ The first three feasts are celebrated in the spring, in the month of Nisan: Passover (Pesach), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag haMatzah), and the Feast of First Fruits. (Connotatively, these are all included in the celebration of Passover.)

Fifty days later there is the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, also known as Pentecost (“50″). It was celebrated the day following the “counting of the omer” (49 days + 1), 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits. This year it will be observed on May 31.

There are three remaining feasts in the fall, in the month of Tishri: the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah); the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur); and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth).

While each of these feasts has an historical commemorative role, they also each have a prophetic role. When God set their feast times, the very terms He used are suggestive: mowed (click for Hebrew text), which means “to keep an appointment,” and mikraw (click for Hebrew text), which means “rehearsal.”⁵

Paul emphasized this⁶ and also highlighted their predictive role as “a shadow of things to come.”⁷ Jesus also pointed to his personal role in their fulfillment:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law (Torah), or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

This is another of these instances in which “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.”

Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks

The first three feasts occur in the first month; they were also prophetic of the Christ’s first advent. The final three feasts occur in the seventh month and appear to be prophetic of Christ’s Second Coming. Between these two groups of feasts is Hag Ha Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, also called, Hag Ha Kazir, the Feast of Harvest (“the First Harvest”).

This feast was to be observed on a strange formula: In other words, they were to begin counting on the day of the Feast of First Fruits (“the morrow after the Sabbath”: always a Sunday!), seven weeks (49 days) and thus celebrate this unusual feast also on a Sunday.⁸

Counting these 49 days is also called “Counting the Omer.” (This “50-day” formula also gives this celebration its alternate label, “the Feast of Pentecost.”) It is interesting to notice the frequent intervals of 49 (7²) in the Torah codes.

The Feast of Pentecost was also one of only three which were obligatory for all males.⁹ Historically, this feast is viewed as commemorating the birth of the nation and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.¹⁰ The observance of this feast is unique in that it includes two loaves of leavened bread-the only use of leavened bread in the Levitical specifications. This would seem to hint of a Gentile application, in contrast to the unleavened bread emphasized in the Passover. Two lambs were to be offered. (Jew + Gentile?)

Prophetic Applications

There is a widespread recognition that the Feast of Weeks (or Feast of Pentecost) is prophetic of the mystery of the Church. And, indeed, the Church was “born” on the Feast of Pentecost.¹¹

It is significant that each event which seems to be “macrocoded” by the calendar was actually fulfilled on the very day that the feast is observed: The Crucifixion on Passover; the Feast of First Fruits on the following Sunday; etc.

Therefore, the birth of the Church on the very day of the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2 is extremely provocative. Yet it may prove to be myopic to assume that this feast has been completely fulfilled in the birth of the Church alone.

Rapture Possibility?

The sudden “gathering out” of the church (harpazo in the Greek;¹² called the “rapture” from the Latin) may also be hidden behind this feast. The first three feasts, in the first month, appear predictive of the first “coming” of Jesus Christ. The last three feasts, in the seventh month, are viewed as predictive of the Second Coming.

(There are many who look to the Feast of Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles as predictive of the “rapture” of the Church. Yet, these views seem to fail to discriminate between the “rapture” of the Church and the Second Coming.)

There would also seem to be an intrinsic contradiction in attempting to apply the Jewish feasts to the Church. As we have noted in the Seventy Week prophecy¹³ and elsewhere, there is a clear distinction between Israel and the Church-a distinction that unfortunately has been blurred in views that fail to recognize the unconditional nature of the relevant commitments to Israel. Paul, in his definitive statement of Christian doctrine which we call the Epistle to the Romans, spends three chapters emphasizing that God is not through with Israel.¹⁴

In his Epistle to the Ephesians he also reveals that the mystery of the Church was hidden from the Old Testament.¹⁵ (This also is indicated in the parables of the Matthew 13.¹⁶ ) It appears that the church period occurs in a gap-or interval-in the Jewish timeline of the Old Testament. A provocative possibility is that the Feast of Weeks may prove predictive of both the birth and removal of the church in God’s program.

Enoch as a Macrocode?

Enoch is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. The first prophecy uttered by a prophet was a prophecy of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and it was proclaimed before the Flood of Noah!¹⁷ Enoch is also distinctive in that he did not suffer death; he was “raptured.”¹⁸

There were three groups of people facing the flood: those that perished in the flood; those that were preserved through the flood; and those removed before the flood: namely, Enoch. There are some who view Enoch as a foreshadowing of the church being removed prior to the global ordeal known as the Great Tribulation.

It is interesting that there is a Jewish tradition that Enoch was born on the day that was later ordained as the Feast of Weeks. What makes this even more interesting is the associated tradition that he was “raptured” on his birthday.

Is it possible that this is a foreshadowing of the harpazo of the church?¹⁹

There would seem to be a logical consistency if the same feast that “stopped” the Jewish clock will be the same event that “restarts” it. We will just watch and see. Let’s remember that He instructed us to “occupy until He comes.”²⁰ Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!

1. Prof. Daniel Michelson, “Codes in the Torah,” B’Or Ha’Torah, No.l6, 1987, published by the Association of Religious Professionals from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Israel, p.31.
2. The open appearance has no “the.”
3. Jeffrey Satinover, Cracking the Bible Code, William Morrow & Co, New York, 1997, p.125.
4. Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29; Deuteronomy 16.
5. Leviticus 23:4.
6. Romans 15:4; Galatians 3:24, 25.
7. Colossians 2:16, 17.
8. Leviticus 23:15-22.
9. Deuteronomy 16:16.
10. Exodus 19:11. This is reckoned by the rabbis as follows: The Passover in Egypt was on the 14th of Nisan; the crossing of the Red Sea, 3 days later on the 17th. They are viewed as arriving at Mount Sinai on the 3rd day of the 3rd month, ostensibly on the 3rd of Sivan, 46 days later. Moses is told to prepare for the “3rd day.”
11. John 14:25, 26; Acts 1:8; 2:1-47.
12. 1 Thess 4:17. Harpazo, “take by force, take away, carry off; catch up (into heaven).”
13. Daniel 9:24- 27.
14. Romans 9, 10, 11.
15. Ephesians 3:1-10.
16. Matthew 13:17, 34, 35. If they were “kept secret from the foundation of the world,” they are not explicit in the Old Testament.
17. Jude 14, 15.
18. Genesis 5:24; Hebrew 11:5.
19. It may be argued that Enoch was only one person, but so is the Church: it is signified as the “Body of Christ.” Romans 7:4; 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27; Ephesians 4:12; 5:23; Colossians 2:16, 17; and, perhaps, Revelation 12: 5.
20. Luke 19:13.

The Feasts of Israel – Chuck Missler / Dan StolebargerThe Feasts of Israel, set by God, are not only commemorative in a historical context, but are also prophetic. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

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Hidden Codes in the Bible: The Value of Pi

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Technical > Bible Codes > The Value Of Pi

When I was a teenager, I was confronted by a skeptic (a Unitarian, actually) concerning an apparent discrepancy in 1 Kings 7:23.  This passage deals with Solomon’s Temple and the products of Hiram the Bronzeworker:

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

1 Kings 7:23

The huge cast bronze basin in 1 Kings 7:23 was 10 cubits¹ in diameter and its circumference was 30 cubits, which is mathematically inaccurate.  Almost any schoolboy knows that the circumference of a circle is not the diameter times 3, but rather, the diameter times a well-known constant called ”pi”.

The real value of pi is 3.14159265358979, but is commonly approximated by 22/7.

This is assumed, by many, to be an “error” in the Old Testament record, and is often presented as a skeptical rebuttal to the “inerrancy” of the Scripture.  How can we say that the Bible is inerrant when it contains such an obvious geometrically incorrect statement?  How do we deal with this?
24-Hour Hot Line

It is interesting that whenever we find such a thing, we should simply take it to the Throne and claim the commitment Jesus made His disciples:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. – John 14:26

Is this really true?  Then why don’t we resort to it more often?

In this case, the Lord ultimately brought to our attention some subtleties usually overlooked in the Hebrew text.²

A Spelling Lesson

The common word for circumference is  qav.  Here, however, the spelling of the word for circumference, qaveh, adds a heh (h).

In the Hebrew Bible, the scribes did not alter any text which they felt had been copied incorrectly.  Rather, they noted in the margin what they thought the written text should be. The written variation is called a kethiv; and the marginal annotation is called the qere.

To the ancient scribes, this was also regarded as a remez, a hint of something deeper.  This appears to be the clue to treat the word as a mathematical formula.

Numerical Values

The Hebrew alphabet is alphanumeric: each Hebrew letter also has a numerical value and can be used as a number.

The q has a value of 100; the v has a value of 6; thus, the normal spelling would yield a numerical value of 106.  The addition of the h, with a value of 5, increases the numerical value to 111.  This indicates an adjustment of the ratio 111/106, or  31.41509433962 cubits.  Assuming that a cubit was 1.5 ft.,³ this 15-foot-wide bowl would have had a circumference of 47.12388980385 feet.

This Hebrew “code” results in 47.12264150943 feet, or an error of less than 15 thousandths of an inch! (This error is 15 times better than the 22/7 estimate that we were accustomed to using in school!) How did they accomplish this?  This accuracy would seem to vastly exceed the precision of their instrumentation.  How would they know this?  How was it encoded into the text?

Implications

Beyond simply these engineering insights of Solomon’s day, there are more far-reaching implications of this passage.

1) The Bible is reliable.  The “errors” pointed out by skeptics usually derive from misunderstandings or trivial quibbles.

2)  The numerical values of the letters are legitimate and apparently can carry significance.

This, in itself, is a major controversy among some.  There are some who maintain that the numerical assignments in the Hebrew alphabet were borrowed from the Greek alphabet in a later period, and the influence of Pythagoras, et al. (580-500 B.C.)  However, the Babylonians also employed “gematria” (the numerical values of letters and words) during the time of Sargon II.  The wall at Khorsabad was supposed to have been built according to the numerical value of Sargon’s name.⁴ The Hebrew use of an alphanumeric alphabet also predates these assumptions.

Caveats

These numerical values of letters and words can, however, easily lead to mysticism, such as the subjective speculations of the Kabbalah of Judaism – or the mystical conjectures deriving from the Pythagorean Brotherhood – and this is spiritually hazardous and contrary to Scripture.⁵

When Pythagoras returned from travel and study in Babylon, India and Egypt, he founded a secret cult in southern Italy based on the numerical explanations for the phenomena of the universe.  The Pythagoreans considered numbers to be the elements and origin of everything. While he is credited with the theory of the functional significance of numbers in the objective world and music, the bulk of his intellectual tradition belongs to mystical wisdom rather than scientific scholarship.  (The famed Pythagorean theorem regarding the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle probably developed later in the Pythagorean school he founded.)

Pythagorean doctrine applied number relationships to music theory, acoustics, geometry, and astronomy, and deeply influenced the development of classical Greek philosophy and medieval European thought, including the astrological belief that the number harmony of the universe decidedly affects all human endeavor.  This numerical mysticism also was embraced with the rise of Gnostic heresies, which plagued the early church and which also flowered in the medieval church.  Numerical mysticism is also deeply involved in Freemasonry and other occultic practices.

The Bible warns against the occult.  Spiritual warfare is a reality,⁶ and there is great power in the occult.⁷ We have serious enemies, that are extremely resourceful and malevolent.  The Bible warns of a personal devil and myriads of demons, who should be regarded as cunning enemies,⁸ and who are active in the affairs of Planet Earth.⁹ In fact, the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One. ¹⁰

The devil’s tactics include masquerading as an “angel of light” and a servant of righteousness.¹¹ False teachers and false prophets are linked to evil spirits, and there are “doctrines of demons.”¹² Demons work through people by giving them psychic abilities.¹³ Supernatural manifestations are to be tested by the Word of God.14

Another craze has been recently stimulated by the publication of “Bible Codes” involving equidistant letter sequences.  The dangers in these provocative “codes” will be the subject of subsequent articles in this series.

*   *   *

Excerpted from Cosmic Codes:  Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, scheduled for release this summer.  (This may also be the subject of a prime-time TV special.)

1. Hebrew ammah (“mother of the arm”), the forearm, was the nominal distance from one’s elbow to the fingertip; the term “cubit” is from the Latin cubitus, the lower arm.
2. The answer to this difficulty was discovered by Shlomo Edward G. Belaga and appeared in Boaz Tsaban’s Rabbinical Math page and is also reported in Grant Jeffrey’s The Handwriting of God, Frontier Research Publications, Toronto Ontario, 1997.  Available through K-House; See below.
3. There were several “official” cubits in the ancient world, varying from about 18 inches to almost two feet.  Some authorities assume 20.24 inches for the ordinary cubit, and 21.888 inches for the sacred one.   We have used 18 in. in this discussion.
4. Vincent F. Hopper, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Philosophical Library, New York 1945, p.62.
5. Colossians 2:8; et al.
6. Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Peter 5:8.
7. Isaiah 47:9.
8. 8. Jn 8:44; 13:27; Mt 6:13; 9:34; 12:24; Lk 8:12; 13:16; 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:13; 2 Thess 2:9; Acts 16:16-18; 2 Cor 2:11; 11:3; 2 Tim 2:26.
9. Ephesians 2:2; Daniel 10:12, 13, 20.
10. 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19.
11. 11. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
12. 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1.
13. Acts 16:16-19; Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7.

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Cosmic Codes – A Continuing Series: The First Cryptanalyst

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Technical > Bible Codes > The First Cryptanalyst

Cosmic Codes-A Continuing Series: The First Cryptanalyst by Chuck Missler

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
Proverbs 25:2

It may come as a surprise to many that there are ciphers encrypted in the Bible.  Some are hidden; some, when revealed, are a key part of the narrative.

One of the first examples of deciphering a mysterious code-and certainly one of the most dramatic-occurred in Babylon during the fifth century B.C.

A Jewish prodigy by the name of Daniel was called into a royal celebration to decipher a baffling cryptogram which had interrupted the imperial festivities by mysteriously appearing on the wall of the banquet room.

His decipherment of this strange message declared the impending fall of the dominant world empire of the time.

This episode, recorded in the Bible in Daniel Chapter 5, has even resulted in several household idioms which still echo in our everyday language: “The handwriting on the wall,” “your number is up,” “you have been weighed and are found wanting,” etc.

The Babylonian Empire

In 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar succeeded in his siege of Jerusalem and King Jehoiakim of Judah became his vassal. ¹ The Prophet Jeremiah had predicted that the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews was to last 70 years, and it did; to the very day. ²

It was a result of this siege that Daniel and three of his friends were deported as teenagers to be educated and to serve at the Babylonian court.

These “hostages” would help assure the continued loyalty of the vassal king in Jerusalem.

Upon taking his throne, the young Nebuchadnezzar put his palace advisors to a  test regarding an unusual dream which troubled him. ³

Daniel distinguished himself in describing and interpreting the dream, and this led to his ascendancy in the Babylonian court.  This apparently also began an unusual relationship between Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar.  During a seven-year period of incapacity, Daniel was his personal attendant. ⁴

Nebuchadnezzar’s
Successors

Nebuchadnezzar’s death was followed by a steady weakening of the regime.  After one subsequent coup d’etat after another, ultimately Nabonidus came to the throne.  However, Nabonidus indulged in foreign adventures in Palestine and Northern Arabia, leaving his son Belshazzar as co-regent in Babylon.

In the last year of Nabonidus the idols of the cities around Babylon, except Borsippa, Kutha, and Sippar, were brought in, which was an action taken only at the sign of impending war.  Inscriptions also confirm Daniel as “the 3rd Ruler in the kingdom.” ⁵

The Rise of Cyrus

Cyrus II (“the Great,” 559-530 B.C.) was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire that continued for two centuries until the time of Alexander the Great (331 B.C.).  Young Cyrus succeeded in welding the Medes and Persians into a unified nation.

Babylon was in no position to resist a Medo-Persian invasion in the year 539 B.C.  During the preceding fourteen years, Nabonidus the king had not so much as visited the capital city, leaving the administration of the metropolis to his profligate son Belshazzar, to whom he also “entrusted the kingship.” ⁶

Toward the end of September, the armies of Cyrus, under the able command of Ugbaru, district governor of Gutium, attacked Opis on the Tigris River and defeated the Babylonians.  This gave the Persians control of the vast canal system of Babylon.  On October 10, Sippar was taken without a battle and Nabonidus fled.  Two days later, on October 12, 539 B.C., Ugbaru’s troops would be able to enter Babylon without a battle.  The stage was now set for the strangest banquet in history.

The Banquet of Banquets

Instead of preparing to meet the Persian threat to his kingdom, Belshazzar decided to throw a royal party for a thousand of his lords. ⁷ To some extent, Bel-shazzar’s overconfidence is understandable.  Babylon was square, about 15 miles on each side.  It boasted of an outside wall 87 feet wide-Herodotus records chariot races around the wall six abreast!

Inside this wall was a second wall, with a moat between them, and 250 watchtowers.  The river Euphrates crossed the city, providing the water for both the protective moat and for survival purposes during a siege.  Babylon was widely regarded as impregnable.

Belshazzar called for the vessels which had been taken from the Jewish Temple, captured by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar 70 years earlier, to be exploited in the festivities.  But just as the party seemed to really get rolling,  giant fingers appeared, writing what was to become the most famous cryptogram of all time.

The Handwriting on the Wall

In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the lamp-stand upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
Daniel 5:5, 6

It is hard to improve on the quaint King James English!  (Belshazzar’s embarrassing lack of sphincter control also was a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy!  We will review this shortly.)

In the ensuing panic, the king’s advisors were at a loss to explain or interpret the strange writing. ⁸ But Nebuchadnezzar’s widow reminded them of the previously demonstrated skills of Daniel-then possibly in retirement-and suggested that they call on him to address the enigma.

After an eloquent eulogy on his patron, Nebuchadnezzar-and a put-down of the young upstart-Daniel then deciphered the mysterious writing:

[24] Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
[25] And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

The Talmud suggests that the writing was vertical and backwards. (Click for diagram.)  Aramaic, like Hebrew, reads from right to left.  (All languages seem to flow toward Jerusalem: those west of Jerusalem-the European languages-flow from left to right; those east of Jerusalem flow from right to left: Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.)

There is also a Hebrew tradition that this was an application of atbash, a form of encryption reviewed in last month’s article. ⁹ (The deferral of any description of the text until its interpretation also implies something of that sort.)

M^eN^e, M^eN^e,  T^eK^eL, P^eR^eS.  In Aramaic and Hebrew, vowels are absent and must be inferred.  (This is also a common cryptographic practice used as a mechanism to reduce redundancy; the implications of this will be explored in future articles.)

[26] This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.  (“Your number is up.”)
[27] TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

[28] PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Peres was previously rendered “upharsin”: “u” is Aramaic for “and”; “pharsin” is the plural form of “peres.”  It means “broken” or “divided.”

(By implying a different vowel, “paras” rather than “peres,” this also becomes a play on words: paras was the word for Persia.) ¹⁰

[29] Then commanded Bel-shazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

However:

[30] In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

The Fall of Babylon

Herodotus describes how the Persians had diverted the river Euphrates into a canal up-river so that the water level dropped “to the height of the middle of a man’s thigh,” which thus rendered the flood defenses useless and enabled the invaders to march through the river bed to enter by night. ¹¹

Cyrus was able to boast that the conquest was virtually bloodless with no significant damage to the city. ¹²

God’s Personal Letter to Cyrus

After Cyrus’ triumphal entry into the city, Daniel then presented to him the writings of Isaiah¹³ that includes a letter addressed to Cyrus by name, written 150 years earlier: read it in Isaiah 44:24 – 45:6.  Note particularly Isaiah 45:1,

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

Notice the detail, “loose the loins of kings.”  Belshazzar’s “brown britches” was also a fulfillment of prophecy!  (This allusion to Cyrus also seems to confirm the public nature of Belshazzar’s embarrassment.)

By calling him by name-written before he was born-Cyrus would realize that this was from God Himself.  He was astonished.  Wouldn’t you be?

Cyrus was so stunned with the description of his entire career, including the circumstances regarding the fall of Babylon, that he arranged for the Hebrew captives to be released and permitted to return to Jerusalem.  The Jews were actually encouraged by Cyrus to return and rebuild their temple. ¹⁴ He gave them back the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from Solomon’s Temple 70 years earlier and he contributed financially to the construction of their second temple. About 50,000 Jews responded to this royal proclamation and returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel just seventy years after the captivity began, just as Jeremiah had predicted.

Babylon’s Subsequent History

Serving as a secondary capital during the Persian and Greek Empires, Babylon ultimately atrophied to an insignificant byway.  Another major Biblical enigma arises from the predictions by both Isaiah and Jeremiah ¹⁵ that call for Babylon’s ultimate destruction in terms that have never occurred in history.  Some regard the language as merely poetic or allegorical.  Those that take the Bible more seriously look for Babylon to re-emerge in world history and ultimately receive the literal destruction described by the prophets.  The recent rebuilding of Babylon begun by Saddam Hussein provides us an empirical test of this view. ¹⁶

*  *    *

This series of articles is being excepted from Chuck’s forthcoming book, Cosmic Codes, scheduled for publication this spring.

1. Jer 25:1.  Nebuchadnezzar’s first expedition was before he ascended to the throne; Nebuchadnezzar’s first year was concurrent with Jehoia-kim’s fourth year.
2. Jer 25:11, 12.   Failure to keep the Sabbath of the land for 490 years (70 times 7) was the cause for the particular period of 70 years of captivity.  (2 Chr 36:21, cf. Mt 18:22.)
3. The dramatic episode is detailed in Daniel Chapter 2.
4. This is recorded in Daniel Ch. 4, written by Nebuchadnezzar himself. The Talmud indicates that Daniel provided his care during this period.
5. The Babylon Chronicle, British Museum: this cylinder, one of 4 bearing the same text found at the four corners of the ziggurat at Ur, is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform and mentions “Belshazzar, the son first (born) the offspring of my heart (body).”
6. ;”Verse Account of Nabonidus,” Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 313.
7. This banquet hall (about 56 x 173 feet) has been reconstructed today and has been used by Saddam Hussein for affairs of state since 1987.
8. Daniel 5:7-8.
9. “The Bible Codes” Personal UPDATE, January 1998, p.7-10.
10. Also, they may reflect a series of coins in use: a mina, a tekel (1/60th of a mina), and a peres, (a  mina).  Dr. Cyrus Gordon has suggested an American equivalent: “You will be quartered, halved, and cent to perdition.” (David Kahn, The Code-breakers, Macmillan Company, NY, 1967, p.80.)
11. Herodotus, 1.191.
12. The famous Steele of Cyrus carries the inscription,  “…without any battle, he entered the town, sparing any calamity…I returned to sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time…and established for them permanent sanctuaries.  I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned to them their habitations.”  This cylinder, discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in the 19th century, can presently be examined in the British Museum in London.
13. Josephus, Antiquities, XI, i.2.
14. 2 Chr 36:22; Ezra 1:1-4.
15. The great prophecies concerning the city of Babylon in Isaiah Ch. 13 and 14 and Jeremiah 50 and 51 have never been fulfilled.  Yet.
16. For a detailed exploration of these issues, see The Mystery of Babylon, or Chuck Missler’s Expositional Commentary on Daniel, both available from Koinonia House.

Cosmic Codes – Now In Paperback – Chuck MisslerRead the implications of our finite universe and the shocking discoveries of quantum physics at the very boundaries of reality and learn their significance to our origin and personal destinies! Click for more information – Textbook

Daniel – Audio Commentary – Chuck MisslerExplore Daniel verse-by-verse with Chuck Missler. This is a 2 volume set with eight audios in each volume including notes. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

The Mystery Of Babylon: An Alternate View – Chuck MisslerChuck Missler reviews the origin, rise, and fall of historical Babylon, as well as the prophecies concerning its future rebuilding and destruction. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

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Cosmic Codes – A Series: The Bible Codes

From Koinonia House

Technical > Bible Codes > The Bible Codes

Cosmic Codes – A Series: The Bible Codes by Chuck Missler

There has been a flurry of interest in “Bible Codes.” Many sensationalistic books have been published making extravagant claims;¹ there have also been skeptical detractors with their erudite guffaws.²

Some truly provocative books have been published highlighting some amazing discoveries that would seem to validate the supernatural origin of the Biblical text,³ but very few have written from the standpoint of a cryptographic background.⁴

Are the so-called “Bible Codes” real? Or are they artifacts of random behavior within the normal characteristics of natural language? Are there really “hidden codes” behind the surface of the Biblical text?

The Science of Cryptology

People never cease to be fascinated by “secret writing,” or secret codes. Ever since the earliest times, military, political, and personal messages have been communicated by various means to restrict their contents to those to whom the message is intended and to deny them to others.

From the ancient palaces of our earliest civilizations to the “black chambers” of our most modern command posts, the art of secret writing – and the science of their decipherment – has tumbled proud thrones and turned the tide of major wars.⁵

Cryptology – the study of secret codes and ciphers – has, of course, been stimulated by its use in literature. Edgar Allen Poe’s The Gold Bug probably remains unequaled as a work of fiction, his tale turning upon a secret coded message.⁶

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes encounters ciphers three times in his uniquely distinguished career, demonstrating his thorough knowledge of the subject in The Adventure of the Dancing Men, where he recognizes little stick figures as cipher symbols.⁷ Jules Verne heightened the excitement of three of his novels with the mysteries of secret writing.⁸

The amazing ability to break a seemingly unintelligible cipher has always appeared mystical to the uninitiated. It undoubtedly was a major source of power to the priesthoods of the ancient empires.

It was not surprising that the famed American coup over the Japanese naval codes in World War II was called “MAGIC.”⁹

The art of encryption has its roots in manipulations of the Biblical text-including the Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism. It was these techniques which led to cipher wheels and mechanical aids, which ultimately led to the computer.

It seems fitting that it is now the computer which appears to be opening up secrets hidden within the Biblical text since its inception.

Encryptions in the Bible

It comes as a surprise to many Bible scholars that there are a number of classic encryptions within the Biblical text. Hebrew tradition lists three different transformations in the Old Testament.

One of these, known as albam, employs a substitution system in which the Hebrew alphabet is split into two halves and equates the two halves. Thus, the first letter of the first half, aleph, substitutes for the first letter of the second half, lamed, and vice versa. The second letter of the first half, beth, substitutes for the second letter of the second half, mem, and vice versa, and so on. The term albam derives from the first four letters of this arrangement; aleph-lamed & beth-mem.

a b g d h w z ch t y k

l m n s ‘ p ts q r sh t

Figure 1. Albam

In Isaiah Chapter 7, we encounter the scheming of Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, who were confederating against King Ahaz of Judah.

Regarding verse 6, the Midrash notes that Tabeal, t b’ l is encrypted using the method of albam, resulting in the name, r m l – Remala (for Remaliah).¹⁰

(Remember, Hebrew reads from right to left. All languages seem to flow toward Jerusalem: Languages of the nations west of Jerusalem-English, French, German, Italian, etc.-read from left to right. Languages of the nations east of Jerusalem-Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.-read from right to left.)

The plan of the conspirators in Isaiah 7 was apparently to establish the son of Tabeal as the king should their plot have succeeded.¹¹

Another alternative encryption form found in the Old Testament is atbash, in which the alphabet is folded back over itself, with the second half reversed, as in figure 2.

a b g d h w z ch t y k

t sh r q ts p ‘ s n m l

Figure 2. Atbash

The label atbash derives from the very procedure it denotes, since it is composed of aleph, tau, beth, and shin-the first, last, second, and next-to-last letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

In Jeremiah 25:26 and in Jeremiah 51:41, we encounter the name Sheshach. The context implies that this is somehow related to Babylon, and some commentators assume it was a suburb, or the equivalent.

However, it appears that Sheshach, sh sh k, is simply Babel, b b l, encrypted using the method of atbash.¹²

Confirmation that Sheshach is really a substitute for Babel and not an entirely separate place name also comes from the Septuagint and the Targums.

In Jeremiah 51:1, we also find l b q m i, leb kamai, “heart of my enemy,” is substituted for k sh d i m- Kashdim, “Chaldeans.”

Hebrew literature records a third form of letter substitution, called atbah. Like albam and atbash, its name derives from its system. It is based on the property that each Hebrew letter also has a numerical value. The first nine letters would be substituted so that their numerical value would add up to ten. The next ten letters were paired on a similar system, totaling to the Hebrew digital version of 100. What happens to the remaining letters is not clear. This rather confusing system is not used in the Bible, but there is at least one use in the Babylonian Talmud.¹³

To students of cryptography, the substitution ciphers in the Bible are all simply historical novelties. However, to one who recognizes the supernatural origins of the Biblical text, the presence of encrypted elements in the Holy Scriptures is extremely provocative, indeed.

In our next article we will explore some of the more significant “Bible Codes.” In our forthcoming reviews we will focus primarily on those codes which you do not need a computer to figure out!

* * *

This series of articles is being excerpted from Chuck Missler’s forthcoming book, Cosmic Codes, scheduled for publication in Spring 1998.

1. Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code, Simon and Schuster, NY, 1997.
2. Ronald S. Hendel and Shlomo Sternberg, “The Bible Code-Cracked and Crumbling,” Bible Review, Vol XIII, No. 4, August 1997; includes “The Secret Code Hoax,” by Hendel, and “Snake Oil For Sale,” by Sternberg. Hugh Ross, “Cracking the Codes,” Facts & Faith, Vol 11, No. 3, 3rd Qtr 1997, Reasons to Believe, P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA.
3. Grant Jeffrey, The Handwriting of God, a sequel to his Signature of God, both published by Frontier Research, Toronto, Canada, 1997; also, Yakov Rambsel, His Name is Jesus, also published by the same publisher.
4. A worthy exception is by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D., Cracking the Bible Codes, William Morrow & Company, New York, 1997.
5. Much of this background is well covered in David Kahn’s comprehensive history, The Codebreakers, Macmillan Company, NY, 1967.
6. Poe’s stories, employing an intellectual chain of logic to solve a central problem, resulted in their being regarded as the first detective stories. The Gold Bug remains a classic despite its being full of absurdities and errors: the survival of the parchment despite the decay of the timbers of the boat; the fact that the invisible ink-cobalt nitrate-would also be soluble in water; the intricate geometry between the skull sighted between the rift in the trees after 150 years of arboreal growth, etc. Still, it remains a classic.
7. Holmes, having solved the cryptogram, composes a message out of the cipher symbols he has recovered that leads to the culprit’s arrest. Holmes may have borrowed this scheme from Thomas Phelippes, who had in 1587 forged a cipher postscript to a letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, to learn the names of the intended murderers in the Babington plot against Elizabeth. Holmes’ other encounters occur in The Gloria Scott, where the great detective discovers a secret message hidden within an open-code text as every third word; and in The Valley of Fear where he receives a numerical code message from an accomplice of his arch rival, Professor Moriarty.
8. In Voyage to the Center of the Earth, Verne opens with a three-step cryptogram of runic letters.
9. It is interesting that the very word Magic derives from the Persian Magi, and the first cryptanalyst who was appointed the head of the ancient priesthood. This will be explored in a subsequent article.
10. Midrash Rabbah, Numbers 18:21.
11. Some authorities regard Tabeal as a corruption or some form of contemptuous epithet and dispute this as albam. (Albam works for the first two letters; the third, lamed, retains its identity because it would otherwise be transformed into a silent aleph.)
12. The kaf, k, is one of five letters with a modified form if it is the last letter in a word. The employment of unique “final forms” is a characteristic which yields parsing advantages when used in extraterrestrial communication. This and related characteristics will be addressed in subsequent articles.
13. Seder Mo’ed, Sukkah, 52b. This example plays on the word “witness” and its atbah substitution “master” to make a moral point.

Cosmic Codes – Now In Paperback – Chuck MisslerRead the implications of our finite universe and the shocking discoveries of quantum physics at the very boundaries of reality and learn their significance to our origin and personal destinies! Click for more information – Textbook

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume One – Introduction – Chuck MisslerScientists continue to scan the heavens for a message from out there. Have we already received a message of extraterrestrial origin? Why do some scientists believe that the Bible contains just such messages? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Two – Microcodes – Chuck MisslerWhat would an interstellar language require? What makes Biblical Hebrew uniquely adapted for extraterrestrial communication? What secrets are hidden in the ‘jots & tittles’ Jesus talked about? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Three – Macrocodes – Chuck MisslerHow can a message from outside our space-time authenticate itself? How certain can we really be? Are there messages from the stars? Is our future hidden in an ancient calendar? Is there an aerial view hidden within the Bible text? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Four – Metacodes – Chuck MisslerIn this fourth volume of this series, Chuck Missler explores the history of cryptography – the study of secret codes – and the background of proposed interstellar languages. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

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Deciphering the Bible? The Bible Codes

From Koinonia House

Technical > Bible Codes > The Bible Codes

Deciphering the Bible? The Bible Codes by Chuck Missler

A new book by Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code, has stirred up further controversies about “codes” in the Bible. Very effectively promoted by Simon and Schuster, and including extremely aggressive claims by the author, the book has become a major topic of conversation and a source of more “millennium mania,” as the press likes to characterize the more bizarre topics emerging as the year 2000 approaches. Warner Bros. has reportedly picked up the movie rights.

The discovery of ostensibly “hidden” messages occurring among equally spaced letters (“equidistant letter sequences” or ELS) in the Biblical text has been discussed in a number of our previous publications.¹

Originally observed by Rabbeynu Bachayah in the 14th century, and explored manually by Michael Dov Weissmandl over 50 years ago, the advent of computerized text has recently made these the subject of a number of professional articles in recognized mathematical publications.

A paper was published in 1988 in the scholarly Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, entitled “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis.” In 1994 Israeli mathematicians Eliyahu Rips, Doron Witztum, and Yoav Rosenberg published some landmark articles in the journal Statistical Science that started the current craze.

Drosnin’s book suffers from the embarrassment that, although he presents Eliyahu Rips as the “discoverer” of the codes, Rips has disavowed him and has distanced himself from the book.

Where Drosnin seems to derail himself is in his attempt to present-chillingly-fanciful claims to predicting the future. His colorful exploitation of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin is a variation on a (now) well-known theme.²

For those of you desiring to look into this more substantively, we recommend Grant Jeffrey’s book, The Signature of God, or his double-video by the same name. Grant does a good job putting these remarkable discoveries in better balance-testifying to the evidence of design in the Word of God, but not trying to exploit them in foretelling the future, etc.

Other Examples

There are a number of other incredible discoveries of hidden designs in the Biblical text. Our exploration of the genealogy of Noah in Genesis 5 should be well-known to our readers.³ The remarkable acrostics on the names of God in the Book of Esther are also well known in the Talmudic literature.⁴

Also remarkable are the discoveries of Ivan Panin who, without the aid of a computer, spent 50 years and 43,000 handwritten pages of calculations, to give us his incredible discoveries.⁵ Perhaps less well known, except to serious students of cryptography, are the encryptions hidden in the texts of both Isaiah and Jeremiah.⁶

All of these discoveries should bring us to a reverent awe as we continue to explore the Word of God. But we must be careful not to fall into the trap of attempting to exploit the Biblical text as some kind of mystical “Ouija board” in an attempt to predict the future. This misses the point and violates the injunctions of God.⁷

While we do, indeed, stand in amazement as we discover God’s handiwork in the design of the text, and we marvel as we discover that when a thing comes to pass, He had declared the “end from the beginning,” we need to focus our attention on the straightforward disclosures aided by the Holy Spirit.

Mark Twain said it well: “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me. It’s the parts that I do understand that disturb me.”

Even Time magazine closed its review suggesting that “believers seeking divine enlightenment may not want to substitute code for prayer just yet.”⁸

Indeed! Praise His Holy Name!

* * *

1. Personal UPDATE, May 1993, p.5-8; Feasts of Israel, p.9-11; Expositional Commentary of Matthew, vol 1, p.64. See our briefing package, The Bible: An Extraterrestrial Message, for further discussion.
2. Personal UPDATE, January 1996, p.4-5; Sovereignty of Man, p.3-6.
3. Personal UPDATE, February 1996, p.19-23; Footprints of the Messiah, p.3; Flood of Noah, p.2; The Christmas Story, p.13-14; Countdown to Eternity, p.103-106.
4. Personal UPDATE, March 1996, p.5-9; Beyond Coincidence, p.15-21.
5. Personal UPDATE, February 1995, p.12-15; Also, our Expositional Commentary on Matthew, vol 3., p.47-54.
6. Discussed in our Expositional Commentary on Isaiah, vol 1, p.15-16; from David Kahn, The Code Breakers: the Story of Secret Writing, Macmillan, New York, 1967.
7. Deut. 18:10; Jer 14:14; Ezek 13:6, 7; Ezek 21:21-23.
8. Time, June 9, 1997, p.56.

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume One – Introduction – Chuck MisslerScientists continue to scan the heavens for a message from out there. Have we already received a message of extraterrestrial origin? Why do some scientists believe that the Bible contains just such messages? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Two – Microcodes – Chuck MisslerWhat would an interstellar language require? What makes Biblical Hebrew uniquely adapted for extraterrestrial communication? What secrets are hidden in the ‘jots & tittles’ Jesus talked about? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Three – Macrocodes – Chuck MisslerHow can a message from outside our space-time authenticate itself? How certain can we really be? Are there messages from the stars? Is our future hidden in an ancient calendar? Is there an aerial view hidden within the Bible text? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Cosmic Codes Audio – Volume Four – Metacodes – Chuck MisslerIn this fourth volume of this series, Chuck Missler explores the history of cryptography – the study of secret codes – and the background of proposed interstellar languages. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Beyond Coincidence – Chuck MisslerIs our universe some kind of cosmic accident or is it the result of careful and skillful design? Click for more information – Audio Cassette

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A Hidden Message: The Gospel in Genesis

From Koinonia House

Technical > Bible Codes > The Gospel In Genesis

A Hidden Message: The Gospel in Genesis by Chuck Missler

We frequently use the familiar term, gospel, or good news. Where is the first place it appears in the Bible? The answer may surprise you.

An Integrated Message

The great discovery is that the Bible is a message system: it’s not simply 66 books penned by 40 authors over thousands of years, the Bible is an integrated whole which bears evidence of supernatural engineering in every detail.

The Jewish rabbis have a quaint way of expressing this very idea: they say that they will not understand the Scriptures until the Messiah comes. But when He comes, He will not only interpret each of the passages for us, He will interpret the very words; He will even interpret the very letters themselves; in fact, He will even interpret the spaces between the letters!

When I first heard this, I simply dismissed this as a colorful exaggeration. Until I reread Matthew 5:17 and 18:

“Think not that I have come to destroy the Torah and the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

(A jot and tittle are the Hebrew equivalent of our dotting an i and the crossing of a t.)

An Example

A remarkable example of this can be glimpsed in Genesis Chapter 5, where we have the genealogy of Adam through Noah. This is one of those chapters which we often tend to skim over quickly as we pass through Genesis it’s simply a genealogy from Adam to Noah.

But God always rewards the diligent student. Let’s examine this chapter more closely.

In our Bible, we read the Hebrew names. What do these names mean in English?

A Study of Original Roots

The meaning of proper names can be a difficult pursuit since a direct translation is often not readily available. Even a conventional Hebrew lexicon can prove disappointing. A study of the original roots, however, can yield some fascinating insights.

(A caveat: many study aids, such as a conventional lexicon, can prove rather superficial when dealing with proper nouns. Furthermore, views concerning the meanings of original roots are not free of controversy and variant readings.)

Let’s take an example.

The Flood Judgment

Methuselah comes from muth, a root that means “death”;¹ and from shalach, which means to bring, or to send forth. The name Methuselah means, “his death shall bring”.²

Methuselah’s father was given a prophecy of the coming Great Flood, and was apparently told that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld; but as soon as he died, the flood would be brought or sent forth.

(Can you imagine raising a kid like that? Every time the boy caught a cold, the entire neighborhood must have panicked!)

And, indeed, the year that Methuselah died, the flood came.³

It is interesting that Methuselah’s life, in effect, was a symbol of God’s mercy in forestalling the coming judgment of the flood.

Therefore, it is fitting that his lifetime is the oldest in the Bible, speaking of the extensiveness of God’s mercy.

The Other Names

If there is such significance in Methuselah’s name, let’s examine the other names to see what may lie behind them.

Adam’s name means man. As the first man, that seems straight forward enough.

Seth

Adam’s son was named Seth, which means appointed. Eve said, “For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.“⁴

Enosh

Seth’s son was called Enosh, which means mortal, frail, or miserable. It is from the root anash, to be incurable, used of a wound, grief, woe, sickness, or wickedness.

It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the Living God.⁵

Kenan

Enosh’s son was named Kenan, which can mean sorrow, dirge, or elegy. (The precise denotation is somewhat elusive; some study aids unfortunately presume that Kenan is synonymous with Cainan.)

Balaam, looking down from the heights of Moab, uses a pun upon the name of the Kenites when he prophesies their destruction.⁶

We have no real idea as to why these names were chosen for their children. Often they may have referred to circumstances at birth, and so on.

Mahalalel

Kenan’s son was Mahalalel, from Mahalal which means blessed or praise; and El, the name for God. Thus, Mahalalel means the Blessed God. Often Hebrew names include El, the name of God, as Dan-i-el, “God is my Judge”, etc.

Jared

Mahalalel’s son was named Jared, from the verb yaradh, meaning shall come down.⁷

Enoch

Jared’s son was named Enoch, which means teaching, or commencement. He was the first of four generations of preachers. In fact, the earliest recorded prophecy was by Enoch, which amazingly enough deals with the Second Coming of Christ (although it is quoted in the Book of Jude in the New Testament):

Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against.”
Jude 14, 15

Methuselah

Enoch was the father of Methuselah, who we have already mentioned. Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah.⁸ Apparently, Enoch received the prophecy of the Great Flood, and was told that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld. The year that Methuselah died, the flood came.

Enoch, of course, never died: he was translated ⁹ (or, if you’ll excuse the expression, raptured ). That’s how Methuselah can be the oldest man in the Bible, yet he died before his father!

Lamech

Methuselah’s son was named Lamech, a root still evident today in our own English word, lament or lamentation. Lamech suggests despairing.

(This name is also linked to the Lamech in Cain’s line who inadvertently killed his son Tubal-Cain in a hunting incident.¹⁰)

Noah

Lamech, of course, is the father of Noah, which is derived from nacham, to bring relief or comfort, as Lamech himself explains in Genesis 5:29.

The Composite List

Now let’s put it all together:

That’s rather remarkable:

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

Here’s the Gospel hidden within a genealogy in Genesis!

(You will never convince me that a group of Jewish rabbis conspired to hide the Christian Gospel right here in a genealogy within their venerated Torah!)

Evidence of Design

The implications of this discovery are more wide spread than is evident at first glance.

It demonstrates that in the earliest chapters of the Book of Genesis, God had already laid out His plan of redemption for the predicament of mankind. It is a love story, written in blood on a wooden cross which was erected in Judea almost 2,000 years ago.

The Bible is an integrated message system, the product of supernatural engineering. Every number, every place name, every detail every jot and tittle is there for our learning, our discovery, and our amazement. Truly, our God is an awesome God.

It is astonishing to discover how many Biblical controversies seem to evaporate if one simply recognized the unity the integrity of these 66 books, penned by 40 authors over thousands of years.

It is remarkable how many subtle discoveries lie behind the little details of the text. Some of these become immediately obvious with a little study; some are more technical and require special helps.

Many of these discoveries are described in our Audio Book, Beyond Coincidence. Several are also highlighted in our Audio Book, The Creator Beyond Time and Space.

Look behind every detail: there’s a discovery to be made! God always rewards the diligent student. What other messages lay hidden behind the names in the Bible? Check it out.

Cosmic Codes – Now In Paperback – Chuck MisslerRead the implications of our finite universe and the shocking discoveries of quantum physics at the very boundaries of reality and learn their significance to our origin and personal destinies! Click for more information – Textbook

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Evidence of Design: Beloved Numerologist

From Koinonia House

Technical > Bible Codes > Beloved Numerologist

The numerical structure of the Bible has been studied closely, being the subject of numerous volumes in the past.¹ But none are more provocative than the works of Dr. Ivan Panin.²

Ivan Panin was born in Russia on December 12, 1855. Having participated in plots against the Czar at an early age, he was exiled and, after spending some years studying in Germany, he came to the United States and entered Harvard University. After graduation in 1882, he converted from agnosticism to Christianity.

In 1890 he discovered some of the phenomenal mathematical designs underlying both the Greek text of the New Testament and the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

He was to devote over 50 years of his life painstakingly exploring the numerical structure of the Scriptures, generating over 43,000 detailed, hand-penned pages of analysis (and exhausting his health in the process). He went on to be with the Lord in his 87th year, on October 30, 1942.

The Heptadic Structure

The recurrence of the number seven – or an exact multiple of seven – is found throughout the Bible and is widely recognized. The Sabbath on the seventh day; the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in Egypt; the seven priests and seven trumpets marching around Jericho; the Sabbath Year of the land are well-known examples.

Also, Solomon’s building the Temple for seven years, Naaman’s washing in the river seven times, and the seven churches, seven lamp stands, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven stars, and so on in the Book of Revelation, all show the consistent use of the number seven.

But there turns out to be much more below the surface. Ivan Panin noted the amazing numerical properties of the Biblical texts – both the Greek of the New Testament and the Hebrew of the Old Testament. These are not only intriguing to discover, they also demonstrate an intricacy of design which testifies to a supernatural origin!

Vocabulary

One of the simplest – and most provocative – aspects of the Biblical text is the vocabulary used. The number of vocabulary words in a passage is normally different from the total number of words in a passage. Some words are repeated. It is easy, for example, to use a vocabulary of 500 words to write an essay of 4,000 words.

An Example

The first 17 verses of the Gospel of Matthew are a logical unit, or section, which deals with a single principal subject: the genealogy of Christ. It contains 72 Greek vocabulary words in these initial 17 verses. (The verse divisions are man’s allocations for convenience, added in the 13th century.)

The number of words which are nouns is exactly 56, or 7 x 8.

The Greek word “the” occurs most frequently in the passage: exactly 56 times, or 7 x 8. Also, the number of different forms in which the article “the” occurs is exactly 7.

There are two main sections in the passage: verse 1-11, and 12-17. In the first main section, the number of Greek vocabulary words used is 49, or 7 x 7.

Why not 48, or 50?

Of these 49 words, the number of those beginning with a vowel is 28, or 7 x 4. The number of words beginning with a consonant is 21, or 7 x 3.

The total numbers of letters in these 49 words is 266, or 7 x 38 – exactly! The number of vowels among these 266 letters is 140, or 7 x 20. The number of consonants is 126, or 7 x 18 – exactly.

Of the 49 words, the number of words which occur more than once is 35, or 7 x 5. The number of words occurring only once is 14, or 7 x 2. The number of words which occur in only one form is exactly 42, or 7 x 6. The number of words appearing in more than one form is also 7.

The number of the 49 Greek vocabulary words which are nouns is 42, or 7 x 6. The number of words which are not nouns is 7. Of the nouns, 35 are proper names, or exactly 7 x 5. These 35 names are used 63 times, or 7 x 9. The number of male names is exactly 28, or 7 x 4. These male names occur 56 times or 7 x 8. The number which are not male names is 7.

Three women are mentioned – Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. The number of Greek letters in these three names is 14, 7 x 2.

The number of compound nouns is 7. The number of Greek letters in these 7 nouns is 49, or 7 x 7.

Only one city is named in this passage, Babylon, which in Greek contains exactly 7 letters.

And on it goes. To get an indication of just how unique these properties are, try the example in the inset.

Gemetria

There are even more features in the numerical structure of the words themselves. As you may know, both Hebrew and Greek uses the letters of the alphabet for numerical values. Therefore, any specific word – in either Hebrew or Greek – has a numerical value of its own by adding up the values of the letters in that particular word. The study of the numerical values of words is called gemetria.

The 72 vocabulary words add up to a gametrical value of 42,364, or 7 x 6,052. Exactly. If one Greek letter was changed, this would not happen.

The 72 words appear in 90 forms – some appear in more than one form. The numeric value of the 90 forms is 54,075, or 7 x 7,725. Exactly.

We will defer other examples of gametrical properties of the Biblical text for subsequent articles, but it becomes immediately obvious that hidden below the surface are aspects of design that cannot be accidental or just coincidence. Remember, the rabbis say that “coincidence” is not a kosher word!

Other Implications

There are words in the passage just described that occur nowhere else in the New Testament. They occur 42 times (7 x 6) and have 126 letters (7 x 18). How was this organized?

Even if Matthew contrived this characteristic into his Gospel, how could he have known that these specific words – whose sole characteristic is that they are found nowhere else in the New Testament – were not going to be used by the other writers? Unless we assume the absurd hypothesis that he had an agreement with them, he must have had the rest of the New Testament before him when he wrote his book. The Gospel of Matthew, then, must have been written last.

It so happens, however, that the Gospel of Mark exhibits the same phenomenon. It can be demonstrated that it would have had to be written “last.” The same phenomenon is found in Luke. And in John, James, Peter, Jude and Paul. Each would have had to write after the other in order to contrive the vocabulary frequencies! You can demonstrate that each of the New Testament books had to have been “written last.”

There is no human explanation for this incredible and precise structure. It has all been supernaturally designed. We simply gasp, sit back, and behold the skillful handiwork of the God who keeps His promises.

And we are indebted to the painstaking examinations and lifetime commitment of Dr. Ivan Panin for uncovering these amazing insights.

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Your Own Secret Code: A Secret of Your Own

From Koinonia House

The incredible resources that are now available on the Internet are dramatically changing our society, and some of the biggest impacts are still ahead.  The Internet can be of  spectacular value to the Christian who is interested in serious Bible study.¹

However, anyone who has seen the movie Enemy of the State has been sensitized to the implications of current surveillance technology, which can be exploited against an individual citizen.

And with the increasing persecution of Christians throughout the world, and with Biblical Christianity becoming increasingly “politically incorrect” in the United States and potentially viewed as “enemies of the pagan state,” many Christians are getting increasingly apprehensive and are pondering techniques to assist churches which may be driven “underground.”  Fortunately, there are some pleasant surprises emerging that may prove of substantial value to all of us who value privacy.

Secret Codes

The interception and breaking of secret codes have tumbled proud thrones and determined the outcome of major wars since the dawn of history, and even today they continue to have more of an impact than any of us can possibly imagine.

Hardly a day goes by when we don’t read about some computer code being compromised or secrets being stolen.  Yet, one of the great ironies of our present age is that one of the most advanced cryptographic techniques is now available in any office supply store.  And even more provocative, this readily available technology seems to be tipping the balance in favor of “the Sovereign Individual.”² It is relatively easy to enjoy virtually impregnable security in anyone’s computer system.   The availability of really secure communication capability may prove to be of substantial value to the “underground church.”  But let’s start at the beginning.

Basic Cryptography

Cryptography is the science of writing messages that no one except the intended receiver can read.  Cryptanalysis is the science of reading them anyway.  Most cryptographic methods employ complex transposition and transformation procedures under the control of a key, the protection of which is essential to the security of the entire process.  A contemporary example is the National Bureau of Standards’ Data Encryption Standard (DES), which involves a 64-bit key that controls 17 stages of polyalphabetic substitution, each alternated with 16 stages of transpositions.  Cryptanalysis involves an exhaustive search of all 264 keys.³ (In the opinion of many experts, the DES is not adequately protective as the key is too short.) The only truly unbreakable cipher requires a key which is:

1)  as long as the message;
2)  totally random; and
3)  never reused.

Such a system is called a one-time pad, because of the typical way it was implemented.  While theoretically ideal, it proves unmanageably cumbersome in actual practice.  Fortunately, a remarkably practical alternative has emerged in recent years.

One-Way Keys

In 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin E. Hellman of Stanford University forever changed the cryptographic landscape with their open publication of one-way keys.  In conventional cryptosystems, a single key is used for both encryption and decryption. Such systems are called symmetric.  The weakness of these systems is their requirement of protecting any exchange of such keys over a secure channel, which is inconvenient at best.  (If a secure channel were available, why use encryption in the first place?)

The introduction by Diffie and Hellman to asymmetric keys made possible the concept of “public key cryptography,” which allows the participants to communicate without requiring a secret means of delivering the keys.   It is possible to have a system in which one key is used for encryption and a different key is required for decipherment.  One can publish the encryption key widely for those who would send a message.  The encryption key is useless for decipherment.  When the message is received by the intended recipient, his private complementary key is used for deciphering the message.  This private key is available to no one else.

Asymmetric cryptosystems are based on mathematical techniques that are easy to compute in one direction, but excessively onerous and slow to solve in the reverse.  The main public key algorithms are the Diffie-Helman⁴ and RSA (developed at MIT by Ronald L. Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard M. Adleman).  A fairly advanced form of encryption technology is known as “PGP,” for “Pretty Good Protection,” and is readily available in most office supply stores or over the Internet.⁵ Many are beginning to use these techniques among business partners, clubs, and among various associates simply to gain experience in the practical implications of these techniques in anticipation of more serious requirements.

Symmetric systems are still the most efficient, and public key techniques, while involving more substantial computational loads, make the conveyance of the necessary keys secure.  The ability to share extensive, dynamically changing keys, accompanied by the necessary sophisticated software at both ends, makes practical protection readily available to anyone.

Invisible Transactions

The Internet has already enabled the geographic separation of markets and suppliers.  Asymmetric encryption systems can also be adapted for authentication, verification, and electronic “signatures” for approving documents, contracts, and the like over email.  These techniques thus can also lead to the emergence of “cybercurrency,” with the opportunity to conduct invisible commerce on a worldwide basis.

The advent of open, secure, asymmetric encryption is also leading to invisible (and thus non-taxable) transactions, eroding the restrictions of commercial borders and the surveillance and control of governments.  There are those that look toward a day when governments will have to compete for – rather than exploit – “sovereign individuals” as citizens.    The open availability of this technology leaves those who abhor privacy – especially governments and so-called liberals – very uncomfortable.

Other Techniques

Most encryption techniques envision communication over a passive channel between the sender and receiver.  However, the Internet is a dynamic, multi-node global network embedded with virtually unlimited data bases.  The exploitation of a dynamic data base – masquerading as a parts list or some similarly cryptic list – can be used as the equivalent of the proverbial one-time pad, and thus provide virtually “bulletproof” security to an “inner circle” or private group seeking privacy from prying eyes.

We anticipate that the increasing persecution of believers may render some of these techniques valuable to the leadership of fellowships in the years ahead.  Now is the time to acquaint oneself with their use, characteristics, and limitations if you anticipate darker days ahead.

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Portions of this article have been excerpted from our book, Cosmic Codes: Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, an investigation into the many different types of hidden messages in the Bible, in our DNA, and in the “digital” universe of particle physics.

1. See www.khouse.org for one of the most comprehensive sites on the Internet, featuring The Blue Letter Bible, an incredible resource, all word searchable and free of charge.  Koinonia House aspires to provide all of our materials-text, audio, and video-on the Internet.
2. James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg, The Sovereign Individual, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997.
3. It was the author’s pursuit and personal support in developing this standard into a microchip that was singularly responsible for bringing Western Digital Corporation out of bankruptcy, and from which it has since grown into a Fortune 500 company.
4. The Digital Signature Standard from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ElGamal, and elliptic curve approaches are simply variants of Diffie-Helman.

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