Forgotten Ages Research

Are There Hidden Cycles in History?—The Book of Revelations as a “Perpetual” Prophecy

Report Topics:

• The three schools of interpretration for John’s book of prophecy
• Looking at a fourth interpretation that incorporates the other three
• Armaggedon as a “perpetual” battle going on among the nations of the world
• A detailed look at the interpretations of 666 among all forms of interpretation—and also as a “perpetual” prophecy of spiritual conflict
• ”Babylon” and “New Jerusalem” are the exact same gematric vibration
• Recent interpretations of Revelations associated with Napoleon, Adolf Hitler—and another world conqueror yet to rise in 2043
• Report Update—The “Perpetual” Nature of Prophetic Time Cycles
• Report Update—Nostradamus on the Secret Message Still Hidden in the Book of Revelations

Full Report:

Bible students have determined that there are three major schools of interpretation for the prophetic symbols in the apostle John’s Book of Revelations. These are generally termed the preterist, the historicist and the futurist schools.

The preterist school sees Revelations as already having been fulfilled in the second to the fourth centuries, in John’s day and in the era of early Christianity. The Seven Chruches were literally the seven centers of Christianity in Asia Minor, the Beast was the Roman Empire, the Antichrist was personified in such persecuting Emperors as Nero and Diocletian, and the Seven Trumpets, Seven Seals and Seven Vials symbolized the prophesied collapse and fall of the Empire before the onslaught of the barbarian invasions. This is the favored interpretation of the Catholic Church, which sees itself as having been the resulting beneficiary and ultimate outcome of these prophecies.

The historicist view on the other hand interprets the various Sevens in Revelations as sequential historical periods. Thus the Seven Churchs are seven eras in the evolution and development of Christianity, stretching from the foundation of the early Church through to the present day. Likewise the Seven Trumpets, Seven Seals and Seven Vials each symbolically describe the various challenges endured by Christianity over the centuries, including the rise of Islam, the Turks, the World Wars and Communism. This was the pivotal school of interpretation for many early Protestant commentators, who pointed to the Catholic Church and the Pope being the Beast and the Antichrist as the persecutors of all those who broke away during the Reformation.

The futurist school, which today has its advocates among fundamentalist Christian evangelists, sees most of Revelations as yet to be fulfilled. The Seven Churches represent the different spiritual states of present Christianity living in the “end-times,” the Beast and Antichrist symbolize powers and personalities that are just now or will very soon take their places on the world stage, and the Seven Trumpets, Seals and Vials are major human and natural disasters now happening or about to take place.

When one closely examines all the various points supporting each school of interpretation, we find that the numerous arguments in their favor are all very convincing. It is not hard to conclude that, in truth, all three schools are correct. In reality, Revelations, with its highly symbolic language, was meant to be fulfilled more than once. It spoke directly to the early Christians in John’s era, it comforted the faithful at any one moment in time during the past two thousand years, and it still offers hope to all those looking forward to a spiritual resolution to today’s mounting global problems and despair.

What this gives birth to is a fourth school, what might be called a perpetualist interpretation, which views Revelation’s prophetic themes as being continually manifesting, happening again and again.

As one example, let us look at the prophecy concerning the battle of Armageddon. Most Bible commentators agree that the word “Armageddon” derives from har Megiddo, referring to the region surrounding the “hill of Megiddo,” an actual place located in modern Israel between the Mediterranean coast and the Sea of Galilee. The prophetic scenario is that here is to occur the “final conflict” of the world, when military forces of the “kings of the north and south” will come against “the kings of the East,” in a “gathering of the nations” in the “great day of the Lord.”

What is remarkable is that when we examine the history of this region, we can observe the fact that the “battle” of Armageddon has been going on repeatedly for over four thousand years. So far there has been a total of 35 different confrontations fought here, making this region one of the most battled over pieces of real estate in the world. The following listing includes the dates, opponents and specific location where the forces met in the immediate Megiddo neighborhood:

2350 B.C.E.—Pepi I of Egypt against rebels at Gazell’s Head — Jezreel Valley
1479 B.C.E.—Thutmosis III against the Canaanites—Megiddo
1430 B.C.E.—Amenhotep II against local settlements—Jezreel Valley
1360 B.C.E.—Biridiya against Labayu—Megiddo
1125 B.C.E.—Deborah and Barak against Sisera—Tannach, Mount Tabor
1090 B.C.E.—Gideon against Midianites, Amalekites—Hill of Moreh, Endor 1016 B.C.E.—Saul and Jonathan against Philistines—Mount Gilboa
925 B.C.E.—Shishak I of Egypt against Megiddo—Megiddo
841 B.C.E.—Jehu against Joram, Ahaziah—Jezreel
609 B.C.E.—Necho II against Josiah—Megiddo
218 B.C.E.—Seleucid Antiochus III against Ptolemy IV—Mount Tabor
55 B.C.E.—Gabinius against Alexander—Mount Tabor
A.D. 67—Vespasian against Jewish Rebels—Mount Tabor
A.D. 940—Ikhshidids against Abbasids—Lejjun
A.D. 946—Ikhshidids against Hamdanids—Leijjun, Aksal
A.D. 975—Byzantines against Fatimids—Mount Tabor
1113—Maudud against the Crusaders—Mount Tabor
1182—Saladin against Daburyans—Daburiya
1182—Saladin against the Crusaders—Forbelet
1183—Saladin against the Crusaders—Ayn Jalut
1187—Saladin against the Crusaders—Mount Tabor, Daburiya, Zarin, al-Fula
1217—Crusaders against Muslims—Mount Tabor
1247—Ayyubids against the Crusaders—Mount Tabor
1260—Mamelukes against the Mongols—Ayn Jalut
1263—Mamelukes against the Hospitallers—Mount Tabor 1264—Hospitallers, Templars against the Mamelukes—Leijjun
1735—Zahir al-Umar against Nablus-Saqr—al-Rawdah
1771—Zahir al-Umar against Leijjun—Leijjun
1799—Napoleon against the Ottomans—Mount Tabor
1918—British Allenby against the Ottomans—Megiddo
1948—Israelis against the Arabs—Mishmar Haemek
1948—Israelis against the Arabs—Zarin, Megiddo, Leijjun
1967—Israelis against the Arabs—Ramat David
1973—Israelis against the Syrians—Ramat David

When taken altogether, these conflicts have already fulfilled the specifics of the prophesied “battle of Armageddon.” There has been indeed a “gathering of the nations,” including forces from Africa, Europe, central Asia, the Middle East and Far East. Rather than a single confrontation, it has been a “perpetual” war. And with the present tensions between Israel and her Arab neighbors, which also involves potential intervention from the United States and the United Nations, the possibilities of yet more conflicts in and around Megiddo are very possible. The spiritual lesson here is, there will never be a “final battle” until collective humanity gives up the very idea of warfare itself.

Another good example of “perpetual” symbolism is seen in the identifications of Revelations’ Beast and the Antichrist. Integrally associated with both these symbols is what is known as the “mark of the Beast” and the “number of the Beast,” alluded to in Chapter 13, verses 16–18:

“And he compelled all, both small and great, rich and poor, freeman and slaves, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that no man might buy or sell unless he who had the mark of the name of the Beast or the code number of his name. Here is wisdom: let him who has understanding decipher the code number of the Beast, for it is the code number of the name of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

In Greek gematria, in which alphabetical letters are used as numbers, the Power of Triplicity of 6, or 600 + 60 + 6, is derived from three Hellenic letters. In the Magical Square of the Sun, the sum total of its numbers equals 666, as does its components, the sum of the numbers 1 through 36 or 36 factored. Also, the sum of each column in the Magical Square added across, down and diagonally is 111, and when added together also produces 666.

In sacred geometry, the quality of the Sun, or the Masculine Formative Principle, was symbolized by the number 666, and was always harmonically combined with the quality of Earth, the Feminine Creative Principle, epitomized in the number 1080, to produce the quality of Fusion, Marriage and New Creation, culminated in the number 1746.

These are all numbers that can be found hidden within the sacred measurements and dimensions of such ancient sites as Stonehenge, the Temple of Solomon, and the Great Pyramid.

However, when 666 stands alone as it does for the Beast in the Revelations, it represents a predominance of Masculine energy without its Feminine creative counter-balance. It becomes the blinding rather than the nurturing Sun, totally nuclear and lethal, expressing the complete centralization of power into a single universal authority, which when taken to its extreme declares itself to be an intercessor for God, and finally usurps the position of God, as the symbol of fanatical allegiance.

In Greek gematria, the phrase Theos eimi epi Gaies, “I am God on Earth,” adds up to the total value of 666. In the esoteric Hebrew work, the Zohar, it is recorded: “’Male and female He created them.’ From this we learn: Any image that does not embrace male and female is not a high and true image.”

To deny the Feminine is to deny the Spirit and Wisdom of the Divine, both of which were given feminine qualities among the Hebrews and early Christians. To the Hebrews, the Shekinah—the visible Presence above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies—was considered as the Female aspect of Yahweh, together forming the creative collective Elohim of Genesis.

To the Gnostics it was Sophia, and to the early Greek Christians it was Ennoia. Only when Christianity became Latinized and institutionalized did the Holy Spirit become translated into Spiritus Sanctus—a masculine gender. Mother Mary solely managed to survive the patriarchal takeover, to remain as Theotokos, the Mother facet of God.

In terms of more specific applications of 666, each of the three schools of interpretation have found their own facets. Supporting the preterist view, that the Beast represented the Roman Empire, we find the number contained in the words QSR NRVN, a Hebrew transliteration for Caesar Nero. Also, in the Latin title DIOCLES AVGVSTVS for Emperor Diocletian, all the Roman numerals contained within it add up to 666.

Those who adhere to the historicist interpretation point to a motto seen in the crown of the Pope, a Latin phrase which reads VICARIVS FILII DEI, “Vicar of the Son of God.” Its inherent Roman numerals are 666. Other early Protestant proponents noted that the Greek LATEINOS or “Latins,” referring to the Roman Church, is likewise a total of 666.

It is the futurist school that has been the most inventive, utilizing many clever number systems to find 666 in the appellations of such recent historical figures as Adolf Hitler, Stalin, Henry Kissinger and even Bill Gates.

More traditionalist commentators look to far simpler yet unrevealing applications, such as the Greek phrase TO MEGA ThERION, or “Great Beast,” TRIVN, the Hebrew transliteration of the Greek word for “Beast,” and the Hebrew SVRT, Spirit of the Sun.

What about a “perpetualist” interpretation? A surprising encoding of the number 666 can be found in the Hebrew phrase ShM YHShVH or Shem Jeshua, which means “The Name Jesus.” This refers not to Jesus himself, but rather to the misuse of his name and his image. It was meant to stand in contrast to the real Jesus, which in Greek is IESOUS, whose numerical equivalent adds up to 888.

These concepts are linked with Revelations Chapter 13, verse 11, where the apostle described the Antichrist as “the Lamb that speaks as a Dragon.” The Lamb is recognized to represent Jesus Christ, and the Dragon is Satan. The usual interpretation by Christian commentators is that whoever the Antichrist will be, he will have the appearance and mannerisms of a Christ-like person, but in truth will speak and perform satanic deeds of evil.

However, this interpretation misses the central point. In the original Greek language of this verse, the wording is far more emphatic, declaring that this person is not merely “like the Lamb,” it is the Lamb (Christ) speaking as the Dragon. In other words, it is CHRIST who is the ANTICHRIST.

This does not refer to the original Jesus of Nazareth, the Teacher of peace and brotherhood who walked the Earth two thousand years ago. Instead, it points to the IMAGE of what “Jesus Christ” has been perverted into by certain self-serving Christian authorities through the ages.

As an interesting confirmation of this interpretation, we can look at Revelations 13:18 again, the verse dealing with the number of the Beast. Some students of mystic Christian gematria point out that the fuller number of the Beast should be derived by 666 being added to the sum of the Greek letter-numbers in the entire phrase that appears: “and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” The fuller number created is 2368—which also happens to be the same exact total found in “Jesus Christ.”

Similarly, the apostle Paul’s titles “Man of Sin” and the “Son of Perdition” used to describe the Antichrist in Second Thessalonians 2:3 add up to 2260 and 2385, the very same sums for the “Son of Man” and the “powers of Christ” respectively.

The message here in all of this is that, throughout the entire history of Christianity—from the time of the last apostles to our own day and age—the misinterpretation of who Jesus was and his use as a misguided symbol of power has been in certain places and times continuous and uninterrupted.

John and the other disciples of Jesus of Nazareth understood all too well what might happen to the beloved image of their Teacher. The best way of perverting Truth is not to confront it directly, but to slowly change its appearance to suit the needs of those who seek personal power and greed, to use it to manipulate and control others—which is exactly the essence of what the Antichrist was predicted to be.

It has been an ongoing “perpetual” battle of the ages between a dogmatic image of Jesus Christ employed as a vehicle of authority to attempt to dictate spirituality, and the original Jesus of Nazareth as a True Teacher whose compassionate life was a worthy example to be lived by everyone.

But as John also foresaw further and described in symbolic prophetic terms, the Second Coming will be nothing less than the return of the Love-Spirit of the original Jesus into the hearts and consciousness of humanity, in order to defeat the false Christ of their own making. In reality, this has been and still is an ongoing process—the perpetual battle between falsehood and truth.

We find the same perpetual dichotomy of symbolism also involved in the two possible outcomes for the future Earth, which Revelations epitomizes as the “cities” of Babylon and New Jerusalem. In the history of the Hebrew peoples, Babylon has always represented mass control through arrogance and fear—from the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis, to the accounts of their conquest and enslavement by the Babylonians in the seventh century B.C.E., and now finally to the prophecy of the coming of MYSTERY BABYLON to the entire world, as given in the Revelations.

Throughout history, something of Babel-Babylon has instilled itself within practically every one of humankind’s attempts to organize themselves. The process of becoming an “institution” tends, by its very nature, to be dehumanizing, consuming and eventually destroying its participants. There is a somewhat demonic quality within the human ego out of control that continually trips itself up, no matter what the good intentions.

But as the Divine can successfully dwell at the center of each individual, so the Divine is prophesied to dwell and rule within the New Jerusalem, the symbol of collective humanity joined in harmony into the perfect institution.

Identifying which institutions are Divine-affirming and which are self-affirming is often difficult to perceive, a problem concerning which the early Christian mystics were very much aware. In fact, the two, old Babel and New Jerusalem, are composed of the exact same framework and exact same people—it is their choices of connection and action that determine what they will become.

Thus, in Greek gematria, the phrase “holy city Jerusalem” adds up to 1285, yet so does the name “Babylon.” Both possess the same essential vibratory frequency, yet both will have very different ultimate destinies.

Concerning the “perpetual” nature of Revelations’ Trumpets and Seals that deal with future global conflict, a remarkable decoding was obtained beginning in 1994 by a European research team headed by Gerard Bodson. Starting with an indepth study of the gematria of 666, they focused on its possible application to Nazi Germany and the events of World War II. The group found that in the Hebrew the words ADOLF–HITLER–AUSTRIA add up to 666.

Using this as a jumping off point, they discovered that when many of the Trumpet and Seal symbols were reduced to their gematric numbers, and when the names of leading personalities and places involved in the rise and fall of Hitler and the major events of the War were also reduced, there appeared a direct correlation between the two. Even lengths of time given in the prophecies had applications to periodic sequences that took place during the conflict.

In practically every case, Revelations had anticipated the main players, locations, happenings and periods fulfilled by Hitler and the World War.

More recently, an American research group using these same gematric principles has found another series of correspondences between Revelations’ symbols and the rise and fall of Napoleon in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This interpretation is based on the appearance of the name “Apollyon” in Revelations Chapter 9 verse 11, which the American group directly equates with Napoleon.

The implication between these two interpretations is that there appears to be hidden cycles within history when a clustering takes place of certain peoples and locations and time periods all of a specific vibrational quality as revealed in their names and gematric numbers. When the conditions are right, a set pattern of events are played out. The apostle John incorporated that vibrational quality into his prophetic symbols in such a way that the repetition of unfolding personalities and events could be fulfilled and recognized from one historical period to another time and again.

We are reminded here of the sixteenth century French seer Nostradamus’ prophecies of what he termed are three “Antichrist” world conquerors to plague the world. Among his cryptic verses, the first conqueror he named “Naypauloron,” the second he called “Hister,” and the “third Antichrist” is yet to appear in our future.

Similarly, Bodson’s research team has realized that there is yet another level of interpretation to Revelations that will have an application that has not been realized. Closely examining world events as they are presently unfolding, they have been able to anticipate at least some of the future gematric correspondences to the prophetic symbols.

At this point in time the chief personality who will be of the same vibrational quality as was Hitler (and Napoleon) has not yet appeared, perhaps has not even been born. But the nation that he will lead in the future global conflict will be China, the “red dragon” of Revelations.

And the projected time-frame the team has calculated when the next pattern of things could be set in motion again will be February 5, 2043.

Report Update—The “Perpetual” Nature of Prophetic Time Cycles

Throughout both Old and New Testament prophecy—particularly in the Books of Daniel and the Revelations—we find repeated enigmatic references to specific time periods, usually given as lengths of “days.” Bible commentators have usually regarded these as pinpointing symbolic durations of years.

One of the more dramatic and longest of these examples is found in Daniel 8:14, where it is predicted, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, and then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

The modern Seventh-Day Adventist Church has developed a very elaborate theology based on this one verse. Adventism grew out of what became known in the early nineteenth century as the Millerite Movement, based on the ideas of William Miller, a New England preacher who became convinced that Daniel’s “2,300 days” was really a prophecy concerning the exact date for the Second Coming of Christ.

He calculated from 457 B.C.E., in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes which—based on the Jewish New Year beginning in the Autumn, worked out to October 22 , 1844. Miller interpreted the “sanctuary” as symbolizing the entire Earth, and that its “cleansing” could only mean its final destruction at the re-appearance of the Lord at his long anticipated Second Advent.

However, when the Apocalypse refused to happen at the appointed hour, a remnant of Miller’s bitterly disappointed followers went back to their Bibles to determine where they had gone wrong.in their calculations. What eventually emerged was the birth of a new belief structure which saw Daniel’s “sanctuary” being an actual heavenly temple that the Hebrew Tabernacle had been modeled after, in which Christ even now serves as its High Priest.

The “cleansing” was seen as something akin to the Jewish Yom Kippur, during which the sins of the world’s peoples are presently being assessed. This has been what Adventists term is the “investigative judgment,” which began in 1844 and will conclude when Christ will return at some undisclosed date in the near future.

The basic problem here is in the attempt to “fix” the prophetic 2,300 years to one specific historical time period, because even its exact duration is in serious question. When we look at all the oldest traditional text sources for the Book of Daniel, we find that in the Messoretic documents, Daniel’s period is recorded as “2,300 days.” But in the Greek Septuigint, a hundred “days” were added making it 2,400 days instead. And in the Latin Vulgate, the period is instead reduced by a hundred, to 2,200 days.

What this means is that, if the same beginning date is adhered to, the ending date could be 1744, 1844, or 1944. Looking at possible historical congruities, the first date marks the birth of the Age of Reason with the writings of Voltaire, Montesque, Locke and Paine. The second date saw the beginnings of Darwinism and Communism. And with the third date came the liberation of the concentration camps in Europe which lead to the birth of the state of Israel four years later.

Then there are the problems with the accepted starting date for the 2,300 years in 457 B.C.E., which is based on an obscure premise to begin with. Other Bible interpreters seen 301 B.C.E. as a better place to count from, with the Battle of Ipsus which marked the rise of the Macedonian Empire and the eventual supremacy of Alexander the Great as the leading power in the known ancient world. This would make the end date more contemporary, as A.D. 2000 (remembering there is no “0” year when counting between B.C.E. and A.D.). But according to the difference in numbers among the oldest texts, this configures to be either 1900, 2000, or 2100. This means there are two dates down so far, and only one left to go.

To make things even more interesting, in Daniel’s writings the prophet designated these days as “evenings and mormings,” which is the same expression used in the Book of Genesis in describing the Seven Days of Creation. In such Jewish pseudographia as the Book of Enoch, the days of Creation were also regarded as symbolic periods of time, only these—based on 2 Peter 3:8, “Every day is with the Lord as a thousand years”—were thought to be equivalent to a millennium each. According to traditional Biblical chronology, a total of six thousand years have now passed since the Creation of the World (four millennia before Christ and two after), with the Sabbath or Seventh Millennium of Peace predicted to dawn in the very near future.

But if we now apply the day-millennium interpretation to Daniel’s time-frame, then we are talking about a far more lengthy historical period of 2,300,000 years, or thereabouts (given the various textual number discrepancies). Modern paleo-anthropologists estimate, based on evidence from the homid fossil record, that this is very close to the length of time in which the modern human physique, as well as sophisticated mental and social capacities, have evolved into their present forms. How much longer this process will continue, no one can say.

Aside from all these speculations, the argument to be made here is that pre-determined dates are not what are important. The focal point is that such prophetic lengths are instead meant to express “perpetual” cycles keyed into the developmental patterns of human consciousness, especially of a spiritual or esoteric nature. Such time numbers do not express fixed historical durations, but rather repeating cycles which have multiple events tied together over long periods, that are more realistically playing out and culminating in the growth of awareness for humanity on higher levels of illumination.

Report Update—Nostradamus on the Secret Message Still Hidden in the Book of Revelations

The great tapestry (or scroll) will be folded and sealed so as to show only,
By portions the greater part of future history (the Revelations, and other Books of Prophecy),
Though many will be chased by rulers out of realms because of their harsh warnings,
They will come to believe in the beautiful deed (the more positive future pathway). Century VI, Quatrain 61.

The Divine Word will bring inspiration, struck from heaven,
For those who have studied and grown and can go no further,
(They will find) the Secret closed up in the Revelations,
Such that by its message they shall enter another dimension beyond. Century II, Quatrain 27

The Divine Word will be given substance,
The wisdom of both Heaven and Earth fused, hidden golden light shines from the mystic works,
Body and soul given all the power of Spirit,
And the ability to direct the energies of the Earth and the heavens. Century III, Quatrain 2.

They shall be found at night in quiet contemplation,
Alone within themselves, sealed in the place of the oracle (the center of the soul),
The flickering flame (the golden light?) of the Spirit shall come to them from within,
By it, that which no one else will believe to be possible they will speak and make manifest. Century I, Quatrain 1.

With pen in hand they shall write with the spirit of prophecy,
It shall baptize them from head to foot,
At first afraid, voice trembling, movement of the arms and hands (automatic writing),
The Divine splendor enters in, while the consciousness rests. Century I, Quatrain 2.

[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]