Read First – Bible Prophecy Methodology

Fundamental Beliefs and Methodology Behind Paradox’s Bible Prophecy Theories

 Accepted on Faith: Jesus Christ is the Truth.

 

Understanding Bible Prophecy, Part 1 – The Beginning of Wisdom
[This video covers the same material as Sections 1-3 below.]

Pictures used in this video:
The Bible is Holy – One Author
Eternal God, Eternity, Holy Bible Timeline
Jesus Beginning and End – Bible Word is Holy

Section 1: The Bible is Truth and Holy

Facts: The Bible speaks of Jesus Christ, that He is the Truth. The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as the Word, the Word become flesh, the scriptures become flesh (Jn 1:14). Jesus indicates the scriptures are true, and accepted them as such.

Accepted General Premises: The Bible is all true, the Bible is therefore non-contradictory, and it is best understood by having it interpret itself.

Accepted Specific Premise: The Bible is a Holy Book, the scriptures are Holy. God is Holy, the Holy Spirit is Holy, Jesus is Holy, the Bible is Holy. “Holy” means “apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness, set-apartness”. In this, the Bible is not like other books. Besides being True, the Bible is also Holy, and is set apart, and different from other books.

 

The Bible is Holy – Aspects of Premise:

God intentionally designed the Bible to read as it does, inspiring the men who wrote it to write precisely what they did write.

2 Tim 3:14-17 “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned [them]; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God (God-breathed), and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

The Bible makes special note that God intentionally designed prophecy to read exactly as it does, down to every word, inspiring men to speak specific words, which were then written down.

2Pe 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Bible is Holy – Conclusion: Despite it being worked through men, in the original scriptures written down, the Holy Bible can generally be accepted to be the same as if Jesus had dictated it through others, every word intentionally chosen, with the entire Bible being intentionally designed to be as it is, down to every word, by the same author/producer/creator: God.

Caveat: Rev 22:18-19 leaves room for, and historical evidence of slight % variance between manuscripts, indicates that copying errors are possible and have in fact occurred. The original was perfect but copies may have slight variance from the original. The cause is left open as to the errors – it could be through accidental error, or intentional error.

Limitations, Counter to Caveat: Matt 5:18, 24:35, Mark 13:31 the words of the Law and of Jesus will “in no way pass away”, “in no way perish”. As such, despite slight % variance in copies, proved a fact by evidence, the original can still be known, deduced/derived, from within, and using the evidence of, the whole of the group of copies, having slight % of variance.

Relevant Postulate: God’s switch from Hebrew to Greek language during the ongoing time of the Gentiles, evidence of quotes in NT that better reflect the LXX than Hebrew, of early Christians seeming use of LXX, preservation of the LXX by Christians post-Jesus, it being a primary and the first translation from the Hebrew, indicate that the LXX should be weighted with equal importance as any now-existing Hebrew copies of the Hebrew original, including in context of deducing/deriving the original from the whole of the group of copies having slight % variance. In other words, the LXX is a second witness of the Masotoric, with which there should be reasonable harmony.

 

The Bible is Holy – Conclusion: The Bible is supernaturally interactive, and was intentionally designed to be interactive, with intentionally designed man, in an intentionally designed universe, in a powerful supernatural way, even meant for our limited use in that way.

Hbr 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Eph 6:11-12,17 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]… And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Bible is Holy – Sub-Conclusion: God has intentional purposes for the Bible that are supernaturally interactive.

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

The Bible is Holy – Sub-Conclusion: God’s intentionally chosen specific words are True, and God wants us to stick to His intentionally chosen specific words.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Prov 30:5-6 Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

 

The Bible is Holy – Subsection of Aspects of the Premise – God as Designer of the Bible

The Bible, a book designed by God, will not be like a book designed by man.

Isa 55:8-9 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Bible teaches that God is All-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent, infinitely intelligent, and eternal, having created time itself, He exists outside of time. God can see all of time at the same time, all of human history at the same time, with everything that is happening in it, everywhere – in a visual analogy – like a timeline, a living breathing real timeline of all human history and everything and everyone in it, laid out before Him, seeing everything happening in it, in all detail, comprehending it all, all at once. Jesus Christ is Himself the “marker” beginning and end, creator also, and son of God, bridging the gap between an eternal God, and us linear creations bound in the created dimension of time. While we are creations having a linear beginning in time, the eternal God who made us to begin in time, will bring us into life in an eternal kingdom, so from then on we will share or participate in eternity with Him, the eternal God who made us, and made time itself.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Exd 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children ofIsrael, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding.

Mic 5:2  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands ofJudah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler inIsrael; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.

Prov 8:22-23 (Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Jesus Christ) The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

Dan 4:3 How great [are] his signs! and how mighty [are] his wonders! his kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion [is] from generation to generation.

John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

Rom 16:25-27 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, [be] glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

1 Tim 6:14-16 That thou keep [this] commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honour and power everlasting. Amen.

2 Pet 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Mark 12:26-27 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I [am] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

Luke 20:38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

John 8:42, 57-58 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me… Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 16:27-28 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

I Cor 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.

 

The Bible teaches that God designed the world to be in such a way that we would learn of Him, and learn Truth about Him, through what is “Self-Evidential”.

Example 1: Creation is Proof We Are Created

Rom 1:19-20 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Example 2: God made us in His image – we have thoughts, and feelings, the ability to reason with logic, to see that there is a difference between a truth and a lie. He made us to be like Him in these respects, and the Bible also teaches God has thoughts, feelings, and reasons. Also, God is an individual, like we each are, and has a unique personality or style, as we each do. Thus we can better understand what God is like, by what self-evidentially exists in our own makeup.

Example 3: God made us in His image – we look like God – God is invisible and Spirit – but Jesus made the world – whether male or female, we look like Jesus Christ – this helps us understand the Truth that Jesus Christ is God, the Son.

 

 

The Bible teaches that God designed the world to be in such a way that we would learn of Him by what is both “Self-Evidential” and also through “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”.

Example 1: God intentionally designed relationships between mankind to help us to better understand relationship with Him. By design, in families, God made us to have a father, to help us understand relationship with Him as our Father, and us as children. (Some people argue Christians invented God as a father-figure because we are familiar with that idea – No, actually in truth this is the other way around – we did not invent God as a father because that is what we understood, rather God intentionally invented fathers to help us understand relating to Him.)

Example 2: By design, God made male and female to help us understand we can be loved by God with the same love as He loves Jesus, but while still being different than Jesus, and meant to follow Him. God also gave us mothers, to help us understand there is a very soft loving nurturing intimate side to Him, somehow coming second, but also co-equal to, the more obedience and justice fear-him side to Him.

Example 3: By design, God made marriage, to help us to understand relationship with Him in Jesus Christ as our Husband.

Example 4: By design, God made siblings to help us relate to Jesus Christ as our older, firstborn, brother.

 

The Bible teaches that God designed the world to be in such a way that we would learn to please Him, learn to follow His ways, obey Him and show obedience to Him, in practice, by what is both “Self-Evidential” and also through “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”. Ultimately, being made in the image of God, the image of Jesus Christ, to each other we are “Symbolic Replacements” for Jesus, and this standard of measure is evidenced in God’s laws. We are not dolls, and by no means are regarded by God as dolls, but in a visual analogy, Jesus Christ is the original imaged Creator, and we are created by Him and made to look like Him, much as a human might make dolls, like Barbie dolls, that look human.

Example 1: We are not to make idols, of people, or anything God has made, as made in the image of Jesus, we are like “symbolic replacements” of our Creator, and if we make idols, images of His creation, then symbolically, we are “symbolically replacing” ourselves into the role of God the Creator – us making idols symbolizes we are putting ourselves into God’s unique role, symbolizes that we are “playing god”, essentially. (It is arguable and likely that many dolls, such as Barbie dolls, are idols.)

Ex 20:4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Example 2: We are not to kill each other, as we all are made in the image of Jesus Christ – and we are like “symbolic replacements” of each other and of Him in this.

Gen 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Exd 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Example 3: We are to love our neighbor as ourself – as if our neighbor was a “symbolic replacement” representing ourself.

Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Lev 9:17-18 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.

Example 4: For Christians, we are to love each other as Jesus loved us. What people do unto His brethren, we do unto Him, as His Body, and as like “symbolic replacements” for Him.

John 15:9-14 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

1 Jn 4:8-22 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Matt 25:34-40 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.

 

The Bible is Holy:

Besides being True, the Bible is also Holy, and is set apart, and different from other books. The Holy Bible can generally be accepted to be the same as if Jesus had dictated it through others, every word intentionally chosen, with the entire Bible being intentionally designed to be as it is, down to every word, by the same author/producer/creator: God.

Therefore: If every word was intentionally chosen by God, it logically follows that also: every phrase, every sentence, every paragraph, every topical section, and the order of all of such, was also intentionally chosen by God to be as it is. Also, all of the books can be considered to have the same designer/producer/author, regardless of their order in time or the writers.

The Bible, a book designed by God, will not be like a book designed by man. The Bible teaches that God is All-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent, infinitely intelligent, and eternal, having created time itself, He exists outside of time. God can see all of time at the same time, all of human history at the same time, with everything that is happening in it, everywhere – in a visual analogy – like a timeline, a living breathing real timeline of all human history and everything and everyone in it, laid out before Him, seeing everything happening in it, in all detail, comprehending it all, all at once.

Therefore: If God is all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent, infinitely intelligent, and eternal seeing all time at once, and made the Bible to be exactly as it is, then it logically follows that: God made it so that the Bible we have today would read as it does, foreknowing the times we live in and what it would be like. God also foreknew His children who would be living in these times, and what they would be like, and how they would think. Being infinitely intelligent, foreknowing everything, God was chose every word (etc) of the Bible to be as it is, from when it was written, choosing with foreknowledge of how it would read today, foreknowing us now.

God intentionally designed the Bible to read as it does, inspiring the men who wrote it to write precisely what they did write. The Bible makes special note that God intentionally designed prophecy to read exactly as it does, down to every word, inspiring men to speak specific words, which were then written down.

Therefore: A God with infinite intelligence, and with no limiting factors, IF He wanted to, could have controlled and intentionally designed the Bible in such a way to make sure a particular message of prophecy, about the still-to-come future, got through to us (foreknowing what we would be like) in these times, and do so in such a way we could accept it with fair surety, the church being as it is now.

The Bible is supernaturally interactive, and was intentionally designed to be interactive, with intentionally designed man, in an intentionally designed universe, in a powerful supernatural way, even meant for our limited use in that way. God has intentional purposes for the Bible that are supernaturally interactive.

Therefore: God could have made sure that by logic, and reasoning anyone could see is sound, that those with the gift of prophecy in this time could hear from God about the soon-to-come future, and understand Revelation, solely through interaction with the Bible, and with God taking into account the knowledge and resources God foreknew would be on hand in this time.

God is an individual, like we each are, and has a unique personality or style, as we each do. Jesus Christ is Himself the “marker” beginning and end, creator also, and son of God, bridging the gap between an eternal God, and us linear creations bound in the created dimension of time. The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as the Word, the Word become flesh, the scriptures become flesh.

Therefore: As Jesus is an individual, with a unique style or personality, and He is God, and He is the Word made flesh, it logically follows that Jesus is the Holy Bible in a way – and that way being best described as Jesus being the designer/author/producer of the entire Bible. IF the entire Bible has one man behind it, who is God, Jesus Christ, then it logically follows then that (same as any man as an author) the entire Bible would reflect the unique personality, the writing style, of Jesus Christ.

The Bible teaches that God designed the world to be in such a way that we would learn of Him, and learn Truth about Him, through what is “Self-Evidential”, and also through “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”, and that we would learn to please Him, learn to follow His ways, obey Him and show obedience to Him, in practice, by what is both “Self-Evidential” and also through “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”.

Therefore: If Jesus Christ intentionally designed the entire world to be in such a way that we would learn of Him through what is “Self-Evidential” and “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”, this could be considered Jesus’ way of teaching us things. IF this is Jesus Christ’s way of doing things, then as Jesus Christ also designed the entire Bible as is, then it logically follows that the Bible would also be designed to teach us by the method of what is “Self-Evidential” and using “Symbolism and Symbolic Replacements”.

God’s intentionally chosen specific words are True, and God wants us to stick to His intentionally chosen specific words.

Therefore: We must neither add nor take away. We must neither add more meaning than the words honestly reflect, nor ignore meaning that is there that the words honestly are reflecting. “Did God Say?” is the oldest trick of temptation, leading to sin, in the Holy Bible. We have to trust that our infinitely-intelligent, all-powerful, all-knowing, foreknowing, eternal, loving God and Savior, said exactly what He meant, and meant exactly what He said for a purpose – for this generation in these times, even a purpose He had for you or me in particular, who were foreknown to Him from before He made the world – that He had in mind thousands of years ago when He chose just how to inspire Moses, or Ezekiel, etc. to write – foreknowing what would result in your or my hands today – and with infinite intelligence chose to interact precisely as was needed then, to result for us to have the truth of the Holy Bible in our hands today.

The Bible is Truth and Holy.

 

 

Section 2: The Holy Bible on Prophecy and Wisdom

Hypothesis: “Wisdom” is needed to understand prophecy.

The Bible connects the concepts of prophecy, riddles, and wisdom. God said that what He spoke to the prophets were riddles, and the same word is used to describe a common riddle.

Num 12:6-8 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, [I] the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, [and] will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all mine house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

Jdg 14:12-14 And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find [it] out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: But if ye cannot declare [it] me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

In one place God gives a prophecy specified to be a riddle, Eze 17, same word as above. What is very important to note about this passage is that the specified “riddle” prophecy is just as vague, obscure and riddle-sounding, full of symbolism, as the rest of prophecy in the Bible. That just about all of prophecy has a riddle-tone to it, full of vague symbolism, is hard to deny. Even passages that contain interpretations still leave much that is only vaguely explained.

Eze 17:1-5 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; “A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar; He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed [it] by great waters, [and] set it [as] a willow tree….”

The wise were those who were thought to be able to explain riddles, as Solomon famed for his wisdom was tested with riddles by the queen of Sheba.

2Ch 9:1-2,6 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with riddles at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not… (She said) Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen [it]: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: [for] thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

It is clear that the Bible indicates that to understand riddles a person needs to have “wisdom”, and it is the “wise” which understand the interpretation or solution to riddles. As God declares that prophecy is riddles, it makes sense to understand prophecies you need “wisdom”.

Prov 1:5-6 A wise [man] will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their riddles.

Ecc 8:1  Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation(solution) of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

 

The Bible mentions that God does have secrets and hides things, and these secrets sometimes may be searched out, or He chooses to reveal them, per His timing and to whom He wills.

Psa 31:19-20 [Oh] how great [is] thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; [which] thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

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

Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

Eph 3:9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Deu 29:29 The secret [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law.

Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD [is] with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

Jdg 13:18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it [is] secret?

Rom 16:25-27 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, [be] glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

 

The Bible also ties together “secrets” with “wisdom” and prophecy (and faith).

Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret (5475) of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

1 Cor 13:2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries (secrets), and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth His secret (5475) unto his servants the prophets.

 

Tying this all together, the Bible indicates that the prophecies we have which God gave through the prophets, as we have them in the Bible, are riddles, or like riddles, and that these are also called secrets. In order to understand prophecies, riddles or secrets, a person needs something called “wisdom”. And the gift of prophecy relates to understanding these secrets, or riddles. Besides mentioning “wisdom” as important, the Bible also indicates that the “secret of the Lord” is with the “righteous” who “fear Him”.

Psa 25:14 The secret (5475) of the LORD [is] with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

Pro 3:32 For the froward [is] abomination to the LORD: but His secret (5475) [is] with the righteous.

 

This correlation between wisdom, prophecy, riddles, interpretation of riddles, secrets and prophets is seen in the Old and New Testaments, and it serves as a foundation to understand that for certain prophecies, the prophecy itself in the Bible specifies we will need whatever it is that is called “wisdom” in order to understand the riddle of the prophecy. These verses serve as evidence of validity of the hypothesis.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

Rev 17:9 And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth…

Dan 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

 Validation of the Hypothesis: “Wisdom” is needed to understand (esp. certain) prophesies.

 

 

Section 3: The Holy Bible on Wisdom

What is “wisdom” per the Bible, and how does one get “wisdom” per the Bible?

The Holy Bible teaches we can ask in faith, nothing wavering, and God will give us wisdom. Therefore faith, trusting God, is a key ingredient of receiving wisdom, and it is God who gives wisdom.

James 1:5-7 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

 

The Holy Bible teaches repeatedly that fear of the Lord is the “beginning of wisdom”. As this is the “beginning” of wisdom, this may relate to how we start to receive it from God. Also “knowledge of the Holy” and “departing from evil” seem to be related to this.

Prov 1:7 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [is] understanding.

Job 28:28 And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that [is]wisdom; and to depart from evil [is] understanding.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever.

 

The Holy Bible gives much information on wisdom and how to get it, so including key passages, I am going to underline what seem to be key points:

Pro 1:2-7 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise [man] will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Prov 2:1-6 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, [and] apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, [and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding.

Prov 4:1-7 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Prov 8:5-14 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips [shall be] right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness [is] an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth [are] in righteousness; [there is] nothing froward or perverse in them. They [are] all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom [is] better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom: I [am] understanding; I have strength.

2 Tim 3:14-17 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned [them]; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Pro 14:6,8 A scorner seeketh wisdom, and [findeth it] not: but knowledge [is] easy unto him that understandeth. The wisdom of the prudent [is] to understand His way: but the folly of fools [is] deceit.

Job 26:3 How hast thou counselled [him that hath] no wisdom? and [how] hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

Pro 17:24 Wisdom [is] before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool [are] in the ends of the earth.

Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple.

Pro 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

Prov 30:2-6 Surely I [am] more brutish than [any] man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what [is] his name, and what [is] his son’s name, if thou canst tell? Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

 

Let’s look at just the highlighted points on what “wisdom” is and how to get it:

perceive the words, hear, The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge, receive my words, incline thine ear, searchest for her as [for] hid treasures, find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding, I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law, retain my words, forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth, Wisdom [is] the principal thing, for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips [shall be] right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness [is] an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth [are] in righteousness; [there is] nothing froward or perverse in them. They [are] all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge, The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel [is] mine, and sound wisdom: I [am] understanding; I have strength, And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, knowledge [is] easy unto him that understandeth, understand His way, wisdom, declared the thing as it is, Wisdom [is] before him that hath understanding, The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple, Bow down thine ear, and hear the words, wisdom, knowledge of the holy, his name, Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

 

The general impression is that to get “wisdom” we must neither add to nor take away from God’s words, in fear of God, and that adding or taking away is evil, proud, and arrogant. If we add to them then we will be found to be liars. The Holy scriptures are God’s words, which are all perfect, and right, and truth, and able to make us wise through faith in Jesus Christ. He gives good doctrine, counsel, and wisdom. Also, a search as for hidden treasures is recommended to get wisdom, yet at the same time, God’s words are described to be plain, that getting knowledge is easy, and that God has declared the thing as it is. Repeatedly the instruction is to hear the words, bow the ear to them, to perceive them. Knowledge of the Holy, and understanding His way are mentioned as part of this. The main point seems to be that God gives wisdom with His perfect words, as found in the Holy Bible.

This is contrasted in Jer 8, showing that those who reject His Word do not have wisdom. This may also be echoed in Psalms, that going against the Lord, or His Word, there is no wisdom.

Jer 8:8-9 How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he [it]; the pen of the scribes [is] in vain. The wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?

Pro 21:30 [There is] no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.

Hypothesis: Whatever “wisdom” is, it is to be found in the Holy Bible, that one must search for it like hidden treasure, in faith. But that it is plain and easy, hearing God’s perfect words, not adding to them or rejecting them, but hearing and perceiving them exactly as they are. He gives good doctrine, all His words are truth. And understanding of His way and knowledge of the Holy is also involved.

 

Biblical Principles of Getting Wisdom in This Age (Case Example of Hypothesis)

For us Christians, the Holy Bible teaches that in this age (of the Church/Gentiles) to become wise (per God, biblical wisdom), we must become fools (per the world, worldly wisdom). Alternately, worldly wisdom is foolishness.

1 Cor 3:18-23 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ [is] God’s.

 

Young Earth Creationism seems to be a perfect example. The world considers it utter foolishness for people to open up a Bible and read what it plainly says and believe it – that God created the Universe in 6 days, about 6000 years ago. Yet, there is more scientific evidence for this, a young earth, the Flood, than for evolution. There is all sorts of scientific research by Christians who are scientists (see creation.com) which answer every science question anyone seems to have thought of, even on cosmology, with scientific and reasonable answers that show science allows for Young Earth Creationism to be true, even how it is that 6 days and 6000 years could pass here, while we seem to see longer time periods in space. And as a whole it actually makes more sense with the real scientific process, and the evidence that is observed (like the fossil record), than do the secular alternatives.

Evolutionists reject God’s Word, and what is “Self-Evidential” about Creation, that we were created, that the Earth shows evidence of a Flood, etc. and as a result people have become vain in imaginations, believing things they or others have made up, not truth given in the Bible, and while evolutionists profess to be wise, in truth they are fools.

Rom 1:18-22 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

 

In fact, a child can sit and read the creation account in Genesis as plain and easy to understand, and in this have more wisdom than the most educated evolutionist. The Bible teaches that age and greatness do not mean that one has wisdom. Jesus praised God for hiding things from the wise (worldly wisdom) and revealing the truth to those who were just “babes”. This is indicative that receiving Biblical wisdom may relate to being childlike.

Job 32:9 Great men are not [always] wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

Luke 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Matt 18:3-4 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 18:16-17 But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdomof God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdomof God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

 

Being childlike may seem foolish to the world, and an adult reading and believing the Bible surely does seem foolish to the world. Yet a child who believes what he reads about creation is wiser in true wisdom, than an adult evolutionist thought wise in worldly wisdom. And also, an adult Christian who believes what he reads is wiser in true wisdom, than one who does not. Wisdom does seem to be in plain sight in this regard. It may seem foolish of God to have hid the truth giving wisdom in plain sight, but the foolishness of God is in fact wiser than man, who in all worldly wisdom cannot figure out what is already openly told and in plain sight.

1 Cor 1… For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

 

The Bible also makes clear that it is the Holy Spirit in us that teaches us and reveals things to us, and gives us wisdom, and these things are contrary to worldly wisdom which regards them as foolishness. The Holy Spirit teaches us by comparing spiritual things with spiritual – we have the mind of Christ, and so can understand His thoughts. This may be relevant in the Holy Spirit interacting with the Holy Bible, comparing Spiritual with Spiritual, to give true wisdom, especially seeing the Holy Bible as being designed by Jesus Christ, and Him being the Word made flesh.

1 Cor 2:6-16 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Conclusion – Validity of Hypothesis: Whatever “wisdom” is, it is to be found in the Holy Bible, that one must search for it like hidden treasure, in faith. But that it is plain and easy, hearing God’s perfect words, not adding to them or rejecting them, but hearing and perceiving them exactly as they are. He gives good doctrine, all His words are truth. And understanding of His way, and knowledge of the Holy, is also involved.

 

So where do we go from here in the search for getting “wisdom”? We are told to search for it as for hidden treasure, it is to be found in God’s Word, in His words, but is it everywhere or is it in a particular location? Usually hidden treasure has a specific location, and there is a map or instructions on where to go to find it. Just as a hunch, the phrase “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” or other mention of “beginning” in relation to wisdom, is used very often (Ps 111:10, Prov 1:7,4:7,8:22,9:10). In 4 instances, this is the same word as in Gen 1:1 “In the beginning”, and so this might be a hint to head to Genesis. It also is interesting that a couple other verses use the same words for “beginning”:

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

God says He declares the end from the beginning – the beginning of the Bible is Genesis and the end is Revelation – so perhaps the “wisdom” needed to understand Revelation might be found in Genesis.

Ecc 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth [is] foolishness: and the end of his talk [is] mischievous madness.

We’ve already established that to the world, Genesis seems to be foolishness, and also to the world, “mischievous madness” might be a fitting description of how they see Revelation. So this verse may be some written confirmation in the Holy Bible of God foreknowing the order the books would be in one day, also again hinting there may be some tie between Genesis and Revelation.

 

 

Understanding Bible Prophecy, Part 2 – “His Way” God’s Writing Style
[This video covers the same material as Section 4 below.]

Section 4: God’s Writing Style – “His Way”

I would like you to see this. Please go get and open up a hardcopy Bible to Genesis 1, to use to follow along with, as I believe it works better to process this information with it all laid out visually.

In Genesis the Lord seems to first lay out information in chronological order. So the baseline or precedent is for God to write in chronological order. That is, until we get to Gen 2, which seems to recount events that were already described in Gen 1.

Some people have a hard time reconciling Gen 1 and Gen 2, which seem to give account of the creation of mankind twice. Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and so Gen 1 and Gen 2 must be speaking of the same event, the creation of mankind. Logically, for the Bible to not contradict itself, the creation account of mankind in Gen 2 must reconcile with the one in Gen 1.

But they are easily reconciled. Look at the section of Gen 1:1 through 2:4. This is all one section, which gives account of the creation week, and ends in 2:4 by summarizing the prior, saying:

These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Gen 2:5 begins the next section, verse 5 including that “there was no man to cultivate the ground”. This is a marker, showing that verse 5 has gone backwards in time, to before man was made. Gen 2:5 through Gen 2:25, the end of the chapter, give account of the creation of mankind. So we can know that Gen 2:5-25 is a more detailed account of the events that already were mentioned on day 6 in Genesis chapter 1. Genesis 1:26 is before God has made mankind, 1:27 is the verse where God makes mankind, and this is followed by God blessing them, in which God is speaking to both of them, together.

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth….

Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

 

At the end of Gen 2:25 Adam and Eve have just been brought together, but God has not said anything to both of them together. Gen 2:5-25 begins before the creation of Adam, and ends with Adam and Eve just having been brought together, with no mention of God talking to both of them, and Gen 1:28 includes God speaking to both of them together. So it seems to make the most sense, in fitting the sections together, that Gen 2:5-25 is in fact a more detailed account of what is briefly summarized in Gen 1:27. It is therefore “Self-Evidential” that Gen 1:1-2:4 is a summary, and Gen 2:5-2:25 is a more detailed account of a small piece of that summary. As we have already covered, God’s teaching style He used in how He made the world is “Self-Evidential”.

Now, Jesus COULD have just put all this in chronological order, and perhaps made it easier to understand. As it stands, at first glance it looks like there could be some contradiction – and it takes a little bit of faith, trusting Jesus to not contradict Himself, and thinking about it, comparing sections, to arrive at the conclusion that there is no contradiction.

Still Jesus COULD have just put all this in chronological order. Why didn’t He? What did He do? (Cryptographically oriented minds want to know…)

First Jesus gave a summary in chronological order of the creation week. Then He went back and gave more detail on something we would find of particular interest – the creation of mankind.

It seems “Self-Evidential” that Jesus wanted us to learn something from how He chose to lay out this information, and that is that doing it this way is just “His Way”, or “His Writing Style”. Why assume that an all-knowing infinitely intelligent all-powerful eternal God would allow for His Word to end up with chronological breaks that make understanding more difficult just by happenstance, when the attributes of God are logically more compatible with such chronological breaks and resulting contextual understanding difficulties to be intentional and for a purpose? (Isa 29:16 “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?”)

In other words, right from the beginning of the Bible, it seems Jesus is teaching us about His Writing Style, How He likes to do things, “His Way” – Jesus is not just teaching us about our creation as is the content of the topic of this section, but He is also teaching us how to read the Bible with understanding, knowing His Way of laying out the information, as a rule or guideline.

This is an especially important rule for us to know when it comes to passages of the Bible which are obscure and confusing as to the events described…. such as… Prophecy! This is essentially the first “Self-Evidential” example of “His Way” that He lays out information, that might be very useful in trying to solve a riddle.

His Way #1: Jesus likes to give chronological summaries, and then go back and fill in important details. Even 20 verses of details might be expanded out from just 1 verse of summary. The markers between such sections may require a little logic, and have to be deduced from context.

Now, does this match the Biblically derived hypothesis about “wisdom”?

Hypothesis: Whatever “wisdom” is, it is to be found in the Holy Bible, that one must search for it like hidden treasure, in faith. But that it is plain and easy, hearing God’s perfect words, not adding to them or rejecting them, but hearing and perceiving them exactly as they are. He gives good doctrine, all His words are truth. And understanding of His way, and knowledge of the Holy, is also involved.

Hypothesis-Match: This is from the Holy Bible, taking into account the Holy Bible is meant to be interactive, trusting in God’s words as being perfect as they are, every single one, including how they comprise whole sections. It requires searching for something hidden, yet everything is plain and out in the open. And a good doctrine (teaching, insight) of His Way is the result.

 

Let’s go to the next example. Gen 3 – 5 keeps a fairly steady chronological order. The end of Gen 4 brings us up to just past the beginning of Gen 5, with the birth of Seth, and so the overlap is minimal. But there is something to note comparing Genesis 3 and 4, which is that something is obviously missing from the story. From context it is pretty obvious that Cain’s wife, first mentioned in Gen 4:17, must have been his sister, and a daughter of Adam, yet nowhere prior in Gen 4 is it mentioned that Adam and Eve had any daughters. From Gen 4:17 onward, several women are mentioned, presumably they could be daughters of Cain. But it really sticks out that the first time any daughters are mentioned as being born to anyone, including Adam, is not until after Adam is over 130 years old and has fathered Seth. After fathering Seth, in Gen 5:4, it is finally mentioned that Adam had daughters. So from context, using a little logic, there is a very big pointed obvious omission in Gen 4, where Adam having daughters should be mentioned, but it is not. Obviously in Gen 5:4 God mentions that Adam had daughters, so it is not like the reason for not mentioning them was because God just was not going to mention them. But in context, in the chronology the daughters should have been mentioned sooner. In a way, this is an empty blank ____ to be filled.

But still, Gen 3-5 does continue in close chronological order, until we get to Gen 6.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them That the sons of God saw the daughters of men(adam) that they [were] fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.”

This verse specifies that these events occurred at a particular time – when men began to multiply and had daughters. From context, it is very obvious that men began to multiply and have daughters prior to when Adam was 130 years old, and this started with Adam having daughters as that had to be where Cain’s wife came from (6:2 daughters of men(adam)). This is the information that goes in the blank___ of what was so obviously missing prior to the first mention of Cain’s wife in Gen 4:17. So when did the sons of God start taking wives? Before Gen 4:17, before Adam was 130 years old, as that is when he had Seth, and it is specified that Cain already had a wife and 4 generations of descendents by then. When were there giants on the earth? In “those days” of prior to when Adam was 130, and also after that. This being established, then the chronology continues on with Gen 6:5 and so on into the Flood account.

So, Jesus COULD have just put Gen 6:1-4 sometime prior to Gen 4:17, where it would have fit into chronological order – but instead left a glaringly obvious logical contextual blank___ where Gen 6:1-4 should have fit chronologically.

Why did He do it this way? What we can learn from this is that all of Gen 5, the generations of Adam through Noah’s sons, a summary of a genealogy spanning 1500 years, is then followed by a brief detail of an occurrence (parallel of a second genealogy) which overlays the same time period of 1500 years. We have a notable _____, followed by 1500 years, followed by a brief summary of something that was also occurring over the expanse of those 1500 years, which fits into that contextual blank___. It makes sense that the cause of the flood was largely due to the Nephilim. So it seems like Gen 6:1-4 was cut from prior to Gen 4:17, and moved to after the end of Gen 5, so as to highlight how these events related to the flood – to emphasize a cause and effect or spiritual significance, over more obvious contextual details (missing daughters) that could be more easily logically deduced.

What can we learn from this? I’m going to divide this one up into two:

His Way #2: Jesus will put things in non-chronological order, to show the importance of a cause/effect relationship or spiritual significance to something that follows, however if He does so there is an earlier marker of omission that can be derived from context, a beginning, which is later filled in, an ending.

His Way #3: Events of good and evil running parallel over time may be overlaid, with one detailed and the other only receiving a summary, and this may be derived from contextual markers.

 

Continuing on, the next serious chronological break is Gen 11:1-9. This is the same pattern as the chronological break between Gen 1 and Gen 2, but a little different. Gen 11:1-9 obviously refers back to Nimrod’skingdomofBabelin Gen 10:10, and so this is the starting point. However, in the example of Gen 1 and Gen 2, there were 20 verses detailing 1 verse. But in this case, Gen 11:1-9 starts with Gen 10:10, and the obvious context clue of “the beginning of his kingdom wasBabel”. The ending point is also to be derived from a context clue, found in Gen 10:25 “Peleg for in his days the earth was divided”. There seems to be good reason for this, because Gen 11:10 onwards is a years-detailed genealogy of Shem’s line, giving us details on the days of Peleg. From that, we can know the Earth was divided about 1757-1996 years after the creation. (Incidentally, as per Deut 32:8 LXX, that would also mean this is when the “Divine Council” was first formed; after Babel.)

What can we learn from this? This is a combination of earlier examples. In this case of Gen 10 and 11, more detailed information is given on an earlier chronological summary (His Way #1), but it is written in such a way that it overlays a longer period of time (His Way #3) and markers are given for the beginning and end (His Way #2).

And so we can understand from this that His Ways may be combined. This fourth example seems to affirm His Ways shown earlier, but without providing a new pattern. However, it does give the knowledge that parts of His Ways can be mixed together into new combinations.

After this example, Genesis seems to continue in chronological order, without any significant exceptions, and so this seems to be the end of the series of “Self-Evidential” teaching about how Jesus lays out information.

 

Let’s Review,

What Jesus teaches in a “Self-Evidential” manner in Genesis:

The baseline or precedent is for Jesus to write in chronological order. But there are 3 exceptions:

His Way #1: Jesus likes to give chronological summaries, and then go back and fill in important details. Even 20 verses of details might be expanded out from just 1 verse of summary. The markers between such sections may require a little logic, and have to be deduced from context.

His Way #2: Jesus will put things in non-chronological order, to show the importance of a cause/effect relationship or spiritual significance to something that follows, however if He does so there is an earlier marker of omission that can be derived from context, a beginning, which is later filled in, an ending.

His Way #3: Events of good and evil running parallel over time may be overlaid, with one detailed and the other only receiving a summary, and this may be derived from contextual markers.

The elements of these 3 exceptions can be mixed together to make new combinations, such as: More detailed information is given on an earlier chronological summary (His Way #1), but it is written in such a way that it overlays a longer period of time (His Way #3), and markers are given for the beginning and end (His Way #2).

 

Is this “wisdom”? It matches the hypothesis about “wisdom”:

Hypothesis: Whatever “wisdom” is, it is to be found in the Holy Bible, that one must search for it like hidden treasure, in faith. But that it is plain and easy, hearing God’s perfect words, not adding to them or rejecting them, but hearing and perceiving them exactly as they are. He gives good doctrine, all His words are truth. And understanding of His way, and knowledge of the Holy, is also involved.

Hypothesis-Match: This is from the Holy Bible, taking into account the Holy Bible is meant to be interactive, trusting in God’s words as being perfect as they are, every single one, including how they comprise whole sections. It requires searching for something hidden, yet everything is plain and out in the open. And a good doctrine (teaching, insight) of His Way is the result.

 

Is there any further validation that this is “wisdom”, or any evidence to confirm it?

We covered 3 topics in His breaks from chronology:

  1. Adam and Eve’s creation and God’s instructions to them
  2. The timing of sons of God and the Nephilim
  3. The timing of Babel, and incidentally when the “Divine Council” was formed

Example 2: While some people are aware of the Gen 6 paradigm today, most of them do not understand “and also after that” correctly, and false beliefs have resulted. By using this methodology, it becomes clear when the interbreeding started, and shows that “and also after that” refers from the time of Adam through Noah, and not to after the flood. Several people have pointed out that “and also after that” simply makes no sense to be referring to after the Flood, using logic, grammar, reasoning, precedents, etc. to make this point. But using the methodology of perceiving His Ways, the same conclusion is arrived at, but the information seems to be laid out plainly and openly. God’s words are assumed to be intentional, and contextual difficulties are also there for an intentional purpose, to teach of His way of laying out information. To many people, the correct information is hidden and they do not understand it – yet using His Ways the correct information is revealed. Summarily, it is as if a “secret” has been revealed, a “mystery” is understood. The Holy Bible ties together the ideas of “secrets” and “wisdom” and “prophecy”.

Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret (5475) of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

1 Cor 13:2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries (secrets), and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth His secret (5475) unto his servants the prophets.

That using the His Way methodology seems to give understanding about “secrets” or “mysteries”. It quickly lays out conclusions in plain sight, that otherwise would require more difficult efforts to arrive at. This is self-evidential evidence that the His Way methodology does successfully reveal “mysteries” or “secrets”, which is what the Bible teaches that comes with having “wisdom”.

As such, there is Evidence that the His Way methodology involves the presence of some “wisdom”, even indicating this is the same “wisdom” needed to understand certain prophecies. It seems there is some Biblical and Bible-based evidence that we have gained “wisdom” by understanding “His Ways”. Eureka!

 

((Notes: I do believe there are additional “secrets” that are pointed to and revealed in Example 1, as to more detail about the Fall of mankind, which I have written on, but it is a very complicated subject, requiring many other proofs spanning the entire Bible to confirm, so it won’t easily work as Evidence here. The key issue is resolving the contradiction of God directly telling Eve that she could east from “every tree” in Gen 1:29, which when taking into account singular/plurals of “you” in Gen 2-3, can be resolved, and gives new insight on how the serpent “deceived/beguiled” Eve, not just lied to her. That study is online in Chapters 8-12 here: https://walkintruth.net/

As for Example 3, there is at least the point as to the timing of the institution of the Divine Council, it seems Deut 32:8 clearly is referring to the days of Peleg, post-Babel, as to when the earth was divided and the Divine Council was formed. But that also is neither here nor there, not able to serve as Evidence of a “secret” revealed – though there is probably still more to this passage.

Deut 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of God.

Gen 10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name [was] Joktan.

Gen 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.))

 

What we have done here is to trust the Bible, down to every word, to such a great extent, believing every word to be purposed intentionally by God, making note that He did everything for a good reason, that we have noted a second dimension or layer of information in Genesis. The first layer of information is the topical content. The second layer of information is this His Way methodology. This His Way methodology is backed up by Biblical Evidence and Self-Evidential Evidence to contain Biblical “wisdom”, in that it reveals Self-Evident “secrets” about the topical content of the first layer.

It seems we are on the right track, and have gained some “wisdom”, enough to have Evidence of a “secret” revealed, better understanding a “mystery”. And it is easy to understand that the His Way methodology could serve as a useful guideline for understanding prophecies, which might also contain chronology breaks, which could be all the more confusing in a passage full of symbolism (and as many people have noted prophecies do seem to include chronology breaks).

As we seem to be heading in the right direction, finding a second layer of information, let’s see if there is a 3rd layer of information in Genesis. As we are looking for “wisdom” enough to understand prophesies, and as there are some prophecies in Genesis, let’s look there next, to see if Jesus may have put a 3rd layer of teaching in Genesis, to teach us more about prophecy in particular.

 

 

Understanding Bible Prophecy, Part 3 – “His Way” Symbolism and Functions in Prophecy [This video covers the same material as Section 5 below.]


Pictures used in this video:
Genesis 3:15 Cyclic Prophecy Fulfillment Timeline
Genesis 3:15 Cyclic Fractal Prophecy Timeline
Bible Prophecy #4 – Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism
Revelation Antichrist – Beast From the Sea

Section 5: Understanding Symbolism and Functions of Prophecy

This first prophecy given in the Bible in Genesis is Gen 3:15:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

Of course, we know off the top of our heads that “He” here is Jesus Christ, as this is well known to be the first prophecy of the Messiah. But starting from scratch, as if we did not know this, let’s look through the rest of the Bible to figure this prophecy out. There are words here that seem symbolic and vague. Who is the “woman”? Who is “He”? What does this mean by “seed”? What does “bruise” mean? Etc.

#4 Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism.

First, this prophecy was spoken by God about the specific woman Eve. It seems likely that Eve hated the serpent, and the serpent hated her, which would be the most immediate meaning. Then, in the next chapter we read of how she had 2 sons, Cain and Abel, and Cain killed Abel so there was obviously enmity between them. What does the Bible say about them?

Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Gen 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

1 Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

Luke 11:50-51 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

The Bible defines Cain to have been “of that wicked one”, but to have been fathered by Adam. As such we can understand that Cain was “of that wicked one” in a spiritual sense. Abel was a righteous prophet, and said to be the “seed” of Eve – but of course both Cain and Abel were the “seed” of Eve in a physical sense. And so Abel was the “seed of the woman” in a spiritual sense, by process of elimination. And there was both enmity between Cain and Abel in a spiritual sense, as Cain was evil and Abel was righteous – and enmity between Cain and Abel in a physical sense as Cain physically killed Abel.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman” had an immediate literal meaning, and a spiritual meaning. “And between your seed and her seed” after some years, soon also had a literal meaning, and a spiritual meaning. However, “He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel” was not fulfilled literally or spiritually at this time by anyone.

The question might arise as to whether Cain and Abel did in fact fulfill this prophecy. The Bible verifies that Cain was “of that wicked one”. That is what the Bible says. This cannot mean in a physical sense as Adam was Cain’s father physically, so Cain therefore was spiritually the “seed” of the “serpent”. But Abel was a “righteous prophet” and so was spiritually of the “seed” of the “woman”, as well as literally being the “seed” of the “woman” Eve.

Does the description of what happened between Cain and Able match the symbolism of:

“And I will put enmity between you(literal serpent) and the woman(literal Eve), And between your seed(Cain spiritually) and her seed(Abel spiritually and literally)”?

Yes, the symbolism described in the prophecy matches the events that happened. It is Self-Evidential that this prophecy matches the events that happened. Taking it at face value, the Bible confirms that a spiritual fulfillment of this took place by stating Cain was “of that wicked one”, and that both spiritually, as Abel was righteous and Cain evil, that there was enmity between them, and also literally there was enmity between Cain and Abel as Cain slew Abel. We also can see that Eve and the serpent immediately had enmity between them, but the prophecy of enmity between the “seed”, between Cain and Abel, took years before it was fulfilled, in the future.

Does what happened match the symbolism of the prophecy? Yes. So was this a fulfillment of the prophecy? Yes. That is Self-Evidential. But, it is also clear that “He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel” did not take place at this time. This means that while part of the prophecy was fulfilled, part of it was not fulfilled at all. From this information we can learn:

#5 Prophecies may have both a literal and/or spiritual fulfillment

#6 Prophecies may be fulfilled in stages, some parts immediately, some in the near future, while the rest waits to be fulfilled in the far future.

 

Let’s jump to the fulfillment of “He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel”.

According to Revelation, the serpent must be Satan:

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The woman’s seed must be Christ,

Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne.

And the rest of her seed are God’s people:

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

From this we know that “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” actually means “Jesus shall ‘bruise’ Satan’s ‘head’, and Satan shall ‘bruise’ Jesus’ ‘heel’”. But the terms “bruise”, “head”, and “heel” are still not defined. When is this prophecy fulfilled?

Jesus died on the cross, but then rose to life again, and through this gained victory over Satan, or in other words, Jesus bruised Satan’s head, but Satan only bruised Jesus’ heel. Is this the fulfillment of the prophecy?

Hbr 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

1Jo 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Col2:15 [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Also, arguably Revelation 12 tells that after the birth of Jesus, and Him being caught up to God’s throne, that there was a war in heaven, and Satan was cast down to earth. I would place this to also be a result of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, and just after that time. But whatever the timing, it is an example of, Jesus shall bruise Satan’s head, but Satan shall only bruise Jesus’ heel.

Rev 12:5-9 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

 

Right now in the Church age, we are the body of Christ. Satan attacks us, and will all the more, but the injuries are minor in comparison to when Christ will return, and throw Satan down into the Abyss for 1000 years. This is another example of, Jesus shall bruise Satan’s head, but Satan shall only bruise Jesus’ heel. Is this the fulfillment of the prophecy?

Rev 20:2-3 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

At the end of the millennial reign Satan will be loosed and deceive the nations, who are under Christ’s rule in His kingdom, and they will turn against Christ, and be killed. So this is a loss of some of the Lord’s subjects in His kingdom. But then, Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. This is another example of, Jesus shall bruise Satan’s head, but Satan shall only bruise Jesus’ heel, and the final one.

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom [is] as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The question is, which event is describable as ‘Jesus shall bruise Satan’s head, but Satan shall only bruise Jesus’ heel’? They all are. Which is THE fulfillment of this prophecy? Is the REAL fulfillment when Jesus sends Satan to the lake of fire forever? No, that cannot be the case because it is True and Self-Evidential that all of these events match the symbolism of the prophecy.

“He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel” matches:

1. Jesus resurrects and triumphs over Satan, (after) Satan kills Jesus

2. Jesus begins to Reign with His people and sends Satan to the Abyss for 1000 years, (after) Satan kills Jesus’ people (who then are resurrected)

3. Jesus sends Satan to the lake of fire forever, (after) Satan gets killed some of Jesus’ subjects

Which event matches the words of the prophecy? They all do. All of these events match the symbolism of the prophecy, the words of the prophecy, as it is written, word by word, with the obvious meaning of the words. It is Self-Evidential that all three of these instances of direct conflict between Jesus and Satan match this prophecy. Are these real conflicts between Satan and Jesus? Yes. Do they match the symbolism of the prophecy? Yes. Equally? Yes. So are they all real equal fulfillments of the prophecy? Yes!

So which one is “the” fulfillment? They ALL are fulfillments. They are ALL REAL fulfillments of the prophecy as it was given, word by word, with the clear intended meaning of the prophecy.

The final fulfillment of the prophecy is the final fulfillment, but it is not the only one that matches the words of the prophecy – they all match the symbolism equally well – nor is the final victory more “real” somehow than the other very real victories of Jesus Christ over Satan. As such,

#7 Prophecies can be cyclic, and are equally valid and real fulfillments in every fulfillment.

 

Going back, we can see that the “seed” of the “serpent” and “woman” have been in conflict throughout history, and this has been fulfilled continuously in various spiritual and literal ways.

1. The serpent and Cain, vs. Eve and Abel (“which keep the commandments of God” Rev 12:17)

2. The sinning angels and Nephilim, vs. “the woman” and Noah’s line (“which keep the commandments of God” Rev 12:17)

(Incidentally, there is a theory, not well-developed yet, that in a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus, it was Jesus personally who imprisoned the sons of God into the Abyss at the time of the Flood. There are a few (howbeit obscure) verses that may point to this.)

3. The Divine Council and nations and Rephaim, vs. “Israel” and her people (“which keep the commandments of God” Rev 12:17)

4. Satan, the (fallen) Divine Council, demons, non-Christians, vs. Jesus and His Church (“which keep the commandments of God…have the testimony of Jesus Christ” Rev 12:17)

5. Satan vs. Jesus

 

The words of Rev 12:17 “which keep the commandments of God” in fact match and define the “seed” of the “woman” as confirmation of all of the pre-Christian historical meanings of fulfillment of the “seed” of “the woman”, from Abel to Israel. And also as such the words of the prophecy “seed”, “woman”, also “bruise” have had various meanings.

“seed of the serpent” = snake, fallen angels, Nephilim, evil people, Satan

“seed of the woman” = Abel, Noah’s line, Israelites, Christians

“bruise” = kill, hurt Body of, deceive and get killed subject of, OR break power of, cast to earth, cast into prison of Abyss, cast into lake of fire

And also the words “head” and “heel” have also had various particular meanings in their technical fulfillments, but the point of these terms is that the same symbolic comparative difference, what the words show, in importance between an injury to the head vs. an injury to the heel has remained the same.

#8 In cyclic prophecies, the same words can have different meanings in different fulfillments, but the relative symbolism of comparisons or actions represented between words is the same.

This prophecy, given after sin began, will end when sin is finished, and has been fulfilled in some way continuously, and will be, for almost all of linear time. It is sort of like a fractal, stretching over the world, and all time, of categorized groups, repeating the pattern of Good vs. Evil. This prophecy started being fulfilled shortly after it was given, maybe with enmity between Eve and the Serpent, but definitely fulfillment was shown about the future with the enmity between Can and Abel – and since the first part of this prophecy was fulfilled the first time, this prophecy has continued to be fulfilled in various ways, and will continue to be fulfilled in various ways, until it has all been fulfilled, and can be fulfilled no longer. As such,

#9 Once a cyclic prophecy has begun and started to be fulfilled in part, it can continue to be fulfilled in various ways, until it is all fulfilled and can be fulfilled no more – like a fractal.

It is as is spoken of in Ecclesiastes 1:9-11, “The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun. Is there [any] thing whereof it may be said, See, this [is] new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. [There is] no remembrance of former [things]; neither shall there be [any] remembrance of [things] that are to come with [those] that shall come after.”

 

Let’s review. These 6 traits of Prophecy in the Bible are Self-Evidential, derived from how the Bible confirms in truth that Gen 3:15 has been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled:

#4 Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism.

#5 Prophecies may have both a literal and/or spiritual fulfillment

#6 Prophecies may be fulfilled in stages, some parts immediately, some in the near future, while the rest waits to be fulfilled in the far future.

#7 Prophecies can be cyclic, and are equally valid and real fulfillments in every fulfillment.

#8 In cyclic prophecies, the same words can have different meanings in different fulfillments, but the relative symbolism of comparisons or actions represented between words is the same.

#9 Once a cyclic prophecy has begun and started to be fulfilled in part, it can continue to be fulfilled in various ways, until it is all fulfilled and can be fulfilled no more – like a fractal.

It seems that understanding Gen 3:15 as a prophecy, in full, we have gained enough “wisdom” to at least understand this one “teaching example” prophecy, and learned some of His Ways regarding symbolism and prophetic patterns. In the last section, it was the first 3 examples of Chronology breaks that seemed significant. So having covered the first prophecy in the Bible, let’s look at the next 2 also, to see if any other insights as to His Ways are to be found in them.

 

The next example in the Bible of prophecy is Genesis 6:3.

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Most people consider this to be a prophecy, and it is, but it is of a different sort. God spoke this proclamation right after the sons of God took wives, and right before they had their kids the Nephilim. As such the most straightforward meaning of this verse, is that God was speaking to the sons of God and their wives – warning them that their kids would only live 120 years.

Yet somehow, all of mankind also eventually ended up only living 120 years. This can be understood as that the Nephilim had human bodies (but immortal evil spirits), had kids themselves, and so spread dominant genes for a shortened-lifespan on to the rest of humanity. (There is no problem with this if the “spirit”-type of the child is passed solely through the paternal line – see https://paradoxbrown.com/demonsnephilim.htm/ …Jesus is an example of this, Rom 5 indicates this, and the study on Gen 2-3 at walkintruth.net referenced above makes detailed biblical argument that this is the case for mankind, and has been from the beginning.)

So the key prophetic word here is “man”, which in the first instance “man” referred to their kids the Nephilim (who are called “men” the next couple verses) on account of their human bodies – and in the second instance the word “man” referred to all of mankind, eventually. From this we can see that a prophecy can have a literal fulfillment both in the near future, and also in the far future, regarding 2 different things that are described by the same word, but this word having 2 different meanings, referring to 2 different things. From this we can derive:

#10 Prophecy can have a literal fulfillment both in the near future, and also in the far future, regarding 2 different things that are described by the same word, but this word having 2 different meanings, referring to 2 different things.

 

The next prophecy in Genesis, with symbolism involved, is of Abraham and his seed.

Gen 22:17-18 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The first meaning here was of Abraham’s literal physical descendents, who down the line of Abraham’s “seed” Isaac, became the nation ofIsrael. They were multiplied as the stars of heaven, possessed the gate of their enemies, and the Old Testament does describe in ways that at times other nations were blessed byIsrael. So at first there was a literal physical fulfillment of this prophecy. But the Bible makes clear that ultimately Jesus Christ was also the “seed” of Abraham, his descendent that was spoken of. He shall possess the gates of His enemies, and has, and by Jesus Christ, the “seed” of Abraham, the church has been multiplied, and all nations are being blessed. And so the second fulfillment is a spiritual one, of Jesus Christ and the Church.

2Cr 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so [am] I. Are they Israelites? so [am] I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so [am] I.

Rom 9:6-8 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they [are] not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, [are they] all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

It seems like there are some new things to be learned from this prophecy as well. Here we see that the exact same prophecy can have both a literal physical meaning (Isaac to Israel to Jesus) that is more important at one time, which later switches to reveal it has a second spiritual meaning (Jesus to the Church) that is more important at a later time, showing that the importance of a literal or spiritual fulfillment can change from primary to secondary over time. Also, we can see that an earlier prophecy was given more specifics, narrowing it down, merging 2 prophecies together, as now not only would the coming Messiah be the “seed of the woman” but He also would have to be “the seed of Abraham”.

#11 The exact same prophecy can have both a literal physical meaning that is more important at one time, which later switches to reveal it has a second spiritual meaning that is more important at a later time, showing that the importance of a literal or spiritual fulfillment can change from primary to secondary over time.

#12 Later prophecies can merge with earlier ones, narrowing them down to be more specific.

And that is the end of covering the first 3 prophecies in Genesis of symbolism significance. It does seem that there was a 3rd layer of information to be gleaned from Genesis. This information seems to have given “wisdom” that could be useful in understanding other prophecies in the Bible, deciphering them as the riddles they are. We now seem to have solid Bible-based knowledge as to His Ways regarding prophecy, how it can function, and how the symbolism of prophecy works, and as to the chronology and organization of prophecy. This could be the “wisdom” that was mentioned as needed to understand Rev 13:18, 17:9 and certain prophecies of Daniel.

[Addendum – Video Review of all of the above, plus 3 points I missed above, and reordering them to 17 distinct points]

I since noted a couple that were missed, so we’re going to add more.

In the category of chronology breaks, I missed one that I’ll call the “patience of God”. We can see by cross-referencing Gen 5:32 and Gen 6:10-14 that Noah was a little older than 500 when God told him to build the ark.

Gen 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gen 6:10-14, 22 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch… Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

So at the end of chapter 6 we leave off with Noah going all God commanded him. And the next verse is roughly in time about 100 years later, when God speaks Noah, after the ark had been built, and exactly a week to when the flood began, when Noah was 600. So we don’t know exactly how long it took to build the Ark, but less than 98 years based on the age of Shem, as was covered in Part 2. But the point here is that there is that there is an unspecified gap of almost 100 years between these verses, between Gen 6:22 and 7:1. And this gap has to be deduced from context. This is not a chronological break, but it is a chronological gap.

Gen 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Gen 7:1- 7 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that [are] not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah [was] six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

This is confirmed in 1 Pet 3:20, saying the long suffering or patience of God waited while Noah built the ark. In this we can learn that sometimes scripture will skip long unspecified periods of time between 2 verses, which has to be deduced from some context, and that elsewhere in scripture may give confirmation of this kind of gap in time.

Gen 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

[Gap of time]
Gen 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

1 Pet 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

“The patience of God: sometimes scripture will skip long unspecified periods of time between 2 verses, which has to be deduced from some context, and that elsewhere in scripture may give confirmation of this kind of gap.”

The second point which was missed, regarding fulfilled prophecies covered in part 3, is what I’d call a change in the recipient or hearers over time. This is actually something that was present in all of the prophecies we covered, maybe obvious, but I wanted to point it out. In Genesis 3, God originally spoke to the snake, Adam and Eve listening also, around 6000 years ago… but then God was also speaking to Israel through Moses who wrote this, when it was written about 3400 years ago, and then God is also speaking to you and I today. So God first spoke to 1 small group, and individual and small group, and then many years later to another larger group, and then He is still speaking to all Christians today of this. The same is seen with the parents of the nephilim being spoken to in Gen 6, a small group, but then years later to the Israelites through Moses, a larger group, and years later to us, an even larger group. In Gen 22 Abraham was the first to hear God, but then all Israel, and then all Christians, also have heard God about these prophecies. And it’s important to note that in all these cases, the different groups, over time, each had a fulfillment of these prophecies which related to them, which related to themselves.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Genesis 22:17-18 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

So, this sets the precedent that prophecies may start off being spoken to be heard by an individual or small group, but then the intended hearer changes to another larger group, and then to yet another larger or different group. And all of those who hear can have a different meaning or fulfillment of how the prophecy relates or applies to them. This is true even over vast expanses of time.

The changing of the hearers: Prophecies may start off being spoken to be heard by an individual, for a small group, but then the intended hearer changes to another larger group, and then to yet another larger or different group. And all of those who hear can have a different meaning or fulfillment of how the prophecy relates or applies to them. This is true even over vast expanses of time.

The third point which was missed is an extension of what was labeled as point #7 which was to “Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism”. It was self-evidential that we needed to look at the rest of the Bible to understand the fulfillments of the symbolic words of prophecy. So now let’s make a distinction between sections of the Bible which are of the genre of prophecy, and sections of the Bible which are not of the genre of prophecy We derived this point by comparing the prophecy in Gen 3:15 with the rest of the Bible, including verses found elsewhere in Genesis, 1 John, Luke, and also Revelation. …This included both sections of prophecy, and sections which were not of prophecy, which were cross-referenced to understand the symbolism and fulfillment of the prophecy, which has a cyclic fulfillment in nature. Therefore it was self-evidential that the rest of the Bible, whether prophecy sections or not, gives information about the symbolism and fulfillment of sections of prophecy.

This first prophecy given in the Bible in Genesis is Gen 3:15:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Gen 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

1 Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

Luke 11:50-51 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Also Revelation 12:

#7 Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism.

But there is a second point to be derived from this. Both Gen 3:15 and Rev 12 are sections of prophecy, which interconnect across the Bible. This is self-evidential. Therefore it is also true that different sections of prophecy are interconnected throughout the Bible, even in different books, with other sections of prophecy across the Bible. It would be impossible to truly understand the fulfillment of the words of Gen 3:15 without the words of Revelation 12 being taken into account, and likewise it would be impossible to truly understand the fulfillment of the words of Rev 12 without Gen 3:15 being taken into account. As such the words of these different sections of prophecy are not just interconnected, but also these sections of prophecy, and the words in them, are interdependent in the context of correctly understanding the fulfillments of either one. These need to be taken as parts of an entire whole of prophecy, that are not independent of each other.

This first prophecy given in the Bible in Genesis is Gen 3:15:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

According to Revelation, the serpent must be Satan:

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The woman’s seed must be Christ,

Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne.

And the rest of her seed are God’s people:

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

As such we can derive a third additional point, which is that:

Different sections of prophecy are interconnected throughout the Bible, and these sections of prophecy, and the words in them, are interdependent in the context of correctly understanding the fulfillments of either one. These are parts of an entire whole of prophecy, that are not independent of each other.

So now let’s review all the points, and I’ve re-numbered them.

 

These 17 points are what the Holy Bible teaches in a “Self-Evidential” manner in Genesis. These are (1) precedented biblical patterns of how God uses chronology, and uses breaks in chronology, to organize information in the Bible, and (2) precedented biblical patterns and characteristics of prophecies in the Bible, their symbology and functions in relation to the written words, and the characteristics of their fulfillments.

On Chronology:

#1 The baseline or precedent is for Jesus to write in chronological order. (Precedent – Gen 1)

But there are 3 exceptions:

#2 Jesus likes to give chronological summaries, and then go back and fill in important details. Even 20 verses of details might be expanded out from just 1 verse of summary. The markers between such sections may require a little logic, and have to be deduced from context. (Precedent – Gen 1:27 & 2:5-25)

#3 Jesus will put things in non-chronological order, to show the importance of a cause/effect relationship or spiritual significance to something that follows, however if He does so there is an earlier marker of omission that can be derived from context, a beginning, which is later filled in, an ending. (Precedent – prior to Gen 4:17 & Gen 6:1-4)

#4 Events of good and evil running parallel over time may be overlaid, with one detailed and the other only receiving a summary, and this may be derived from contextual markers. (Precedent – prior to Gen 4:17 & Gen 6:1-4)

#5 The elements of these 3 exceptions can be mixed together to make new combinations, such as: More detailed information is given on an earlier chronological summary (#2), but it is written in such a way that it overlays a longer period of time (#4), and markers are given for the beginning and end (#3). (Precedent – Gen 10:10,25 & Gen 11:1-9)

#6 The patience of God: sometimes scripture will skip long unspecified periods of time between 2 verses, which has to be deduced from some context, and that elsewhere in scripture may give confirmation of this kind of gap.
(Precedent – Gen 6:22-7:1, 1 Pet 3:20)

On Symbolism and Functions: 

#7 Look at the rest of the Bible to figure out symbolism.

#8 Prophecies may have both a literal and/or spiritual fulfillment

#9 Prophecies may be fulfilled in stages, some parts immediately, some in the near future, while the rest waits to be fulfilled in the far future.

#10 Prophecies can be cyclic, and are equally valid and real fulfillments in every fulfillment.

#11 In cyclic prophecies, the same words can have different meanings in different fulfillments, but the relative symbolism of comparisons or actions represented between words is the same.

#12 Once a cyclic prophecy has begun and started to be fulfilled in part, it can continue to be fulfilled in various ways, until it is all fulfilled and can be fulfilled no more – like a fractal.

(#7-12 Precedent – Gen 3:15)

#13 Prophecy can have a literal fulfillment both in the near future, and also in the far future, regarding 2 different things that are described by the same word, but this word having 2 different meanings, referring to 2 different things. (Precedent – Gen 6:3)

#14 The exact same prophecy can have both a literal physical meaning that is more important at one time, which later switches to reveal it has a second spiritual meaning that is more important at a later time, showing that the importance of a literal or spiritual fulfillment can change from primary to secondary over time.

#15 Later prophecies can merge with earlier ones, narrowing them down to be more specific.

(#14-15 Precedent Gen 22:17-18)

#16 The changing of the hearers: Prophecies may start off being spoken to be heard by an individual, for a small group, but then the intended hearer changes to another larger group, and then to yet another larger or different group. And all of those who hear can have a different meaning or fulfillment of how the prophecy relates or applies to them. This is true even over vast expanses of time. (Precedent – Gen 3:15, 6:3, 22:17-18)

#17 Different sections of prophecy are interconnected throughout the Bible, even in different books, and these sections of prophecy, and the words in them, are interdependent in the context of correctly understanding the fulfillments of either one. These are parts of an entire whole of prophecy, that are not independent of each other. (Precedent – Gen 3:15, Rev 12:5,9,17)

So these are 17 points, open to possible later additions as well, as I find them, and so ends our review. I can attest that these 17 points are seen again and again in scripture, in bible prophecy, and are key to understanding bible prophecy. I have used these points throughout my bible prophecy studies on my website, and my conclusions are based off of them, though the numbers are not specified in the studies. However, if you look for these patterns in the studies, you will see them in there.

My theories on Bible Prophecy incorporate, follow, and are based on this Biblical understanding. I am postulating with my theories that:

(1) Understanding prophecy essentially requires 4-dimensional thinking and attempt at understanding a more eternal perspective. God is eternal, outside of time, seeing all of time at once, and is infinitely intelligent, and speaks only true words, including describing only true symbolism. To visualize, it seems like He sees a timeline, a living timeline of all human history and events, which are seen and happen all at the same time. The Bible speaks the truth in Ecc 1:9, “The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.” The same events do repeat in different ways. All prophecies should be considered as potentially cyclic, and in the case of cyclic prophecies, the words God has chosen in prophecies, and their symbolism, can be understood to be like a description of a repeated pattern of events that God is able to see on the timeline of all time, an accurate description of the same events being repeated in different ways.

(2) Known history itself is a fact, and serves as self-evidential confirmation of a fulfillment of a prophecy. Much of the intelligent intentional design of reality and humanity shows that God tends to teach with a “Self-Evidential” teaching style. This establishes the biblical precedent that cyclic prophecies, as a description of repetitious events occurring over the course of time, can be confirmed self-evidentially to be intentionally taught by God as such, by examining the historical record of self-evidential repetitious events, confirming them. For example, if God sees Jerusalem will be destroyed 2 times, in a way that is the same repeated pattern both times, then the words chosen of a prophecy of this event will match both of these 2 events, in truth, with the symbolic meaning of the words. God has chosen every word carefully, so that these prophecies match in truth – but to see how the words match all fulfillments with more precise clarity, it is necessary to follow biblical understanding and rules of interpretation of prophecy, which are self-evidenced by the Bible, such these 17 points, knowing His writing style. Doing so, cyclic prophecies can be understood to be words that in truth match both of the 2 instances of this example, without contradiction. If it is true that Jerusalem is destroyed 2 times in ways that both fit the words of the prophecy of this, then it is true, and self-evidential, confirmation of fulfillment of the prophecy. In doing such, it is clear that prophecy is not a case of either/or but a case of both/and..and…and.

(3) That summarily, many of the prophecies of the Bible, and the book of Revelation, are essentially complex cryptographic puzzles with 4-dimensional themes, interwoven across the Bible, requiring biblically self-evident deciphering rules to be used in order to solve the puzzle, and this has biblical basis in that the Bible refers to them as “riddles” and “mysteries/secrets”.

As such my methodology is to use the 17 points above as deciphering rules, keeping in mind prophecies can be cyclic, then comparing historical events to the words of prophecy, in order to eliminate which portions of prophecies have already had a fulfillment, to arrive at which portions yet need to be fulfilled, and further align and decipher them using these 17 points.

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A Modern Guide to Demons and Fallen Angels © 2007-2013
Paradox Brown

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