The Revelation Revelation
by TwentyTwelve

Did God encode the exact date of the end of our world in the Bible?

The Story Behind the Revealing

The Messenger

I'm not a Biblical scholar, nor a theologian, and certainly not an End-Times expert. Neither am I a mathematician or a  cryptologist. I am merely a humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ who possesses a burning desire to serve Him and to know His specific Will for my life. What I am about to relate to you did not come to me in a blinding vision, but rather was revealed to me as the result of a deep yearning and earnest seeking to understand God’s plan for my life and our world. I did not fall into a trance, or receive the information in a dream. Indeed, all I did was ask the right question, in the right way, through prayer. For those who believe in the power of prayer, and the reality of God’s provision, you will understand that  this is all it took to unleash a flood of insight.

For most of my life, I have essentially ignored the Book of Revelation. It is the most challenging and among the most bizarre books in the Bible, and I simply failed to see the relevance of Revelation. My thinking has traditionally been, When the end comes, it comes; the point, as scripture makes clear in numerous places, is to stay ready.

Many people today are convinced that the Book of Revelation is highly relevant to the time in which we are living—they are convinced that we are in the End Times. However, Christians across the centuries have been convinced of exactly the same thing, and the end has yet to come.

In recent months, though, I have felt a profound leading to immerse myself in a study of the Book of Revelation, and the Lord has indeed blessed me through the careful examination of this portion of His word. But my aim here is not to share the insights I’ve gained by studying this prime example of Jewish apocalyptic literature; rather, I wish to share with you something that I myself am having difficulty coming to terms with.

At about the same time I began my study of Revelation, I started running across various articles concerning Winter Solstice 2012. According to the U.S. Naval Observatory’s website, Winter Solstice 2012 will occur at precisely 11:11 Universal Time on December 21, and this date on the Gregorian calendar is significant in a number of respects.

December 21, 2012 corresponds to the end of the Mayan Calendar: the calendar stops at this date, with corresponding prophesies concerning what will happen before, on, and after this day. Numerous other cultures and religious traditions, ancient and more recent, assign significance to this specific date—or predict events to occur within a narrow window around this date, if the prophesies do not specify the exact date of 12/21/2012.

It is not my intent here to present any of the relevant research, or to attempt to validate any of the claims pertaining to this date, but rather to simply point out that there is a substantial, and growing, body of literature related to the importance of Winter Solstice 2012. I merely wish to give the reader a minimal background concerning my awareness of this particular date.

To be sure, there are many questionable claims related to what will supposedly occur on December 21, 2012. Some traditions view it as a cataclysmic end, others as a new beginning, a rebirth—and some people have ideas so bizarre they’re not worth contemplating. The emphasis of this date is not of New Age origins, though more recently some in that community have begun to focus on it.

Of particular interest is that, among the more credible prophesies, there are quite a number of striking similarities between events predicted by ancient cultures to occur before, on, and after Winter Solstice 2012 (or in that general time-frame), and those events described in the Book of Revelation—and it was this in particular that caught my attention.

I accept the Word of God as the ultimate authority. Where any source contradicts the Bible, I automatically infer the supremacy of the Bible. I do find it compelling when external sources corroborate what is found in scripture, or when they fill in possible details not presented in the Bible, and such is the case with certain non-Bibli-cal prophesies related to 2012.

It is not within the scope of this brief work to elaborate on these prophesies or to examine their similarities to events in the Bible, but simply to state that they do exist. Further, I would assert that these “corroborative prophesies” should cause one to seriously consider that even the most apocalyptic imagery found in the book of Revelation may have its source in literal prophetic truth—the end may not only be worse than we think, it may be worse than we could imagine. I, like many other Christians, may have previously failed to identify with the words of the Book of Revelation because I lacked the capacity or the courage to take seriously what it is saying.

On a recent trip, I took advantage of the solitude to focus on God and engage in earnest prayer on this issue. I prayed that, if this particular date, December 21, 2012, is indeed of significance, and if it would be in keeping with His Will, that God would somehow confirm this date to me. I then thanked Him in advance for answering my prayer, if He so chose to, and also thanked Him for everything He has done, is doing, and will do in my life. Equally important, I made the prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This was not a prayer made out of fear, out of deep dismay that the end of the world could indeed be approaching. For, in reality, eternity is but one heartbeat away for each and every one of us. Rather, this was a prayer made out of a deep desire to know God’s purpose and plan for my life. The essence of the prayer was, Lord, if it is true that this date has connection to the end of our present world, please confirm it to me so that I might live my life accordingly and make every moment all that you would have it be in order to fulfill your divine purpose for my life.

I have been attempting to follow God’s calling for my life for many years, and regularly pray for any needed “course corrections” in my path. This prayer was merely an extension of this habit. Again, I was essentially saying, God, I will follow no matter where you lead, and I will follow you with all my heart, mind, soul, and body—if this specific date is relevant to what I should do in your service and to how I should live the remaining days of my life, please somehow communicate this to me.

When I made my prayer I had no real sense if, or how, God would choose to answer it. I jokingly thought to myself, I wonder if I’ll see “December 21, 2012” emblazoned across the night sky in huge letters. I had no idea at that point that God would choose to answer my prayer and confirm this date through the Holy Scriptures!

As I continued my journey home that night after making my prayer, a passage in Revelation came to mind: I remembered a clustering of 12’s, a series of verses where the number 12 was used repeatedly in short span of text. I made a mental note to look up the specific passage when I got home, and didn’t think much more about it until I arrived at the house. As I continued driving, the image of a clock also came to mind. I remember thinking that if the Lord wanted to communicate a message of numerical significance, He would make it as plain as the numbers on a clockface.

The Revealing

It is important here to remember what I prayed: I asked that if the date December 21, 2012, was significant, that God would confirm it to me. I arrived home that night, and, after settling in, I remembered to look up the passage in Revelation. I took my Bible down from its shelf, and turned to the Book of Revelation. I found the section I was looking for, and thus began the revealing.

The Revelation Revelation
Many Bible Codes

Numerous individuals, both professional and non-professional, have claimed to have discovered various codes within the Bible. Perhaps the most famous of these is Michael Drosnin’s Bible Code, and in a book by that name he claims to have found encoded in the original Hebrew text details concerning historical, current, and future events.

Other researchers purport to have uncovered “statistically-significant” number sequences or hidden codes within the text, and I have no doubt that if the Lord saw fit to weave numerical information into the Bible, He could readily have done so, and probably did. God is all powerful, and I fully believe that the Bible is not only His inspired word, but literally a supernatural document. For all I know, the Bible is a living hyper-computing device capable of simultaneously tracking every single molecule in the universe.

But what I am about to share with you does not concern a code that requires significant calculation or specialized computer software to uncover. Indeed, it is not really a code at all. It is information sitting out in plain sight (for the most part) within the Bible. It is an answer that is incredibly obvious once you know the question. The key, then, is to ask the right question, which apparently I did, for I have no other explanation for what I am about to relate you.

Revelation 21
The version of the Bible that I use is the Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation*—although I regularly check its interpretation against the King James Version. Upon finding the passage in Revelation that I was looking for, the one containing the clustering of twelves, I turned back a page to see which chapter these verses were in. It was Chapter 21. Interesting, I thought. And the first verse:

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.

This is precisely what other prophesies foretell will happen on December 21, 2012: the world will be renewed. But could this be a simple coincidence?

* - Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, 60189. All rights reserved.

Verses 12-21 and the Seven 12’s

I turned back to further examine the passage where the clustering of 12’s occurs. As I examined the verses, I found that the world “twelve” was in fact used seven times—not only that, but I realized that these seven twelves were contained in verses 12 through 21! The first twelve is used in verse 12, and the last twelve in verse 21. The number twelve is not used once in verses one through nine, or in verses 22 through 27, the end of Chapter 21.

¹²Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. ¹³There were three gates on each side— east, north, south, and west. ¹⁴The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, it was in the form of a cube, for its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles [12,000 stadia]. ¹⁷Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet [144 cubits] thick (the angel used a standard human measure).

¹⁸The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. ¹⁹The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve gems: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

²¹The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

At this point, the notion that this was all merely a coincidence had all but disappeared from my mind; but more was yet to come.

The Cube and the Year 2012

We have seen the numbers 12 and 21 confirmed throughout this passage of scripture, but the uses of these numbers does not validate a specific year. Incredibly, as I was to discover, the very year 2012 itself is seemingly encoded in this passage, requiring very little effort to decipher.

¹⁵The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, it was in the form of a cube, for its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles [12,000 stadia]. ¹⁷Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet [144 cubits] thick (the angel used a standard human measure).

The figures “12,000 stadia” and “144 cubits” are both used to describe the dimensions of the same object, a cube: it is obvious that these numbers are related. “12,000 stadia” refers to the length, width, and height of the cube. A cube has six sides or faces, and this is the clue to divide by that number:

12,000 ÷ 6 = 2,000

Having performed only a single operation to arrive at the first number, we can assume that the same will be true for the second, and indeed:

144 ÷ 12 = 12

Adding the two numbers, we have:

2,000 + 12 = 2012

Can this be happenstance? The number 2012 is not sitting out in the open, but it is so readily derived from the text that it requires a total of only three operations to arrive at. Once you know the question—what is the year?—the answer is right there!

If this were a “stand-alone clue”, sitting out somewhere by itself elsewhere in scripture, I would be less convinced as to its actual meaning or significance, but, as it is nested within a section of text that has already revealed itself to be full of numerical significance, I cannot help but draw the conclusion that this is a revealing of the specific year. But the revealing doesn’t end there. (Also, see “More Clues in the Cube” later in the document for more information on this topic.)

Luke 21: “Heaven and earth will disappear”

As I began to exhaust the 12-21 references in Revelation 21, I searched elsewhere in scripture for further connections or confirmations, although not really expecting to find any. It occurred to me to look up the verses in the Gospels where Jesus tells of the end times.

I first flipped to the book of John, which I found omits the passages I was looking for. Next I turned to Luke, and found the relevant verse:

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.

The chapter, almost unbelievably, is Luke 21, and verse 33 (interestingly, the age of Jesus at His death). Here we find a clear echo of the second half of the first sentence in Revelation 21, “the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared”.

Gospel Harmonies 201 and 202

I searched the remaining two gospels and found the passages corresponding to Luke 21 in Matthew chapter 24 and Mark 13—the 12-21 connection was seemingly broken (except for the fact that 24 is a multiple of 12).

However, as I read the relevant sections in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, entitled “Jesus Tells about the Future” and “Jesus Tells about His Return”, I noticed the small numbers printed at the beginning of each section corresponding to their respective sequence in the Gospel Harmonies. The specific numbers were 201 and 202.

I had not noticed these numbers when I first read Luke 21; nonetheless, Luke 21 contains Gospel Harmonies 201 and 202, which correspond to Matthew 24 and Mark 13. The numbers 0, 1, and 2 as significant indicators had been reaffirmed in an entirely new fashion.

Page 2012: “the new heavens and the new earth”

And in the “are you serious?” category ... As I sought further confirmation in the pages of my Bible, I decided, just out of curiosity, to turn to page 2012, with absolutely no serious expectation of finding any relevant verse or connection. In my Bible (see the section above entitled “Revelation 21” for the version and publisher), page 2012 contains the end of 2 Peter, verses 8-18 of Chapter 3. I began reading at the top of the page:

⁸But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgement.

¹¹Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living! ¹²You should look forward to that day and hurry it along—the day when God will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in flames. ¹³But we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth he has promised, a world where everyone is right with God.

Here, on page 2012, in complete affirmation of the words in the first sentence of Revelation 21, are the words “the new heavens and the new earth”, and a broader description of what will take place at the end of this world. But what does all this mean?

The Search for Meaning

The 12-21 Connection

The numbers 12 and 21—as well as the very year 2012—have been confirmed and reconfirmed. As we work to assign meaning to both the numbers involved here and the text itself, a very basic observation can be made.

The most immediate and obvious meaning of the 12-21 connection is this: these two numbers are the reverse of each other. The individual numbers are the same (both 12 and 21 consist of 1 and 2), but depending on the order in which they are written, they represent two entirely different things—in one sense the same, yet in other respects profoundly different.

The 12-21 interplay could be taken as a numerical representation of the “old heaven/old earth”-”new heaven/new earth” reality. Is what we have here in fact the most basic expression of the idea of an impending reversal of the universal order, or, at the very least, a considerable alteration of the universe and space-time as we currently experience it?

The Cardinal Directions Reversed

In Revelation 21:13, we find reference to the four cardinal directions.

¹³There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west.

However, notice that they are not listed in their traditional order: north, south, east, west. They are not simply reversed (which would yield “west, east, south, north”, but inverted—indi-cating, perhaps that physical space-time will be turned both upside down and “inside out”. Is this indeed further confirmation that the very physical nature of our world will change in ways which we cannot mentally picture?

The Signs of the Zodiac Reversed

In verses 19 and 20 of Revelation 21, we find listed the stones corresponding to the signs of the Zodiac, except that they are listed in precisely the reverse order.

¹⁹The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve gems: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

Again, we seem to have here a message concerning a profound alteration of the world as we know it.

From Night to Day

In verses 23, 24, and 25, there is no guesswork:

²³And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. ²⁴The nations of the earth will walk in its light, and the rulers of the world will come and bring their glory to it. ²⁵Its gates never close at the end of day because there is no night.

Here we are told directly that there will be a fundamental shift in the nature of our existence: the world in which we will live will have no night. This is not a metaphorical expression pertaining to the disappearance of evil, but rather a factual statement concerning the dramatic alteration of an essential characteristic of life as we now experience it.

Okay, But WHY?

Why would God encode the date of the end of the present world—and the beginning of His new world—in the Holy Bible? For an answer, let’s turn to the scriptures and return to page 2012 and 2 Peter 3:

⁹The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.

If the Lord has allowed more time for people to be saved, and He has, might He not also wish to alert us toward the end of the age that time is running out—so that everyone will take heed and have the opportunity to repent? My deepest prayer is that this information, this confirmation, this Revelation revelation, will serve as a tool for witness and evangelism. God loves us all. He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. He loves us so much that, apparently, He encoded the literal date of the end of this world in the Holy Bible, as a catalyst to spur His creations to seek salvation before time runs out.

A Message Intended for US

We have seen that, in fact, the numbers which comprise this revelation are as obvious, as evident, as the numbers on a clockface, as I intuited would be the case before the revealing even occurred. The numbers of the revelation are sitting above scripture, above the level of the text, although the numbers also naturally correspond to relevant passages within the Bible.

These numbers constitute a critical message. Taken in context of the Holy Scripture, then, 12/21/2012 is not just a date, it’s a self-interpret-ing message of remarkable simplicity and clarity. God engineered this confirmation so that we in this final day and age would understand it, so that it would be readily apparent to any and all: it is meant to be understood by us.

John the Revelator couldn’t have encoded it, the early church fathers couldn’t have encoded it—it is not humanly possible for someone to have encoded this sequence of clues. It requires a Loving Father, sitting outside time and space, overseeing the unfolding of history and the authoring of the Bible in the finest detail over centuries of time. God Himself is speaking to us through this end-time revelation: I am here; come to me. If the message of 12/21/2012 were to be summed up in one word, it would be repent.

Further Evidence
Verse 9
Revelation 21, verse 9 marks a transition, from the Lord speaking, to John again writing in his own voice.

⁹Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

We have in this verse a series of three sevens, as if a signal to begin watching for numerical significance within the text, and, indeed, three verses later in verse 12, the first of the 7 twelves is found. Seven, seven, seven: 7 x 3 = 21. Again, a confirmation of the number 21.

More Clues in the Cube

Interestingly, the number 21, and the series of three 7’s, are both contained/confirmed in numbers associated with the cube itself:

a.) if one labels the six sides of a cube

and adds the numbers, 21 is the result:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21

b.) if one labels the cube such that the opposing side pairs are 1 and 6, 2 and 5, and 3 and 4, the resulting sums are all 7, and 7 times 3 is 21!

1 + 6 = 7; 2 + 5 = 7; 3 + 4 = 7; 7 x 3 = 21

For Whom the Bell Tolls

As I have pointed out, the numbers of the revelation are as plain as those on a clockface; in fact, they are the numbers on a clockface. The top five positions on the clock are all occupied by the numbers 0, 1, and 2, or combinations thereof: 10, 11, 12, 1, and 2. These are also the numbers associated with the revelation: 12/21/2012 and 11:11.

Although I have no reason to believe that this has any direct bearing on the Revelation revelation, it is interesting to note that if you subtract the numbers for the year 2012 from the 10-11-12-1-2 sequence, you are left with four ones: 1111 ... 11:11?

More significantly, the symbolism of “the clock striking twelve” seems readily applicable, for, although cliched, it is universally understood. Perhaps there is deeper symbolism here: our solar system, our galaxy, and the universe itself can be viewed in simplistic terms as a giant clockwork mechanism, elegantly orchestrated by the Lord God Almighty.

He is in complete charge of setting the times and sequences of events, and He brings about all things according to His Holy Purposes and on His Eternal Timetable. The pressing message of 12/21/2012 may be that, at least for those of us on earth, the hour is fast approaching midnight. Our time, or time as we know it, is drawing to a close, and the universal clock governing our existence is about to strike 12. We are in a countdown to the end, or the beginning, depending on your perspective.

For those Christians who interpret the cataclysmic events described in Revelation literally, this means that much turmoil lies in the years ahead. We in 2006 are at the bottom of the hour, and God’s cosmic clock is about to begin counting off the final years before He brings all history to an end on December 21st, 2012.

Believe.

For those persons unconvinced by the arguments presented in this document, I would urge you to engage in a personal study of the Book of Revelation. If I am under the spirit of deception—a fate which I have repeatedly prayed might not befall me—and I am wrong in my interpretation, and the Revelation revelation is but a wild illusion, what does this change about how we should all, in fact, be living our lives each and every day?

Revelation foretells of a convergence of cataclysmic physical and spiritual events, not of Biblical proportions, but of extra-Biblical proportions. The time of the end will be unlike anything in the history of mankind, and words, even the prophetic words of the John, struggle to convey the dark reality that will quickly befall our world. Some cultures view the end of time as the dissolving of the veil between the spiritual and physical worlds, allowing the dark spiritual forces to prey upon mankind, and, indeed, passages in Revelation echo this very same idea.

But although the fate of those upon the earth at the time of trial will be temporarily beyond imagining, our ultimate fate, whether we die today or live until the very end of this age, is the same. We will all, each one of us, spend eternity with God, or apart from God. These will be the final two states of being: together or apart, within or without, on or off, 1 or 0—you either win, or lose.

The 12/21/2012 date, if accurate—if not, then some future date certain—will mark both the end of the present world and the beginning of God’s new world: it will be both a beginning and an end. To my knowledge, the Bible is one of the few religious texts that integrates these two viewpoints with any degree of coherency. This integration is on full display in Revelation, if you have the courage to read the words and take them seriously, and not simply dismiss them as artifacts of a deceased culture, you will be enlightened and blessed—regardless of what conclusion you may come to as to when the end of our world will actually occur.

But this is not simply a marketing pitch for the Book of Revelation. It is my hope that in reading the last book in the Bible, you will be drawn into the entire Scripture by the power of the Holy Spirit and immersed in the power of the word, and that it will grab hold of you and never let you go—and, that, no matter when the end, or your end, may come, you will be prepared for eternity, cleansed from the infection of sin, healed by the power and love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and able to spend forever together with your Creator, a God who loves you and desires eternal communion with you.

Believe December 21, 2012, or not, but believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe.

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