Footprints in the Sand
A trail of footprints runs through the NIV Bible. [1] These begin with a single, spectacular imprint on the very beachhead of scripture, which announces the essential message of the New Bible Code and from which the other footprints proceed. As you will witness, this phenomenon is no play of surf on sand but evidence of a touchdown on terra firma.
To review the two-step decoding system unique to the New Bible Code, please go here.
The First Footprint
Imprinted on the first few words of the NIV Bible is an arresting statement. Here it is:
In other words, the NIV Bible's first eighteen words have an ordinal value (the sum of the ordinal values of every letter in those eighteen words) of 906, which is the standard value of JESUS' SECOND COMING (the sum of the standard values of every letter in that phrase). Other English phrases may be found that sum to 906, but as you will see there are excellent reasons for choosing this one, because it is part of a larger pattern of related statements that stand or fall together.
Two features of the footprint worth pointing out here. Firstly, it starts from the first word, which is much less probable and therefore much more significant than finding it lying further within the text. [2] The prologue of Genesis is also easily the most important and high-profile location within Scripture - the Bible's very first words! - and so it is fitting that Jesus' long-awaited arrival on our shores should be announced here.
Secondly, the footprint is actually two encodings side by side: JESUS (the 'hindfoot' and 'midfoot'), alongside SECOND COMING (the 'forefoot'). This shown below.
So the first eighteen words can be read JESUS' SECOND COMING or simply as the two statements side-by-side, as in JESUS/SECOND COMING. Isn't it beautifully appropriate that the first encoded word should be 'Jesus'? [3]
Further Structure
If we look more carefully at the footprint we can see further ridges and contours on its sole.
Notice how JESUS and THE MESSIAH stem from either end of the original footprint, a common feature of the code. In fact the first and last words of each testament and the entire NIV Bible are encoded by this method. The encoding THE MESSIAH also begins along with the second verse of Genesis. Consistently found features such as this indicate design, rather than randomness.
The word JESUS neatly bisects to reveal more of the message.
This statement is in the same form as the first: MESSIAH/SECOND COMING alongside JESUS/SECOND COMING. "Messiah" thus forms the 'midfoot' part of this initial footprint.
From the divisions already made another word block naturally arises.
'Word' is another synonym for Jesus, from the prologue of John. Notice how neatly these word blocks interlock, revealing more of the footprint's distinctive pattern. The blocks are all six or a multiple of six words in length, another indication of intelligent design.
The encoding of SECOND COMING is in fact one of four within the footprint.
Again these are all found within the first eighteen words.
This number takes on even greater lustre if we look beyond the English language to Hebrew, the original language in which these words were written. The full and proper Hebrew word for Jesus is Yehoshua, and here is its standard value in that language:
Here is the table again, this time with the name Yehoshua. [4]
So the message of the first footprint is given again, this time through one number encapsulating two related ideas: YEHOSHUA/SECOND COMING.
How likely would it be for this to happen by chance? Would we find something similar in any book? The odds against any number being found four times within the first thirteen word strings are about 1 in 10, but when we take account of the significance of this particular number as the standard value of both Yehoshua and "Second Coming", the odds are greatly reduced. The odds against any given number being found four times here are 10000 to 1. [5] If we restrict ourselves to numbers that would fit into the first eighteen words, there are maybe four equivalent statements that could have been used, and so the real odds against finding four numbers announcing the Second Coming within those eighteen words are closer to 2500 to 1 against. [6] So we can be sure that this is a very rare phenomenon, when we take into account the incredible meaning conveyed by the number 391 through the two-part decoding system. [7]
Here are three further meaningfully-related imprints within the main footprint.
This time the statements are found within the first sixteen words and again the entire integrated structure manages to proceed from the beginning of the text, an incredible achievement, given what we have already found.
Further Footprints
If we now look around on the beach we see more footprints in the sand, all belonging to the same person.
The message is given a significant three times here, to make certain we receive it. The odds against the number 906 appearing three times in the first sixteen word strings are about 200 to 1. Again, it is the meaning conveyed by the number that makes its triple occurence so significant.
The same statement is also given in three different forms, found within the overlapping word strings proceeding from the first, second and third words.
As I already showed, the standard values of 'Jesus' (words 1 to 12), 'the Messiah' (words 11 to 18) and 'Christ' (words 8 to 16) are found here, and in fact they are each found within the related statements. This is an example of clustering, whereby the footprints of meaningfully related words and phrases are found within close proximity to each other.
From the first footprint proceeds a second, making a similar statement. This second footprint also proceeds from the word 'Jesus' within the first footprint. Both are shown below.
Looking further, we see that yet another pattern of threes has been made. This pattern ends along with the fourth verse of Genesis, making two neat patterns of footprints precisely covering the first four verses.
Note that this final table includes the formal statement 'The Second Coming of Jesus Christ'.
The standard value of this statement is 1595, which is 11 x 29 x 5. 11 and 29 are the reduced values of 'Jesus' and 'Messiah'. 5 is the number of God's grace and favour. The first four verses sum to 2794, which is 11 x 254. 254 is the standard value of 'Risen' and the ordinal value of 'Our Lord Jesus Christ'. Finally, the first four verses use sixty-one words, and 61 is the ordinal value of 'Coming'!
Following the Trail
These footprints begin a trail that leads us to far-flung regions of the NIV Bible. Here are a few signposts to follow.
To witness further imprints within the first few verses of Genesis and much more,
To see the Royal seal upon the NIV Bible and the four statements that bookend it,
Finally, to view the glorious geometric form of that first footprint,
Afterword
The footprints, of course, are of Jesus Christ, who has now stepped back into history. The New Bible Code and the events it inteprets for us are all expressions of the larger event Christians call Jesus' Second Coming. Throughout this site you will see further evidence of my astonishing assertion, evidence gathered from within the pages of NIV Bible, the attacks of September 11, 2001, and other millennial events, western culture and even the movements of the spheres. All have been testaments to the second manifestation of the Son of God.
Bill Downie
6/12/15
Updated 11/12/15
Notes
1. New International Version Bible, 1984 Edition.
2. Any text can be considered as overlapping strings of words; ie, the string beginning from word one, the string beginning from word 2, then word 3, etc, etc. The odds against hitting a desired number as we calculate along the first string is around one in 50 (the average word value). Now if we begin again from word 2, then word 3, 4, 5 etc, we will have found almost any desired number by string 60 or 70 (which in the NIV Bible starts around Genesis 1.5). However, finding a number significant in gematria on the first shot is obviously much less probable - in fact, twice as improbable as finding it in the first two shots, three times as improbable for the first three shots, etc. Word strings that align with textual features, such as strings beginning with or encompasing a verse, are also more significant of course, but none more so than the string beginning at the Bible's very first word! There are other forms of the encoded statement, which increases the chances of finding the standard value of one of them up to maybe 1 in 10. But as you will see, this encoding is part of a larger pattern that, taken as a whole, cut the odds against it being a chance occurence to practically zero.
3. The number of words is also significant. 'Jesus' is encoded over twelve words, this being the biblical number of perfect government. Even the number of letters appears to be deliberate. There are 51 letters, 51 being the reduced value of 'Our Lord Jesus'. Too much analysis obscures the larger message, and so I seldom go into this level of detail, but for this initial imprint it is helpful.
4. For an informed discussion about the Hebrew name by which Jesus would have been called, see here.
5. I used the binomial formula, with probability of occurence (p) = 0.02, number of trials (n) = 13, number of successes (k) = 4.
6. The four statements are SECOND COMING, THE SECOND COMING, COMING, THE COMING. Obviously, "Second Coming" is even more significant than "Coming". There are other forms of the statement, such as SECOND ADVENT, SECOND APPEARING, etc. But SECOND COMING is the most meaningful to people and it is no accident that this is the phrase we find here at this preeminent location.
7. This is the modus operandum of the New Bible Code: the numbers can be replaced by words and phrases meaningfully related to each other and to the text, via two systems of gematria (thereby greatly reducing any possible bleedthrough of information). The large numbers obtained by the standard value system ensure that there will be a very meagre choice of words and short phrases to match to the number. For instance the number 391 will be shared by only around one word in 400. Yes, any word or phrase with the same standard value could be slotted in, but they would nearly always be unrelated in meaning. What glues the code together is the meaning it conveys.