Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. © Copyright 2010 - 2023   All rights reserved. Daniel 11 Explained (condensed ‘one page’ commentary) ‘Matthew 24’ Explained (must match Revelation) The ‘Seals’ Explained (Revelation timeline revealed) Seven Churches Explained (Past & Present Church Prophecy) Note: the ‘Sitemap’ shows a complete list of all pages (by category). ‘Homepage’ gives 3 simple steps + timelines + summary.   God’s Timeline of 37’s (A Solution to God’s Riddle of 666)  Introduction    The 666 could have multiple meanings, but one solution led me to God’s timeline of 37’s, which is a truly amazing set of events that happened within multiples of 37-years.  Only God could have constructed such a timeline of events, which shows His ultimate power and control.  Plus, this timeline wasn’t going to be found or solved until God was ready because it contains info from the correct interpretation of Daniel 11, which was ‘sealed until the time of the end’.  Revelation 13:18 “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.”  related page: ‘The 70th Seven’ (must match Daniel 11) related page: The Antichrist (Daniel 11:36) related page: The ‘Antichrist’ (Daniel 11:36) Originally written: 12-03-2015             Side Note:   I never would have discovered God’s “Timeline of 37’s” if I hadn’t already discovered the real meaning of Daniel 11, which highlights the Shiites as the “final empire”, starting in verse 21, and leading to the ‘abomination’, in verse 31.      Honestly, it’s the only interpretation of Daniel 11 that makes any sense and it’s proving itself by continuing to happen in the Middle East.   See current events (Dan 11:31)  Solution to God’s riddle of 666   Simply put, the number 666 must be divided by the sum of its digits (18) to reveal ‘man’s number’, which is “37”.  That’s why the riddle says to “calculate” the ‘number of the beast or man’s number’, but then gives a number, 666, which requires no calculation.  It’s a riddle.  The number 666 is used to “calculate” man’s number: 666 / (6+6+6) = “37”.  After God led me to this solution, I discovered a whole “timeline of 37’s,” which proved how much God was controlling certain things in the world, throughout history.  Note: The ‘timeline of years’ doesn’t depend on any human calendar because it has its own logical starting point and proceeds by counting ‘years’, which are just revolutions of the earth around the sun.  God tells time by the sun, moon, and stars. How God led me to this timeline?   It’s an interesting story because if God planned for me to find this, then it shows that He planned way before I was ever born, since it starts with my late-dad’s birthday.  His birthday was approaching and I was thinking about the date, which was Jan 11^th or 1-11.  Then, a voice in my head asked, “Is 111 a prime number?”  It must have been God because prime numbers were the farthest thing from my mind.  I said it must be divisible by 3 (due to the common math rule), which led to the 37, which was a fairly large prime number.  I thought if 37 went into 111, then it must go into 666, which eventually led to the whole timeline.  Thus, it only took God 5-words to spark the whole thing, but my late-dad’s birthday was the key detail that provided the match.  God’s timeline of 37’s   The main thing that proves “37” is the solution to God’s riddle in Revelation 13 are the events that happened in Islam and the Church, in units of ‘37-years’. [Chart above]  537 BC – God’s “Book of Truth” was revealed to Daniel   Daniel 11, God’s “Book of Truth”, was given to Daniel in the 3^rd year of King Cyrus’ reign of Babylon (where Daniel was living), which was 537 BC. [Note: 1^st year - 539 BC, 538, 537]    Note: I previously started the timeline at 610 AD because it was the start of Islam but this recent discovery makes even better sense because it shows that God started controlling certain events on multiples of 37-years as soon as He gave the “Book of Truth” to Daniel.  Plus, it makes better sense because God said to “calculate the number of the beast” in Revelation 13, which was written way before Muhammad was ever born.  Therefore, God already had the number ‘37’ in mind when Muhammad received his vision.  167 BC – Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the 2^nd Jewish Temple   Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes was different from previous Seleucid or Ptolemaic rulers (four winds - Dan. 11:4) because he forbade the Jewish religious practices, which led to a revolt.  In 167 BC, after squashing the revolt, he ordered that an altar to Zeus be set up in the 2^nd Jewish Temple, and that pigs be sacrificed on the altars to punish the Jews.  Subsequently, Judah Maccabee led another revolt that defeated the Seleucids and afterwards, the Jews cleansed the Temple.  Antiochus IV Epiphanes died, in Syria, before he could enact revenge and his successor made a compromise to restore religious freedoms to the Jews.    It’s interesting that the reviled acts came exactly 777-years before the vision to Muhammad.  It’s like God was bringing one era to a finish, in 610 AD, while another era was just starting.  Note: Some people have attributed the altar to Zeus to being the ‘abomination that causes desolation’ but it couldn’t have been because Jesus refers to the abomination in the future.  Nevertheless, it was indeed a significant event, due to where it lands on God’s timeline.    Note: I must give proper credit to a loyal reader of the website, Mark S., for pointing out that 167 BC was indeed on the timeline.  It was brought to his attention because a rare coin from King Antiochus’s rule was recently discovered in Jerusalem.  The discovery of the coin was odd because excavations had ended in that area, almost 30 years ago, but it was found in a garden near the Tower of David, next to a wall, during routine conservation work.  Seeing that year on the timeline led me to the above 537 BC.  God does work in mysterious ways. 610 - Muhammad’s vision and the ‘Final Empire’ in Daniel 11   610 AD is an important year the timeline because it was the start of Islam.  That was the year that Muhammad supposedly received his vision from Allah and began preaching in Mecca.  Note: It’s not the start of the Islamic calendar because Muhammad was ridiculed for about 12 years, until he gathered his family and a few followers and moved to Medina, where they spread their new religion by force.  That particular move is the start of the Islamic calendar.  Of course, they returned later to conquer Mecca and the rest is history.  Muhammad and his 1st four caliphs, called the Rashidun Caliphate, was the original ‘king of the south’ in Daniel 11:5.   Notice: From Muhammad’s vision in 610 AD to the start of Daniel’s final empire in Dan 11:21, which started in 1979, is exactly ‘37 units of 37-years’.  In other words, 610 AD + (37x37) years = 1979.  Perfection for the number of the beast!    Seriously, the ‘start of Islam’ is connected to the ‘start of the final empire’ or Islamic Revolution in Daniel 11:21, by a ‘perfect square’ of the solution to God’s riddle in Rev 13.  Can there be any doubt?  Plus, Muhammad’s vision was 666 yrs from Osman’s vision. (below) 869 - The birth of the 12^th and final Imam   869 AD was the birth of the 12^th and final Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who disappeared at age 5 (called the occultation) but whom the Shiites believe will return to bring justice and righteousness to the world (before Jesus returns).  Note: The Sunni have a similar belief about a Mahdi, but believe it could be anyone, not the divine return of this individual.  In any event, the 12^th Imam is an important figure in Twelver Islam because that’s how Twelvers got their name.  Plus, it’s the type of Shia Islam practiced in Iran and Iraq.    His birth is on God’s timeline of 37’s because: 610 AD + (7x37) years = 869 AD.  1276 - Osman’s vision (connected by 666 years)   1276 was when Osman received his vision of a vast empire that stretched to three continents, mentioned in Daniel 11:14.  His descendants formed the Ottoman Empire and several generations later, the vision was fulfilled because they controlled parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, for over 400 years (outlined in Daniel 11: 15-19).    What’s even more significant is that both major visions in Islam, Muhammad’s and Osman’s, were separated by 666 years:  610 AD + 666 years = 1276. 1054 & 1720 - The ‘Church’s’ connection   1054 was the mutual excommunications, which took place between the Western Church (Rome) and the Eastern Church (Constantinople), which started the “great schism.”    The ‘schism’ is on God’s timeline of 37’s because: 610 AD + (12x37) years = 1054. It effectively divided Church #3 from Church #4 in the Seven Churches of Revelation 2 & 3.   1720 has a connection because that’s when Peter-the-Great eliminated the Patriarch of Russia and replaced him with a secular assembly, called the Holy Synod (actually in Jan 1721). (It seems that Peter-the-Great wasn’t very religious.)  That was the largest eastern church at the time because Constantinople had been taken over by Islam (changed to Istanbul).  Note: The Patriarch of Russia was restored in 1917, after the Russian revolution.  Yet, it’s interesting that two major events concerning the east and west churches happened almost exactly 666 yr apart.   2016 has a connection because the leaders of the Western Church (Pope in Rome) and Eastern Church (Patriarch of Russia) met for the first time since 1054, in Cuba, on February 12, 2016. Note: They met just one day after Iran’s 37^th anniversary started.  It was the first event that I noticed being in a multiple of 37-years and it caused me to start finding all the other events. 1979 - Major events in the North, South, and Israel   1979 was an important year with the Shiites of Iran, who are the ‘North’ in Daniel 11, starting with verse 21 (Islamic Revolution), and extending to the end of the chapter.  It literally brought the resurgence of Shia influence and power in the Middle East, which was almost gone.    1979 also brought changes in Saudi Arabia, which is the ‘South’ in Daniel 11:25.  The Grand Mosque in Mecca was seized by a group of 400-500 insurgents, who claimed that they were being led by the Mahdi (Sunni).  They claimed that the Saudi government was corrupt and must be disbanded, which didn’t sit well with the House of Saud.  The insurgents were eventually routed and killed, including the supposed Mahdi.  Yet, in the aftermath of the seizure, the House of Saud enacted much stricter enforcements of Sharia Law and Wahhabism, which is the jihadi or terrorist form of Islam, which they spread worldwide.    1979 also brought the first peace treaty between Arabs and Jews, when Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, signed a peace agreement with Israeli president, Menachem Begin.    As I said, 1979 is an important year on the timeline: 610 AD + (37x37) years = 1979. Page available for printing on PDF. Current Events from Daniel 11 (matching the Middle East) Who is the Antichrist?   Briefly, the 666 potentially points to Ahmadinejad because he was the 6^th president of Iran, the final empire, (which started in Daniel 11:21), and he turned 60 years old within the 37^th anniversary, which is a lot of 6’s, considering 37 is the solution to the 666 riddle.   Other than his age and personality, Ahmadinejad is a ‘long-shot’ to fulfill another riddle in Revelation 17 (about the eight kings), if he can become the 8th president.  Of course, that would probably be after the rapture.  Note: There are other possibilities for the 8th king (or president) but they don’t fit the riddle quite as well.  See antichrist page for more details. The Mathematical Anomaly of “37”  (read if you like math)    As I pointed out above, any 3-like-digits divided by their sum equals “37”, man’s number. Mathematically written: 111/3 = 222/6 = 333/9 = ... = 37   As it turns out, the rule is also consistent with other ‘amounts of like-digits, but they don’t always come out to an even number. I mean with 2-digits:            11/2 = 22/4 = 33/6 = ... = 5.5 Likewise with 4-digits:   1111/4 = 2222/8 = 3333/12 ... = 277.75   It doesn’t come out even again until you get to 9-like-digits, which is 3².                        111111111/9 = ... = 12,345,679.  (No remainder)    The answer sparked my interest (8 digits, in order, without the 8) so I had to investigate farther.  I found that the 8 was not significant but there was definitely a ‘pattern within a pattern’.  A ‘pattern within a pattern’ that results in “what?”    My curiosity got the best of me so I did the next in the series, which I figured was 27-like-digits (3³) and sure enough; it came out to an even number (no remainder). I had to use paper and a calculator to make the long division shorter, which still took 4 steps, but a definite pattern emerged.  (I used 1’s but I’m sure the rule is consistent for all digits.)      Answer: 27-like-digits / sum-of-digits = 411 522 633 744 855 967 078 189 3. (25 digits)    At first glance, it looks like it goes out of rhythm but it really doesn't.  It’s an ascending series of 9-groups of 3-digits each but when a 9 goes to 10, the 1 gets absorbed into the previous digit.  For example: the series should have been 855, 966, 1077, 1188, and 1299, but the 1’s in the 10 and 11 got absorbed into the previous digit and made 966 into 967 and 077 into 078.  Think about it.  In the last group in the series, which would have been 299, both 9’s got rounded up and shortened to 3, so it would have the required 25-digits with no remainder.  That pattern holds true as you go up to 81-digits (3⁴).    Answer: 81-like-digits / sum-of-digits = 137174211 248285322 359396433 470507544 581618655 692729766 803840877 914951989 0260631 (79-digits, no-remainder)    Once again, it’s 9-groups but with 9-digits each.  The last group has 2 less digits because it would have ended with 99, which got rounded up and shortened, like the previous example.  I double checked my work.      That’s when I saw a third pattern because there’s always ‘9 groups’, with the last group shortened.  The first group will always end with 1’s, and the last group 9’s, but the last set of 9’s gets rounded up and shortened to make the proper number of digits, with no remainder.  Plus, the number of digits in each group is always 2 factors of 3 less than the number of digits you start with. (2 less in the exponent)   For example: 27-like-digits (3³) yielded an answer with 3 (3¹) in each group.   Likewise: 81-like-digits (3⁴) yielded an answer with 9 (3²) in each group. So what’s my point?    When going back down, the pattern reveals an interesting point about the number ‘37’.   For example: 9-like-digits (3²) yielded an answer with 1 (3⁰) in each group.   Finally: 3-like-digits (3¹) yields an answer with 1/3 digit (3^-1) in each group.   Thus, the answer ‘37’ is essentially a number with no digits, which makes no logical sense.  It’s a mathematical anomaly.  And when you think about it, man’s number having “no digits” is like man bringing “nothing into the world and taking nothing out”.    On the other hand, if you consider ‘37’ as ‘1/3 digit’ and multiply by 3 to make ‘1-digit’ again, then it equals ‘111’.  So how can “3-like-1’s” be just-1-digit?  It’s kind of like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being 3-like-Individuals who are One-in-Spirit.  Just a philosophical observation about the number 37. The Abomination (Daniel 11:31) done Recent Events ISIS - Saudi - Turkey (Daniel 11: 24-27) Final Events to the Abomination (Daniel 11: 28-30) Shiites re-take Persia + America’s Role Begins (Daniel 11: 21-23) soon done done 2016 - Gone but not forgotten    Well, the 37^th anniversary of Iran (2016) was a wild year that saw Daniel 11 advance from verse 26 to 31 (just in the 2^nd half).  Plus, Trump was elected, who has advanced things in Israel and brought the abomination closer by creating conflict.  Here is a quick summary from Daniel 11, showing how things sped up in 2016.   2016 Triangular Numbers    To make a long story short, someone e-mailed me and told me that 666 was “triangular.”  Now, math was always my favorite subject, and I took a lot in college, but ‘triangular numbers’ were never mentioned.  After checking what they were, I found that a triangular numbers are just the sum of a finite, ascending series of numbers, starting with one.  Mathematically written:  T = {1+2+3+4+ … + n}   The reason it’s called “triangular” is that if you arrange coins on a table and stagger them so that each row has one additional coin, then it makes a triangle. (right)    It was interesting to me, not just because 666 qualifies, but because 666 was not the only triangular number in the Bible.  As you can imagine, the higher the number, the more extraordinary it becomes.  One occurrence might be a coincidence but several can’t be an accident.  I also read that these are the only 3-digit numbers in the New Testament.  Acts 1:15 – approximate # of people in the room = 120 = {1+2+3+4+ … +15} John 21:11 – exact # of fish caught in the net = 153 = {1+2+3+4+ … +17} Acts 27:37 – exact # of passengers in Paul's shipwreck = 276 = {1+2+3+4+ … +23} Rev 13:18 – the number of the beast = 666 = {1+2+3+4+ … +36}   I’m really not into numerology but I chose to include this because it complements the above math section.  I mean, this illustrates that God used sums of ascending numbers in the Bible, including 666.  The math section above, which started with 666, revealed ever increasing quantities of ascending digits.  Obviously, God likes things to ascend, rather than descend.    Additionally, any ‘3-like-digit’ number, divided by its ‘sum of digits’, was equal to ‘37’, but only 666 is also a ‘triangular number’, which is kind-of distinguishing from the others.    Of course, I don’t go around looking for examples of numerology but I’m aware that God created an orderly universe that operates on mathematical formulas.  It’s no wonder that He also embedded numbers in the Bible, with formulas, to show His order and control.    As a bonus: The total number of books in the Bible = 66 = {1+2+3+4+ … + 11}  The question is: Did God plan it that way? … Probably. Human Fun Facts   ‘37’ degrees Celsius is the healthy human body temperature.  I never realized, because Americans use Fahrenheit, but someone told me by e-mail.  (He knows who he is.)  I agree that it’s no accident because the Celsius scale is based on 100 units between the freezing point of water and the boiling point of water.  You can see on my page called “Creation vs. Science” that water was very important in the beginning, which is why it’s found in all living things, plant and animal.  In fact, one could say that water was God’s first ‘earthly’ creation because God’s Spirit was above the ‘waters’, even before the earth had form. (Genesis 1:1-2)  Anyway, it’s interesting that the human body, which is mostly water, was designed to maintain a healthy temperature that is 37% between the two extremes.  That gives a slightly different meaning to the term “man’s number.”    Another interesting fact I noticed, while checking the conversion, is that ‘if’ the Fahrenheit scale started at zero, the human body temp would be 66.6 degrees F.  (98.6 - 32 = 66.6) In other words, the Fahrenheit scale has 180 units, between the freezing point and boiling point of water (212-32), and 37% of 180 just happens to be 66.6 degrees.  It just seems odd to me, given that there’s only been two temperature scales, throughout history, that I know of.    While I’m on the subject, a different person e-mailed me, a long time ago, and pointed out that Carbon atoms, which are found in all living things (basis of Carbon dating), have 6 protons, 6 electrons, and 6 neutrons, which is another fun fact concerning “man’s number.” 537 BC 3rd year of Cyrus The Book of Truth (Dan 11) given to Daniel. Daniel 10:1 610 AD Muhammad  received his original vision that started Islam. Daniel 11:5 167 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes ordered an altar to Zeus to be erected in the 2nd Temple. 1054 The “great schism” begins, which divides east/west (churches 3&4) of 7-churches Revelation 3&4 1276 Osman receives a vision of a great empire, which later becomes the Ottomans. Daniel 11:14 1350 peak of the black plague  in Europe (1346-1353) Rev 2: 21-23 1720 Peter the Great eliminated the Patriarch of Russia. ‘east church’ (Jan 1721) 1979 The Islamic Revolution of Iran, which started the final empire in Daniel 11:21. 2016 Many things happened, particularly Dan 11: 26-30, leading to the Abomination in Daniel 11:31 God’s Timeline of 37’s - Chart  *marked to scale (starting when Daniel was given God’s “Book of Truth” - Daniel 11) 10 units x 37 370 years 21 units x 37 777 years 7 x 37 259 years 6 x 37 222 yrs 2x  74y 10 x 37 370 yrs 7 x 37 259 yrs 1x  37y 666 years 37 x 37 years 1369 years (start of Islam to the start of the final empire) 869 AD Birth of the 12th Imam (or Mahdi) Comments: 1. Notice that Muhammad’s vision (610) and Osman’s vision (1276) were both notable visions in Islam and they were 666 years apart. [light green] 2. Most notable is the 37x37 years (1369 years) between the start of Islam (Muhammad’s vision -610 AD) and the start of the final empire (Iran’s Islamic Revolution -1979) 5 x 37  185y Added: 4-26-2020 Clarification: Why the 6’s?   To be clear, God could have used any 3-like-digit number and the “calculation” (dividing by the sum of digits) would have yielded the same result.  I’m not trying to hide anything.  Mathematically written: 111/3 = 222/6 = 333/9 = … = 666/18 = … = 999/27 = ‘37’. Thus, the fact that God used 6’s instead of another number could have significance in a different sense, either past or future.    In the past, ancient Babylon who is referred to, in Revelation, as the “Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth” (Rev 17:5) had a unique number system based on ‘60’.  The advantage of such a large base is not immediately obvious, but one observation is that 60 is the smallest number that 1-6 will all divide into evenly.  It’s known that the Babylonians were avid astronomers, so their number system could have helped with circular movements.  It has a lasting legacy in the 60-minutes of a clock or 360 (6x60) degrees of a circle.  The ancient Babylonians were also the first to create a mythical god, Marduk, rather than worshipping physical objects such as the sun, moon, etc, which could be the basis for their infamous title.  I talk a lot more about Marduk and ancient Babylon on the page explaining Daniel 11:37-38.    In the future, the 6’s or 37 could have some connection to the antichrist or mark of the beast, since that’s the chapter in which it appears, but that won’t come into play until well after the 6th Seal rapture and multitude in heaven (Rev 6 and 7), so I wouldn’t worry about it.  I talk a lot more about the antichrist when explaining Daniel 11:36.  I’m not saying that the timeline of 37’s is the only reason God used 6’s in His riddle, but I’m pretty sure the intended calculation is to divide by the sum of its digits because it leads to a whole timeline of events of Biblical proportion, which are all separated by multiples of 37-years!  Only God could do that.  Added: 5-09-2020 Also simplified mathematical anomaly section: 5-09-2020 Simplified: 5-09-2020 Verses 15-19 - The rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, from 1453 to 1919.  Verse 20 - The British Mandate, which spanned from 1919 to 1948. Verse 21 – Final Empire begins - The Islamic Revolution in Iran took place in 1979. Verse 22 – Saddam Hussein’s defeat, in 2003, and withdrawal of US forces in 2011  gave Iran the opportunity to expand into Iraq.  Verse 23 – The interim nuclear deal with Iran was signed in Nov-2013, which eventually put Iran back on the world stage. Verse 24 – The ISIS invasion of Mosul was in June-2014, which ultimately led to Iran            gaining a military foothold in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon (ancient Mesopotamia). Verse 25 – Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen, in March 2015, because they said the Houthis            were allied with Iran. (South vs. North) Verse 26 – The attempted coup in Turkey, in July 2016, turned Erdogan away from            Saudi Arabia and more towards Russia, Iran, and Assad.  Verse 27 – The G20 summit, in Sept 2016, where Erdogan sat with Crown Prince            Muhammad bin Salman, from Saudi Arabia, despite accusations that            Saudi Arabia at least knew about the attempted coup ahead of time.  Verse 28 – Later, in Sept-2016, President Rouhani of Iran used the UN General Assembly            to complain to the P5+1 that the US wasn’t upholding their end of the nuclear deal (JCPOA), which resulted in the unfreezing of most of Iran’s wealth, which further financed their spread into ancient Mesopotamia.  Verse 28 is the first of the modern verses to use the term ‘king of the North’ and it refers to Iran. Verses 29-30 – In Dec-2016, the UN Security Council approved resolution 2334,            which condemned Israeli settlements and demanded that all building be stopped.             Note: That vote was historic because the US refrained from vetoing as they            normally did.  In Dec 2017, the UN voted 128-9 to condemn Trump’s declaration             that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, thus “forsaking the holy covenant.”   As you can see, the verses went from being about one-century apart, to about one-year apart.  They got even closer, in 2016, which is understandable, since 2016 was on God’s timeline of 37’s, which has a lot to do with the Muslims.  Yet, I now realize that God works on multiple timelines, at the same time, and His 19-year Metonic cycle has more to do with the land of Israel that He promised the Jews.    At first glance, it would seem that a gap has been forming, since Dec-2017, but I don’t think so because I think God left verse 30 vague on purpose, like Seal 5, so the date of the rapture would not be obvious.  In other words, verse 30 talks of ‘venting his fury against the holy covenant’ and ‘showing favor to those who forsake the holy covenant’.  Well, the “holy covenant” is the land of Israel that God promised.  The Muslims, especially Iran and the Palestinians have been condemning the holy covenant since Israel became a nation again, but more so recently.  Showing favor to others who forsake is just trying to rally other nations to their cause.  The Palestinians continue to that regularly by asking to be recognised in the UN.  My point is: Verse 30 is already satisfied, but will continue until the uprising in verse 31 takes place.  That is similar to Seal 5, concerning Christian martyrs spreading the gospel, which will also continue until the 6th Seal is broken and the Rapture takes place.  Therefore, God left both accounts vague to keep the exact date secret, but there’s no gap in either.  Note: 26 & 27 go together