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[Topics] > Links and KeyLinks

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Isaiah 22.22

The Unity of Scripture revealed in the structure of the Wheel manifests in the thematic integration of the content of each Spoke. The degree of integration can be measured by analyzing the distribution of words specific to the theme throughout the Bible. For example, the article Creation discusses the distribution of two fundamental root words meaning to create (Hebrew: bara, Greek ktidzo). This graph represents the results:

The prominent peak, which is about ten times above average, corresponds to Spoke 1. It demonstrates that the integration of the theme of Creation with the content of Spoke 1 is indeed an objectively measurable property of the Bible. Such links are represented as follows:

Thematic Link: Creation
Genesis Isaiah Romans


Definition: KeyLink
Words, sets of words, phrases, and even whole verses are found distributed only on a given Spoke of the Wheel. These KeyLinks are extremely common in Scripture. I currently have 1,897 recorded in my database. The Interactive Hypertext BibleWheel allows you to visually navigate many of the most significant KeyLinks on the Wheel.

A typical example of a KeyLink uniting the content of two books on Spoke 15 is found in the distribution of the name Haggai. It occurs in exactly two books - Ezra and Haggai - which occupy Cell 15 and Cell 37 on Spoke 15. The Prophet Haggai is a KeyLink:

Spoke 15 KeyLink: The Prophet Haggai
EzrachainHaggai

If there is a set of words or a phrase that forms a thematic link between content on a given Spoke, but are also found elsewhere in Scripture, the set of words or phrase is simply called a Link. These are technical terms. I am careful to use them with these specific meanings.

KeyLinks also play a fundamental role in the correlation between the 66 Books of the Bible with the 66 Chapters of Isaiah. For example, searching the entire KJV for all occurrences of the phrase "that ye may know and believe" yields exactly two verses:

KeyLink: That Ye May Know And Believe
Bible Book 43.10 (John 10.37f) Isaiah 43.10
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

This KeyLink can be repesented two ways. First, we can represent it using the names of the Books:

KeyLink: That Ye May Know And Believe
Isaiah 43.10chainJohn 10

Alternately, we can use geometric notation to display the fact that this KeyLink is actually a first order projective KeyLink:

keyKeyLink: That Ye May Know And Believe
PIsaiah( 43, 10 ) chain PBible( 43, 10 )

 

Texts and Translations:

This KeyLink differs from the first two discussed above in that it is sensative to which textual tradition one uses. Basically, there are two fundamental textual traditions that matter when studying the New Testament:

  • The Majority Text (MT): This represents the vast majority (~90%) of extant New Testament manuscripts. It is the basis of the King James Version and the New King James Version. The Textus Receptus is of this textform.
  • The Egyptian Texform (NU): This is the basis of the Nestle-Aland and the United Bible Societies Greek New Testaments. It is refered to as the NU textform. Almost all modern translations, such as the NIV, ASV, NASB, RSV, and NRSV, use this textform.

Most of the KeyLinks I have discovered are independent of both textform and translation, but there are a number of highly significant variations that need to be discussed. The KeyLink "that ye may know and believe" is a prime example. In the Majority Text, the Greek manuscript reads as follows:

In the Egyptian textform, this phrase is written as:

Though the difference appears slight, and probably does not carry a great theological significance, (though it may, considering the spiritual effect of belief versus mere understanding), the difference in light of the precise mathematical correlation between the structure of the Chapters of Isaiah with the Books of the Bible is enormous. Simply stated, this KeyLink exists only in the Majority Text!

Yet there is more. If we examine the Greek form of Isaiah 43.10, as passed down through the Septuagint (LXX), we find something quite astounding. Here is the phrase as it appears in this ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament:

The text from Septuagint version of Isaiah 43.10 is a letter-for-letter reproduction of the text found in John 10 of the the Majority Text! It is for reasons such as these (and many others) that I have become strongly convinced that God has preserved the Majority text as the primary witness of his Word.

 

Versions

The vast majority of KeyLinks discussed in these pages exist in all versions of the Bible. This is because they are a property of the Bible itself. Yet there are highly significant exceptions to this general rule.

There are two kinds a variations that must be recognized:

  • Variations due to different translations of the same underlying Greek or Hebrew text.
  • Variations due to different underlying textforms.

Variations due to translation are usually, but not always, inconsequential. For example, searching the entire KJV for all occurrences of the phrase "Israel shall be saved" yields exactly 2 verses. One from Isaiah 45 and one from Romans, Book 45 of the Bible. As written, this KeyLink is missing from the NIV. But that is not at all significant, because the KeyLink does exist in the NIV in the form "Israel will be saved."

In order to get a reasonable view of the significance of the various KeyLinks discovered in Scripture, the following seven English versions will be used for comparison:

Source Abr. Name
MT KJV King James Version
MT NKJV New King James Version
NU NIV New International Version
NU ASV 1901 American Standard Version
NU NASB New American Standard Bible
NU RSV Revised Standard Version
NU NRSV New Revised Standard Version

 

Example: The Everlasting God

Searching the entire KJV for all occurrences of the phrase "the everlasting God" yields exactly three verses: one from each of the books that constitute Spoke 1 of the Wheel:

Genesis 21.33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
Isaiah 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.
Romans 16.25 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:

These verses actually represent three KeyLinks:

KeyLink: The Everlasting God
Genesis Isaiah Romans

The phrase "the everlasting God" distinguishes these three books from all other books of the Bible. But in addition, it also distinguishes the KJV and its derivative NKJV from all the other five English versions of Bible used for comparison. Of the seven major versions listed above, only the KJV and NKJV fully manifest this KeyLink.

The table below displays the distribution of the two phrases "everlasting God" and "eternal God" as they appear throughout the seven major versions. The table is exhaustive; it lists all occurrences of these phrases. KeyLinks are written in bold. The versions with KeyLinks between all three Cycles are highlighted with a white background:

Version Genesis 21.33 Isaiah 40.28 Romans 16.25 Deut. 33.27
KJV Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God
NKJV Everlasting God Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God
NIV Eternal God Everlasting God Eternal God Eternal God
ASV Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God Eternal God
NASB Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God Eternal God
RSV Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God Eternal God
NRSV Everlasting God Everlasting God Eternal God ancient gods

The first thing to note is that the theme of Spoke 1 is independent of translation. Any faithful rendering will express it since it is contained in the Greek and Hebrew texts.

The only difference amongst the versions is their use of eternal and everlasting. In and of itself, this is utterly insignificant since these words are theologically equivalent. But in light of the Wheel, the difference is great indeed because it destroys the uniqueness of the links on Spoke 1.

The NIV is particularly disappointing in that all three KeyLinks linking Genesis to Isaiah, Genesis to Romans, and Isaiah to Romans are lost. Though the phrase "eternal God" does form a link between Genesis and Romans in the NIV, it is not a KeyLink since the phrase also appears in Deuteronomy on Spoke 5.

The degradation of God’s signature is only slightly less pronounced in the other versions since they preserve one KeyLink between Genesis and Isaiah. Unfortunately, the NIV, which is fast becoming the most popular version, contains no KeyLinks at all based on either "the everlasting God" or "the eternal God" and so of the seven versions listed, it exhibits the least evidence of divine inspiration. It lacks the KeyLink signature of the everlasting God.






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