The Chilam Balam and the Prophecy of the End-time Flood

The last page of the Dresdin Codex, which depicts a flood issuing from the mouth of a serpent-type creature

 

 

I have just recently came across a Mayan prophecy related to the 2012 phenomenon, which rather startlingly, appears to link the end of the cycle of 13 baktuns in the Long Count Calendar (which finishes at 21st December 2012) with the Second Coming of Christ and a massive flood that will bring about the end of the world. This is a rather striking parallel to the hypothesis I forward in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse, concerning the Second Coming and its relation to the future mega-tsunami event caused by the collapse of the volcano Cumbre Vieja on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The prophecy is found in the Chilam Balam - a syncreticistic text (in a similar vein to the Sibylline Oracles), compiled between the 17th-18th centuries, consisting of Christian reinterpretations of much older Mayan prophecies. It mentions prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards and the new religion of Christianity, which rapidly spread amongst the native peoples due to the miraculous intervention of Our Lady of Guadeloupe.

The most remarkable section of this text is undoubtedly that which mentions the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Mayan calendar:

 

But when the law of the katun shall have run its course, then God will bring about a

great deluge again which will be the end of the world. When this is over, then our Lord
Jesus Christ shall descend over the valley of Jehoshaphat beside the town of Jerusalem where he redeemed us with his holy blood. He shall descend on a great cloud to bear true testimony that he was once obliged to suffer, stretched out on a cross of wood.
Then shall descend in his great power and glory the true God who created heaven and
earth and everything on earth. He shall descend to level off the world for the good and
the bad, the conquerors and the captives.
(Roys, R. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Washington D.C, Carnegie Institution, 1933, p54. See the full text online here)

 

 

The first thing we should consider here is the timing of the Second Coming mentioned in this prophecy. On an initial reading, it seems that the text states that the Parousia will occur after a future deluge comes to destroy the world. But the chronology of this prophecy depends on how we interpret the clause "when this is over". As we have already noted, on a cursory glance it seems that this clause refers to the world-destroying flood, which would place the Second Coming after the world has already ended - which obviously doesn't make much sense, since there would be no one living to witness it. It thus seems more logical to read the clause "when this is over" as applying to the end of the "law of the katun" - which should be equated with the completion of the 13th baktun. This would give it the more sensible meaning of "when [the law of the katun] is over, then our Lord Jesus Christ shall descend over the valley of Jehoshaphat..."

The above prophecy found in the Chilam Balam has some interesting parallels to the oldest known Mayan inscription which speaks of the end of the thirteenth baktun, wherin we are told of the coming of a god known as Bolon-Yokte, who it is foretold will descend from the sky during this time period:

 

 

The Thirteenth ‘Bak’tun” will be finished
(on) Four Ajaw, the Third of Uniiw (K’ank’in).
? will occur.
(It will be) the descent(??) of the Nine Support? God(s) to the ?.”

http://decipherment.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/more-on-tortugueros-monument-6-and-the-prophecy-that-wasnt/

 

 

This text, which was recently discovered at the archaeological site of Tortuguero in Mexico has generated widespread interest by 2012 enthusiasts, since it is the only known Mayan inscription which mentions the end of the 13th baktun. The "nine support god(s)" referred to here is the literal translation of the name Bolon-Yokte (the word bolon meaning "nine" in the language of the Maya). An alternative translation of this text is given by Maya scholar Sven Gronemeyer:

 

 

7 days 7 Uinals 0 Tuns and 8 Katuns, previously it happened. On 8 Chuen 9 Mak, it was completed for re-birthing*, the pibnaah of Ahkal K'uk. It was 2 days, 9 Uinals, 3 Tuns, 8 Katuns and 3 Baktuns before the 13^th Baktun is completed on 4 Ahau 3 Kankin. Then it will happen - darkness, and Bolon-Yokte will descend to the (???)

 

 

Geoff Stray, a prominent writer on the 2012 phenomenon, explains some of the background of this god of the ancient Maya:

 

 

The first question this prompts is, "Who is Bolon-Yokte?" Bolon Yokte is the God of Nine Strides, (or the God of Numerous Strides, since Bolon, which means "nine" is often used as "many"). Sometimes referred to as B'olon Yookte' K'u, or B'olon Okte' K'uh, where K'uh means deity, he has also been called Ah Bolon Yocte of Nine Paths in the post-conquest books of Chilam Balam. The god has an association with the underworld, conflict and war, dangerous transition times, social unrest, eclipses and natural disasters like Earthquakes. He appears at the end of baktuns, assisted at the Creation of the current world and will be present at the next Creation in 2012. Other translations of the name are God of Nine Steps; the Nine-Footed God; and Jaguar-Foot-Tree, because the word bolon or balan (nine) was used by the Maya as a pun for balam (jaguar). The god was seen alternatively as nine individuals or as a collective god.

http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/StrayG1.php

We can find another slightly altered version of this same myth in the Chilam Balam, just before the section which mentions the end-time flood and the Second Coming of Jesus:

 

 

Then it was that the lord of Katun 11 Ahau spread his feet apart. Then it was that the

word of Bolon ¢acab descended to the tip of his tongue. Then the charge of the katun

was sought; nine was its charge when it descended from heaven. Kan was the day when

its burden was bound to it. Then the water descended, it came from the heart of the sky for the baptism of the House of Nine Bushes. With it descended Bolon Mayel; sweet was his mouth and the tip of his tongue.

(Roys, R. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, p53)

 

 

Here we are told of the descent of this same nine-faceted god at the end of a fixed time period, under the slightly different name "Bolon Mayel", and we are told that water descends with him "for the baptism of the House of Nine Bushes". This prophecy recalls similar imagery depicted in the last page of the Dresdin codex (shown in the image at the top of this post), which contains an illustration of a serpent-like creature issuing flood-waters from its mouth (it is worth noting that this also recalls Rev 12:15: "The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood"). Many 2012 commentators believe that the last page of the Dresdin codex depicts the events expected at the end of the 13th baktun in the Mayan calendar.

 

 

As regular readers of this blog will know, the above prophecies sounds remarkably similar to the hypothesis I forward in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse - namely that the events that are predicted in the Bible to accompany the Parousia of Christ include the greatest earthquake known in human history, which in turn is also associated with a volcanic collapse that will result in a cataclysmic flood. In my book, I argue that the eschatological earthquake that is foretold to take place at the Second Coming will start a chain reaction of geophysical events which will include the eruption of the volcano Cumbre Vieja on La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Many geophysicists believe a huge section of this island could collapse into the Atlantic Ocean during its next eruption, producing a mega-tsunami which will devastate the eastern seaboard of the Americas, completely decimating the various islands, coasts and cities that lie within its projected radius.

In Unveiling the Apocalypse, I equate the future collapse of Cumbre Vieja with the "great mountain, burning with fire" being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8, and the fall of Babylon described in Rev 18:

 

 

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more...

(Rev 18:21)

 

 

These interconnected verses in the Book of Revelation are both in turn are based on an oracle concerning the destruction of Babylon found in Chapter 51 of the Book of Jeremiah, which contains the following verses:

 

 

"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the Lord, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain. No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, declares the Lord." (Jer 51:25-26)

"How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves." (Jer 51:41-42)

"When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and say,‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her..." (Jer 51:63-64)

(See the earlier post Mega-tsunami)

I then go on to show that these passages are intimately related to various other portions of the Bible associated with the Second Coming of Christ, and the eschatological earthquake that is foretold to accompany this momentous event - which is variously referred to as the melting or casting down of mountains. It is also modelled after the events of the Exodus and theophany at Mt. Sinai - which some biblical commentators believe was connected to the eruption of the volcano Santorini at Thera and subsequent tsunami that destroyed the Minoan civilisation - the basis of the myth of Atlantis (see the earlier post King David's Vision of the End-time?).

For example, the following passage taken from the Book of Habbukuk contains imagery associated with the Second Coming, and is framed in the context of a combination of events which includes the "shaking of the nations", the "scattering of mountains" and "the surging of mighty waters":

 

God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD?
Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah
You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high...
...You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.

(Hab 3:3-10; 15)

 

 

Yet the prophecy found in the Chilam Balam appears to suggest that this end-time flood associated with the Paraousia of Christ will bring about the end of the world - which is of course contrary to God's promise in the Book of Genesis:

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”( Gen 9:8-11).

However the destruction that is estimated to be wrought by the Cumbre Vieja mega-tsunami will be confined to the coastal areas of Eastern America and Western Europe - which could not exactly be described as a world destroying flood - no matter how destructive such an event would be to these areas. As I argue in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse, this event could indirectly lead to the battle of Armageddon foretold in the Book of Revelation, rather than immediately consuming the entire planet in a flood comparable to the tales of Noah.

The loss of the cities on the Eastern seaboard of the USA would almost certainly plunge the entire nation into a state of crippling debt, bringing the country into financial turmoil. This in turn could theoretically lead to the dissolution of the union and the total economic collapse of the United States. And if the USA was no longer able to act in its current superpower status as the "world's policeman", this would leave the state of Israel completely open to the threat of invasion by the surrounding Arab nations - a prophesied end-time event that is found interspersed throughout Scripture, commonly known as the battle of Armageddon - a last world war that is foretold to consume humanity in a sea of fire.
Indeed, this sequence of events appears to be confirmed in the Book of Ezekiel:

 

 

But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, my wrath will be roused in my anger. For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur.
(Ezek 38:18-22)

 

 

Also we can find an indication of a time period seperating this end-time flood from the battle of Armageddon, in the seven year gap between the inundation of Ireland and the end of the world described in the prophecies of St Patrick (see the earlier post on this subject here).

So this scenario is thus quite different from a singular destruction of the earth by means of a global flood.

However I don't think we should be overly concerned about the exact date of 21st December of this year. As Christ himself states in the Gospels:

 

 

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
(Matt 24:36-39)

 

 

As I have stated many times before on this blog, I think there are a few prophesied events that are yet to happen before the collapse of Cumbre Vieja - such as the Second Pentecost, when the "gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt 24:14). And as I shall be arguing in a future post, we can find some prophetic evidence to suggest that this event is connected with the martyrdom of at least one of the Two Witnesses described in Rev 11 (since we don't know if the ministries of the Two Witnesses are coterminous, or if they overlap, or are sepearated by a number of years).

I believe (and indeed hope) that if the above Mayan prophecies have any relevance, then they are concerned with a general period of time - and that the date of 21st December, 2012 is purely symbolic of a wider time span that will see these events unfold. Or at the very least that it refers to the other possible date relating to the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar - the year 2087 (see the earlier post The Date of the End-Time - 2012 or 2087, which also shows how orthodox Christian theology teaches that even pagan prophecy can contain valid insights into future events).