"Five protagonists are the pillars on which the whole edifice rests. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... The story of the chosen seed, made heirs of the promise and entrusted with the divine orders, is the only story which explains man's relation to God. In its light all other history is illuminated and shall be read when the time comes." (Hilma af Klint)

Abraham was promised by God that from his seed, from Isaac, would come a great nation, as numerous as the stars of heaven. This people would first grow and become larger in another land before they would have their own that would flow with milk and honey. Isaac's son Jacob then had twelve sons who all came to live in Egypt. Alone and first there was Joseph, called by Jacob the prince among his brothers. 430 years after Joseph's arrival, the sons of Israel had to leave Egypt to go to Israel, the Promised Land. From this people, Jesus emerged and with him the followers whom Paul called the children of Isaac. Those who were made 'heirs of the promise'.

Hilma was very well versed in the Bible. As will be shown shortly, she was also knowledgeable in the intricacies of biblical chronology and number mysticism. The picture here turns out to be linked to the quote above in that years are to be found in the details of the spiral, which point out basic events on the way from Adam to the zero year and Jesus, the second Adam. Hilma's 1st secret is based on and presupposes that one takes the Christian zero year and the Bible's chronology seriously. Even if you read the biblical stories allegorically, there is symbolism and interrelationship between the numbers that create the chronology. The key to Hilma's secrets is in fact to be found in the biblical chronology that Hilma consciously, or unconsciously, presents in this painting. From Adam to Jesus.

Numbers of the circle and eternity 360 embodies God's time, kairo. The number 360 is found in the Bible as "time" for example in the expression time, two times and a half. Or as in the book of Daniel - seven times. The time of man, chronos, is shaped by the sun and moon. Today it is mostly the sun, but in Jewish religious timekeeping it is also the moon. To this day, believing Jews count time in nineteen-year cycles. Here referred to as lunar cycles. This is the time for the sun and moon to jointly start and return to the same point in the starry sky. The spiral that cuts through the circle reflects time as chronos, as both year and moon cycles. It begins with the birth of Adam and leads to the zero year when the Kingdom of God breaks out and Jesus appears in year 30. Hilma has colored the background of the spiral in gold. At the bottom of the spiral is a rainbow, God's sign to mankind after the Flood. The sum of all its colors is white, water and light create the rainbow. The spiral and the circle together also create the symbol of the golden ratio.

Other biblical numbers with significant meaning are seven for fulfillment, twelve for God's order and four for wholeness and completeness. The Book of Revelation also contains the numbers 42 and 666, both associated with sin and evil. Here it is said that he who has understanding shall interpret the number 666 of the beast.

Truth (white) and love (red) emanate from the center of the circle. The threads form the heart. Where they meet on the spiral of time, God speaks to man and makes a covenant with him. First on the spiral is Adam, the year of his birth is 4 146 BC. This is the beginning of Hilma's presentation of the biblical chronology with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the center of the story of Christ and the 'seed'. Years with their specific events are marked on the timeline.

                                                                                                   Four times, seven times and twelve times

• The Bible's dates begin with Adam's birth, in the image at the bottom of the time spiral. Where the red and white of the heart meet, God speaks. Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden painted in the colors of the rainbow. The time from Adam's birth is illustrated by the 'circles' of the spiral in periods of 144 years. Twelve times twelve becomes 144 which is "the measure of angels and men" according to Revelation chapter 21.  

• In the middle of the twelfth spiral (after 1656 years) Noah and the year of the Flood. The red and white outlines of the heart meet at the little loop. From here, the colors of the spiral also change from yellow and blue to red and white. God makes a covenant with Noah. The rainbow became the sign that God gave. For Hilma, it represents God's promise of the coming Messiah and a new Eden. 

• Three periods of 144 years lead to the peak of the heart where red and white intersect. Abraham is now 80 years old (Genesis 3:15). The Bible text does not give his exact age when the Lord first makes the covenant and promise of Isaac. But he gets his firstborn son when he is 86 years old.  

• At the foot of the cross— the point of the golden ratio on the diameter of the circle—we find ourselves in the year 1842 B.C. 6×6×6 years have passed since Abraham turned 80. Seven good years and seven bad years have passed in Egypt. Jacob and his sons can now settle in the new land. As good as the early years are, so bad will be the slavery of the final years. They settle there for about 400 years until Moses receives God’s commission to lead Israel out of Egypt and slavery, to the Promised Land. According to the Bible (1 Kings 6:1) and Hilma’s chronology, this occurs in 1440B.C., when there are ten periods of 144 years remaining until the year zero.   

• On the timeline, the periphery of the circle marks 42 years to the zero year. In 42 BC, Julius Ceasar is declared God by the Senate of Rome. His son Augustus is officially proclaimed son of God. The Republic is dead and the cult of the Emperor begins. It is the time of sin. Caesar's era is gradually introduced throughout the Roman Empire. The biblical and Jewish way of counting time based on the moon is replaced by the sun as the center of time and everything. From the birth of Adam, 6*6*6 Jewish lunar cycles have passed when 42 years are missing to year zero. The number 42 is equal to 7*6 - the fulfillment (7) of sin (6).

• The periphery of the circle meets year zero and a new time colored in gold. The Kingdom of God has come. Four times (4*360 years) have passed since the Exodus from Egypt and the year when Moses was given the commandments and the Law. In connection with the Exodus, God also gave the people a new era starting in spring and Easter. The zero year/year one of the calendar was given to all mankind. Now is the time for the 'children of Isaac', for the followers of Jesus.

• The year 30 marks the beginning of the 30th 144-year period , counting from the Christian Year Zero and the Biblical Year Zero, respectively. From the birth of the first Adam to the second Adam in the year 30. By then, 100 Jewish lunar cycles will also have passed since Joseph arrived in Egypt, and se(7×360 years) counted from the year of the Flood. The rainbow has seven symbolic circles! Now the timefor Isaac’s children is now being fulfilled. During this first144-year period of the Christian congregation, the Church’s dogmas and teachings are formed, and at its end, the four Gospels are compiled by the Church Father Irenaeus. By then, twelve periods have passed (12 × 360 years) since Adam’s birth and four times 666 years since the Flood. It is now 30 + 144 years since the year zero/one. The year is 174 CE. If you look at Hilma’s timeline and the spiral beginning with Adam’s birth, you can also counttwelve periods of 174 years until Abraham is 80 years old and another twelve until Jesus’s appearance in the year 30. Halfway to Christ is marked there where red and white—love and truth—meet. But why exactly 174 years? Kingship was bestowed at the age of 30 upon men such as Joseph, David, and Jesus. 144 was the number of humans and angels according to the Book of Revelation. In God’s Kingdom—the kingdom of humans and angels—Christ is king.

• If one continues to count 174-year periods starting from the year 174,one arrivesat the outbreak of World War I in 1914. In total,26 periods of 174 years will havepassedsince God’s decision regarding the Flood and a renewed creation—a new earth (which takes place 120 years before the Flood). 15 periods to the year zero, 16 to the year 174 CE, and another 10 to 1914. The number 26 is sacred in Jewish numerology; it is the number of God. Regarding future events, Jesus said: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.” Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines and earthquakes in one place after another. But all this is only the beginning of the ‘birth pangs.’ He also promised signs in the sun, moon, and stars before his return. Were these the signs that would herald his coming, as Hilma sought?! That thought can lead to new secrets and discoveries in Hilma’s visual world and biblical chronology. Hilma’spainting was completed in early 1915.