From Footnote 111 of “Merlin Part 2 of 3” (see Articles above):
See David Chilton’s, The Days of Vengeance, an Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Dominion Press, 1987) p. 301: Citing Ernest Martin’s calculations, Christ was born when the sun entered the torso position of the constellation Virgo and the moon was under her feet, an event which occurred at sunset, September 11th, 3 B.C. on the Day of Trumpets. Reference Revelations 12:1-2.
The Book of Revelations is full of Old Testament typology and astrological allusions. It cannot be understood, otherwise, one without the other – very similar to Merlin’s Prophecies, in this respect.
We have entered the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, the third of the great feasts of ancient Israel. Most of Christendom and Jewry still await the prophetic fulfillment of this feast. The Christians, at least, can celebrate the fulfillment of Passover in Easter, and Pentecost in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. But like the Jews, Christians think that Tabernacles will be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ, while the Jews are still awaiting His first coming.
Unless you are a preterist, in which case, then you believe Tabernacles was fulfilled at the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. According to this prophetical scheme, the Temple system represented Satanism (see St. Stephen’s trial defense in Acts 7). Thus, to the preterists, its destruction meant the end of Satanic power and the inauguration of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. See “Newton on the Apocalypse” for more and our Pesher for All Hallows, 2020.
David Chilton, referenced above, relied heavily on Moses Stuart in writing his books. In fact, it can be argued that Chilton represents a 20th Century reiteration of Stuart’s eschatology. You will discover that in the citations.
Stuart was the great 19th Century Divine from Andover Theological Seminary who wrote on hermeneutics, New School Calvinism, and was the principal advocate of the preterist school of eschatology in his commentaries on Bible prophecy.
I discovered his works in 1979, in the library basement of Garrett Theological Seminary. I was there perusing the original issues of The Oberlin Evangelist, trying to understand Charles Finney’s postmillennialism. I knew that Stuart had a profound influence on Finney’s eschatology. Evangelical dispensationalists try to hide that fact. They love Finney’s revival theology; they just don’t want the eschatology that goes along with it.
At Garrett is when I also discovered an original copy of Isaac Newton’s “Observations on Daniel and the Apocalypse.” I spent hours reading these works and photo-copied what I could afford at the time as a starving college student. Those were amazing times for me. I felt I was in the presence of giants.
Of course, Christians celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, which is when we believe the Magi from the East arrived to worship Him at “the house” in Bethlehem. But we don’t connect it to Tabernacles, because to do so would mean we have become preterists.
Messianics don’t celebrate Christmas because they think it is a pagan holiday. But it is the only holiday dedicated to celebrating the doctrine of the Incarnation. If you take away Christmas, when will you celebrate the time when God became a man?
In the over 40 years of acquaintance with the Messianic movement, I have noticed this pattern: they reject Christmas and then they reject the Incarnation. That is why Puritan New England became Unitarian. It rejected Christmas as “Romish paganism” and then ended up rejecting the deity of Christ. It’s the slippery slope syndrome.
My next Pesher on the Day of the Holy Cross (September 14th) will be published next weekend and will address this issue and others at length.
God bless you.
JWS
