from Merlin: High Priest of the Holy Grail,
Copyright,2011, James Stivers

Chapter Six
HISTORY WRITTEN IN ADVANCE

It is at this juncture that we now must consider Isaac Newton’s commentary on Bible prophecy.
Sir Isaac Newton has been noted elsewhere as a theological writer and commentator on the Holy Scriptures. He applied his same mechanistic view of the universe in physics to his interpretation of prophecy. This school of prophecy was called “historicism” because it was a view which believed prophecy was history written in advance.
To Newton, the value of Bible prophecy was that of a Christian apologetic. He did not see it as anything which provided actual knowledge of future events. The value of prophecy lies in its attestation of Divine authorship and that the “world is governed by providence.” When a prophecy is fulfilled, it becomes evident to the student of Scripture and provides confirmation that the Bible can be trusted as a book of inspiration.
There are four schools of Bible prophecy and each of them has merit and is applicable. They are the preterist, idealist, historicist, and futurist.
The preterist emphasizes the prior fulfillment of prophecy and sees many prophetic texts, such as Jesus’ predictions in Matthew 24, as events which have already occurred. In contrast, futurists believe these events await fulfillment in the future.
The idealist school de-emphasizes the expectation of literal fulfillment to prophecy. Rather, it believes that prophecy is a symbolic representation of the battle between good and evil. Its fulfillment is manifested when a change in the moral condition of the individual and society has occurred.
The historicist school was popular among the Reformers of the Protestant Reformation and the immediate generations which followed. The Reformers saw many correlations between what they were experiencing at the time in their contest with the Papacy with the prophecies of Scripture. They drew great inspiration from the idea that they were living in an age of prophetic fulfillment, just as ours does today in its interpretation of events in the Middle East.
What might help us to properly assess these views is if I introduce three more terms to describe the kinds of prophecy in the Bible: telic prophecy, ecbatic prophecy, and conditional prophecy.
Telic prophecy is the kind of prophecy we normally think of when we talk about predicting the future. It is a future event which is foretold often naming the time and place and the people involved. Although telic prophecy is not uncommon in the Bible, it is really a minor kind of prophecy.
Ecbatic[85] prophecy refers to biblical typology associated with historical parallelisms. This is, perhaps, the more common kind of prophecy. Much of the Messianic prophecies foretelling the life of Jesus is associated with typology.
Conditional prophecy has to do with the conditions of the Covenant. Covenant breaking brought a specific set of consequences; while covenant faithfulness resulted in different consequences. Most of all of the prophecies of Scripture find the doctrine of the Covenant at its root.
For example, the length of the Babylonian Exile was calculated upon the number of sabbatical years neglected by the Israelites. The 70-year exile was computed based upon the 490 years in which the sabbatical years had been violated. Every seventh year was designated as a Sabbath and was an obligation of the Covenant. Here we see that the telic prophecy of Jeremiah was derived from the conditional prophecy of the Covenant.
The telic prophecy of Daniel had ecbatic fulfillment (historical parallelism) in the defilement of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes – called “the abomination of desolation” – yet, it had a later fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem described by Jesus in AD 70. This prophecy drew upon a biblical “type” in which the destruction of the original temple by the armies of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar formed a historical parallel of future desecrations of the temple.
We must keep these distinctions in mind when evaluating Newton’s commentaries on Daniel and Revelation.

The Prophetic Timeline

Newton’s Commentaries have come down to us in two editions. Both were published after his death.
The first edition was published within the generation following his death. It is the one relied upon here in this discussion. Specifically, Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy, now contained in the Library of Congress, was reproduced in facsimile form by Dr. Arthur Robinson.
The second edition claims to have been a secret version which has only been recently published late in the 20th Century. This second edition has dubious credentials because it serves, too conveniently, a current political agenda.
The second edition has Newton claiming the rebuilding of a temple in Jerusalem and other apocalyptic scenarios too suggestive of the aspirations of modern Jews and dispensationalist Christians. It contradicts Newton’s own rules for handling symbolic language which he explains in the early chapters of his first edition. For example,

In the heavens, the Sun and Moon are, by interpreters of dreams, put for the persons of Kings and Queens; but in sacred Prophecy, which regards not single persons, the Sun is put for the whole species and race of Kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the Moon for the body of the common people, considered as the King’s wife; the Stars for subordinate Princes and great men, or the Bishops and Rulers of the people of God . . . p. 17


In the first edition, Newton explains that the symbolic language of Daniel and Revelation has to do with kingdoms and dynasties, but more specifically, the spiritual condition of the covenant people:

While the people of God keep the covenant, they continue to be his people: when they break it they cease to be his people or church, and become “the Synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not”… The predictions of things to come relate to the state of the Church in all ages . . . p. 14-15


Thus, the holy mother of Revelation 12 becomes the whore of Babylon in Revelation 13:

“And the Angel stood,” upon the earth and sea, “saying, Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar, and them that worship therein,” that is, their courts with the buildings thereon . . . This measuring hath reference to Ezekiel’s measuring the Temple of Solomon: there the whole Temple, including the outward court, was measured, to signify that it should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the courts of the Temple and Altar, and they who worship therein, are only measured, to signify the building of a second Temple,[86] for those that are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, and worship in the inward court of sincerity and truth: but John is commanded to leave out the outward court, or outward form of religion and Church-government, because it is given to the Babylonian Gentiles. For the glorious woman in heaven, the remnant of whose seed kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus, continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity and piety, and became the great Whore. p. 272-273

Probably the reason why Newton never published his commentaries was because they were politically sensitive. Newton was both a benefactor and beneficiary of the British Crown. His analysis of “the 10 kingdoms” of Daniel’s vision specifically identifies the 10 barbarian nations of Europe which succeeded the Roman Empire. One of those kingdoms was Britain, not simply Celtic Britain, but also Anglo-Saxon-Norman Britain.[87]
The Celts, you recall, preceded the Roman Empire and survived throughout their old dominions, such as Gaul and Spain. They became the “clay mingled with the iron” of the image of Daniel’s vision.[88] However, it was in the remote islands of Britain and Ireland that the Celts preserved their culture. When the Empire collapsed during the time of Merlin and Arthur, the Saxons invaded and eventually prevailed. They became one of the ten successors of the Roman Beast of Revelation and the statue of Daniel’s vision.
By the time of Newton, these kingdoms still lingered, but not today in our time, as most of them were replaced by republics after the First World War. Newton’s interpretation of these prophecies implicated the royal kingdoms of Europe as a part of this Antichrist system. Since then, only the British monarchy remains.[89]
According to Newton, the 10 Kingdoms were subservient to an 11th Kingdom – a horn which grew out of three others – which Newton identifies with the Papacy at the time it acquired temporal power. This happened between 774 and 800 AD, in which, what was called “the Holy Roman Empire” was established. This kingdom was distinguished by the Mahuzzim Doctrine and the survival of Roman Civil Law in the jurisprudence of the 10 Kingdoms.
Newton takes the “days” of Daniel’s prophecy to mean “years” and calculates a period of 1260 years following the 800 AD regime to arrive at 2060 AD when these kingdoms will come to an end (Dan. 8:16, 27 cf. p. 89, 108, 113-114).[90] This would include the end of the British monarchy.
During this period, the “two witnesses” prophesy and are persecuted by the Beast of the 10 Kingdoms and the exalted horn of the Holy Roman Empire. This is the exile of the holy people whom Newton describes as the Desposyni:

The two Witnesses are not new Churches: they are the posterity of the primitive Church, the posterity of the two wings of the woman, and so are fitly represented by two of the primitive candlesticks. – p. 286[91]

These kingdoms begin to end when a disrupting event causes the feet of “iron mixed with clay” – to separate. At some point, the kingdom stone strikes at the feet and toes of the ten kingdoms which represent all nations settled by these people – the Europeans – and which have adopted the Roman law system. It begins as a small kingdom but continues to grow until it becomes a mountain filling the entire earth.
This period of expansion lasts until the “2300 days have been fulfilled” (Dan. 8:13-14 cf. p. 122) calculated by Newton from three possible historical events: either, the destruction of the temple in 70 AD (or 2370 AD), Hadrian’s temple to Jupiter after the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132 AD (or 2432 AD), or the desolation of Judea which followed after 136 AD (2436 AD) – or a fourth option, as he says, “from some other period which time will discover” (p. 122).
In any event, the period of expansion of the Desposynic kingdom commences, perhaps as early as 2046 AD (see Footnote 90 above), but certainly no later than about 2090 AD at the destruction of the Beast and Antichrist kingdom, and progresses for approximately three or four centuries (10 generations) at which time the “sanctuary and the host is cleansed” (i.e. the entire earth).[92]

[After which] the judgment is to sit, and they shall take away his dominion, [not at once, but by degrees,] to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall, [by degrees], be given unto the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Daniel 8:26-27 (Newton’s commentary in brackets)

Although Newton does not provide direct commentary on Daniel 12:11-12, the extension of his hermeneutical methods will produce the following results:

And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Daniel does not say what happens at the end of the 1290 days (years), but presumably, it is one which sets in motion a series of historical events which eventually destroys the Antichrist kingdom in as early as 2046 AD.[93]
Another period is identified in v. 12:

Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

If this time period is taken to mark the beginning of the Messianic kingdom (2046 AD) and is divided into two periods – the thousand-year reign of Christ identified in Revelation plus the transition period of 335 days (years) in which the kingdom has commenced but has not yet “filled the earth” – we find a correspondence with our earlier figures. Adding 2046 AD (the earlier date suggested above) with 335 years brings us again to 2381 AD for the beginning of the Millennial Reign proper. The ten generations leading up to this reign would be considered a “blessed” period because of the expansion of the holy race and the Messianic kingdom.

Concluding Remarks

It is the expectation of the Desposynic Church that a significant event will occur between the years of 2016 and 2060 AD which will begin the break-up of the Babylonian Empire as manifested in the “10 Kingdoms” of Revelation and Daniel’s visions.[94] This break-up loosens Babylon’s grip on the Desposyni and allows for a spiritual and intellectual revival to prepare the Remnant for the end of the 1290 days which could occur in 2046.
The book of Revelation suggests that the power of the Babylonian system will be destroyed in a single hour:

And the kings of the earth . . . standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come. p. 18:9-10

Were not Babylon[95] destroyed by some cosmic event, it is unlikely that any Christian kingdom could withstand its power. With the modern dependence upon computers, it is possible to believe that such demise could occur all at once.[96]

Between now and 2046 (or whenever this event occurs), the Desposyni must ready themselves doctrinally and institutionally to step in and fill the power vacuum that will most certainly result from this display of Divine judgment.

Footnotes:
[85] A coined term meaning “from or out of bating” as in the repetitious fluttering of the wings.
[86] The second temple was the temple of Jesus’ time.
[87] Newton diplomatically violates his own hermeneutical rule here by assigning the Celtic kings which succeeded in Rome’s stead as those which established the British kingdom fulfilling this prophecy. The other nine kingdoms he ascribes to the barbarian invaders which included the Saxons. It should follow that the Saxon kingdoms established upon British soil were the successors to the Roman Empire, as well. Just as the Woman in Childbirth of Revelation 12 becomes the Mother of Harlots in later chapters, so the Desposynic kingdoms of Ambrosius, the Merovingians, and others become the “horns of the Beast.”
[88] See The Holy Conspiracy, Stivers, 1995
[89] To a lesser extent, Spain’s royal heirs and other figure-head monarchies of Europe.
[90] Later Historicists, including Newton, would start the 1260 days from the Donation of Pepin in 756 AD, which would end in 2016. Consequently, the 1290 days introduced by Daniel 12:11 would be fulfilled in 2046 AD
[91] Recall the two wings of the caduceus discussed in a previous chapter. Underneath the wings of a bird, one will find the offspring. Wings are not necessarily the offspring but cover and protect the offspring.
[92] The whole earth becomes “the court of the Gentiles.” See Ezekiel’s vision and Revelation cf. Deuteronomy 23:1-6.
[93] Original text reads an alternative calculation which I no longer regard as valid: If the date is calculated from 70 AD as is suggested in the text, we arrive at 1360 AD, the time of Wycliffe, the English Bible, and the “morning star of the Reformation.” The printed Bible has certainly been the bane of the Established Church and Roman civil law. Biblical law is the foundation of the Messianic kingdom, but is something which cannot be understood all at once. Generations of maturity in biblical casuistry is required before a matured application of these inspired precepts will result in a just society.
[94] Note 2020: It can be argued that the British “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union and the election of the “Great Disrupter” as the President of the United States may have begun the fulfillment of this prophecy. Both occurred in 2016.
[95] Newton interprets the Beast upon which the Whore of Babylon rests as a kingdom, or series of kingdoms, as do most commentators. However, he operates from the Jewish perception of geography and argues that the “beast from the land” represents the eastern, Asiatic kingdoms which come – geographically – from the continental land mass. The “beast from the sea,” in contrast, would represent those nations which came from the West, mostly European, because they did not come to the Holy Land by land but by ship on the Mediterranean Sea. Regardless, as noted by Newton, Revelation has the Ten Kingdoms forming a temporary alliance with the Whore of Babylon which ends in their betrayal because of their deep hatred for her (17:16, 17). The European nations will rebel.
[96]Note 2020: Douglas Vogt of the Diehold Foundation and author of God’s Day of Judgment, has argued from scientific evidence that the Sun will nova in 2046 AD.