And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars . . . And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. Revelation 12:1 & 5
I first discovered the use of astrological signs for making dating calculations from David Chilton, a 20th century theologian and author. He was a Preterist before preterism was cool.
[He published his Days of Vengeance in 1987, now forty years ago. Gary North was his publisher. It seems like yesterday.]
In his exposition of Revelation 12, he defends the theory that Jesus was born on September 11th, 3BC (or 4 BC depending on whether you think there should be a “year 0” or not). He referenced the scholarship of Moses Stuart (a 19th Century Preterist) who in turn relied upon Isaac Newton’s hermeneutical system. See how this works?
[I might add, on matters pertaining to Bible prophecy, Charles Finney deferred to Moses Stuart, who was his contemporary as a New School Calvinist at Andover. Newton was a proto-preterist (he defended the early dating of Revelation), but because he was first a Puritan and the Puritans were Historicists, he was not always consistent. The respective terms did not yet exist.]
Of this particular passage, Chilton cites the astronomical calculations of Ernest Martin to show that the “Woman Clothed with the Sun” and “crowned with 12 Stars” represents the constellation Virgo, the Virgin. Even to this day, depending upon when the Day of Trumpets is commemorated, the Sun sets in the constellation Virgo (except this year, see below).
In the ancient world, astrological time markers were more reliable than state records to chronicle the reigns of kings and other notable events.
As for the days of the week, remember that our modern practice of naming them did not exist in ancient Israel. They were numbered and just like Christmas and other similar holidays, the Feasts of Israel fell on a different day of the week from year-to-year. This was because they were also tied to lunar cycles.
For some mysterious reason, strict Sabbatarians believe that the days of the week should not be regulated by the lunar cycle, but rather must follow an uninterrupted sequence, forever. For these interpreters, the Sabbath has always been Saturday since the creation.
[See Jonathan David Brown's treatise on the lunar calendar, Keeping Yahweh's Appointments, and The Cambrian Pesher to discover why this is not so. For another point of view attempting to integrate the solar-lunar cycles, go here: Lunisolar calendar from the Book of Enoch.]
However, “the moon under her feet,” represents a unique convergence. This happened on September 11th, 3 BC at approximately 7 PM.
If we interpret this as the Virgin Mary who gave birth to the Christ-child “who shall rule with a rod of iron,” then we have here an explicit statement from St. John that Jesus was born in Bethlehem at the start of Trumpets. That is the significance: the prophetic fulfillment of Israel’s sacred festal celebrations in Christ’s Messianic mission.
This is the preterist view. The other schools of eschatology struggle with assigning this vision as one already fulfilled; for if this Woman is the Virgin Mary, then who is the “Red Dragon”?
As delineated in other Cambrian Peshers, we pointed out that “the Red Dragon” was Herod and his proxy High Priest. He was Idumean, a descendant of Esau/Edom, and both mean “red.”The Herodians and the Herodian priests were the “satans” described in this passage, who recruited one third of the “stars of heaven” – i.e. the Sanhedrin – to persecute “the Woman” and “the rest of her offspring.”
In the same chapter, there was “war in heaven” and “Michael” casts out the Dragon.
So, who was Michael?
Elsewhere we learn that the Archangel Michael is a “captain of the Lord’s hosts,” i.e. of the House of Israel. The human counterpart of this heavenly “Michael” would be whoever would be the “captain of the Lord’s hosts” in a given historical context. As described here, “Michael” would have been James the brother of Jesus and the first Lord Bishop of the Christian church. He defeated the Herodians in the Sanhedrin who were “cast out” when James was called upon to enter the Holy of Holies to intercede for the nation. Per Josephus’ account, when he came out, he was greeted by an angry mob who murdered him. This occurred about 63 AD. Thirty thousand Edomite thugs were brought into the city to restore the Herodians to power. The fateful “Jewish” revolt began immediately thereafter as predicted by our Lord.
While more recent scholars, such as the late Michael Heiser, might adopt this view for its novelty – the birth calculations as cited above – they do so without a consistent hermeneutic. If the “Woman Clothed with the Sun” is a human actor, and if the “child who is caught up to heaven” is a human actor, then so must be the Dragon, the Serpent, and the Satan . . . and Michael. Gone is the supernatural element.
The notion that these heavenly beings are representing human actors defies the “ghost and goblin” world view of his “Unseen Realm.“
Isaac Newton considered this extreme supernaturalism embodied in traditional “angelology, demonology, and a Luciferian doctrine” as a cabalist heresy, even an idolatry:
For tho some stop was put to the Cataphrygian Christianity, by Provincial Councils, till the fourth century; yet the Roman Emperors then turning Christians, and great multitudes of heathens coming over in outward profession, these found the Cataphrygian Christianity more suitable to their old principles, of placing religion in outward forms and ceremonies, holy-days, and doctrines of Ghosts, than the religion of the sincere Christians: wherefore they readily sided with the Cataphrygian Christians. . . Observations, 1733 op cit. Anodos edition, p. 62
Then, he cites scripture directly, Newton’s words in bold:
All these superstitions the Apostle refers to, where he saith: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, the Daemons and Ghosts worshipped by the heathens, speaking lyes in hypocrisy, about their apparitions, the miracles done by them, their reliques, and the sign of the cross [used as a charm]. . . For the mystery of iniquity did already work in the Apostles days in the Gnosticks . . . coloured over with a form of Christian godliness, but without the power thereof, 2 Thess. ii. 7-10
It is no wonder that Heiser recruited a posse of trigger-happy critics to denounce Newton as an anti-Trinitarian, occultist, and weird date-setter. Heiser had to discredit posthumously the greatest Bible scholar of the Enlightenment. The superstitious world view of Evangelical Christianity remains entrenched with the medieval nomenclature of the old churches. Heiser made his career off of these superstitions. He didn’t want to experience the same fate as Zechariah Sitchin, who he, in turn, had destroyed on Art Bell’s Coast2CoastAM in the early 2000s for proclaiming a pan spermia interpretation of Sumerian myths. In attacking Newton, Heiser did harm to the Lord’s prophet in a violation of the 9th Commandment. The Lord mercifully removed him from the stage of life when he died precipitously of pancreatic cancer in 2023.
Listen to the shocking and painfully distorted misrepresentation of Newton here:
[To rebut this hit piece, read our Newton’s Notes an on-going review of Newton’s Observations. For a long overdue correction of the Evangelical bungling of Newton’s view on the Trinitarian question, go to a recent Cambrian Pesher: Saint Isaac Newton.]
While the Preterist school still accepts the spirit world, Newton would be among the first who would look upon it more as a noumenal concept akin to Jungian archetypal psychology, than any objectification of a phenomenal metaphysics. In other words, “demons” are more the result of the projection of Original Sin than any cosmic conspiracy of sentient beings. Like the “pendragons” of Celtic lore, the role of “kings” or rulers carry a fierceness which reflect their “monster” role as the ministers of the sword. For Preterists, human actors remain center stage in human history, not an imaginary, unseen, spirit realm: C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, notwithstanding.]
Like a good Puritan, Newton did not much care when Christ was born. But he did care about the importance of governmental sanctions to make good on the “rod of iron” doctrine of the Messianic kingdom.
Curiously, it so happens that this year, 2026, the Day of Trumpets occurred on September 11th and ended on the 13th as an extended New Moon. This time, at the hour of his birth just before sunset, the Sun and the Moon were in the constellation of Leo: the Lion.
We have entered the age of the Lion of Judah.
JWS, 9/13/26
