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by
John P. Pratt
Sir Isaac
Newton, the author of classical physics and a devout Christian,
interpreted the Book of Daniel, providing insights which are still
profound today.
Sir Isaac Newton,
upon whose work nearly all of classical physics is built, was a
deeply religious Christian, who saw the hand of God in all things.
To him, all of the great laws of physics which he discovered, were
the laws of God that testify of his design. He would have been appalled
to know that centuries later, atheists would be claiming that he
had really discovered self-existent laws, which explain the universe
so well that God is no longer needed in the equation.
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Sir Isaac
Newton.
Newton wrote an
entire book interpreting the prophecies of the Biblical books of Daniel
and the Revelation of John (also called "The Apocalypse"). His insights
vary in several respects from the "standard" modern Christian interpretations,
and his perspicacity might well be vindicated as the rest of these
prophecies are yet fulfilled. Besides his immense intellect, he provides
a huge contribution which few can supply even today. He had a wealth
of knowledge of ancient history, obtained by reading mountains of
documents in the original Greek, Latin and Hebrew, in which he saw
many of those prophecies literally fulfilled long after they had been
revealed. To him, it was a proof of the foreknowledge of God, which
was his purpose in writing the book.
His work, Observations
on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John,
published in 1733 (six years after his death and the year after
George Washington's birth), has recently been reprinted.[1]
This article is essentially a review of that book, focusing especially
on the new contributions he made to the study of the first two visions
of Daniel, in identifying exactly what kingdoms of the world are
indicated.
Isaac
Newton
Sir Isaac Newton
was one of the greatest physicists and mathematicians of all time,
born in England in 1642, about 22 years after the Pilgrims landed
at Plymouth Rock. Galileo had laid a cornerstone of physics called
"relativity" upon which Newton would build much of the rest of the
edifice. Johannes Kepler had just died in 1630, who had discovered
three laws of planetary motion, which Newton would derive from his
own laws. Physics can be divided into the pre-Newtonian period, which
had changed little from the times of ancient Greece, and our modern
post-Newtonian period after he provided his three laws of motion,
law of gravity, and the mathematics of calculus. Words like inertia,
momentum and acceleration had to be added to the language and then
also given precise mathematical definitions. Finally in the twentieth
century, Einstein and others added refinements in the fringe areas
of the very fast, very small and very large, but for most physics
problems of everyday life, and even to put a man on the moon, Newton's
laws suffice. Newton himself solved an incredible number of problems,
including the refraction of light to make rainbows and explaining
how the bulge at the equator of the earth causes the 26,000-year precession
of the equinoxes. He even applied his law of gravity to determine
the ancient position of the moon, reconstructing the Judean calendar
to determine the date of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.[2]
An excellent biography of Newton is that by the science writer James
Gleick who shows just how revolutionary Newton's work was.[3]
Newton's Religion
Newton was a devout
Christian. He hoped that his entire work in physics would inspire
men to believe in God. He stated that:
"When
I wrote my treastise about our System I had an eye upon such Principles
as might work with considering men for the belief of a Deity and
nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."[4]
He spends the first
part of his book showing that while many of the other books of the
Old Testament contain a wonderful and sacred history of God's dealings
with men, the Book of Daniel holds a special place of containing many
detailed revelations directly from God about the kingdoms of the earth.
Those kingdoms can be traced in history, verifying the foreknowledge
of God. Even in his day people doubted the authenticity of the book
(and of course even more so today) but as far as Newton was concerned,
anyone who rejected the Book of Daniel rejected Christianity:
Daniel
was in the greatest credit amongst the Jews, till the reign of the
Roman Emperor Hadrian. And to reject his prophecies, is to reject
the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his prophecy
concerning the Messiah.[5]
He concluded his
introductory chapter with:
Daniel
is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood,
and therefore in those things which relate to the last times, he
must be made the key to the rest.[6]
In other words,
if you want to understand the Book of Revelation, be sure to understand
the Book of Daniel first. However, he was careful only to use history
to interpret already fulfilled prophecy, and not to fall in to the
trap of predicting the future, as if he were a prophet himself:
The
folly of Interpreters has been, to foretell times and things, by
this Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this
rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the
Prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was much otherwise.
He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testaments, not to gratify
men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that
after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event;
and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested
thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages
before, will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed
by providence.[7]
Awaited Latter-day
"True Church"
One final point
on Newton's theology is that he looked forward to a time in which
the Church of Jesus Christ would someday be restored in the latter
days, complete with living prophets.
For
the prophets and apostles have foretold that as Israel often revolted
and brake the covenant, and upon repentance renewed it, so there
should be a falling away among the Christians, soon after the days
of the Apostles, and that in the latter days God would destroy the
impenitent revolters, and make a new covenant with his people. And
the giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of the
true church.[8]
This restoration
of lost gospel truths he expected to be accomplished by the appearance
of an angel, which shows how literally he believed the scriptures
to be interpreted:
An
angel must fly through the midst of heaven with the everlasting
Gospel to preach to all nations, before Babylon falls, and the Son
of man reaps his harvest. (quoting Rev. 14:6).[9]
Moreover, in addition
to expecting long-lost truths of the gospel to be restored, he awaited
the day, described in Daniel and Revelation, that the political Kingdom
of God would be established:
For
as the few and obscure Prophecies concerning Christ's first coming
were for setting up the Christian religion, which all nations have
since corrupted, so the many and clear Prophecies, concerning the
things to be done at Christ's second coming, are not only for predicting
but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of the long-lost
truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The
event will prove the Apocalypse, and this Prophecy, thus proved
and understood, will open the old Prophets and all together will
make known the true religion, and establish it.[10]
So with that background
on just who Newton was, let us look at his insights into Daniel.
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The Giant
Statue of Daniel's First Vision.
The
Prophecies of Daniel
Daniel's first
vision was a repeat of that given to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon,
when Daniel was being trained to become a future governor. Daniel
was also given the interpretation (Daniel 2). Let's review the vision,
and then see what Newton adds to the traditional interpretation.
The Giant Statue
The first vision
was of a huge image or statue of a fierce man, which had a head of
gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of
iron, and feet of iron and clay mixed. A stone cut out without hands
struck the statue on its feet, causing it to fall, break into pieces,
turn to dust, and be blown away in the wind. The stone then became
a mountain which filled the earth. The Lord told Daniel the interpretation
that the four metals represented four world-dominating kingdoms. The
first was Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, and that the next three kingdoms
would be increasingly inferior, as indicated by the worth of the metals.
But the iron kingdom would be very strong and break many other kingdoms.
The clay mixed in with the iron implied that the ten toes would be
separate and not stick together much, even as iron and clay don't
mix. The stone represented a kingdom set up by the God of heaven which
would break into pieces and consume all of these kingdoms and which
would reign forever after and never be destroyed. (Dan. 2:31-45).
The Four Beasts
Daniel was given
a second vision which helps make it clear just what the later kingdoms
were. He saw four beasts: a winged lion, a bear, a 4-winged, 4-headed
leopard, and then a dreadful, ten horned beast with iron teeth and
brass claws.[11]
It devoured enemies, broke up their bodies and then stamped on them.
Then another little horn arose with eyes and a mouth, and three
of the former horns were plucked by their roots. Then he saw thrones
overturned and the Ancient of Days come and judge millions of people.
His judgment of the fourth beast resulted in its being slain and
burned, because of the great words spoken against the most High
by that little horn. The other three beasts were allowed to remain
and the Son of Man came in the clouds of heaven and received all
the kingdoms of the world from the Ancient of Days, and then began
a kingdom which would never pass away (Dan. 7:1-14).
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Silver-tipped
Grizzly Bear. The second kingdom was represented by a bear.
Daniel was given
the brief interpretation that the four beasts represent four kings,
but that the saints of God would take the kingdom and possess it
forever. Fortunately Daniel asked the angel several questions about
that fourth beast. He was shown that the little horn made war with
the saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days
came. That kingdom would devour the whole earth, tread it down and
break it to pieces. The ten horns represented ten kings and when
the little horn arose, he subdued three of them. He would speak
great words against the most High and would wear out the saints
for time, times and a half. Then he would be judged and the kingdoms
of the earth given to the saints forever.
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Was Augustus
Caesar the Fourth King?
Daniel was then
given a third vision, which explained more about the second and third
kingdoms. This time the beginning of the second kingdom is extended
back from the time of Persian domination to the time of the Medes,
which Newton points out began at the same time Nebuchadnezzar did,
when they jointly conquered Assyria and divided up that empire. The
second vision also clearly identified the third kingdom as the Greeks
(brass, leopard), with Alexander the Great as the principal king,
with the kingdom later being divided up among four successors. Daniel
saw a little horn arise in the area of one of those successors which
would cast down even stars from heaven and stop the daily sacrifice,
but that the sanctuary would finally be cleansed (Daniel 8:1-26).
Thus, there
seems to be no question in any commentator's mind about the identity
of the first four empires. Those kingdoms, and the dates traditionally
assigned to them are first Babylon (605 - 538 BC), second Persia
(538 - 331 BC), third Greece (331 - 168 BC), and fourth Rome (168
BC - 476 AD). All seem also to agree on the first three principal
kings being Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Cyrus of Persia, and Alexander
of Greece. I'm not aware of anyone, including Newton, identifying
the principal king of Rome. My speculation would be that it might
well be Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of the Roman Empire.
Figure 1 shows how the extent of the empire was enlarged during
his reign (the shaded yellow area).
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Figure 1.
Augustus expanded the Roman Empire into the shaded yellow areas.
But what were
the ten kingdoms into which the Roman Empire divided when it fell?
Whereas most modern commentaries skip over this detail, Newton attempts
to identify all of them.
Ten Kingdoms
Identified
Both of the first
two visions implied that the Roman Empire would break into ten kingdoms,
even as the statue had ten toes on its feet, and the fourth beast
had ten horns. Today most Christian commentaries identify these nations
as the modern European Union and interpret the feet of clay and iron
as having been fulfilled by the fact that all attempts to unify the
European nations again into one massive empire, such as by Charlemagne,
the Hapsburgs, Napoleon, and Hitler, have failed to endure. While
that seems to be correct enough at the high level, the question arises,
exactly which nations were the ten implied by both visions? That is
a detail, but it may be important, especially because the number ten
is implied twice, and in the second vision the point is made that
three of those ten are overcome by an little eleventh kingdom which
arises later.
How did Newton
identify these nations? An important first step is that he concluded
that the imagery of the beasts was non-overlapping in geographical
area, even though the empires did in fact overlap when each was
at its greatest extent. He based this interpretation on the important
detail that the first three beasts did not each die when the next
appeared, but rather all of the first three actually outlived the
fourth. Thus, he saw the lion as representing modern-day Iraq, the
bear being Iran (the combined original area of the Medes and Persians),
and the leopard as the four areas of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey,
Syria, and finally Palestine, Arabia, Egypt and Libya. Thus, if
none of these were part of the fourth beast, then what was left
was the Western Roman Empire, which included all of the rest of
the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, north to the Danube
and Rhine rivers, and the southern part of modern England.
The Roman Empire
had included all of the Greek empire for centuries, but in AD 395
the empire was divided into the Western and Eastern halves. The
Western Empire then fell to rebelling subdued nations as well as
Germanic tribes invading from north of the Danube. Rome itself was
sacked in AD 410, which is Newton's date for the fall of the Empire,
but the usual modern date often given is that of the last gasp of
the Empire in AD 476. The Eastern half lived on as the Byzantine
Empire for centuries. The main point of this historical review is
that Newton identified, as do most modern commentators, the ten
kingdoms as the kingdoms into which the Western Roman Empire subsequently
divided.
Newton read
the ancient histories and found that there were ten nations which
appeared soon after the invading nations carved up the Western Roman
Empire. Most of us have never even heard of any of these nations,
but Newton includes a list of the kings of each for several hundred
years, or a least for as long as they lasted. I spent one whole
day looking up articles and maps in encyclopedias and the internet,
and finally created the map shown in Figure 2 with the names of
those nations on them. Newton simply assumes that his readers are
educated, being able to read both Greek and Latin, and also know
all of the provinces of ancient Rome as well as we moderns know
the names and locations of the states of the United States. Because
common knowledge of the ancient world has been so badly eroded,
I created this map to save readers the trouble of looking up the
details.
click
to enlarge
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Figure 2.
The Ten Nations born of the Roman Empire.
Notice on the
map how neatly the Rhine and Danube Rivers divide the continent
of Europe into two pieces. These rivers today still form large parts
of the borders between countries. As stated above, the Roman Empire
only extended to the Danube. The ten nations which Newton identified
are the ten with names in underlined italics on the
map in Figure 2. All ten are south of the Danube and east of Greece,
in the area of the Western Roman Empire.
The exact date
of the Fall of Rome may be important for understanding this vision,
especially because three of the nations were said to have been subsequently
uprooted. The nations really seemed to play "musical chairs" during
the centuries after Rome fell. That is, they not only did not combine
into one big empire, they also did not stay in one place. They each
grabbed up what they could of the empire, and then had wars to try
to hold onto what they had. So the map in Figure 2 is only a "snapshot"
of the empire in AD 425 when nations were still on the move.
For example,
the "English", meaning Anglo-Saxons, were not yet in England. The
Saxons first went there in AD 428 to help the Britons in a war against
the Picts and Scots in the North, and then stayed there after being
victorious. The Britons, who had lived on those isles for nearly
2,000 years, moved to the west side of the island and became known
as the Welsh. Similarly, the Alans in northwestern Spain were soon
defeated by the Suevians who took their place only decades later,
and the Visigoths spread over all of eastern Spain when they were
driven out of France by the Franks. There are wonderful maps of
Europe on the internet which show where each of the nations were
every century,[12]
which are very interesting to view in succession, to see Europe
slowly "morph" into what it is today. The reason I felt the need
to create yet another map was that so much action occurred right
at the fall of Rome that this map detailing what Newton was explaining
seemed necessary.
Let us look
very briefly at each of the kingdoms identified by Newton. Some
of these kingdoms had been in place for a thousand years or so,
and others had just formed when the conquerors of Rome divided up
the lands. The tribes called the "Germanic" tribes, often referred
to as "barbarians" by the Romans, included the Vandals, Suevians,
Alans, Goths, and the Burgundains. Newton points out that these
groups all spoke the same language and had the same customs, but
that they didn't mix together much, even as the clay kept the toes
of the statue from coalescing.[13]
Here are the
ten nations as Newton numbered them:
1. The Vandals.
According to Newton, they had come from north of the Rhine and had
a colony in France in 407, into Spain in 409, but were driven out
by the Visigoths in 419 to the north shore of Africa. There they
formed a huge colony which included the north part of modern-day
Morocco, Algeria and Libya. It was not only extensive, it was very
populated, and it lasted until AD 533, when it was totally annihilated.
Newton quotes an ancient source stating that some five million people
had been slain there when that nation was destroyed.[14]
2. TheSuevians.
They had first been seated in Spain, but were driven by the Visigoths
to the area of modern day Portugal, and are apparently the ancestors
of the Portuguese.
3. TheVisigoths.
These are the southern division of the Goths, who came from the
east side of the Black Sea, and settled on the west side. The Goths
were divided into two groups by the Danube River, with the northern
portion being called Ostrogoths, who lived in Romania, and the southern
group the Visigoths in the Bulgaria to Yugoslavia area, within the
Roman Empire. Then the Visigoths removed to southern France (as
in Figure 1), and later to Spain, where they successfully conquered
the land in AD 455. They were totally driven out of France in AD
506, and finally subdued the Suevians in 585, who retreated to Portugal.
Things have not changed much since then, and many of the Spanish
today descend from the Visigoths, who may well be the Castillians.
4. The Alans.
This Germanic tribe invaded France in AD 407 and set up a kingdom
with the capital at Orleans, France. When Attila the Hun conquered
much of Europe north of the Danube later that century, he was finally
stopped by the Alans at Champagne, France, which was named for the
battle (Campaign) in which 162,000 men were killed on both sides
according to Newton. The Huns had been fighting and pursuing the
Alans since the Huns had forced them out of their homes on the far
side of the Black Sea, beginning about AD 372. But even after their
victory over the Huns, the Alans who had survived were later either
driven out or assimilated by the Franks when they conquered most
of France. It is not clear to me what modern nation, if any, might
be represented by the Alans.
5. The Burgundians.
This Germanic tribe was driven more and more to the east of France
(Burgundy) and from what I can tell became at least part of the
modern-day Swiss people.
6. The Franks.
This seems to be the easiest nation to identify with a modern country,
that being France. The Franks were not an invading Germanic tribe,
but had probably been in the area of France for centuries. During
the reshuffling of border lines after the Fall of Rome, the Franks
were able to reclaim much of their land, which is modern day France.
7. The Britons.
These ancient people became the modern day Welsh, and right at this
same time of national migrations, the Anglos and Saxons invaded
England. So this country is probably best identified as modern England.
click
to enlarge
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Figure 3.
Attila the Hun's Empire about AD 450.
8. The Huns.
The Huns were from east of the Caspian sea in Asia, and of uncertain
ethnic origin, though sometimes said to be mongoloid. They had been
driven west by the Chinese, and they in turn invaded the area east
of the Black Sea about AD 372. They drove out many of the Germanic
tribes, such as the Alans, into Eastern and then Western Europe.
Shortly after the Fall of Rome, from AD 445-453, Atilla the Hun
created a huge empire north of the Danube that covered most of Europe,
all the way over to France (See Figure 3.). Thus, the invasion of
the Germanic tribes into the Western Roman Empire was due largely
to them having been driven out of their own homelands by the Huns.
Looking at Figure 3 might also give insight as to why the Saxons
and Anglos might not have been eager to return to their own homeland
after having moved to England to help the Britons, for it was being
invaded by the Huns. Attila's capital city was in modern-day Hungary,
but the Huns were finally driven out later that same century, and
I don't know if any nation remains from them. They were replaced
in Hungary by the Magyar, who later came from east of the Black
Sea, but who are probably not related to the Huns.
9. The Lombards.
This was a Germanic tribe who colonized Austria and later invaded
Italy. They ruled northern Italy until they were conquered by Charlemagne
in AD 774. They were not Italians (Romans), and I do not know if
they have disappeared or if they survived as part of the Austrian
people.
10. Ravenna.
This last kingdom is what was left of Italy (Rome) itself. The capital
of the Western Empire was moved to the city of Ravenna, Italy in
AD 408, just before Rome was overthrown. To avoid confusion, I simply
refer to this country as the "Romans" in Figure 2. Newton lists
its demise as occurring in AD 754. The Romans would later be called
the nation of Italy.
What about all
the Slavic nations, including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Serbia, and the Ukraine? From what I could
tell preparing this article, the great Slavic migration into Europe
came a few centuries later, so they are not shown on the map.
Enduring Nations
One fulfillment
of prophecy which became clear to me as I created the map in Figure
2 was that certain nations have been in exactly the same location
since the scattering after the Tower of Babel, about two millennia
before Christ. While the nations of Europe were scurrying about, making
it difficult to identify which modern nations are represented by each,
most of the rest of the world continued on with business as usual.
Newton pointed out that such was even stated in the prophecy, and
that the first three of the four empires described actually all endure
to when the Savior comes and replaces them with his new Millennial
Kingdom of God. As noted above, we can easily locate each of those
nations on a modern map in approximately the same location where they
have been since the Tower of Babel. Understanding this shows why the
great statue in the first vision did not begin with the Assyrian Empire,
with Babylon second, or even earlier with Nimrod's world empire. Those
empires were replaced by the later ones, but the empire of Nebuchadnezzar
was the first world empire which would have a remnant endure to the
end. The fact that this is true to this day is a witness of the fulfillment
of these two great visions of Daniel.
One reason that
I chose to include in my map in Figure 2 something of the family
origin of each nation is because of that permanence of location.
The three sons of Noah each essentially received on continent for
an inheritance: Shem received Asia, Japheth got Europe, and Ham
inherited Africa, and to the best of my knowledge, I put the names
of nations descending from those three in the colors of blue, red
and black, respectively. The tradition is that the five sons of
Shem became the nations of Persia (Elam), Assyria (Asshur), Babylon
or Chaldea (Arphaxad), Lydia (Lud), and Syria (Aram) (Gen. 10:22).
Those nations are each shown on the map in blue. What appear to
be original nations of Europe are shown in red, with several having
be traditionally associated with sons or grandsons of Japheth: the
Medes (Madai), the Franks (Gomer), the Greeks (Javan), the Romans
or Latins (Chittim, son of Javan), and the Spanish (Tarshish, son
of Javan). (Gen. 10:2,4). Ham had four sons who founded the nations
of Ethiopia (Cush), Egypt (Mizraim), Lybia (Phut) and Palestine
(Canaan) (Gen. 10:6).[15]
The only disagreement I found between these ancient tradtions and
modern was that Jasher says the Lombards are descendants of Japheth,
whereas all the modern sources agree they were one of the Germanic
tribes.
So if Japheth
inherited Europe, why are so many nations shown in blue on the map,
implying they are descendants of Shem? It is because all of the
ancient sources identify those "Germanic tribes" as having invaded
Europe from Asia, and having the same language, appearance, and
customs. Some came south from the areas of Denmark and Sweden, but
most came from the Caucasus Mountains on the eastern side of the
Black Sea. There were apparently several migrations from this area,
one including the Irish and Scots and Scandinavians about 600 BC
from that same area[16],
one about A.D. 100, affecting most of the nations shown in middle
Europe, and then the Slavic migration later also from that area.
These are apparently all descendants of Abraham, scattered from
those taken into Assyria into captivity before 700 BC.
And finally,
under the banner of enduring nations, note that I included no name
in the Palestine area. It had first been inhabited by the Hamitic
nations of the Canaanites. Then it was given to Abraham for his
seed, along with all of the land between the Euphrates and the Nile
(Gen. 15:18). But after AD 100 Jews and Christians were forced out
of Palestine on pain of death, with many migrating to Europe and
Asia. This is only a cursory overview of the situation, intended
to help understand these visions, but it is an indication of how
much depth there is to understanding a few toes on a giant.
The Little
Horn
Newton identifies
the time of the rise of the little horn with the beginning of the
Holy Roman Empire with Charlemagne, about AD 750-800. One reason for
this is that in the revelation, there were three of the ten horns
which were uprooted when the little horn came up. He points out that
there were three kingdoms which fell at that time, namely Ravenna
(754), the Lombards (774), and Rome (794), all of which were combined
into a new little state which replaced those three, and became part
of the larger empire. Newton's interpretation was that no matter how
the exact number of these European nations varied thereafter, that
the number ten is always used to represent them in these visions.
To me it is
difficult to identify exactly which nations disappeared, and which
tribes survive until today, perhaps in a different location. One
striking example which Newton chooses not to include in the list
overcome was the vast nation of the Vandals, covering the north
coasts of modern Morocco and Algeria in Africa, which was totally
annilhilated.
Another kingdom
that apparently disappeared was that of the Alans. So with both
the Alans and the Vandals losing their kingdoms, was Newton wrong
in not counting them in the three missing nations? Perhaps not,
because both groups had begun from north of the Danube as shown
in the map, and may have survived there and developed in to modern
European nations. Much more research needs to be done in this area.
What about the
common interpretation that the little horn has not appeared yet
and that those three nations have yet to fall in the last days?
That might be true and yet Newton might also be correct. Perhaps
the interpretation was written vaguely enough to be fulfilled twice
with the same symbolism. Perhaps the "time, times and a half" measuring
the time given to the beast to have power over the saints (Dan.
7:25) refers both to 1,260 years as Newton proposes and also to
a future period of 1,260 days (three and a half years) as is more
commonly understood. To me his interpretation was so well thought
out that it merited at least our consideration. My main intent in
writing this article is actually just to get us thinking about these
revelations at all. They can be very confusing and seem opaque,
which might discourage us from trying to understand them. This brings
us to the Book of Revelation.
The Book of
Revelation
Newton made the
observation that the Book of Revelation is a continuation of the five
visions of Daniel. He states that if you haven't got the imagery in
mind from Daniel, then you won't understand the Book of Revelation.
One example should demonstrate his point convincingly.
In chapter 13
of Revelation, John sees a beast with seven heads and ten horns,
which looks like a leopard having mouths like a lion and feet like
a bear. Because we have just reviewed the visions of Daniel, even
without Newton's genius, we can easily recognize the lion, bear,
leopard, and a 7-headed, 10-horned beast, as being the same four
images straight out of the second vision of Daniel. When you see
the same identical cast of four specific beasts, you can bet that
this vision is a sequel of some kind, using the same imagery which
we are supposed to already understand. But if we hadn't been treasuring
up the visions of Daniel in our minds, John's words might have sounded
like a mass of confusion. The Lord apparently expects us to remember
every word he has spoken.
Newton provides
a detailed interpretation of the Book of Revelation, which is beyond
the scope of this article. It is very different from modern interpretations,
having many more parts interpreted as already having occurred than
most commentators believe. My point in this article is not necessarily
that Newton's genius always led to the correct meaning, but rather
to consider that one of the greatest scientists of all time believed
these books to be true revelations from God, and to merit taking
a lot of time to study them and understand them.
Newton's
Contributions
Without going through
a detailed analysis of all that Newton said, let me summarize what
appear to be his main contributions to the subject.
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The five
visions of Daniel and the Book of Revelation are to be read
as one coherent set using the same imagery.
-
Each vision
adds more details to the earlier, so that the final picture
can be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.
-
Each horn
is an entire kingdom, as well as at least one principal king,
such as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon or Alexander of Greece.
-
Each of
the four beasts represents non-overlapping countries which endure
until the Ancient of Days comes in judgment.
-
Divine imagery
uses fixed rules, so any true understanding must involve a self-consistent
interpretation derived from a set of precepts. He derived the
laws of physics believing God follows set laws, and he assumes
the revelations from God also follow set laws.
-
Some of
the revelations may find a dual fulfillment in both the first
and second coming of Jesus Christ.
-
The three
and a half times of the little horn of the fourth beast are
to be reckoned as 1,260 years, rather than three and a half
years (1,260 days), the more common modern interpretation.
There is one
more huge point which Newton contributed which to me is worth an
entire article on its own. It is his understanding of the most precise
prophecy of the timing of the first coming of the Messiah. Next
month's article will show how Newton provided the key to understanding
Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27) in a manner
so precise that it should silence all critics.
Conclusion
Sir Isaac Newton,
having perhaps the greatest scientific mind of all time, accepted
the Books of Daniel of Revelation as revelations from God, being very
detailed and accurate representations of the history of the world's
dominating kingdoms, and prophesying both the first and second coming
of Christ. He understood that the scriptures taught that the true
Church of Jesus Christ had been lost, and he awaited three separate
future events: 1) the restoration of the gospel by an angel, 2) the
re-establishment of the true church, and 3) the rise of a new world
kingdom led by the Savior himself, which will crush the kingdoms of
the world as the stone pulverized the statue to powder. He saw the
whole purpose of these revelations is not to satisfy man's curiosity
about the future, but to be a testimony of the foreknowledge of God
after they are all fulfilled in the last days. He proposed that the
revelations can be understood by discovering rules governing their
consistent imagery, but only after they have been fulfilled, unless
an interpretation is given with the revelation. Truly Newton's genius
was remarkable, and we could learn muich from his insights and systematic
methods.
Notes
- Isaac
Newton, The Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse, (Hyderabad,
India: Printland Publishers, 1998) being a reprint ofObservations
on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John,
(London: Darby & Browne, 1733).
- Pratt,
John P., "Newton's Date for the
Crucifixion," Quar. Journ. of R.A.S. 32, (Sept.
1991), 301-304. It is a summary of Chapter 11 of this very book
by Newton. Newton's purpose for the calculation was to show that
Christ's life fulfilled the 70-week prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27).
- Gleick,
James, Isaac Newton (New York: Pantheon Book, 2003).
- Prophecies,
Preface, quoting a letter to Richard Bentley date 10.12.1692.
- Prophecies,
p. 24.
- Prophecies,
p. 14.
- Prophecies,
pp. 244-245.
- Prophecies,
p. 13.
- Prophecies,
pp. 243-244.
- Prophecies,
p. 245.
- Newton
does comment on the brass claws, which seems to imply that this
fourth beast combines aspects of both the brass and iron parts
of the statue, namely both the Easterm and Western parts of the
Roman Empire. Note also that the colors of the animals seem to
match the metals: lions are a golden color, grizzly bears are
named for the silvery tips of their fur, and leopard can be brass
colored.
- An
excellent set of maps is found on the internet at http://www.euratlas.com/time1.htm
which has detailed maps for every century. It makes a great exercise
just to step through them in order and watch the Anglo-Saxons
leave Denmark and the Danes fill in there, and to watch the related
Slavic nations of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Yugslavia, and the Urkrane all come in due time.
- These
Germanic tribes all migrated from the other side of the Black
Sea or south from Scandinavia, and almost certainly are part of
the scattered ten tribes of Israel. Some even retain recognizable
parts of the names, such as Saxons (Isaac's sons), Danes (Dan),
Goths (Gad), and Jutes (Judah). There is also apparently a group
who remain intact called the "Lost Ten Tribes," who are still
lost. Thus, the blessings of Abraham were spread throughout all
the earth to the decendants of Japheth, such as the Franks (Gomer),
Greeks (Javan), and Romans (Chittam, son of Javan).
- Newton
quotes Procopius, who estimates that 5,000,000 men perished in
AD 534 when the Vandal kingdom in Africa was destroyed. Prophecies,
p. 292.
- The
identifications of these descendants of Noah are mostly from Josephus
and Jasher. The references for each are given in my "Genealogy from
Adam to the Twelve Tribes," (Salt Lake City: HandKraft, 1968).
The Bible often simply equates the name to the country, such as
Elam meaning Persia in Dan 8:2.
- Pratt,
John P. "Geological
Evidence for the British Throne of David?" Meridian Magazine
(2 June 2003).
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