Kevin may be
answering as well as the post was directed to
him, but I couldn’t help but put forward my own “observations”.
While the mass
media has publicized that Isaac Newton came
up with 2060 as the date for the return of Jesus Christ, consider the
following.
Although Sir
Isaac Newton has been documented as writing
considerably more concerning Christianity than Science, the vast
majority has
never been published. One exception is his “Observations upon
the
Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John”, in two parts,
published
in 1733, 6 years after his death. I consider this book
required reading, along
with Sir Robert Anderson’s “The Coming Prince” for all serious
eschatology students. There may be various different
publishers, but the two versions
I have are the reprint by the “Oregon
Institute of Science and Medicine” of the original typeset version, and
the modern typeset publication by “Printland Publishers”.
The reign of
the “little horn” will be destroyed
by the coming of Jesus Christ so it can be inferred that if the length
of the
reign of the “little horn” can be known, the timing of the coming
of Jesus Christ can be known.
Now consider
the following Bible verse:
(Daniel
7:8) I considered the horns, and,
behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there
were
three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this
horn were
eyes like the
eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Note there were
three of the first horns that were plucked
up by the little horn.
Now, directly
from the original typeset, Sir Isaac Newton’s
“Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel”, Chapter 8, page 113:
But
these kingdoms by degrees embraced the
Roman faith, and at the same time submitted to the Pope’s
authority. The
Franks in Gaul submitted in the end of the fifth Century, the Goths in Spain in the end of the
sixth; and the Lombards
in Italy
were conquered by Charles the great A.C. 774.
So we have
listed the “three of the first horns plucked
up by the roots”. Continuing on farther down the page and
onto page 114:
By
the conversion of the ten kingdoms to
the Roman religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual dominion, but
did not
yet rise up as a horn of the Beast. It was his temporal
dominion which made
him one of the horns: and this dominion he aquired in the latter half
of the
eighth century, by subduing three of the former horns as
above. And now being
arrived at a temporal dominion, and a power above all human judicature,
he
reigned with a look more stout than his fellows, and times and laws
were
henceforward given into his hands, for a time times and half a time, or
three
times and an half; that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a time for
a
calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year.
Sir Isaac
Newton does not do the math for us, but let us do
the math. From the time of the subduing three of the former
horns, ending A.C.
774 + 1260 solar years = 2034 A.C. This is somewhat closer
than the 2060 AD
one is more likely to here from the mass media without any concrete
form that I’ve
seen of documentation. And it is there for anyone to read and
confirm.
Sir Isaac
Newton also proposes, I believe for symmetry with
this 2034 date, that he counts 5 passovers listed in the Gospels during
the
ministry of Christ. So starting in the fall of 28 AD for the
start of Jesus
Christ’s ministry, instead of being of 3 ½ years which was more
commonly
believed, he had 5 ½ years, which would end in the spring of 34
AD. The symmetry
of this is very nice, yielding exactly 2000 solar years between Jesus
Christ
leaving and His returning.
However, I’m
not content to stop watching till 2034,
which I believe is contrary to the teaching of the Bible concerning
watching
for His return. I would propose if Sir Isaac Newton
recognizes 360 days per
year to translate time, times and a half a time, then lets recognize it
to do
the calculation to years as well and not just assume they are solar
years. I
realize that Sir Isaac Newton doing these calculations 300 some years
ago was
not as concerned as us today of being off by a decade or two.
So the
calculations would then be 774 AD + 1260 * 360 /
365.2422 = 2016 AD
Add subtract 7
years and we arrive at 2009 AD
Wow!
Looking Up!
Shalom!