Newton (Isaac) on prophecy
Isaac Newton was born about 350 years ago, in 1643. Though he
possessed probably the greatest scientific mind of all time, Newton believed
that his expositions in the spiritual realm far outweighed in importance his
scientific discoveries of the physical world. Yet his religious writings have
been permitted to languish in obscurity and neglect. Today, the greatest part of
his historical-theological manuscripts are hidden away in the Jewish National
Library and University Library in Jerusalem. Newton believed firmly in the
literal Second Coming of Christ and the return of the Jews to their Land. He
refuted the "orthodox" opinion that the Judgment is to be accompanied by the
literal burning up of the earth. His determination to reconstruct the ancient
teaching of the first century church caused him to reject many commonly received
church teachings: for example, he saw the "devil" as a term expressing the lusts
of the flesh as manifested in various forms.
On the Importance and Significance of
Prophecy
Giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of the
true Church. The authority of councils, synods, bishops, and presbyters is
human. The authority of the prophets is divine and comprehends the sum of
religion, reckoning Moses and the Apostles amongst the prophets. And if an angel
from heaven preach any other Gospel than what they have delivered, let him be
accursed.
Daniel was in greatest credit among the Jews, and to reject
his prophecies is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded
upon his prophecy concerning the Messiah.
For Daniel's prophecies reach unto the end of the world; and
there is scarce a prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ which doth not
in something or other relate to his second coming.
God gave the Apocalypse [Revelation] and the prophecies of the
Old Testament 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, and not the interpreters', be then manifested to
the world.
Search the Scriptures thyself. By frequent reading, constant
meditation, and earnest prayer, enlighten thine understanding if thou desirest
to find the Truth -- to which, if thou shalt at length attain, thou wilt value
above all other treasures in the world by reason of the assurance and vigour it
will add to thy faith, and steady satisfaction to thy mind which he only can
know who shall experience it.
On the Return of the Jews to their Land
It may perhaps come about not from the Jews themselves but
from some other kingdom friendly to them.
The return from captivity and coming of the Messiah and his
Kingdom are described in Dan 7; Rev 19; Act 1; Mat 24; Joel 3; Eze 36; 37; Isa
60,62,63,65, 66, and many other places of Scripture. The manner of the return I
know not. [This was written 300 years ago!] Let time be the
interpreter.
On the Millennium as the Fulfillment of the Promises to
Abraham
The Kingdom of God on earth involves the coexistence, during
that period of one thousand years, of mortals and immortals, the latter in glory
as the children of the resurrection. Seeing then this Kingdom outlasts the
Millennium in so vast a disproportion of time and its end after that is nowhere
predicted, we may well conclude with Jeremiah that it shall last as long as the
ordinances of the sun and moon and stars; with Daniel, John and the other
prophets that it shall stand for ever and ever, and with Luke that it shall have
no end.
This was God's covenant with Abraham when He promised that his
seed should inherit the land of Canaan for ever; and on this covenant was
founded the Jewish religion as well as the Christian; and therefore this point
is of so great moment that it ought to be considered and understood by all men
who pretend to [ie, profess] the name of Christians.
Appendix:
"The temporal distance of Newton's conception of the Jewish
Restoration from his own time is startling. While Finch thought the conversion
of the Jews would begin in 1650, Mede at a date no later than 1715, William
Lloyd by 1736, and his own erstwhile protégé Whiston by 1766,
Newton saw it as centuries away. There can be no doubt that his vision of the
return of the Jews was strong. Few intellectuals of Newton's day could match the
vigour of his faith in this prophetic event. Nevertheless, there is no sense of
apocalyptic urgency. While the otherwise similarly-minded Whiston preached the
nearness of the end, the imminence of the Jewish Restoration and toured the
English resort towns with a model of the Millennial Temple, Newton stayed at his
desk, communed with his books and worked and reworked prophetic treatises that
few in his own lifetime would read. However, while he did not think
apocalyptically about his present, he did see an intensely apocalyptic period
focused at the end of time. Implicit in this eschatological profile one can also
see Newton's inherent religious radicalism. By contending that the true Gospel
would not be widely preached until the end, he marginalizes the Reformation and
distances himself from the mainstream Protestantism of his day. This belief even
leads Newton to read Rom 11 differently: the time when "all Israel shall be
saved" was not the time when the converted Jews would be added to already
believing Gentiles. Rather, for Newton this referred to the moment at the end
when all Israel -- Jew and Gentile alike -- would convert together to true
Christianity. Unlike many other Christians, Newton refused to place Jewish
faithlessness over Gentile Christian unbelief. Moreover, Newton's prophetic
world was a very private one. Unlike so many others of his age, there is no
direct political context for his belief in the return of the Jews, no discussion
of mercantile interests and no evidence of involvement in efforts to convert the
Jews in his time.
"It is difficult to estimate the impact of Newton's published
writing on the return of the Jews. While it would be wrong to argue that his
influence was great, conservative Protestants nevertheless saw him as an
important prophetic authority and recent scholarship has demonstrated that his
published Observations -- which includes a detailed section on the return of the
Jews -- was a chief source for fundamentalist exegetes of the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. And, while it is not overly lengthy, the section on
the return of the Jews in the Observations is one of the fullest and most
detailed articulations of his views on this subject. Nor must we overlook the
secondary albeit likely more important influence he exerted through theological
disciples such as Whiston, who published several works that deal with the Jewish
Restoration. In both cases Newton's exegesis merged with a prophetic tradition
that helped create during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the religious
and political climates that paved the way for the resettlement of Jews in
Palestine -- the longed-for vision of the Restoration. Newton would have
approved." (Stephen Snobelen, "Isaac Newton on the Return of the
Jews")
"About the time of the End, a body of men will be raised up
who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist on their literal
interpretation in the midst of much clamor and opposition" (Sir Isaac Newton,
1643-1727).
(From Caribbean Pioneer)
