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The Theme of the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:7)

Below is the eighth of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from  The   Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " THE THEME OF THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION] : "We have already endeavoured to show that the Apocalypse [Revelation] is essentially one with the prophecy on the Mount of Olives [as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21] that is to say, the subject of both is the same great catastrophe, viz. [that is] the Parousia [Second Coming], and the events accompanying it [historically manifested by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70].  The Apocalypse announces its great theme in the opening sentence of the book, after the preface or prologue. That opening sentence is the seventh verse of the first chapter: ---  ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and [even] they also which pierced him; and all the tribes of the land ["tribes of the land" i...
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The Number Seven in the Book of Revelation

Below is the seventh of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from   The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " THE NUMBER SEVEN IN THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION]. "Every reader of the Apocalypse [Revelation] must be struck by the manner in which certain numerals are employed, not so much in an arithmetical sense as in a symbolical. The numbers three, four, seven,  ten, and twelve, the half of seven, and the square of twelve, are used in this significant manner.  Of all those mystic numbers, as they may be called, seven is the dominant one, which we find continually recurring from beginning to end of the book.  That it is invariably used in a symbolical, and never in a literal and arithmetical, sense we will not venture to assert, but that it is frequently, if not generally, so employed must be apparent to every thoughtful reader.  It was the number of dignity among the Jews, the symb...
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Structure and Plan of the Book of Revelation

  Below is the sixth of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from  The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " STRUCTURE AND PLAN OF THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION ]: "As commonly interpreted [it would seem that] nothing can be more loose and unconnected than the arrangement of the Apocalypse [Revelation]. ...In reality  there is no literary composition more regular in  its structure, more methodical in its arrangement, more artistic in its design. No Greek tragedy is composed with greater art or more strict attention to dramatic laws.  ...[T]he whole arrangement [consisting of a sevenfold division] stands as follows:--- " Prologue , chap. i, 1-8 [Rev. 1:1-8] "1.  Vision of the Seven Churches ...chap. i. ii. iii. [Rev. 1,2,3] "2.  Vision of the Seven Seals ...chap. iv. v. vi. vii. [Rev. 4,5,6,7] "3.  Vision of the Seven Trumpets ...chap. viii. ix. x. xi. [Rev. 8,9,10,11]...
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Revelation: A Transfigured Form of the Synoptics' Olivet Discourse

  Below is the fifth of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of  Revelation from   The   Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:  " THE TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION] .  " We are now better prepared to grapple with the question,   What is the real meaning of the Apocalypse [Revelation]? The fact that, by its own showing, the action of the book must necessarily be comprehended within a very short space of time , and the knowledge (approximately) of the date of its composition [i.e., before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, as shown in previous excerpts], are important aids to a correct apprehension of its object and scope.   To regard it as a revelation of the distant future, when it expressly declares that it treats of things which must shortly come to pass; and to look for its fulfilment in mediaeval or modern history, when it affirms that the time is at ha...
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The pre-A.D. 70 Date of Revelation's Composition (Part 2)

Below is the fourth of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from   The   Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. [In this excerpt, Russell continues his enumeration of internal evidence that the Book of Revelation was written before A.D. 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans.  See previous post for Russell's first point of evidence.] "2.  After the fullest consideration of the remarkable [Greek] expression  te kuriake hemera ( the Lord’s day), in Rev. i. 10  [Rev. 1:10] , we are satisfied that it cannot refer to the first day of the week, but that those interpreters are right who understand it to refer to the period called elsewhere  ‘the [great judgment] day of the Lord. ’  There is no example in the New Testament of the first day of the week (Sunday) being called ‘the Lord’s day,’ or ‘the day of the Lord;’ but the latter phrase is appropriated and re...
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The pre-A.D. 70 Date of Revelation's Composition (Part 1)

Below is the third of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from   The   Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell: " DATE OF THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION]. " If the foregoing conclusions [about the speedy coming of the Lord] are well founded, they virtually decide the much-debated questions respecting the date of the Apocalypse  [Revelation].  Perhaps it may be admitted that the weight of authority [i.e., tradition], such as it is, inclines to the side of the late date: that is, that it was written after the destruction of Jerusalem [i.e., after A.D. 70]; but   the  internal evidence  seems to us overwhelming on the side of its early date [i.e., before A.D. 70] .  That the Apocalypse contemplates the Parousia [Second Coming] as imminent is surely an incontrovertible proposition .  That the Parousia is always represented as coincident with the judgment of the guilty cit...
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Time Limits Set by the Book of Revelation

Below is the second of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from   The   Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:  " LIMITATION OF TIME IN THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION] .  " This [time limit] is not a mere conjecture, it is certified by the express statements of the book [Rev. 1:1, 1:3, 1:7, 1:19, 3:11, 16:15, 22:6, 22:7, 22:10, 22:12, 22:20].  If there be one thing which more than any other is explicitly and repeatedly affirmed in the Apocalypse it is the  nearness   of the events which it predicts. This is stated, and reiterated again and again, in the beginning, the middle, and the end. We are warned that ‘the time is  at hand ;’ ‘These things must  shortly   come to pass,’ ‘Behold, I come  quickly ;’ ‘Surely I come  quickly .’  Yet, in the face of these express and oft-repeated declarations  [further confirmed by the Synoptic Gospels...
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