SecondComingAD70

Below is the 18th 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 Measurement of the Temple . "CHAP. xi. 1, 2 [Rev. 11:1-2].---‘And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without [outside] the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.’ [TEMPLE'S MEASUREMENT: PROOF OF ITS PRE-A.D. 70 EXISTENCE] " If anything were wanting [lacking] to prove that in these apocalyptic visions we are dealing with contemporary [i.e., 1st-century] history, with facts and things extant [still existing] in the days of St. John, it would be supplied by the passage before u s .  Here we have distinct and decisive evidence with respect to  ...

Below is the 17th 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 Third Vision " THE SEVEN TRUMPETS , CHAPS. VIII. IX. X. XI. [8, 9, 10, 11] [REVELATION: NOT A PROGRESSIVE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS, BUT RECURRING REPRESENTATION OF JERUSALEM'S FALL] "We have now reached the close of the second vision [of the seven seals], and it might be supposed that the catastrophe by which it was concluded is so complete and exhaustive that there could be no room for any further development. But it is not so. And   here we have again to call attention to   one of the leading features in the structure of the Apocalypse [Revelation]. It is not a continuous and progressive sequence of events, but a continually recurring representation of substantially the same tragic history [of Jerusalem's fall in A.D. 70] in fresh forms and new phases . ...At the same time every new...

Below is the 16th 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: " EPISODE OF THE SEALING OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD . "Chap. vii. 11-17 [Rev. 7:1-17].--- ‘After this, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel,’ etc. [STAY OF EXECUTION FOR THOSE WITH SEAL OF GOD ON FOREHEADS] ...

Below is the 15th 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:  " OPENING OF THE SIXTH SEAL [COSMIC CATACLYSM] . "Chap. vi. 12-17 [Rev. 6:12-17].--- ‘And I beheld when he [the Lamb] opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth (land [Greek:  tes ges ]), and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide u...