SecondComingAD70

Below is the 21st 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 Fourth Vision " VISION OF THE SEVEN MYSTIC FIGURES . "Chaps. xii. [12] xiii. [13] xiv. [14] [DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SAME GREAT EVENT: THE SEVEN MYSTIC  FIGURES] " The catastrophe of the trumpet vision lands us in the very same crisis as the catastrophe of the seven seals. They are both different representations of the same great event. But there is still room for fresh representations; and the next vision ushers in a completely different set of symbols, though belonging to the same period and relating to the same events.   ... These [symbols] are,---1. The woman clothed with the sun; 2. The great red dragon; 3. The man-child; 4. The beast from the sea; 5. The beast from the land; 6. The Lamb on Mount Sion [Zion]; 7. The Son of man on the cloud. We call this vision, theref...

Below is the 20th 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 Two Witnesses   "CHAP. xi. 3-13 [Rev. 11:3-13].- ‘And I will give (power) unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. ...  [THE TWO WITNESSES: SCHOLARLY BEWILDERMENT OVER THEIR IDENTITY] "We now enter upon the investigation of one of the most difficult problems contained in Scripture , and one which has exercised, we may even say baffled, the research and ingenuity of critics and commentators up to the present hour. Who are the two witnesses? Are they mythical or historical persons? Are they symbols or actual realities? Do they represent principles or individuals?  ...So complete is the bewilderment [among Bible interpreters], and so unsatisfactory the explanation, that many consider the problem ins...

Below is the 19th 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 Times of the Gentiles; continued from previous excerpt, 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. ’] [ABANDONMENT OF THE OUTER COURT TO THE GENTILES=JEWISH ZEALOTS AND IDUMEANS] " It will be remarked that one portion of the temple precincts, ‘the court which is without [outside] the temple,’ is excepted from the measurement: and for this a reason is assigned,---‘for it is given unto the Gentiles .’ ...We know that there was...

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  ...