Christ About to Judge the World -- in the 1st Century

Christ About to Judge the World -- in the 1st Century

Below is the 21st of multiple excerpts of commentary from Parts I and II of The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. The initial 31 posts on this blog deal with the Book of Revelation, which is cogently interpreted in Part III of Russell's magnum opus. (For all blog posts, see russellparousia.blogspot.com) "CHRIST SOON TO JUDGE THE WORLD. "ACTS xvii. 31. [Acts 17:31]---'Because he hath appointed day in the which he will judge [literally, is about to judge] the world [Greek: oikoumene, meaning inhabited world, i.e., Roman Empire] in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained. ....' "We have already seen that the Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be constituted the Judge of men (John v. 22, 27 [John 5:22, 27]). As clearly it is declared that the time of judgment is the Parousia [Second Coming; Matt. 16:27-28, 25:31-33; 2 Thess. 1:6-10]. With equal distinctness we are taught that the Parousia was to fall within the term of the [1st-century] generation then living [Matt. 10:23, 16:28, 24:34, 26:64; Mark 9:1, 13:30, 14:62; Luke 9:27, 21:32, 22:69; Rev. 1:7]. The judgment was therefore viewed by St. Paul as being near. We have in the passage now before us an incidental but unnoticed confirmation of this fact. The words [translated by the King James Version as] 'he will judge' do not express a simple future, but a speedy future, [Greek:] mellei krinein, [meaning] He is about to judge, or will soon judge. This shade of meaning is not preserved in our English [King James] version, but it is not unimportant. "Here, then, we are again met by the oft-recurring association of the Parousia and the judgment, both of which were evidently [i.e., in an evident or clear manner] regarded by the apostle as nigh at hand."

----- Visit russellparousia.blogspot.com to see all posts

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rapture (Snatching Up) of Living Saints in the 1st Century

The Rapture (Snatching Up) of Living Saints in the 1st Century [See blog editor's note on the use and meaning of the term "rapture" after Russell's excerpt] Below is the 16th of multiple excerpts of commentary from Parts I and II of The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. The initial 31 posts on this blog deal with the Book of Revelation, which is cogently interpreted in Part III of Russell's magnum opus. (For all blog posts, see russellparousia.blogspot.com) "THE CRUCIAL QUESTION [of whether the rapture happened in the 1st century] "Doubtless most readers will shrink from the demand made upon their faith, when they are asked to believe that the predictions of our Lord in Matt. xxiv. [24:31], and the kindred prophecy of St. Paul in 1 Thess. iv. [1 Thess. 4:15-17, regarding the "rapture" (snatching up) of living saints] had a veritable accomplishment [in connection with Christ's ...
Read more

Book of Revelation: Written to be Understood by its Original 1st-century Readers

Below is the first 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: " We come now to the consideration of the most difficult and obscure part of divine Revelation, and we may well pause on the threshold of a region so shrouded in mystery and darkness . The conspicuous failures of the wise and learned men who have too confidently professed to decipher the mystic scroll of the apocalyptic Seer [John] warn us against presumption. We might even feel justified in declining altogether a task which has baffled so many of the ablest and best interpreters of the Word of God.  But, on the other hand ,   do we honour the book by refusing to open it, and pronouncing it hopelessly obscure ? Are we justified in so treating any portion of the Revelation which God has given us? Is the book to be virtually handed over to diviners and charlatans, to be the sport of the...
Read more

Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: A Historic Event that Signified Christ's Second Coming

Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: A Historic Event that Signified Christ's Second Coming Below is the 42nd of multiple excerpts from Parts I and II of The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. The initial 31 posts on this blog deal with the Book of Revelation, which is cogently interpreted in Part III of Russell's magnum opus. (For all blog posts, see russellparousia.blogspot.com) [In previous excerpts, posted at the Parousia blog, Russell has painstakingly shown that an imminent, 1st-century Second Coming was a belief central to Christ's own prophecies and to the teachings of the apostles in the New Testament's epistles and the Book of Revelation. [Russell deals with three key questions in this excerpt: (1) Were Christ and the apostles deluded about the timing of the Second Coming and did God permit this to keep Christians in a state of constant vigilance? (2) Was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D....
Read more