The Limited Scope of the Great Commission and the Imminence of the End of the Age
The Limited Scope of the Great Commission and the Imminence of the End of the Age Below is the 11th 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 Apostolic Commission [the Great Commission] "MATT. xxviii. 19, 20 [Matt. 28:19-20] 'Go ye therefore, and teach all (the) nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age, Greek: aionos].'
"MARK xvi. 15, 20 [Mark 16:15, 20] 'And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' 'And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.' [Blog editor's note: The authentic ending of Mark's Gospel is 16:8, based on the best and most ancient manuscripts. The "longer ending" -- 16:9-20 -- was added later.] "LUKE xxiv. 47 [Luke 24:47] 'and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.' "It is usual to regard this commission as if it were addressed to the whole Christian Church in all ages. No doubt it is allowable to infer from these words the perpetual obligation resting upon all Christians in all times, to propagate the Gospel among all nations; but it is important to consider the words in their proper and original reference. It is Christ's commission to His chosen messengers, designating them to their evangelistic work, and assuring them of His constant presence and protection. It has a special application to the apostles which it cannot have to any others. We have already adverted [called attention] to the fact that the disciples, to whom this charge was given, do not seem to have understood it as directing them to extend their evangelistic labours beyond the bounds of Palestine, or to preach the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately. [See related blog post titled "Separation of the Sheep and the Goats: A National, Not Worldwide, Judgment"] It is certain that they did not immediately, nor yet for years, act upon this commission in its largest sense; nor does it seem probable that they would ever have done so without an express revelation. As Dr. [Edward] Burton has shown, no less than fifteen years elapsed between the conversion of St. Paul and his first apostolic journey to preach among the Gentiles. [Quoting Burton:] 'Nor is there any evidence that during that period the other apostles passed the confines of Judaea.' There is much probability therefore in the opinion that the language of the apostolic commission [the Great Commission] did not convey to their minds the same idea that it does to us, and that, as we have already seen, the phrase 'all the nations' ([Greek:] panta ta ethne) is really equivalent to 'all the tribes of the land' ([Greek:] pasai hai phulai tes ges). "But what especially deserves notice is the remarkable limitation of time, the 'terminus ad quem' [final point in time] here specified by our Saviour. 'Lo, I am with you always (all the days) [Greek: pasas tas hemeras], even to the close of the age' ([Greek:] sunteleia tou aionos). Nothing can be more misleading to the English reader than the [King James version] rendering 'the end of the world; ' which inevitably suggests the close of human history, the end of time, and the destruction of the earth,---a meaning which the words will not bear. ...What can be more evident than that the promise of Christ to be with His disciples to the close of the [Old Covenant] age, [which] implies that they were to live to the close of the age? That great consummation was not far off; the Lord had often spoken of it, and always as an approaching event, one which some of them would live to see [Matt. 16:28, Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27]. It was the winding up of the Mosaic dispensation; the end of the long probation of the Theocratic nation[,] when the whole frame and fabric of the Jewish polity were to be swept away [through the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70], and [in its place] 'the kingdom of God to come with power' [Mark 9:1]. This great event, our Lord had declared, was to fall within the limit of the existing generation. The 'close of the age' coincided with the Parousia [Second Coming], and the outward and visible sign by which it is distinguished is the destruction of Jerusalem. This is the terminus by which in the New Testament the field is bounded. To Israel it was 'the end' [Matt. 24:13, Mark 13:13, Luke 21:9], 'the end of all things' [1 Peter 4:7], 'the passing away of heaven and earth' [Matt. 24:35, Rev. 21:1], the abrogation of the old order, the inauguration of the new [Hebrews 8:13]. Of this great providential epoch, history tells us much, but prophecy more. History [as recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus] shows us the predicted signs coming to pass [during the Jewish-Roman war of A.D. 66-70]; the premonitory [warning] symptoms of the approaching catastrophe---the false Christs, the wars and rumours of wars, the insurrections and commotions, the earthquakes, famines and pestilences; the persecutions and tribulations; the invading legions of Rome [Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21]; the besieged and captured city; the burning temple; the slaughtered myriads; the extinguished nation. But history cannot lift the veil which hangs over the spirit world; it leads us up to the very border, and bids us guess the rest. But we have a more sure word of prophecy which, instead of conjecture, gives us assurance. It reveals 'the Son of man coming in his glory;' the King seated on the throne; the judgment set, and the books opened. It reveals the sheep and the goats separated the one from the other [Matt. 25:31-33]; the righteous entering into everlasting life; the wicked sent away into everlasting punishment [Matt. 25:46]. If we have not the historical verification of the unseen and spiritual [such as the judgment of the sheep and the goats], as we have of the visible and material elements of this consummation [as manifested in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70], it is because they are not in the nature of things equally cognizable by the senses. But we accept them on the faith of His word who declared, 'Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation [Matt. 23:36]; ' and again, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled [Matt. 24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32] [and also] 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away [Matt. 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33].' The literal fulfilment of all that falls within the sphere of human observation is the voucher for the credibility of the remainder, which belongs to the realm of the unseen and the spiritual."
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