SecondComingAD70

Delivering Up of the Kingdom and the Subduing of Death at Close of Old Covenant Age Below is the 33rd of multiple excerpts from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. [Note: In 1 Corinthians 15:22-28, the Apostle Paul links Christ's Second Coming to the resurrection of the dead and "the end." (This Second Coming or Parousia was prophesied to occur within the lifetime of Jesus' own generation [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].) Paul also links "the end" to the time when Christ delivers up the kingdom to God the Father and puts down every enemy under his feet, including death. As detailed in the previous Parousia blog post titled "Then Comes the End -- of What?," Russell explained how "the end" or "end of the age" refers not to the end of the world, or the destruction of the material earth, but to the end of the O

Then Comes the End -- of What? Below is the 32nd of multiple excerpts from The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "EVENTS ACOMPANYING THE PAROUSIA [SECOND COMING]. "The Resurrection of the Dead; the Change of the Living; the Delivering up of the Kingdom. "In entering upon this grand and solemn portion of the Word of God we desire to do so with profound reverence and humility of spirit, dreading to rush in where angels might fear to tread; and anxiously solicitous ‘to bring out of the inspired words what is really in them, and to put nothing into them that is not really there.’ "We venture also to bespeak [request] the judicial candour of the reader. A demand may be made upon his forbearance and patience which he may scarcely at first be prepared to meet. Old traditions and preconceived opinions are not patient of contradiction, and even truth may often be in danger of being spurned as foolishness merely

The Arrival of the End of the Ages in the 1st Century Below is the 31st of multiple excerpts from The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "NEARNESS OF THE APPROACHING CONSUMMATION. "1 Cor. vii. 29-31 [1 Cor. 7:29-31].--- ‘But this I say, brethren, the time henceforth is short (the time that remains is short): in order that both they that have wives be as though they had none: and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world as not abusing [not fully using] it: for the fashion [Greek: schema , 'shape' or 'form' ] of this world is passing away.’ "No words could more distinctly show the deep impression on the mind of the apostle [Paul] that a great crisis was near, which would powerfully affect all the relations of life, and all the possessions of this world. There is a signi

Has the Fiery Judgment of the Corinthians' Work in 1st Century Still Not Taken Place? Below is the 30th of multiple excerpts from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "THE JUDICIAL CHARACTER OF ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD.’ "1 Cor. iii. 13 [1 Cor. 3:13 ].--- ‘Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it (the day) shall be revealed with fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.’ "In this passage, again, there is a distinct allusion to the ‘day of the Lord’ as a day of discrimination between good and evil, between the precious and the vile. The apostle [Paul, writing circa A.D. 57] likens himself and his fellow-labourers in the service of God to workmen employed in the erection of a great building. That building is God’s church, the only foundation of which is Jesus Christ, that foundation which he (the apostle) had laid in Corinth. He then warns every l

The Second Coming in 1st Corinthians Below is the 29th of multiple excerpts from The Parousia , the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "THE PAROUSIA [SECOND COMING] IN THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. "The two epistles to the church in Corinth are believed to have been written in the same year (A.D. 57). The contents are more varied than those of the Epistles to the Thessalonians, but we find many allusions to the anticipated coming of the Lord. That was the consummation to which, in St. Paul’s view, all things were hastening, and that for which all Christians were eagerly looking. It is represented as the decisive day when all the doubts and difficulties of the present would be resolved and all its wrongs redressed. That this great event was regarded by the apostle as at hand is implied in every allusion to the subject, while in several passages it is expressly affirmed in so many words. "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIAN