Below is the ninth 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 First Vision "THE MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. "[Rev.] Chap. i. 10-20; ii. iii [Rev. 1:10-20; 2, 3] [SEVEN CHURCHES: LITERAL, 1ST-CENTURY CONGREGATIONS] "Notwithstanding what has been said respecting the imagery and symbolism of the Apocalypse [Revelation], it is not to be forgotten that underlying these symbols there is everywhere a substratum of fact and reality. We have only to read the messages to the seven churches to discover that we are in a region of actual fact and intense reality. There is such individuality of character in the graphic delineations of the spiritual state of the several churches, that we cannot doubt that they are accurate and truthful portraits of the Christian communities [in 1st-century Asia Minor] which they describe . There is indeed...
Below is the 31st 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. In this excerpt, Russell concludes his explanation of why Revelation's "Babylon" represents 1st-century Jerusalem, not Rome. [THE HARLOT CITY] [TRUE MEANING OF 'KINGS OF THE EARTH' APPLIES TO JERUSALEM] "11. Thus interpreted [i.e., that the 'kings of the earth' is equivalent to 'the ruling authorities in the land' of 1st-century Israel], the description of Babylon the great as ‘reigning over the rulers of the land’ becomes perfectly appropriate to Jerusalem. This appears from the language in which both the Scriptures [such as Lamentations 1:1] and other Hebrew writings speak of the authority and pre-eminence enjoyed by that city. ... [JERUSALEM'S APOSTASY EVIDENT IN ITS REJECTION OF THE MESSIAH] "12. It may possibly be felt to be a difficulty that the ...
Below is the eighth 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 THEME OF THE APOCALYPSE [REVELATION] : [REVELATION 1:7 IS THE KEY TO THE WHOLE BOOK] "We have already endeavoured to show that the Apocalypse is essentially one with the prophecy on the Mount of Olives [as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21] that is to say, the subject of both is the same great catastrophe, viz. [that is] the Parousia [Second Coming], and the events accompanying it [historically manifested by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70]. The Apocalypse announces its great theme in the opening sentence of the book, after the preface or prologue. That opening sentence is the seventh verse of the first chapter: --- ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and [even] they also which pierced him; and all the tribes of the land...
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