SecondComingAD70

Below is the third 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: " DATE OF THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION]. " If the foregoing conclusions [about the speedy coming of the Lord] are well founded, they virtually decide the much-debated questions respecting the date of the Apocalypse  [Revelation].  Perhaps it may be admitted that the weight of authority [i.e., tradition], such as it is, inclines to the side of the late date: that is, that it was written after the destruction of Jerusalem [i.e., after A.D. 70]; but   the  internal evidence  seems to us overwhelming on the side of its early date [i.e., before A.D. 70] .  That the Apocalypse contemplates the Parousia [Second Coming] as imminent is surely an incontrovertible proposition .  That the Parousia is always represented as coincident with the judgment of the guilty cit...

Below is the second 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:  " LIMITATION OF TIME IN THE APOCALYPSE [BOOK OF REVELATION] .  " This [time limit] is not a mere conjecture, it is certified by the express statements of the book [Rev. 1:1, 1:3, 1:7, 1:19, 3:11, 16:15, 22:6, 22:7, 22:10, 22:12, 22:20].  If there be one thing which more than any other is explicitly and repeatedly affirmed in the Apocalypse it is the  nearness   of the events which it predicts. This is stated, and reiterated again and again, in the beginning, the middle, and the end. We are warned that ‘the time is  at hand ;’ ‘These things must  shortly   come to pass,’ ‘Behold, I come  quickly ;’ ‘Surely I come  quickly .’  Yet, in the face of these express and oft-repeated declarations  [further confirmed by the Synoptic Gospels...