SecondComingAD70

Below is the 20th 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:  " Episode of the Two Witnesses   "CHAP. xi. 3-13 [Rev. 11:3-13].- ‘And I will give (power) unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. ...  [THE TWO WITNESSES: SCHOLARLY BEWILDERMENT OVER THEIR IDENTITY] "We now enter upon the investigation of one of the most difficult problems contained in Scripture , and one which has exercised, we may even say baffled, the research and ingenuity of critics and commentators up to the present hour. Who are the two witnesses? Are they mythical or historical persons? Are they symbols or actual realities? Do they represent principles or individuals?  ...So complete is the bewilderment [among Bible interpreters], and so unsatisfactory the explanation, that many consider the problem ins...

Below is the 19th 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 Times of the Gentiles; continued from previous excerpt, the Measurement of the Temple] [CHAP. xi. 1, 2 [Rev. 11:1-2].---‘And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.  But the court which is without [outside] the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. ’] [ABANDONMENT OF THE OUTER COURT TO THE GENTILES=JEWISH ZEALOTS AND IDUMEANS] " It will be remarked that one portion of the temple precincts, ‘the court which is without [outside] the temple,’ is excepted from the measurement: and for this a reason is assigned,---‘for it is given unto the Gentiles .’ ...We know that there was...

Below is the 18th 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 Measurement of the Temple . "CHAP. xi. 1, 2 [Rev. 11:1-2].---‘And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without [outside] the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.’ [TEMPLE'S MEASUREMENT: PROOF OF ITS PRE-A.D. 70 EXISTENCE] " If anything were wanting [lacking] to prove that in these apocalyptic visions we are dealing with contemporary [i.e., 1st-century] history, with facts and things extant [still existing] in the days of St. John, it would be supplied by the passage before u s .  Here we have distinct and decisive evidence with respect to  ...

Below is the 17th 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 Third Vision " THE SEVEN TRUMPETS , CHAPS. VIII. IX. X. XI. [8, 9, 10, 11] [REVELATION: NOT A PROGRESSIVE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS, BUT RECURRING REPRESENTATION OF JERUSALEM'S FALL] "We have now reached the close of the second vision [of the seven seals], and it might be supposed that the catastrophe by which it was concluded is so complete and exhaustive that there could be no room for any further development. But it is not so. And   here we have again to call attention to   one of the leading features in the structure of the Apocalypse [Revelation]. It is not a continuous and progressive sequence of events, but a continually recurring representation of substantially the same tragic history [of Jerusalem's fall in A.D. 70] in fresh forms and new phases . ...At the same time every new...