why my lady, there is redemption for everyone today tomorrow - it comes when you die, it is still through your god [according to this book] so what's the problem? - this article does not say if you didn't live before AD 70 you lost your chance - it is stating that there is no rapture/return/in the sense that's been ""taught"" you [not by god] by the men who write the books you read or their footnotes in bibles or other commentary that you wish to believe is the gospel truth - i'm just putting forth other thought on the subject, excuse me for having my "freedom' to do so" sorry.

If you read it MS, it may actually open your eyes - it even talks about those who have eyes yet cannot see.

deb please donot tart posting future rhetoric on this post - if you want to come against it then start a new post and place your rebuttle there, this is not going to turn into a battle - this is merely info i'm putting here for anyone interested to read - if there is no interest fine - if there is fine - but this is not for debate.

Tribo My Friend....

Born Again Spirit Filled Chrsitians DO
KNOW AND RECOGNIZE
THE TRUTH...NO MORE NEED FOR ANYMORE
QUESSWORK !!!
OUR SPIRTUAL EYES HAVE ALREADY BEEN OPENED , WHEN WE GOT SAVED!!!

ALSO.....
GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS US NOW...
AND THAT IS WHAT
ENABLES US TO RECOGNIZE TRUTH FROM A FALSITY !!

GOD SHOWED US THE TRUTH ...and We KNOW GOD'S VOICE NOW.

I REPEAT..

NOT ONLY ARE WE SAVED, WE ALSO HAVE
BEEN
INDWELT AND FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT..............
AND THAT THAT THAT
IS HOW HOW HOW
WE ARE ABLE ABLE ABLE ABLE
TO
RECOGNIZE TRUTH...
FROM JUST
" man's own version" of the Truth!!!
(repeating this to hopefully drive this home this time)


Tribo...UNLESS UNLESS UNLESS
MAN
IS SAVED
and THEREFORE INDWELT WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT...
AND ALSO FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT...

MAN WILL NOT NOT NOT
BE ABLE TO TELL

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE TRUTH AND A LIE!!!

TRIBO....
there are ALREADY
MANY Lying Voices out there in the World.......

and UNLESS MAN IS SAVED AND HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HIM TO GUIDE AND LEAD HIM INTO ALL TRUTH....
MAN
WON'T BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENCE!!!

DONE.....

Thank you very much for the sermon M.S.

Are there any refreshments?

I could use some lemonaid and a toaster struddel.

Repeating it drives it home you think?

Really?

You poor dear child.

Is that what they did to you?--->--->

Have you ever considered deprogramming therapy?

Hmmm? so your saying this "Minister of god" that you say is just "a man" that even his contemporaries held in high reguard such as spergeon, is a quack?
a charlatan? do you even know this man ihs background, the rest of his beliefs? hmmm? i think not or you would not say he is "just a man" my lady.

J. Stuart Russell
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Contents [hide]
1 Early life and ministry
2 Publishing The Parousia
3 Late life
4 Scholarship Recognition
4.1 Charles Spurgeon
4.2 Gary DeMar
4.3 Dr. R. C. Sproul
4.4 Dr. Kenneth Gentry
5 Online Russell Resources



[edit] Early life and ministry
James Stuart Russell M.A., D.Div., (1816 – 1895) was a pastor and author of The Parousia. The book was originally published in 1878 with the title, The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord's Second Coming. A second edition followed in 1887. A reprint of this edition by Baker Books is available today with the title, The Parousia: The New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord's Second Coming.


James Stuart Russell - Undated Photograph, colorized by Virgil VaduvaJames Stuart Russell, the son of a pious Scotsman, was born at Elgin, Morayshire, on November 28, 1816. He entered King's College, University of Aberdeen, at the age of twelve and when eighteen he completed his M.A. degree. His religious decision dates from about his sixteenth year under the influence of his older brother. For a time he served in a law office. Then to prepare for a Christian ministry he studied in the Theological Halls of Edinburgh and Glasgow, ultimately finding his way to Cheshunt College.

In June 1843 Russell became an assistant minister at the Congregationalist Church in Great Yarmouth before taking over as minister. In 1857 Russell transferred to the Congregational Church in Tottenham and Edmonton. While holding this position, Russell visited Belfast to observe the working of the great Irish Revival and came under its influence. On his return a similar awakening occurred in his own church.

After a stay of five years in his second church, Russell was attracted to a new church in the rapidly growing Bayswater, whose chapel in Lancaster Road was built in 1866. Here he continued to serve until his years and failing health led to retirement near the end of 1888.

Russell was not only an able preacher, but also a man of kindly deportment. He was gifted with winning personal characteristics, which secured for him a devoted following. His pleasant manners and genial spirit, his native humor and genuine wit, his extensive reading and wide knowledge and most retentive memory, made conversations with him agreeable and profitable.

Russell's fervor stretched beyond the limits of his own pastorate. He was present, in 1843, at the formation of the Evangelical Alliance, with whose aim and operations he remained in warm and active sympathy to the last. He had an ever deepening sense of the importance of the temperance movement, and he was the first chairman of the Congregational Total Abstinence Association. Both the National Temperance League and the United Kingdom Alliance counted him among their members. His advocacy of the good cause was in frequent demand for meetings in London and the suburbs.


[edit] Publishing The Parousia
But it is as an author that Russell is most widely known and will be longest remembered. He had held the doctrine of the past second Advent (Preterism) for many years before writing or even speaking on the subject. He used to describe how the matter came to him as a sort of revelation. On discovering the key to the mystery, the whole theme gradually unfolded. It was to him a source of constant delight to see one point after another fall into harmony with what he believed to be the central truth. Accordingly, in 1878, he published anonymously his now celebrated, The Parousia, containing an elaborate exegesis on these lines of New Testament teaching concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ. Another edition followed with the author's name attached.

This work, a rare specimen of serious exposition and logical acumen, drew much attention to the subject on both sides of the Atlantic. The University of Aberdeen soon signalled its appreciation of the book by conferring on the author a well earned diploma in divinity, which he valued all the more highly because it came from his alma mater.

The argument of this consummate piece of Biblical criticism has had the effect of leading many to believe that Christ's second advent actually took place in the first century of the Christian era. Often Russell would have joy from the open adherence of one person after another to the views set forth in his work. His masterly disquisition must hold its own as an authority in its particular department, which all who propose to explore the same field are bound to consult. To his independent yet reverent pen the Church at large stands indebted for a valuable conribution to the range of Scripture study and sacred thought.


[edit] Late life
Russell's later years clouded with bodily infirmity and painful disease. He bore his sufferings, to the admiration of attendants and medical advisers, with a manly and even cheerful patience, upheld by his Christian faith. Again and again he repeated the words, "On Christ the solid rock I stand!" Moreover, his physical trials were happily relieved, as those of his sainted wife had been, by the tender solicitude and untiring devotion of an only daughter. From her arms and those of her one brother, the father passed peacefully away on October 5, 1895, in the 79th year of his age and the fifty-second year of his ministry. Russell is buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery.


[edit] Scholarship Recognition
In addition to the recognition Russell received from the University of Aberdeen for his theological work, a number of both contemporary and modern scholars have recognized his work and received the reprinting of The Parousia by Baker Books with open arms.


[edit] Charles Spurgeon
While Charles Spurgeon did not share the eschatological views of J. Stuart Russell or the final conclusions of his book, in the 1878 issue of his magazine The Sword and the Trowel, Spurgeon wrote a short review of The Parousia: The second coming of Christ according to this volume had its fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the gospel dispensation. That the parables and predictions of our Lord had a more direct and exclusive reference to that period than is generally supposed, we readily admit; but we were not prepared for the assignment of all references to a second coming in the New Testament, and even in the Apocalypse itself, to so early a fulfilment. All that could be said has been said in support of this theory, and much more than ought to have been said. In this the reasoning fails. In order to concentrate the whole prophecies of the Book of Revelation upon the period of the destruction of Jerusalem it was needful to assume this book to have been written prior to that event, although the earliest ecclesiastical historians agree that John was banished to the isle of Patmos, where the book was written, by Domitian, who reigned after Titus, by whom Jerusalem was destroyed. Apart from this consideration, the compression of all the Apocalyptic visions and prophecies into so narrow a space requires more ingenuity and strength than that of men and angels combined. Too much stress is laid upon such phrases as 'The time is at hand,' 'Behold I come quickly,' whereas many prophecies of Scripture are delivered as present or past, as 'unto us a child is born,' etc., and 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.' Amidst the many comings of Christ spoken of in the New Testament that which is spoken of as a second, must, we think, be personal, and thus similar to the first; and such too must be the meaning of 'his appearing.' Though the author's theory is carried too far, it has so much of truth in it, and throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning, that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.


Being is possession of the volume referenced above, the quote should be considered suspect until it can be properly found in the volume itself. Pilgrim Publications reprints in volume 5 the years 1877,1878, and 1879. In no month in 1878 can the above quote be found by my research. -added by G.D. Flahardy


[edit] Gary DeMar
Gary DeMar, the president and founder of American Vision wrote: How many times have you struggled with the interpretation of certain Biblical texts related to the time of Jesus' return because they did not fit with a preconceived system of eschatology? Russell's Parousia takes the Bible seriously when it tells us of the nearness of Christ's return. Those who claim to interpret the Bible literally, trip over the obvious meaning of these time texts by making Scripture mean the opposite of what it unequivocally declares. Reading Russell is a breath of fresh air in a room filled with smoke and mirror hermeneutics.


[edit] Dr. R. C. Sproul
The founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. R. C. Sproul also wrote regarding The Parousia: I believe that Russell's work is one of the most important treatments on Biblical eschatology that is available to the church today. The issues raised in this volume with respect to the time-frame references of the New Testament to the Parousia are vitally important not only for eschatology but for the future debate over the credibility of Sacred Scripture


[edit] Dr. Kenneth Gentry
While remaining reserved about the final conclusions of The Parousia, Dr. Kenneth Gentry a theologian and a professor at Bahnsen Theological Seminary concluded: Although I do not agree with all the conclusions of J. Stuart Russell's The Parousia, I highly recommend this well-organized, carefully argued, and compellingly written defense of Preterism to serious and mature students of the Bible. It is one of the most persuasive and challenging books I have read on the subject of eschatology and has had a great impact on my own thinking. Russell's biblico-theological study of New Testament eschatology sets a standard of excellence.


[edit] Online Russell Resources
The Parousia (HTML format)

Even though other non preterist maynot agree with all his thoughts - he is seen as a highly thought of man in his eschetologhy of last times and events in the bible and has opened many peoples "EYES" to truths not seen within futurist/evangelical denominations and many nore scholars and pastors.

NOT FOR DEBATE?

Waaaaaaa! I wanna debate! waaaaaa!

you want De-bait? what bait do you want worms, bread, chum, shrimp, shiners, hmmm? i think ill take the shrimp - no de-bait there -

Is this the cut and paste ministry page?

And NOT FOR DEBATE? Free society!

Peace out, M

Tribo.......re-read your post above, on Russell.



Charles Spurgeon did NOT share J. Stuart Russell's view on The Parousia.
ATALL!!!

Spurgeon may have written a review on The Parousia ,but that was all.

Reminds me of the joke about the apprentice baiter.

Thats a whole lot of fire and brimstone MS. Sheesh. Is your caps lock stuck in on position or what? You remind me of those Baptists with the snakes and the screaming and eyeballs rolling up in their heads. Evidently the more dramatic the performance, the more devout you will appear in god's eyes. Is there extra credit given out for the utilization of online militant conversion tactics as opposed to in person?

yes, MS, i read everything i post and what i read at the end is what i was talking of as spurgeons response -

"' Though the author's theory is carried too far, it has so much of truth in it, and throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning, that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.


"that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all."

that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.


that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.

New knowledge is always a good thing. Of course all of this information for me would be a moot point since ironing out a little kink in a fictitious myth is neither here nor there where I am sitting. But perhaps it might improve some of the strange directions Christianity has gone in an effort to support the Zionists Israeli criminals who think they have a right to some "promised land" because they are "Gods Chosen People." That's a bunch of lies. Its all political, it is not Biblical.

There I said it. -->

as promised the continuation from yesterday.


THE ‘GOING AWAY’ AND THE ‘COMING AGAIN.’

#Ac 1:11—‘ This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go unto heaven.’

THE last conversation of Jesus with His disciples before His crucifixion was concerning His coming to them again, and the last word left with them at His ascension was the promise of His coming again.

The expression ‘in like manner’ must not be pressed too far. There are obvious points of difference between the manner of the Ascension and the Parousia. He departed alone, and without visible splendour; He was to return in glory with His angels. The words, however, imply that His coming was to be visible and personal, which would exclude the interpretation which regards it as providential, or spiritual. The visibility of the Parousia is supported by the uniform teaching of the apostles and the belief of the early Christians: ‘Every eye shall see him’. {#Re 1:7}

There is no indication of time in this parting promise, but it is only reasonable to suppose that the disciples would regard it as addressed to them, and that they would cherish the hope of soon seeing Him again, according to His own saying, ‘A little while, and ye shall see me.’ This belief sent them back to Jerusalem with great joy. Is it credible that they could have felt this elation if they had conceived that His coming would not take place for eighteen centuries? Or can we suppose that their joy rested upon a delusion? There is no conclusion possible but that which holds the belief of the disciples to have been well founded, and the Parousia nigh at hand.


THE LAST DAYS COME.

#Ac 2:16-20—‘ This is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel: It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; moreover on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.’

In these words of St. Peter, the first apostolic utterance spoken in the power of the divine afflatus of Pentecost, we have an authoritative interpretation of the prophecy which he quotes from Joel. He expressly identifies the time and the event predicted by the prophet with the time and the event then actually present on the day of Pentecost. The ‘last days’ of Joel are these days of St. Peter. The ancient prediction was in part fulfilled; it was receiving its accomplishment before their eyes in the copious effusion of the Holy Spirit.

This outpouring of the Spirit was introductory to other events, which would in like manner come to pass. The day of judgment for the Theocratic nation was at hand, and ere long the presages of ‘that great and notable day of the Lord’ would be manifested.

It is impossible not to recognise the correspondence between the phenomena preceding the day of the Lord as foretold by Joel, and the phenomena described by our Lord as preceding His coming, and the judgment of Israel. {#Mt 24:29} The words of Joel can refer only to the last days of the Jewish age or aeon, the ounteleia ton aiwnov, which was also the theme of our Lord’s prophecy on the Mount of Olives. In like manner the words of Malachi as evidently refer to the same event and the same point of time, —‘ the day of his coming,’ ‘the day that shall burn as a furnace,’ ‘the great and dreadful day of the Lord’. {#Mal 3:2 4:1-5}

We have here a consensus of testimonies than which nothing can be conceived more authoritative and decisive, —Joel, Malachi, St. Peter, and the great Prophet of the new covenant Himself. They all speak of the same event and of the same period, the great day of the Lord, the Parousia, and they speak of them as near. Why encumber and embarrass a prediction so plain with supposititions double references and ulterior fulfilments? Nothing else will fit this prophecy save that event to which alone it refers, and with which it corresponds as the impression with the seal and the lock with the key. The catastrophe of Israel and Jerusalem was at hand, long foreseen, often predicted, and now imminent. The self-same generation that had seen, rejected, and crucified the King would witness the fulfilment of His warnings when Jerusalem perished in ‘blood and fire, and vapour of smoke.’


THE COMING DOOM OF THAT GENERATION

#Ac 2:40—‘ And with many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.’

This verse fixes the reference of the apostle’s address. It was the existing generation whose coming doom he foresaw, and it was from participation in its fate that he urged his hearers to escape. It was but the echo of the Baptist’s cry,

‘Flee from the coming wrath.’ Here, again, there can be no question about the meaning of ‘genea’, —it is that ‘wicked generation’ which was filling up the measure of its predecessor; the perverse and incorrigible nation over which judgment was impending.

Before leaving this address of St. Peter we may point out another example of a universal proposition which must be taken in a restricted sense. ‘I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.’ The effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was not literally universal, but it was indiscriminate and general in comparison of former times. The necessarily qualified use of so large a phrase shows how a similar limitation may be justifiable in such expressions as ‘all the nations,’ ‘every creature,’ and ‘the whole world.’


THE PAROUSIA AND THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS

#Ac 3:19-21—‘ Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:, Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.’

It is scarcely possible to doubt that in this address the apostle speaks of that which he conceived his hearers might and would experience, if they obeyed his exhortation to repent and believe. Indeed, any other supposition would be preposterous. Neither the apostle nor his auditory could possibly be thinking of ‘times of refreshing’ and ‘times of restoration’ in remote ages of the world; blessings which were at a distance of centuries and millenniums would hardly be powerful motives to immediate repentance. We must therefore conceive of the times of refreshing and of restoration as, in the view of the apostle, near, and within the reach of that generation.

But if so, what are we to understand by ‘the times of refreshing and of restoration’? Are they the same, or are they different, things? Doubtless, virtually the same; and the one phrase will help us to understand the other. The restitution, or rather restoration [apokatastasiv] of all things, is said to be the theme of all prophecy; then it can only refer to what Scripture designates ‘the kingdom of God,’ the end and purpose of all the dealings of God with Israel. It was a phrase well understood by the Jews of that period, who looked forward to the days of the Messiah, the kingdom of God, as the fulfilment of all their hopes and aspirations. It was the coming age or aeon, aiwn o mellwn, when all wrongs were to be redressed, and truth and righteousness were to reign. The whole nation was pervaded with the belief that this happy era was about to dawn. What was our Lord’s doctrine on this subject? He said to His disciples, ‘Elias indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things’. {#Mr 9:12} That is to say, the second Elijah, John the Baptist, had already commenced the restoration which He Himself was to complete; had laid the foundations of the kingdom which He was to consummate and crown. For the mission of John was, in one aspect, restorative, that is in intention, though not in effect. He came to recall the nation to its allegiance, to renew its covenant relation with God: he went before the Lord, ‘in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’. {#Lu 1:17} What is all this but the description of ‘the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,’ and ‘the times of restoration of all things,’ which were held forth as the gifts of God to Israel?

But have we any clear indication of the period at which these proffered blessings might be expected? Were they in the far distant future, or were they nigh at hand? The note of time is distinctly marked in verse 20. The coming of Christ is specified as the period when these glorious prospects are to be realized. Nothing can be more clear than the connection and coincidence of these events, the coming of Christ, the times of refreshing, and the times of restoration of all things. This is in harmony with the uniform representation given in the eschatology of the New Testament: the Parousia, the end of the age, the consummation of the kingdom of God, the destruction of Jerusalem, the judgment of Israel, all synchronise. To find the date of one is to fix the date of all. We have already seen how definitely the time was fixed for the fulfilment of some of these events. The Son of man was to come in His kingdom before the death of some of the disciples. The catastrophe of Jerusalem was to take place before the living generation had passed away. The great and notable day of the Lord is represented by St. Peter in the preceding chapter as overtaking that ‘untoward generation.’ And now, in the passage before us, he as clearly intimates that the arrival of the times of refreshing, and of the restoration of all things, was contemporaneous with the ‘sending of Jesus Christ’ from heaven.

But it may be said, How can so terrible a catastrophe as the destruction of Jerusalem be associated with times of refreshing or of restoration? There were two sides to the medal: there was the reverse as well as the obverse. Unbelief and impenitence would change ‘the times of refreshing’ into ‘the days of vengeance.’ If they ‘despised the riches of the goodness and forbearance and longsuffering of God,’ then, instead of restoration, there would be destruction; and instead of the day of salvation there would be ‘the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God’. {#Ro 2:4,5}

We know the fatal choice that Israel made; how ‘the wrath came upon them to the uttermost;’ and we know how it all came to pass at the appointed and predicted period, at the ‘close of the age,’ within the limits of that generation. We are thus enabled to define the period to which the apostle makes allusion in this passage, and conclude that it coincides with the Parousia.

We are conducted to the same conclusion by another path. In #Mt 19:20 our Lord declares to His disciples, ‘Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,’ etc. We have already commented upon this passage, but it may be proper again to notice that the ‘regeneration’ [paliggenesia] of St. Matthew is the precise equivalent of the ‘restoration’ [apokatastasiv] of the Acts. What is meant by the regeneration is clear beyond the shadow of a doubt, for it is the time ‘when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory.’ But this is the period when He comes to judge the guilty nation. {#Mt 25:31} There is no possibility of mistaking the time; no difficulty in identifying the event: it is the end of the age, and the judgment of Israel.

We thus arrive at the same conclusion by another and independent route, thus immeasurably strengthening the force of the demonstration.

CHRIST SOON TO JUDGE THE WORLD

#Ac 17:31—‘ Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.’

We have already seen that the Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be constituted the Judge of men. {#Joh 5:22,27} As clearly it is declared that the time of judgment is the Parousia. With equal distinctness we are taught that the Parousia was to fall within the term of the generation then living. The judgment was therefore viewed by St. Paul as being near. We have in the passage now before us an incidental but unnoticed confirmation of this fact. The words ‘he will judge’ do not express a simple future, but a speedy future, mellei krinein, He is about to judge, or will soon judge. This shade of meaning is not preserved in our English version, but it is not unimportant.

Here, then, we are again met by the oft-recurring association of the Parousia and the judgment, both of which were evidently regarded by the apostle as nigh at hand.


THE PAROUSIA IN THE APOSTOLIC EPISTLES

INTRODUCTION

WE have seen how the Parousia, or coming of Christ, pervades the Gospels from beginning to end. We find it distinctly announced by John the Baptist at the very commencement of his ministry, and it is the last utterance of Jesus recorded by St. John. Between these two points we find continual references to the event in various forms and on various occasions. We have seen also that the Parousia is generally associated with judgment, —that is, the judgment of Israel and the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem. The reason of this association of the coming of Christ with the judgment of Israel is very apparent. The Parousia was the culminating event in what may be called Messianic history, or the Theocratic government of the Jewish people. The incarnation and mission of the Son of God, though they had a general relation to the whole human race, had at the same time an especial and peculiar relation to the covenant nation, the children of Abraham. Christ was indeed the ‘second Adam,’ the new Head and Representative of the race, but before that, He was the Son of David and the King of Israel. His own declared view of His mission was, that it was first of all special to the chosen people, —‘ I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel {#Mt 15:24} The very title which He claimed, ‘Christ,’ the Messiah, or Anointed One, was indicative of His relation to Judaism and the Theocracy, for it recognised Him as the rightful King, come in the fulness of time ‘to His own,’ to take possession of the throne of His father David. This special Judaic character of the mission of the Lord Jesus is constantly recognised in the New Testament, though it is often ignored by theologians and almost forgotten by Christians in general. St. Paul lays great stress upon it.

‘Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers’; {#Ro 15:8} and we might well add, ‘to fulfil the threatenings’ as well. The phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ is distinctly a Messianic and Theocratic idea, and has a special and unique reference to Israel, over whom the Lord was King in a sense peculiar to that nation alone. {#De 7:6 Am 3:2} We shall see that ‘the kingdom of God’ is represented as arriving at its consummation at the period of the destruction of Jerusalem.

That event marks the denouement of the great scheme of divine providence, or economy, as it is called, which began with the call of Abraham and ran a course of two thousand years. We may regard that scheme, the Jewish dispensation, not only as an important factor in the education of the world, but also as an experiment, on a large scale and under the most favourable circumstances, whether it were possible to form a people for the service, and fear, and love of God; a model nation, the moral influence of which might bless the world. In some respects, no doubt, it was a failure, and its end was tragic and terrible; but what is important for us to notice, in connection with this inquiry, is that the relation of Christ, the Son of David and King of Israel, to the Jewish nation explains the prominence given in the Gospels to the Parousia, and the events which accompanied it, as having a special bearing upon that people. Inattention to this has misled many theologians and commentators:—they have read ‘the earth,’ when only ‘the land’ was meant; ‘the human race,’ when only ‘Israel’ was intended; ‘the end of the world,’ when ‘the close of the age, or dispensation,’ was alluded to. At the same time it would be a serious mistake to undervalue the importance and magnitude of the event which took place at the Parousia. It was a great era in the divine government of the world: the close of an economy which had endured for two thousand years; the termination of one aeon and the commencement of another; the abrogation of the ‘old order’ and the inauguration of the new. It is, however, its special relation to Judaism which gives to the Parousia its chief significance and import.

Passing from the Gospels to the Epistles we find that the Parousia occupies a conspicuous place in the teaching and writings of the apostles. It is natural and reasonable that it should be so. If their Master taught them in His lifetime that He was soon to come again; that some of themselves would live to see Him return; if in His farewell conversation with them at the Paschal supper He dwelt upon the shortness of the interval of His absence, and called it ‘a little while;’ and if at His ascension divine messengers had assured them that He would come again even as they had seen Him go; it would be strange indeed if they could have forgotten or lost sight of the inspiring hope of a speedy reunion with the Lord. They certainly often express their expectation of His coming. That hope was the day-star and dawn that cheered them in the gloomy night of tribulation through which they had to pass: they comforted one another with the familiar watchword, ‘The Lord is at hand.’ They felt that at any moment their hope might become a reality. They waited for it, looked for it, longed for it, and exhorted one another to watchfulness and prayer. So the Lord had commanded them, and so they did. Could they be mistaken? Is it possible that they cherished illusions on this subject? May they not have misunderstood the teachings of the Lord? If this were possible, it would shake the foundations of our faith. If the apostles could have been in error respecting a matter of fact about which they had the most ample means of information, and on which they professed to speak with authority as the organs of a divine inspiration, what confidence could be reposed in them on other subjects, in their nature obscure, abstruse, and mysterious? No one who has any faith in the assurance which the Saviour gave His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to ‘guide them into all the truth,’ to ‘teach them all things,’ and to ‘bring all things to their remembrance that he had said unto them,’ can doubt that the authority with which the apostles speak concerning the Parousia is equal to that of our Lord Himself. The hypothesis that a distinction may be made between what they believed and taught on this subject, and what they believed and taught on other subjects, will not bear a moment’s examination. The whole of their teaching rests upon the same foundation, and that foundation the same on which rests the doctrine of Christ Himself.

We now proceed to examine the references to the Parousia contained in the Epistles of St. Paul, —taking them in their chronological order, so far as this may be said to be ascertained.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

It is generally agreed that this is the earliest of all the apostolic epistles, and its date is assigned to the year A. D. 52, sixteen years after the conversion of St. Paul, {1} and twenty-two Years after the crucifixion of our Lord. It is evident, therefore, that any suggestions of inexperience, or new-born enthusiasm, being visible in this epistle, afterwards toned down by the riper judgment of subsequent years, are quite out of place. We can detect no difference in the faith and hope of ‘Paul the aged’ and that of the ‘weighty and powerful’ writer of this epistle. It is, therefore, most instructive to observe the Sentiments and beliefs which were manifestly current and prevalent in the minds of the early Christians.

Bengel remarks: ‘The Thessalonians were filled with the expectation of Christ’s advent. So praiseworthy was their position, so free and unembarrassed was the rule of Christianity among them, that they were able to look each hour for the coming of the Lord Jesus.’ {2} This is strange reasoning. It is true the Thessalonians were filled with the expectation of Christ’s speedy coming, but if in this expectation they were deceived, where is the praiseworthiness of labouring under a delusion? If it was an amiable weakness, ‘sancta simplicitas,’ to expect the speedy return of Christ, it seems a poor compliment to praise their credulity at the expense of their understanding.

We shall find, however, that the Christians of Thessalonica stand in no need of any apology for their faith.

EXPECTATION OF THE SPEEDY COMING OF CHRIST.

#1Th 1:9,10—‘ Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.’

This passage is interesting as showing very clearly the place which the expected coming of Christ held in the belief of the apostolic churches. It was in the front rank; it was one of the leading truths of the Gospel. St. Paul describes the new attitude of these Thessalonian converts when they ‘turned from their idols to serve the living and true God;’ it was the attitude of ‘waiting for his Son.’ It is very significant that this particular truth should be selected from among all the great doctrines of the Gospel, and should be made the prominent feature which distinguished the Christian converts of Thessalonica. The whole Christian life is apparently summed up under two heads, the one general, the other particular: the former, the service of the living God; the latter, the expectation of the coming of Christ. It is impossible to resist the inference, (1) That this latter doctrine constituted an integral part of apostolic teaching. (2) That the expectation of the speedy return of Christ was the faith of the primitive Christians. {3} For, how were they to wait? Not Surely, in their graves; not in Heaven; nor in Hades; plainly while they were alive on the earth. The form of the expression, ‘to wait for his Son from the heavens,’ manifestly implies that they, while on earth, were waiting for the coming of Christ from heaven. Alford observes ‘that the especial aspect of the faith of the Thessalonians was hope; hope of the return of the Son of God from heaven;’ and he adds this singular comment: ‘This hope was evidently entertained by them as pointing to an event more immediate than the church has subsequently believed it to be. Certainly these words would give them an idea of the nearness of the coming of Christ; and perhaps the misunderstanding of them may have contributed to the notion which the apostle corrects, #2Th 2:1.’ This is a suggestion that the Thessalonians were mistaken in expecting the Saviour’s return in their own day. But whence did they derive this expectation? Was it not from the apostle himself? We shall presently see that the Thessalonians erred, not in expecting the Parousia, or in expecting it in their own day, but in supposing that the time had actually arrived.

The last clause of the verse is no less important, —‘ Jesus, who delivereth us from the coming wrath.’ These words carry us back to the proclamation of John the Baptist, —‘ Flee from the coming wrath.’ It would be a mistake to suppose that St. Paul here refers to the retribution which awaits every sinful soul in a future state; it was a particular and predicted catastrophe which he had in view. ‘The coming wrath’ [h orgh h ercomenh] of this passage is identical with the ‘coming wrath’ [orgh mellousa] of the second Elijah; it is identical with ‘the days of vengeance,’ and ‘wrath upon this people,’ predicted by our Lord, #Lu 21:23. It is ‘the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,’ spoken of by St. Paul, #Ro 2:5. That coming ‘dies irae’ always stands out distinct and visible throughout the whole of the New Testament. It was now not far off, and though Judea might be the centre of the storm, yet the cyclone of judgment would sweep over other regions, and affect multitudes who, like the Thessalonians, might have been thought beyond its reach. We know from Josephus how the outbreak of the Jewish war was the signal for massacre and extermination in every city where Jewish inhabitants had settled. It was to this ubiquity of ‘the coming Wrath’ that our Lord referred when He said, ‘Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together’. {#Lu 17:37} Here again, as we have so frequently had occasion to remark, the Parousia is associated with the judgment.

{1} Conybear and Howson.
{2} Gnomon, in loc.
{3} ‘It is known to every reader of Scripture that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians speaks of the coming of Christ in terms which indicate an expectation of His speedy appearance: ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we,’ etc. #1Th 4:15-17 5:4 Whatever other construction these texts may bear, the idea they leave upon the mind of an ordinary reader is that of the author of the epistle looking for the day of judgment to take place in his own time, or near to it.’—Paley’s Horae Paulinae, chap. ix. ‘If we were asked for the distinguishing characteristic of the first Christians of Thessalonica, we should point to their overwhelming sense of the nearness of the second advent, accompanied with melancholy thoughts concerning those who might die before it, and with gloomy and unpractical views of the shortness of life and the vanity of the world. Each chapter in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians ends with an allusion to this subject; and it was evidently the topic of frequent conversations when the apostle was in Macedonia. But St. Paul never spoke or wrote of the future as though the present was to be forgotten. When the Thessalonians were admonished of Christ’s advent, he told them also of other coming events, full of practical warning to all ages, though to our eyes still they are shrouded in mystery, —of ‘the falling away,’ and of ‘the man of sin.’ ‘These awful revelations,’ he said, ‘must precede the revelation of the Son of God. Do you not remember,’ he adds, with emphasis, in his letter, ‘that when I was still with you, I often told you this! You know therefore, the hindrance why he is not revealed, as he will be in his own season.’ He told them, in the words of Christ Himself, that ‘the times and the seasons of the coming revelations were known only to God; ‘and he warned them, as the first disciples had been warned in Jude, that the great day would come suddenly on men unprepared, .. as the pangs of travail on her whose time is full,’ and ‘as a thief in the night;’ and he showed them both by precept and example that though it be true that life is short and the world is vanity, yet God’s work must be done diligently and to the last.’—Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, chap. ix.


THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

It is generally agreed that this is the earliest of all the apostolic epistles, and its date is assigned to the year A. D. 52, sixteen years after the conversion of St. Paul, {1} and twenty-two Years after the crucifixion of our Lord. It is evident, therefore, that any suggestions of inexperience, or new-born enthusiasm, being visible in this epistle, afterwards toned down by the riper judgment of subsequent years, are quite out of place. We can detect no difference in the faith and hope of ‘Paul the aged’ and that of the ‘weighty and powerful’ writer of this epistle. It is, therefore, most instructive to observe the Sentiments and beliefs which were manifestly current and prevalent in the minds of the early Christians.

Bengel remarks: ‘The Thessalonians were filled with the expectation of Christ’s advent. So praiseworthy was their position, so free and unembarrassed was the rule of Christianity among them, that they were able to look each hour for the coming of the Lord Jesus.’ {2} This is strange reasoning. It is true the Thessalonians were filled with the expectation of Christ’s speedy coming, but if in this expectation they were deceived, where is the praiseworthiness of labouring under a delusion? If it was an amiable weakness, ‘sancta simplicitas,’ to expect the speedy return of Christ, it seems a poor compliment to praise their credulity at the expense of their understanding.

We shall find, however, that the Christians of Thessalonica stand in no need of any apology for their faith.

EXPECTATION OF THE SPEEDY COMING OF CHRIST.

#1Th 1:9,10—‘ Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.’

This passage is interesting as showing very clearly the place which the expected coming of Christ held in the belief of the apostolic churches. It was in the front rank; it was one of the leading truths of the Gospel. St. Paul describes the new attitude of these Thessalonian converts when they ‘turned from their idols to serve the living and true God;’ it was the attitude of ‘waiting for his Son.’ It is very significant that this particular truth should be selected from among all the great doctrines of the Gospel, and should be made the prominent feature which distinguished the Christian converts of Thessalonica. The whole Christian life is apparently summed up under two heads, the one general, the other particular: the former, the service of the living God; the latter, the expectation of the coming of Christ. It is impossible to resist the inference, (1) That this latter doctrine constituted an integral part of apostolic teaching. (2) That the expectation of the speedy return of Christ was the faith of the primitive Christians. {3} For, how were they to wait? Not Surely, in their graves; not in Heaven; nor in Hades; plainly while they were alive on the earth. The form of the expression, ‘to wait for his Son from the heavens,’ manifestly implies that they, while on earth, were waiting for the coming of Christ from heaven. Alford observes ‘that the especial aspect of the faith of the Thessalonians was hope; hope of the return of the Son of God from heaven;’ and he adds this singular comment: ‘This hope was evidently entertained by them as pointing to an event more immediate than the church has subsequently believed it to be. Certainly these words would give them an idea of the nearness of the coming of Christ; and perhaps the misunderstanding of them may have contributed to the notion which the apostle corrects, #2Th 2:1.’ This is a suggestion that the Thessalonians were mistaken in expecting the Saviour’s return in their own day. But whence did they derive this expectation? Was it not from the apostle himself? We shall presently see that the Thessalonians erred, not in expecting the Parousia, or in expecting it in their own day, but in supposing that the time had actually arrived.

The last clause of the verse is no less important, —‘ Jesus, who delivereth us from the coming wrath.’ These words carry us back to the proclamation of John the Baptist, —‘ Flee from the coming wrath.’ It would be a mistake to suppose that St. Paul here refers to the retribution which awaits every sinful soul in a future state; it was a particular and predicted catastrophe which he had in view. ‘The coming wrath’ [h orgh h ercomenh] of this passage is identical with the ‘coming wrath’ [orgh mellousa] of the second Elijah; it is identical with ‘the days of vengeance,’ and ‘wrath upon this people,’ predicted by our Lord, #Lu 21:23. It is ‘the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,’ spoken of by St. Paul, #Ro 2:5. That coming ‘dies irae’ always stands out distinct and visible throughout the whole of the New Testament. It was now not far off, and though Judea might be the centre of the storm, yet the cyclone of judgment would sweep over other regions, and affect multitudes who, like the Thessalonians, might have been thought beyond its reach. We know from Josephus how the outbreak of the Jewish war was the signal for massacre and extermination in every city where Jewish inhabitants had settled. It was to this ubiquity of ‘the coming Wrath’ that our Lord referred when He said, ‘Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together’. {#Lu 17:37} Here again, as we have so frequently had occasion to remark, the Parousia is associated with the judgment.

{1} Conybear and Howson.
{2} Gnomon, in loc.
{3} ‘It is known to every reader of Scripture that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians speaks of the coming of Christ in terms which indicate an expectation of His speedy appearance: ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we,’ etc. #1Th 4:15-17 5:4 Whatever other construction these texts may bear, the idea they leave upon the mind of an ordinary reader is that of the author of the epistle looking for the day of judgment to take place in his own time, or near to it.’—Paley’s Horae Paulinae, chap. ix. ‘If we were asked for the distinguishing characteristic of the first Christians of Thessalonica, we should point to their overwhelming sense of the nearness of the second advent, accompanied with melancholy thoughts concerning those who might die before it, and with gloomy and unpractical views of the shortness of life and the vanity of the world. Each chapter in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians ends with an allusion to this subject; and it was evidently the topic of frequent conversations when the apostle was in Macedonia. But St. Paul never spoke or wrote of the future as though the present was to be forgotten. When the Thessalonians were admonished of Christ’s advent, he told them also of other coming events, full of practical warning to all ages, though to our eyes still they are shrouded in mystery, —of ‘the falling away,’ and of ‘the man of sin.’ ‘These awful revelations,’ he said, ‘must precede the revelation of the Son of God. Do you not remember,’ he adds, with emphasis, in his letter, ‘that when I was still with you, I often told you this! You know therefore, the hindrance why he is not revealed, as he will be in his own season.’ He told them, in the words of Christ Himself, that ‘the times and the seasons of the coming revelations were known only to God; ‘and he warned them, as the first disciples had been warned in Jude, that the great day would come suddenly on men unprepared, .. as the pangs of travail on her whose time is full,’ and ‘as a thief in the night;’ and he showed them both by precept and example that though it be true that life is short and the world is vanity, yet God’s


‘THE WRATH’ COMING UPON THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

#1Th 2:16—‘ But the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.’

Here the apostle represents the ‘coming wrath’ as already come. Now it is certain that the judgment of Israel, that is, the destruction of Jerusalem and the extinction of the Jewish nationality, had not yet taken place. Bengel seems to think that the apostle alludes to a fearful massacre of Jews that had just occurred at Jerusalem, where ‘an immense multitude of persons (some say more than thirty thousand) were slain.’ {1} Alford’s explanation is: ‘He looks back on the fact in the divine counsels as a thing in past time, q. d.’ was appointed to come;’ not ‘has come.’ Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon on this text, refers it to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. ‘The wrath is come,’ i.e. it is just at hand; it is at the door: as it proved with respect to that nation: their terrible destruction by the Romans was soon after the apostle wrote this epistle.’ {2} Either Bengel’s supposition is correct, or the final catastrophe was, in the apostle’s view, so near and so sure that he spoke of it as an accomplished fact.

We may trace a very distinct allusion in the language of the apostle in {#1Th 2:15,16} to our Lord’s denunciations of ‘that wicked generation’. {#Mt 23:31,32,36}

{1} Gnomon, in loc.
{2} Works, vol. iv. p. 281

THE BEARING OF THE PAROUSIA ON THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.

#1Th 2:19—‘ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming?’

The uniform teaching, of the New Testament is, that the event which was to be so fatal to the enemies of Christ was to be an auspicious one to His friends. Everywhere the most malignant opposers and persecutors of Christianity were the Jews; the annihilation of the Jewish nationality, therefore, removed the most formidable antagonist of the Gospel and brought rest and relief to suffering Christians. Our Lord had said to His disciples, when speaking of this approaching catastrophe, ‘When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh’. {#Lu 21:28} But this explanation is far from exhausting the whole meaning of such passages. It cannot be doubted that the Parousia is everywhere represented as the crowning day of Christian hopes and aspirations; when they would ‘inherit the kingdom,’ and ‘enter into the joy of their Lord.’ Such is the plain teaching both of Christ and His apostles, and we find it clearly expressed in the words of St. Paul now before us. The Parousia was to be the consummation of glory and felicity to the faithful, and the apostle looked for ‘his crown’ at the Lord’s ‘coming.’


CHRIST TO COME WITH ALL HIS HOLY ONES.

#1Th 3:13—‘ To the end that he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy’ [ones].

This passage furnishes another proof that the apostle regarded the period of our Lord’s coming as the consummation of the blessedness of His people. He here represents it as a judicial epoch when the moral condition and character of men would be scrutinised and revealed. This is in accordance with #1Co 4:5: ‘Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God’ Similarly in #Col 1:22 we find an almost identical expression, —‘ To present you holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight,’ words which can only be understood as referring to a judicial investigation and approval.

That this prospect was not distant, but, on the contrary, very near, the whole tenor of the apostle’s language implies. Is St. Paul still without his crown of rejoicing? Are his Thessalonian converts Still waiting for the Son of God from heaven? Are they not yet ‘stablished in holiness before God’? not yet presented holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight? For this was to be their felicity ‘at the coming of the Lord Jesus,’ and not before. If that event therefore has never yet taken place, what becomes of their eager expectation and hope? If they could have known that hundreds and thousands of years must first slowly run their course, could St. Paul and his children in the faith have been thus filled with transport at the thought of the coming glory? But on the supposition that the Parousia was close at hand; that they might all expect to witness its arrival, then how natural and intelligible all this eager anticipation and hope become. That both the apostle and the Thessalonians believed that ‘the coming of the Lord was drawing nigh,’ is so evident that it scarcely requires any argument to prove it. The only question is, were they mistaken, or were they not?

A remark may be added on the concluding word of the passage. ‘Agioi, holy, may refer to angels, or men, or to both. There is nothing in the text to determine the reference. It is true that in the next chapter (ver. 14) we are told that them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him but this seems to refer rather to the raising of the sleeping saints from their graves, than of their coming from heaven with Him. We are therefore precluded from referring agioi to the dead in Christ. The more so that Christ at His coming is always represented as attended by His angels.

‘He shall come with his angels’; {#Mt 16:27} ‘with the holy angels’; {#Mr 8:38} ‘with his mighty angels’; {#2Th 1:7} ‘all his holy angels with him’. {#Mt 25:31} This is in accordance also with Old Testament usage. The royal state of Jehovah when He came to give the law at Mount Sinai is thus described, —‘ He came with ten thousands’ i.e., of saints, angels. {#De 33:2} ‘The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in Sinai’. {#Ps 68:17} ‘Ye received the law by the disposition [at the injunction, —Alford] of angels’. {#Ac 7:53} We may therefore take it as probable that the reference in this passage is to the angels.


EVENTS ACCOMPANYING THE PAROUSIA.

1. The Resurrection of the Dead in Christ.

2. The Rapture of the Living Saints to Hearen.

#1Th 4:13-17—‘ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by [in] the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [come before, take precedence of] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and first the dead in Christ shall rise then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.’

These explanations of St. Paul are evidently intended to meet a state of things which had begun to manifest itself among the Christians of Thessalonica, and which had been reported to him by Timotheus. Eagerly looking for the coming of Christ, they deplored the death of their fellow Christians as excluding them from participation in the triumph and blessedness of the Parousia. ‘They feared that these departed Christians would lose the happiness of witnessing their Lord’s second coming, which they expected soon to behold.’—To {1} correct this misapprehension the apostle makes the explanations contained in this passage.

First, he assures them that they had no reason to regret the departure of their friends in Christ, as if they had sustained any disadvantage by dying before the coming of the Lord; for as God had raised up Jesus from the dead, so He would raise up His sleeping disciples from their graves, at His return in glory.

Secondly, he informs them, on the authority of the Lord Jesus, that those of themselves who lived to see His coming would not take precedence of, or have any advantage over, the faithful who had deceased before that event.

Thirdly, he describes the order of the events attending the Parousia:—

1. The descent of the Lord from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.

2. The raising up of the dead who had departed in the Lord.

3. The simultaneous rapture of the living saints, along with the resuscitated dead, into the region of the air, there to meet their coming Lord.

4. The everlasting reunion of Christ and His people in heaven.

The legitimate inference from the words of St. Paul in ver. 15, ‘we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,’ is that he anticipated it as possible, and even probable, that his readers and himself would be alive at the coming of the Lord. Such is the natural and obvious interpretation of his language. Dean Alford observes, with much force and candour, —

‘Then, beyond question, he himself expected to be alive, together with the majority of those to whom he was writing, at the Lord’s coming. For we cannot for a moment accept the evasion of Theodoret and the majority of ancient commentators (viz. that the apostle does not speak of himself personally, but of those who should be living at the period), but we must take the words in their only plain grammatical meaning, that ‘we which are alive and remain’ [oi zwntev oi perileipomenoi] are a class distinguished from ‘they that sleep’ [oi koimhyentev] by being yet in the flesh when Christ comes, in which class by prefixing ‘we’ he includes his readers and himself. That this was his expectation we know from other passages, especially from #2Co 5’ {2}

But while thus admitting that the apostle held this expectation, Alford treats it as a mistaken one, for he goes on to say:—

‘Nor need it surprise any Christian that the apostles should in this matter of detail have found their personal expectation liable to disappointment respecting a day of which it is so solemnly said that no man knoweth its appointed time, not the angels in heaven, not the Son, but the Father only.’ {#Mr 13:32}

In like manner we find the following remarks in Conybeare and Howson (chap. xi.):—

‘The early church, and even the apostles themselves, expected their Lord to come again in that very generation. St. Paul himself shared in that expectation, but, being under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, he did not deduce therefrom any erroneous practical conclusion.’

But the question is, had the apostles sufficient grounds for their expectation? Were they not fully justified in believing as they did? Had not the Lord expressly predicted His own coming within the limit of the existing generation? Had He not connected it with the overthrow of the temple and the subversion of the national polity of Israel? Had He not assured His disciples that in ‘a little while’ they should see Him again? Had He not declared that some of them should live to witness His return? And after all this, is it necessary to find excuses for St. Paul and the early Christians, as if they had laboured under a delusion? If they did, it was not they who were to blame, but their Master. It would have been strange indeed if, after all the exhortations which they had received to be on the alert, to watch, to live in continual expectancy of the Parousia, the apostles had not confidently believed in His speedy coming, and taught others to do the same. But it Would seem that St. Paul rests his explanations to the Thessalonians on the authority of a special divine communication made to himself, ‘This I say unto you by the word of the Lord, ’ etc. This can hardly mean that the Lord had so predicted in His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives, for no such statement is recorded; it must therefore refer to a revelation Which he had himself received. How, then, could he be at fault in his expectations? It is strange that so great incredulity should exist in this day respecting the plain sense of our Lord’s express declarations on this subject. Fulfilled or unfulfilled, right or wrong, there is no ambiguity or uncertainty in His language. It may be said that we have no evidence of such facts having occurred as are here described, —the Lord descending with a shout, the sounding of the trumpet, the raising of the sleeping dead, the rapture of the living saints. True; but is it certain that these are facts cognisable by the senses? is their place in the region of the material and the visible? As we have already said, we know and are sure that a very large portion of the events predicted by our Lord, and expected by His apostles, did actually come to pass at that very crisis called ‘the end of the age.’ There is no difference of opinion concerning the destruction of the temple, the overthrow of the city, the unparalleled slaughter of the people, the extinction of the nationality, the end of the legal dispensation. But the Parousia is inseparably linked with the destruction of Jerusalem; and, in like manner, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgment of the ‘wicked generation,’ with the Parousia. They are different parts of one great catastrophe; different scenes in one great drama. We accept the facts verified by the historian on the word of man; is it for Christians to hesitate to accept the facts which are vouched by the word of the Lord?

{1} Conybeare and Howson ch. xi.
{2} Greek Testament, in loc.


EXHORTATIONS TO WATCHFULNESS IN PROSPECT OF THE PAROUSIA

#1Th 5:1-10—‘ But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall ray, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who axe of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.’

It is manifest that there would be no meaning in these urgent calls to watchfulness unless the apostle believed in the nearness of the coming crisis. Was it to the Thessalonians, or to some unborn generation in the far distant future, that St. Paul was penning these lines? Why urge men in A. D. 52 to watch, and be on the alert, for a catastrophe which was not to take place for hundreds and thousands of years? Every word of this exhortation supposes the crisis to be impending and imminent.

To say that the apostle writes not for any one generation, nor to any persons in particular, is to throw an air of unreality into his exhortations from which reverent criticism revolts. He certainly meant the very persons to whom he wrote, and who read this epistle, and he thought of none others. We cannot accept the Suggestion of Bengel that the ‘we which are alive and remain’ are only imaginary personages, like the names Caius and Titius (John Doe and Richard Roe); for no one can read this epistle without being conscious of the warm personal attachment and affection to individuals which breathe in every line. We conclude, therefore, that the whole had a direct and present bearing upon the actual position and prospects of the persons to whom the epistle is addressed.


PRAYER THAT THE THESSALONIANS MIGHT SURVIVE UNTIL THE COMING OF CHRIST

#1Th 5:23—‘ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit, and soul, and body, all together be preserved blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.’{ 1}

If any shadow of a doubt still rested on the question whether St. Paul believed and taught the incidence of the Parousia in his own day, this passage would dispel it. No words can more clearly imply this belief than this prayer that the Thessalonian Christians might not die before the appearing of Christ. Death is the dissolution of the union between body, soul, and spirit, and the apostle’s prayer is that spirit, soul, and body might ‘all together’ [oloklhron] be preserved in sanctity till the Lord’s coming. This implies the continuance of their corporeal life until that event.

{1} Conybeare and Howson’s Translation



TRIBO: will continue in a little while thnx.

There is still much to post from this book so i've made the decision to give you the remaing info this way:

google " james stuart russell" click on wikipedia link, at the bottom is where you can find this whole book for free click on html document and it will go to site where it can be uploaded or read or printed. for those who have read so far, i hope you have been enlightened, for those who have not i will keep this current for some time so that you have a chance to read what i have posted - good day -