The Parousia

A Careful Look at the New Testament Doctrine of our Lord’s Second Coming

By James Stuart Russell

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HIGH PRAISE FOR "THE PAROUSIA"

PREFACE TO THE BOOK

INTRODUCTORY.

THE LAST WORDS OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.

THE BOOK OF MALACHI
The Interval between Malachi and John the Baptist

PART I.

THE PAROUSIA IN THE GOSPELS.

THE PAROUSIA PREDICTED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST

The Teaching of our Lord Concerning the Parousia in the Synoptical Gospels:-

Prediction of Coming Wrath upon that Generation
Further allusions to the Coming Wrath
Impending fate of the Jewish nation (Parable of the Barren Fig-tree)
The End of the Age, or close of the Jewish dispensation (Parables of Tares and Drag-net)
The Coming of the Son of Man (the Parousia) in the Lifetime of the Apostles
The Parousia to take place within the Lifetime of some of the Disciples
The Coming of the Son of man certain and speedy (Parable of the Importunate Widow)
The Reward of the Disciples in the Coming AEon, i.e. at the Parousia

Prophetic Intimations of the approaching Consummation of the Kingdom of God:-

i. Parable of the Pounds
ii. Lamentation of Jesus over Jerusalem
iii. Parable of the Wicked Husbandman
iv. Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son
v. Woes denounced on the Scribes and Pharisees
vi. Lamentation (second) of Jesus over Jerusalem
vii. The Prophecy on the Mount of Olives

The Prophecy on the Mount examined:-

I. Interrogatory of the Disciples
II. Our Lord's Answer to the Disciples:-

(a) Events which more remotely were to precede the Consummation
(b) Further indications of the approaching doom of Jerusalem
(c) The Disciples warned against False Prophets
(d) Arrival of the 'End,' or the catastrophe of Jerusalem
(e) The Parousia to take place before the passing away of the Existing Generation
(f) Certainty of the Consummation, yet uncertainty of its precise date
(g) Suddenness of the Parousia, and calls to watchfulness
(h) The Disciples warned of the suddenness of the Parousia (Parable of the Master of the House)
(i) The Parousia a time of Judgment alike to the friends and the enemies of Christ (Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins)
(k) The Parousia a time of Judgment (Parable of the Talents)
(l) The Parousia a time of Judgment (Parable of the Sheep and Goats)

Our Lord's declaration before the High Priest
Prediction of the Woes coming on Jerusalem
Prayer of the Penitent Thief
Apostolic Commission, the

THE PAROUSIA IN THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.

The Parousia and the Resurrection of the Dead
The Resurrection, the Judgment, and the Last Day
The Judgment of this World, and of the Prince of this World
Christ's Return (the Parousia) speedy
St. John to live till the Parousia
Summary of the Teaching of the Gospels respecting the Parousia

APPENDIX TO PART I.

Note A.-On the Double-sense Theory of Interpretation
Note B.-On the Prophetic Element in the Gospels

PART II.

THE PAROUSIA IN THE ACTS AND THE EPISTLES.

IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

The 'going away' and the 'coming again
The Last Days come
The Coming Doom of that Generation
The Parousia and the Restitution of all things
Christ soon to judge the World

THE PAROUSIA IN THE APOSTOLIC EPISTLES.

Introduction

IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS:-

Expectation of the Speedy Coming of Christ
The Wrath coming upon the Jewish people
Bearing of the parousia upon the disciples of Christ
Christ to come with all His holy ones
Events accompanying the Parousia
Exhortations to watchfulness in prospect of the Parousia
Prayer that the Thessalonians might survive until the coming of Christ

IN THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS:-

The Parousia a time of judgment to enemies of Christ and of Deliverance to His people
Events which must precede the Parousia

The Apostasy
The Man of Sin

IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS:-

Attitude of the Christians of Corinth in relation to the Parousia
Judicial character of the 'Day of the Lord' (I Cor. iii. 13)
Judicial character of the 'Day of the Lord' (I Cor. iv. 5)
Nearness of the approaching Consummation
The End of the Ages already arrived
Events accompanying the Parousia
The Living (saints) changed at the Parousia
The Parousia and the 'Last Trump'
The Apostolic Watchword, 'Maran-atha'

IN THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS:-

Anticipations of 'the End' and 'the Day of the Lord'
The Dead in Christ to be presented along with the living at the Parousia
Expectation of Future Blessedness at the Parousia

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS:-

'The present Evil Age, or AEon'
The two Jerusalems-the Old and the New

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS:-

The Day of Wrath
Eschatology of St. Paul
Nearness of the Coming Salvation
Prospect of Speedy Deliverance

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS:-

Approaching Manifestation of Christ
The Coming Wrath

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS:-

The Economy of the Fulness of the Times
The Day of Redemption
The present Aeon and that which is coming
The 'Ages [Aeons] to come

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS:-

The Day of Christ
Expectation of the Parousia
Nearness of the Parousia

IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY:-

Apostasy of the Last Days
Eschatological Table, or Conspectus of Passages relating to the Last Times
Equivalent Phrases referring to the Last Times
Table of Passages relating to the Apostasy of the Last Times
Conclusion- respecting the Apostasy
Timothy and the Parousia
The Apostasy already manifesting itself

IN THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY: -

'That Day'-viz. the parousia-anticipated
The Apostasy of the 'Last Days' imminent

IN THE EPISTLE TO TITUS :-

Anticipation of the Parousia

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS:-

The Last Days already come
The Aeons, Ages, or World-periods
The World to come, or the new order
The End, i.e., of the Age, or AEon
The Promise of the Rest of God
The End of the Ages
Expectation of the Parousia
The Parousia approaching
The Parousia imminent
The Parousia and the Old Testament saints
The great Consummation near
Nearness and finality of the Consummation
Expectation of the Parousia

IN THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES:-

The Last Days come
Nearness of the Parousia

IN THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER:-

Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
The approaching Revelation of Jesus Christ
Relation of the Redemption of Christ to the Antediluvian World
Nearness of Judgment and of the End of all things
The good tidings announced to the Dead
The Fiery Trial and the coming Glory
The Time of Judgment arrived
The Glory about to be revealed

IN THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PETER:-

Scoffers in the 'Last Days'
Eschatology of St. Peter
Certainty of the approaching Consummation
Suddenness of the Parousia
Attitude of the Primitive Christians in relation to the Parousia
The New Heavens and New Earth
Nearness of the Parousia a motive to diligence
Believers not to be discouraged on account of the seeming delay of the Parousia
Allusion of St. Peter to St. Paul's teaching concerning the Parousia

IN THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN:-

The World passing away: the last hour come
The Antichrist come, a proof of its being the last hour
Antichrist not a person, but a principle
Marks of the Antichrist
Anticipation of the Parousia

IN THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE

APPENDIX TO PART II.

Note A.-The Kingdom of Heaven, or of God
Note B.-On the ' Babylon' of 1 Peter v. 13
Note C.-On the Symbolism of Prophecy, with special reference to the Predictions of the Parousia
Note D.-Dr. Owen on 'the Heavens and the Earth' (2 Pet. iii. 7)
Note E.-Rev. F. D. Maurice on 'the Last Time' (I John ii. 18)

PART III.

THE PAROUSIA IN THE APOCALYPSE.

Interpretation of the Apocalypse
Limitation of Time in the Apocalypse
Date of the Apocalypse
True significance of the Apocalypse
Structure and plan of the Apocalypse
The number Seven in the Apocalypse
The Theme of the Apocalypse
The Prologue

THE FIRST VISION.

THE MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

THE SECOND VISION.

THE SEVEN SEALS

Opening of the First Seal
Opening of the Second Seal
Opening of the Third Seal
Opening of the Fourth Seal
Opening of the Fifth Seal
Opening of the Sixth Seal
Episode of the Sealing of the Servants of God

THE THIRD VISION.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

Opening of the Seventh Seal
The First Four Trumpets
The Fifth Trumpet
The Sixth Trumpet

Episode of the Angel and the Book
Measurement of the Temple
Episode of the Two Witnesses

The Seventh Trumpet

THE FOURTH VISION.

THE SEVEN MYSTIC FIGURES

1. The Woman clothed with the Sun
2. The Great Red Dragon
3. The Man Child
4. The First Wild Beast
The Number of the Beast
5. The Second Wild Beast
6. The Lamb on Mount Sion
7. The Son of Man on the Cloud

THE FIFTH VISION.

THE SEVEN VIALS

THE SIXTH VISION.

THE HARLOT CITY

Mystery of the Scarlet Beast
The Seven Kings
The Ten Horns of the Beast
(NOTE ON REVELATION XVII.)
The Fall of Babylon
Judgment of the Beast and his confederate Powers
Judgment of the Dragon
Reign of the Saints and Martyrs
Loosing of Satan after the Thousand Years
Catastrophe of the Sixth Vision

THE SEVENTH VISION.

THE HOLY CITY, OR THE BRIDE

Prologue to the Vision
The Holy City described

THE EPILOGUE

SUMMERY AND CONCLUSION

APPENDIX TO PART III

Note A.-Reuss on the Number of the Beast
Note B.-Dr. J. M. Macdonald's 'Life and Writings of St. John'
-Bishop Warburton on 'our Lord's Prophecy on the Mount of Olives,' and on 'the Kingdom of Heaven'

AFTERWORD BY RUSSELL

DOLLINGER ON "The Man of Sin"
THE BABYLON OF THE APOCALYPSE
JERUSALEM A SEVEN-HILLED CITY
THE CRUCIAL QUESTION
THE TRUE SOLUTION

HIGH PRAISE FOR “THE PAROUSIA”

Reviewed by: C.H. Spurgeon & R.C. Sproul

 

[Reprinted from the October 1878 issue of The Sword and the Trowel Magazine]

"The second coming of Christ according to this volume had its fulfillment 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 fulfillment. 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,' &c., 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."

For a closer look at Spurgeon's Preterist statements, please see :  Commentary Excerpts: Charles H. Spurgeon

     "The Kingly Prophet foretold the time of the end: "Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital." (Commentary on Matthew, in loc.)

 

R.C. Sproul

"Russell's book has forced me to take the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem far more seriously than before, to open my eyes to the radical significance of this event in redemptive history.  It vindicates the apostolic hope and prediction of our Lord's close-at-hand coming in judgment.  My view on these matters remains in transition, as I have spelled out in The Last Days According to Jesus.  But for me one thing is certain:  I can never read the New Testament again the same way I read it before reading The Parousia.  I hope better scholars than I will continue to analyze and evaluate the content of J. Stuart Russell's important work." ("Forward," in The Parousia (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999)

 

Ovid Need Jr., on The Parousia

     First, The Parousia, A Careful Look at the New Testament Doctrine of our Lord’s Second Coming, By James Stuart Russell (1816-1895). It contains 561 pages, soft-bound. I miss an index not being in it, but it does have a comprehensive Table of Contents. He "served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Bayswater, England during the years 1862-1888. He earned his M.A. degree from King's College, University of Aberdeen. Then after this book was published, they honoured him with a D.D. degree. Two editions were published, the first in 1878 and the second in 1887, both in London. This is the most popular introduction to and defense of the preterist view of Bible Prophecy in print today. It is a 1996 reprint by Kingdom Publications, 122 Seaward Ave, Bradford, PA 16701. $17.00 post paid from Kingdom Publishers" toll-free, (888) 257-7023, and they accept MasterCard and VISA.

     Mr. Russell convincingly presents the Preterist view from the many New Testaments - from Malachi and Matthew through the Revelation - passages we hear used in "Prophetic" teaching today. (It appears to me that most prophetic teachers fail to realize that prophecy is from the time the passages are written, not from the time they are read.) Though Russell goes further in some areas than I would (spiritualizing some things I would not), I must admit that he deals with the many New Testament "Prophetic" passages in the most consistent manner I have encountered: His arguments concerning the "Prophetic" passages are hard, if not impossible, to refute by those of us who accept Scripture as the final authority - that is, who use Scripture rather than history to interpret Scripture. An usual point I found about Mr. Russell, not often found in Bible teachers, is that when he encounters a passage he cannot answer, he tells us he has no answer. Many teachers seem to think that when they admit they do not have all the answers, they have lost their ability to teach.

     I am thankful to the man who brought this book to my attention, and I can readily recommend it to any interested in serious study of Scripture. "Parousia" is an excellent book for those disillusioned by "date setting."

     I suppose that Mr. Russell wrote "Parousia" to counter the then rising tide of dispensational millennialism that started gaining worldwide momentum after about 1850.

PREFACE.

 

     No Attentive reader of the New Testament can fail to be struck with the prominence given by the evangelists and the apostles to the PAROUSIA, or 'coming of the Lord.' That event is the great theme of New Testament prophecy. There is scarcely a single book, from the Gospel of St. Matthew to the Apocalypse of St. John, in which it is not set forth as the glorious promise of God and the blessed hope of the church. It was frequently and solemnly predicted by our Lord; it was incessantly kept before the eyes of the early Christians by the apostles; and it was firmly believed and eagerly expected by the churches of the primitive age.

     It cannot be denied that there is a remarkable difference between the attitude of the first Christians in relation to the Parousia and that of Christians now. That glorious hope, to which all eyes and hearts in the apostolic age were eagerly turned, has almost disappeared from the view of modern believers. Whatever may be the theoretical opinions ex- pressed in symbols and creeds, it must in candor be admitted that the 'second coming of Christ' has all but ceased to be a living and practical belief.

     Various causes may be assigned in explanation of this state of things. The rash vaticinations of those who have too confidently undertaken to be interpreters of prophecy, and the discredit consequent on the failure of their predictions, have no doubt deterred reverent and soberminded men from entering upon the investigation of 'unfulfilled prophecy.' On the other hand, there is reason to think that rationalistic criticism has engendered doubts whether the predictions of the New Testament were ever intended to have a literal or historical fulfilment.

     Between rationalism on the one hand, and irrationalism on the other, there has come to be a widely prevailing state of uncertainty and confusion of thought in regard to New Testament prophecy, which to some extent explains, though it may not justify, the consigning of the whole subject to the region of hopelessly obscure and insoluble problems.

     This, however, is only a partial explanation. It deserves consideration whether there may not be a fundamental difference between the relation of the church of the apostolic age to the predicted Parousia and the relation to that event sustained by subsequent ages. The first Christians undoubtedly believed themselves to be standing on the verge of a great catastrophe, and we know what intensity and enthusiasm the expectation of the almost immediate coming of the Lord inspired; but if it cannot be shown that Christians now are similarly placed, there would be a want of truth and reality in affecting the eager anticipation and hope of the primitive church. The same event cannot be imminent at two different periods separated by nearly two thousand years. There must, therefore, be some grave misconception on the part of those who maintain that the Christian church of to-day occupies precisely the same relation, and should maintain the same attitude, towards the 'coming of the Lord' as the church in the days of St. Paul.

     The present volume is an attempt, in a candid and reverent spirit, to clear up this misconception, and to ascertain the true meaning of the Word of God on a subject which holds so conspicuous a place in the teaching of our Lord and His apostles. It is the fruit of many years of patient investigation, and the Author has spared no pains to test to the utmost the validity of his conclusions. It has been his single aim to ascertain what saith the Scripture, and his one desire to be governed by a loyal submission to its authority. The ideal of Biblical interpretation which he has kept before him is that so well expressed by a German theologian - 'Explicatio plana non tortuosa, facilis non violenta, eademque et exegeticce et Chistanae conscientium pariter arridens.' (1)

     Although the nature of the inquiry necessitates a somewhat frequent reference to the original of the New Testament, and to the laws of grammatical construction and interpretation, it has been the object of the Author to render this work as popular as possible, and such as any man of ordinary education and intelligence may read with ease and interest. The Bible is a book for every man, and the Author has not written for scholars and critics only, but for the many who are deeply interested in Biblical interpretation, and who think, with Locke, 'an impartial search into the true meaning of the sacred Scripture the best employment of all the time they have.' (2) It will be a sufficient recompense of his labour if he succeeds in elucidating in any degree those teachings of divine revelation which have been obscured by traditional prejudices, or misinterpreted by an erroneous exegesis.

1878.

1. Donier's tractate, De Oratione Christi Eschatologica, p. 1.

2. Locke, Notes on Ephesians i. 10.

THE LAST WORDS OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.

THE BOOK OF MALACHI

 

     THE canon of the Old Testament Scriptures closes in a very different manner from what might have been expected after the splendid future revealed to the covenant nation in the visions of Isaiah. None of the prophets is the bearer of a heavier burden than the last. Malachi is the prophet of doom. It would seem that the nation, by its incorrigible obstinacy and disobedience, had forfeited the divine favour, and proved itself not only unworthy, but incapable, of the promised glories. The departure of the prophetic spirit was full of evil omen, and seemed to intimate that the Lord was about to forsake the land. Accordingly, the light of Old Testament prophecy goes out amidst clouds and thick darkness. The Book of Malachi is one long and terrible impeachment of the nation. The Lord Himself is the accuser, and sustains every charge against the guilty people by the clearest proof. The long indictment includes sacrilege, hypocrisy, contempt of God, conjugal infidelity, perjury, apostasy, blasphemy; while, on the other hand, the people have the effrontery to repudiate the accusation, and to plead ' not guilty ' to every charge. They appear to have reached that stage of moral insensibility when men call evil good, and good evil, and are fast ripening for judgment.

     Accordingly, coming judgment is 'the burden if the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.'

Chap. iii. 5: 'I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.,

Chap. iv. 1: 'For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven [furnace]: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.'

     That this is no vague and unmeaning threat is evident from the distinct and definite terms in which it is announced. Everything points to an approaching crisis in the history of the nation, when God would inflict judgment upon His rebellious people. 'The day, was coming - 'the day that shall burn as a furnace;, 'the great and terrible day of the Lord., That this 'day' refers to a certain period, and a specific event, does not admit of question. It had already been foretold in precisely the same words by the Prophet Joel (ii. 31): 'The great and terrible day of the Lord;, and we shall meet with a distinct reference to it in the address of the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 20). But the period is further more precisely defined by the remarkable statement of Malachi in chap. iv. 5: 'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.' The explicit declaration of our Lord that the predicted Elijah was no other than His own forerunner, John the Baptist (Matt. xi. 14), enables us to determine the time and the event referred to as 'the great and terrible day of the Lord., It must be sought at no great distance from the period of John the Baptist. That is to say, the allusion is to the judgment of the Jewish nation, when their city and temple were destroyed, and the entire fabric of the Mosaic polity was dissolved.

     It deserves to be noticed, that both Isaiah and Malachi predict the appearance of John the Baptist as the forerunner of our Lord, but in very different terms. Isaiah represents him as the herald of the coming Saviour: 'The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God' (Isa. xl. 3). Malachi represents John as the precursor of the coming Judge: 'Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts' (Mal. iv. 1).

     That this is a coming to judgment, is manifest from the words which immediately follow, describing tile alarm and dismay caused by His appearing: 'But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth ?' (Mal. iii. 2.)

     It cannot be said that this language is appropriate to the first coming of Christ; but it is highly appropriate to His second coming. There is a distinct allusion to this passage in Rev. vi. 17, where 'the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains,' etc., are represented as 'hiding from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from tile wrath of the Lamb, and saying, The great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'. Nothing can be more clear than that the 'day of his coming', in Mal. iii. 1 is the same as 'the great and dreadful day of the Lord' in chap. iv. 5, and that both answer to 'the great day of his wrath' in Rev. vi. 17. We conclude, therefore, that the prophet Malachi speaks, not of the first advent of our Lord, but of the second.

     This is further proved by the significant fact, that, in chap. iii. 1, the Lord is represented as 'suddenly coming to his temple.' To understand this as referring to the presentation of the infant Saviour in the temple by His parents, or to His in the courts of the temple, or to His of the buyers and sellers from the sacred edifice, is surely a most inadequate explanation. Those were not occasions of terror and dismay, such as is implied in the second verse, 'But who may abide the day of his coming ?' The expression is, however, vividly suggestive of His final and judicial visitation of His Father's house, when it was to be 'left desolate,' according to His prediction. The temple was the centre of the nation's life, the visible symbol of the covenant between God and His people; it was the spot where 'judgment must begin,' and which was to be overtaken by 'sudden destruction.' Taking, then, all these particulars into account, the 'sudden coming of the Lord to his temple,' the dismay attending 'the day of his coming,' His coming as 'a refiner's fire,' His coming ' near to them to judgment,' 'the day coming that shall burn as a furnace,' 'burning up the wicked root and branch,' and the appearing of John the Baptist, the second Elijah, previous to the arrival of 'the great and dreadful day of the Lord,' it is impossible to resist the conclusion that the prophet here foretells that great national catastrophe in which the temple, the city, and the nation, perished together; and that this is designated, 'the day of his coming.'

     However strange, therefore, it may seem, it is undoubtedly the fact that the first coming of our Lord is not alluded to by Malachi. This is distinctly acknowledged by Hengstenberg, who observes: 'Malachi passes by the first coming of Christ in humiliation altogether and leaves the interval between his forerunner end the judgment of Jerusalem a perfect blank.' (1) This is to be accounted for by the fact, that the main object of the prophecy is to predict national destruction and not national deliverance.

     At the same time, while judgment and wrath are the predominant elements of the prophecy, features of a different character are not wholly absent. The day of wrath is also a day of redemption. There is a faithful remnant, even among the apostate nation: there are gold and silver to be refined and jewels to be gathered, as well as dross to be rejected, and stubble to be burned. There are sons to be spared, as well as enemies to be destroyed; and the day which brought dismay and darkness to the wicked, would see 'the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings' on the faithful. Even Malachi intimates that the door of mercy is not yet shut. If the nation would return unto God, He would return unto them. If they would make restitution of that which they had sacrilegiously withheld from the service of the temple, He would repay them with blessings more than they could receive. They might even yet be a 'delightsome land,' the envy of all nations. At the eleventh hour, if the mission of the second Elijah should succeed in winning the hearts of the people, tile impending catastrophe might after all be averted (chap. iii. 3, 16-18; iv. 2, 3, 5, 6).

     Nevertheless, there is a foregone conclusion that expostulation and threatening will be unavailing. The last words sound like the knell of doom (Mal. iv. 6): 'Lest I come and smite the land with a curse!'

     The full import of this ominous declaration is not at once apparent. To the Hebrew mind. it suggested the most terrible fate that could befall a city or a people. The 'curse' was the anathema, or cheremwhich denoted that the person or thing on which the malediction was laid was given over to utter destruction. We have an example of the cherem, or ban, in the curse pronounced upon Jericho (Josh. vi. 17); and a more particular statement of the ruin which it involved, in the Book of Deuteronomy (chap. xiii. 12-18). The city was to be smitten with the edge of the sword, every living thing in it to be put to death, the spoil was not to be touched, all was accursed and unclean, it was to be wholly consumed with fire, and the place given up to perpetual desolation. Hengstenberg remarks: 'All the things that can possibly be thought of are included in this one word;' (2) and he quotes the comment of Vitringa on this passage: ' There can be no doubt that God intended to say, that He would give up to certain destruction, both the obstinate transgressors of the law and also their city, and that they should suffer the extreme penalty of His justice, as heads devoted to God, without any hope of favour or forgiveness.'

     Such is the fearful malediction suspended over the land of Israel by the prophetic Spirit, in the moment of taking its departure, and becoming silent for ages. It is important to observe, that all this has a distinct and specific reference to the land of Israel. The message of the prophet is to Israel; the sins which are reprobated are the sins of Israel; the coming of the Lord is to His temple in Israel; the land threatened with the curse is the land of Israel. (3) All this manifestly points to a specific local and national catastrophe, of which the land of Israel was to be the scene and its guilty inhabitants the victims. History records the fulfilment of the prophecy, in exact correspondence of time, place, and circumstance, in the ruin which overwhelmed the Jewish nation at the period of the destruction of Jerusalem.

 

THE INTERVAL BETWEEN MALACHI AND JOHN THE BAPTIST.

     The four centuries which intervene between the conclusion of the Old Testament and the commencement of the New are a blank in Scripture history. We know, however, from the Books of the Maccabees and the writings of Josephus, that it was an eventful period in the Jewish annals. Judea was by turns the vassal of the great monarchies by which it was surrounded - Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Rome, - with an interval of independence under the Maccabean princes. But though the nation during this period passed through great suffering, and produced some illustrious examples of patriotism and of piety, we look in vain for any divine oracle, or any inspired messenger, to declare the word of the Lord. Israel might truly say: 'We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long' (Psa. lxxiv. 9). Yet those four centuries were not without a powerful influence on the character of the nation. During this period, synagogues were established throughout the land, and the knowledge of the Scriptures was widely extended. The great religious schools of the Pharisees and Sadducees arose, both professing to be expounders and defenders of the law of Moses. Vast numbers of Jews settled in the great cities of Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, carrying with them everywhere the worship of the synagogue and the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. Above all, the nation cherished in its inmost heart the hope of a coming deliverer, a scion of the royal house of David, who should be the theocratic king, the liberator of Israel from Gentile domination, whose reign was to be so happy and glorious that it might deserve to be called 'the kingdom of heaven.' But, for the most part, the popular conception of the coming king was earthly and carnal. There had not in four hundred years been any improvement in the moral condition of the people, and, between the formalism of the Pharisees and the scepticism of the Sadducees, true religion had sunk to its lowest ebb. There was still, however, a faithful remnant who had truer conceptions of the kingdom of heaven, and 'who looked for redemption in Israel.' As the time drew near, there were indications of the return of the prophetic spirit, and premonitions that the promised deliverer was at hand. Simeon received assurance that before his death ho should see 'the Lord's anointed;' a like intimation appears to have been made to the aged prophetess Anna. Such revelations, it is reasonable to suppose, must have awakened eager expectation in the hearts of many, and prepared them for the cry which soon after was heard in the wilderness of Judea: 'Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand !' A prophet had again risen up in Israel, and 'the Lord had visited His people.'

1. See Hengst. Nature of Prophecy. Christ. vol. iv. p. 418

2. Hengst. Christology, vol. iv. p 227

3. The meaning of this passage (Mal. iv. 6) is obscured by the unfortunate translation earth instead of land. The Hebrew ch,a, like the Greek gh/, is very frequently employed in a restricted sense. The allusion in the text plainly is to the land of Israel. -See Hengst. Christology, vol. iv. p 224

THE PAROUSIA IN THE GOSPELS

 

THE PAROUSIA PREDICTED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST

     THERE is nothing more distinctly affirmed in the New Testament than the identity of John the Baptist with the wilderness-herald of Isaiah and the Elijah of Malachi. How well the description of John agrees with that of Elijah is evident at a glance. Each was austere and ascetic in his manner of life; each was a zealous reformer of religion; each was a stern reprover of sin. The times in which they lived were singularly alike. The nation at both periods was degenerate and corrupt. Elijah had his Ahab, John his Herod. It is no objection to this identification of John as the predicted Elijah, that the Baptist himself disclaimed the name when the priests and Levites from Jerusalem demanded: 'Art thou Elias ?' (John i. 21.) The Jews expected the reappearance of the literal Elijah, and John's reply was addressed to that mistaken opinion. But his true claim to the designation is expressly affirmed in the announcement made by the angel to his father Zacharias: 'He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias' (Luke i. 17); as well as by the declarations of our Lord: 'If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come' (Matt.. xi. 14); 'I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not.... Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist' (Matt.. xvii. 10-13). John was the second Elias, and exhaustively fulfilled the predictions of Isaiah and Malachi concerning him. To dream of an 'Elijah of the future,' therefore, is virtually to discredit the express statement of the word of God, and rests upon no Scripture warrant whatever.

     We have already adverted to the twofold aspect of the mission of John presented by the prophets Isaiah and Malachi. The same diversity is seen in the New Testament descriptions of the second Elias. The benignant aspect of his mission which is presented by Isaiah, is also recognized in the words of the angel by whom his birth was foretold, as already quoted; and in the inspired utterance of his father Zacharias: 'Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins , (Luke i. 76, 77). We find the same gracious aspect in the opening verses of the Gospel of St. John: 'The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe, (John i. 7).

     But the other aspect of his mission is no less distinctly recognized in the Gospels. He is represented, not only as the herald of the coming Saviour, but of the coming Judge. Indeed, his own recorded utterances speak far more of wrath than of salvation, and are conceived more in the spirit of the Elijah of Malachi than of the wilderness-herald of Isaiah. He warns the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitudes that crowded to his baptism, to 'flee from the coming wrath.' He tells them that 'the axe is laid unto the root of the trees.' He announces the coming of One mightier than himself, 'whose fan is in his hand, and who will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but who will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire' (Matt. iii. 12).

     It is impossible not to be struck with the correspondence between the language of the Baptist and that of Malachi. As Hengstenberg observes: 'The prophecy of Malachi is throughout the text upon which John comments." (1) In both, the coming of the Lord is described as a day of wrath; both speak of His coming with fire to purify and try, with fire to burn and consume Both speak of a time of discrimination and separation between the righteous and the wicked, the gold and the dross, the wheat and the chaff; and both speak of the utter destruction of the chaff, or stubble, with unquenchable fire. These are not fortuitous resemblances: the two predictions are the counterpart one of the other, and can only refer to the self-same event, the same 'day of the Lord,' the same coming judgment.

     But what more especially deserves remark is the evident nearness of the crisis which John predicts. 'The wrath to come' is a very inadequate rendering of the language of the prophet. (2) It should be 'the coming wrath;' that is, not merely future, but impending. 'The wrath to come' may be indefinitely distant, but 'the coming wrath' is imminent. As Alford justly remarks: 'John is now speaking in the true character of a prophet foretelling the wrath soon to be poured on the Jewish nation.' (3) So with the other representations in the address of the Baptist; all is indicative of the swift approach of destruction. 'Already the axe was lying at the root of the trees.' The 'winnowing shovel' was actually in the hands of the Husbandman; the sifting process was about to begin. These warnings of John the Baptist are not the vague and indefinite exhortations to repentance, addressed to men in all ages, which they are sometimes assumed to be; they are urgent, burning words, having a specific and present bearing upon the then existing generation, the living men to whom he brought the message