David Brown (1858) "The coming of the Lord is his coming in judgment against Jerusalem - to destroy itself and its temple, and set up the gospel kingdom in a manner more palpable and free than could be done while Jerusalem was yet standing. I say this application of the words, as their direct and primary sense, will probably startle those unacquainted with the prophetic style. But all hesitation on the subject will cease if we will but allow the Scripture to be its own interpreter. The statement of our Lord, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till these things be fulfilled' puts it, I think, beyond question that the whole range of the prediction was to have an accomplishment before the then race of human beings should all have died from the face of the earth."

Henry Alford (1868)
'We may observe that our Lord makes "when the Lord cometh" coincide with the destruction of Jerusalem, which is incontestably the overthrow of the wicked husbandmen. This passage therefore forms an important key to our Lord's prophecies, and a decisive justification for those who, like myself, firmly hold that the coming of the Lord is, in many places, to be identified, primarily, with that overthrow." (On Matt. 21:33-46)

Dr. Carl August Auberlen (1856)
"...Christ Himself represents the destruction of Jerusalem as His Messianic coming (Matt. xxiv. 28)." (p. 101)

Albert Barnes (1832)
(On Matthew 24:27) "..the destruction of Jerusalem is described as his coming..."

G.R. Beasley-Murray (1954)
(On Christ's Coming in Psalm 18) "The Lord of heaven and earth thus comes in all his glory, shaking the world to its foundations, causing the mountains to heave and the ocean floor to be exposed - all for the aid of one sick man! This is a clear expression of the association of the Hebrews' mind when he though of the coming of God to aid his people: the stepping forth of the Creator evokes the trembling of the whole creation." (p. 6)

John Broadus (1886)
"Six months earlier (in 16:27 f.) he had declared that would come again in the glory of his Father, as the sovereign Judge of mankind; and that some of them then present would live to see him 'coming in his kingdom.' We there found it necessary to understand that the particular coming to which this last phrase especially refers took place at the destruction of Jerusalem, which made Christianity completely and manifestly distinct from Judaism, and established the Messianic kingdom in its permanent present state. The prediction then briefly made by our Lord is now (as a result of Matthew 24:30) more fully unfolded} (vol 1, Matthew, p. 479).

"It is practically impossible to suppose that v. 30f. relates simply to the destruction of Jerusalem. As the latter part of the discourse (25:31-36) clearly refers to the second coming of our Lord, it seems unavoidable to suppose a similar reference here; see also the corresponding passage, 13:41. But v. 34 will presently declare that "all" the foregoing matter will occur during the existing generation. Then we cannot believe (with Meyer and others) that the Saviour mistakenly expected his parousia to be within that generation, it follows that v. 29-31 must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem." (An American Commentary, vol. 1, p. 491)

David Brown (1858)
"... What is the direct and primary sense of the prophecy? Those who have not directed their attention to prophetic language will be startled if I answer, The coming of the Lord here announced is his coming in judgment against Jerusalem - to destroy itself and its temple, and with them the peculiar standing and privileges of the Jews as the visible Church of God, and set up 'the kingdom of heaven' (or gospel kingdom) in a manner more palpable and free than could be done while Jerusalem was yet standing. I say this application of the words, as their direct and primary sense, will probably startle those unacquainted with the prophetic style. But all hesitation on the subject will cease if we will but allow the Scripture to be its own interpreter" (p. 434).

" 'Many attempts,' says Dr. Urwick, 'have been made to anatomize this prophecy, and exhibit separately the parts which relate to the invasion of Jerusalem by Titus, and the parts which regard the judgment of the world at the last day. I have not met with any thing satisfactory in this way. If any man could have done it well, Bishop Horsley was the man: he had learning, ingenuity, power, and determination enough for it. Yet one cannot read the sermon in which he attempts to separate the prophecy of the 'coming' from the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, without feeling that a giant is grappling with a difficulty he cannot master. The statement of our Lord, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till these things be fulfilled' puts it, I think, beyond question, that the whole range of the prediction was to have an accomplishment before the then race of human beings should all have died from the face of the earth "(David Brown, p. 441).

David Chilton (1985)
"...our Lord Jesus Christ predicted His Return within the lifetime of His first-century hearers. That fact presents Christians with a dilemma: If Jesus was wrong in His prediction (as theological liberals have been saying for many years), we have a much bigger problem than an academic theological issue regarding the doctrine of Eschatology - it means we can't rely on Jesus for salvation, either! If we can't trust Jesus in Matthew 24, we certainly can't trust Him in John 3:16! As a well-known theologian recently said, "If Jesus is a false prophet, my faith is in vain." (Foreward to What Happened in AD70?)

Adam Clarke (1837)
"I conclude, therefore, that this prophecy has not the least relation to Judas Maccabeus. It may be asked, to whom, and to what event does it relate? .. to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity; which in the Gospel is called the coming of Christ and the days of vengeance, Matthew 16:28; Luke 21:22." (Isaiah 65, p. 513)

P.S. Desprez (1854)
"The Lord came, as he said, to destroy Jerusalem, and to close the dispensation." (Preface, p. vi).

"NO scriptural statement is capable of more decided proof than that the coming of Christ is the destruction of Jerusalem, and the close of the Jewish dispensation." (p.9)

F.W. Farrar (1882)
"It was to this event, the most awful in history - 'one of the most awful eras in God's economy of grace, and the most awful revolution in all God's religious dispensations' - that we must apply those prophecies of Christ's coming in which every one of the Apostles and Evangelists fixed these three most definite limitations - the one, that before that generation passed away all these things would be fulfilled; another, that some standing there should not taste death till they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom; and third, that the Apostles should not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. It is strange that these distinct limitations should not be regarded as a decisive proof that the Fall of Jerusalem was, in the fullest sense, the Second Advent of the Son of Man which was primarily contemplated by the earliest voices of prophecy" (Vol. 2, p. 489)

Dr. Ken Gentry
"The cloud-coming of Christ in judgment is reminiscent of Old Testament cloud-comings of God in judgment upon ancient historical people and nations." [He Shall Have Dominion (Tyler, TX: ICE, 1992) 388-389]

"The final collapse of Jerusalem and the Temple.. Through these events the Jews were to "see" the Son of Man in His judgment-coming in terrifying cloud-glory: clouds are symbols of divine majesty often entailing stormy destruction. The members of the Sanhedrin and others would experience such in their life times (Matt. 26:64; Mark 9:1; cf. Rev 1:7 with Rev 1:1,3)." (ibid. 348)

Dr. Gerard (18th Century)
"This is the sign which the Jews so frequently required from our Saviour; the expectation of which, was founded upon this very prophecy of Daniel. By the manner in which he alludes to the prediction on this occasion, he expressly contradicts their interpretation of it, as being inconsistent with Daniel's real meaning. They expected that the Son of Man would descend visibly from heaven to take upon him the government of the Jews, and to lead them out to victory over all their enemies. But he informs them, that they ought to expect something almost totally the reverse of this; the Son of Man, not descending visibly, but interposing powerfully and irresistibly, not for raising the Jews to universal empire, but for executing dreadful judgments and destruction on them. They could scarce fail to perceive, that coming in the clouds of heaven implied executing judgment; for the expression is used several times in their own scriptures, and always mean no more than this; they notwithstanding strained it to a literal sense; to the meaning of a visible appearance in Daniel's prediction; and though they understood it to imply, the execution of judgment, yet it was only upon their enemies, not upon themselves. But Jesus informed them, that they themselves were the objects of that judgment." (Gerard's Disertations, sect. 4; quoted from Nisbett's Illustration)

John Gill (1809)
"Ver. 30 And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven, &c.] the son of man himself: just as circumcision is called the sign of circumcision, #Ro 4:11 and Christ is sometimes called a sign, #Lu 2:34 as is his resurrection from the dead, #Mt 12:39 and here the glory and majesty in which he shall come: and it may be observed, that the other evangelists make no mention of the sign, only speak of the son of man, #Mr 13:26, Lu 21:27 and he shall appear, not in person, but in the power of his wrath and vengeance, on the Jewish nation which will be a full sign and proof of his being come: for the sense is, that when the above calamities shall be upon the civil state of that people, and there will be such changes in their ecclesiastical state it will be as clear a point, that Christ is come in the flesh, and that he is also come in his vengeance on that nation, for their rejection and crucifixion him, as if they had seen him appear in person in the heavens. They had been always seeking a sign, and were continually asking one of him; and now they will have a sign with a witness; as they had accordingly.

Steve Gregg (1997)
"The language of prophecy often expresses a perspective different from that of ordinary historical narrative or prosaic literature. The prophets recognized in the great political upheavals of history the acts of a sovereign God (Amos 3:6) exercising his prerogative of "removing" and "raising up" rulers and empires (Dan. 2:21). The conquest of one nation by another through invasion and war were little more than God's means of judging the former - a nation that had been "weighed in the balances and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). The use of one nation's military machine for the punishment of another sinful nation did not require that the nation so used be aware of its being an instrument in the hands of God (Isa. 10:5-15). God is working invisibly behind the affairs of men, unperceived except by the prophetic vision. A consequence of this prophetic perspective is the frequent ocurrence in Scripture of the language of God's "coming" to judge a nation to judge it, even though what is envisaged is not a visable appearance of God, but a military conquest." (Revelation: Four Views, p,22) - (Isaiah 19:1, 26:21; Ps. 96:13, 98:9; Micah 1:3; Rev. 2:5,16, 3:3 - TDD) "The language of prophecy often expresses a perspective different from that of ordinary historical narrative or prosaic literature. The prophets recognized in the great political upheavals of history the acts of a sovereign God (Amos 3:6) exercising his prerogative of "removing" and "raising up" rulers and empires (Dan. 2:21). The conquest of one nation by another through invasion and war were little more than God's means of judging the former - a nation that had been "weighed in the balances and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). The use of one nation's military machine for the punishment of another sinful nation did not require that the nation so used be aware of its being an instrument in the hands of God (Isa. 10:5-15). God is working invisibly behind the affairs of men, unperceived except by the prophetic vision. A consequence of this prophetic perspective is the frequent ocurrence in Scripture of the language of God's "coming" to judge a nation to judge it, even though what is envisaged is not a visable appearance of God, but a military conquest." (Revelation: Four Views, p,22) - (Isaiah 19:1, 26:21; Ps. 96:13, 98:9; Micah 1:3; Rev. 2:5,16, 3:3 - TDD)

Henry Hammond (1653)
"V.28. Coming in his kingdome. The nearness of this to the story of Christ's Transfiguration, makes it probable to many, that this coming of Christ is that Transfiguration of his, but that cannot be, because the 27th ver. of the Son of mans coming in his glory with his Angels to reward, &c. (to which this verse clearly connects) cannot be applied to that; And there is another place, Joh. 21.23 (which may help to the understanding of this) which speaks of a real coming, and one principall person (agreeable to what is here said of some standing here) that should tarry, or not die, till that coming of his. And that surely was fulfilled in Johns seeing the pauoleoria, or famous destruction of the Jewes, which was to fall in that generation, Matt. 24. that is, in the life-time of some there present, and is called the kingdome of God, and the coming of Christ, and by consequence here most probably the son of mans coming in his kingdome, (see the Notes on Mat. 3:2, and ch. 24:3.b.) that is, his coming in the exervise of his Kingly office, to work vengeance on his enemies, and discriminate the faithfull believers from them." (in loc.)

[Note: This older exegesis is given to show that, in order to be honest with the clear declaration of Christ's coming in the first century, one must hold to a "three comings of Christ" paradigm, which is a costly compromise.]

"Coming... the presence, or the coming of Christ is one of the phrases that is noted in his book to signifie the destruction of the Jews... A threefold coming of Christ there is, 1. in the flesh to be born among us, 2. at the day of gloom to judge the world, I Cor 15:23. and in many other places; and beside these, 3. a middle coming, partly in vengeance, and partly for the deliverance of his servants; in vengeance, visible, and observable on his enemies and crucifiers, (and first on the people of the Jews, those of them that remain impenitent unbelievers) and in mercy to the relief of the persecuted Christians. So 'tis four time in this chap. v. 27,37,39 and here."

"...That this is the meaning of his coming in glory with his angels, Matt. 16:27 hath been shewed already. So again Matt 26:64, his coming in the clouds of heaven, though it may be thought to look toward his final third coming at the great day of doom, yet as the very Jews have observed, that that phrase signifies the inflection of judgment or punishment, so that it doth so here.." (p. 119)

Marcellus Kik (1971)
"..in the light of well-defined biblical language, the reference is rather to a coming in terms of the events of his providence in judgment against his enemies and in deliverance of his people." (An Eschatology of Victory, p.141)

John Lightfoot (1859)
"That Christ's taking vengeance on that exceeding wicked nation is called Christ's 'coming in glory,' and his 'coming in the clouds,' Dan. vii. It is also called, 'the day of the Lord.' See Psalm i.4; Mal. iii. I,2,&c; Joel ii.31; Matt xvi.28; Rev. i.7, &c." (Lightfoot, vol. 2, p. 319).

"The destruction of Jerusalem is phrased in Scripture as the destruction of the whole world; and Christ's coming to her in judgment, as his coming to the last judgment. Therefore, those dreadful things, spoken of in Matt. 24:29,30 and 31, are but borrowed expressions, to set forth the terms of that judgment the more.. v.30 - "then shall they see" - not any visible appearance of Christ, or of the cross, in the clouds (as some have imagined); but, whereas Jews would not own Christ before for the Son of Man, or for the Messias, then by the vengeance that he should execute upon them, they and all the world should see an evident sign, and it was so. This, therefore, is called "his coming," and his coming in his kingdom." [A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, ed. Rev. John Rogers Pitman (London: J.F. Dove, 1825), p.141]

Heinrich Meyer (1852)
(On Matthew 24:30) "R. Hofman thinks that the reference is to that apparition in the form of a man which is alleged to have stood over the holy of holies for a whole night while the destruction of the capital was going on." (vol. 1, p. 423) "R. Hofman thinks that the reference is to that apparition in the form of a man which is alleged to have stood over the holy of holies for a whole night while the destruction of the capital was going on." (vol. 1, p. 423)

Thomas Newton (1754)
"'The coming of Christ' is also the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, as may appear from several places in the Gospels, and particularly from these two passages; 'There are some standing here,' saith our blessed Lord, 'who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,' Matt xvi. 28, that is, evidently, there are some standing here who shall live, not till they end of the world, to the coming of Christ to judge mankind, but till the destruction of Jerusalem, to the coming of Christ in judgment upon the Jews. In another place, John xxi.22, speaking to Peter concerning John, he saith, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' what is that to thee, if I will that he live till the destruction of Jerusalem? as in truth he did, and long. 'The coming of Christ,' and 'the conclusion of the age,' being therefore only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, the purpose of the question plainly is, when shall the destruction of Jerusalem be, and what shall be the signs of it?'" (Newton, p. 374)

"'immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not giver her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.' Commentators generally understand this, and what follows, of the end of the world, and of Christ's coming to judgment; but the words 'immediately after the tribulation of those days,' show, evidently, that he is not speaking of any distant but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem."

"Our Saviour proceedeth in the same figurative style, ver. 30 - ' And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.' The plain meaning of it is, that the destruction of Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance, such a signal manifestation of Christ's power and glory, that all the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many will be led from thence to acknowledge Christ and the Christian religion. In the ancient prophets, God is frequently described as coming in the 'clouds' upon any remarkable interposition and manifestation of his power; and the same description is here applied to Christ. The destruction of Jerusalem will be as ample a manifestation of Christ's power and glory as if he was himself to come visibly in the clouds of heaven." (ibid., p. 408-409)

"It is to me a wonder how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, "All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation." It seemeth as if our Saviour had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, v 35 - "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away'" (Newton, p. 426)

N. Nisbett (1787)
"It must, however, be remembered, that our Lord's prophecy of his coming to destroy Jerusalem, is expressed by his coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, and sending his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; which the reader will see, have a striking resemblance to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, with his mighty angels, here mentioned by the Apostle. And therefore there can, I think, be no sufficient reason for not applying the words of the Apostle to the same event." (ibid.) "It must, however, be remembered, that our Lord's prophecy of his coming to destroy Jerusalem, is expressed by his coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, and sending his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; which the reader will see, have a striking resemblance to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, with his mighty angels, here mentioned by the Apostle. And therefore there can, I think, be no sufficient reason for not applying the words of the Apostle to the same event." (ibid.)

(On Hebrews 10:37) "Such being their noble and truly praiseworthy conduct in times of past difficulty and trouble, the Apostle exhorts them not now, when nearly at an end, to cast away their courage or confidence, or suffer their faith to fail; for, saith he, it hath (even now) great recompence of reward; for ye have (yet) need of patience, that having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise; for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. It is, I own, out of my power to conceive, that the Apostle is here speaking of any other coming, than that which our Lord foretold should happen in that generation, and in language so perfectly similar. The day approaching in the 25th verse; the chain of reasoning subsequent to it; the situation and circumstances these Hebrew Christians were then in, and the time when this epistle was written; all conspire to confirm me in the opinion, that the Apostle meant the destruction of Jerusalem." (ibid.)

John Owen (1721)
"So upon or in the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke 21:27, the Son of man is said to 'come in a cloud, with power and great glory' - and they that escape in that desolation are said to 'stand before the Son of man, ver. 36." (vol. 9, p. 139)

Porphyry (A.D.280)
"Another of his astonishingly silly comments needs to be examined: I mean that wise saying of his, to the effect that, We who are alive and persevere shall not precede those who are asleep when the lord comes- for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout... and the trumpet of god shall sound, and those who have died in Christ shall rise first- then we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in a cloud to meet the lord in the air... Indeed-- there is something here that reaches up to heaven: the magnitude of this lie. When told to dumb bears, to silly frogs and geese-- they bellow or croak or quack with delight to hear of the bodies of men flying through the air like birds or being carried about on the clouds. This belief is quackery of the first rate." (Porphyry, c. 280 CE.)

John A.T. Robinson (1967)
"The parousia is clearly understood, not as a separate catastrophic occurrence, but as a separate pervasion of the daily life of the disciples and the Church. The coming is an abiding presence." [Jesus and His Coming (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1967), p .176]

Dr. Edward Robinson
(On Matthew 10:23) "The coming alluded to is the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation; and the meaning is, that the apostles would barely have time, before the catastrophe came, to go over the land warning the people to save themselves from the doom of an untoward generation; so that they could not well afford to tarry in any locality after its inhabitants had heard and rejected the message." (Training of the Twelve, p. 117)

James Stuart Russell (1874)
"It is strange that so great incredulity should exist respecting the plain sense of our Lord's 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 cognizable 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 genea; is it for Christians to hesitate to accept the facts which are vouched by the word of the Lord " (The Parousia, pp. 1689 169).

"It is possible to believe in the fulfilment of predictions which take effect in the visible order of things, because we have historical evidence of that fulfilment; but how can we be expected to believe in fulfilments which are said to have taken place in the region of the spiritual and invisible when we have no witnesses to depose to the facts? Weean implicitly believe in the accomplishment of all that was predicted respecting the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, the btirning of the temple, and the demolition of the city, because we have the testimony of Josephus to the facts; but how can we believe in a coming of the Son of man, in a resurrection of the dead, in an act of judgment, when we have nothing but the word of prophecy to rely upon, and no Josepbus to vouch for the historical accuracy of the facts? "To this it can only be said in reply that the demand for human testimony to events in the region of the unseen is not altogether reasonable. If we receive them at all it must be on the word of Him who declared that all these things would assuredly take place before that generation passed away. But, after all, is the demand upon our faith in this matter so very excessive ? A large portion of these predictions we know to have been literally and punctually fulfilled; we recognise in that accomplishment a remarkable proof of the truth of the word of God and the superhuman prescience that foresaw and foretold the future. Could any thing have been less probable at the time when our Lord delivered his prophetic discourse than the total destruction of the temple, the razing of the city, and the ruin of the nation in the lifetime of the existing generation ? What can be more minute and particular than the signs of the end enumerated by our Lord ? What can be more precise and literal than the fulfiliment of them?

"But the part which confessedly has been fulfilled, and which is vouched for by uninspired history, is inseparably bound up with another portion which is not so vouched for. Nothing but a violent disruption can detach the one part of this prophecy from the other. It is one from beginning to end- a complete whole. The finest instrument cannot draw a line separating one portion which relates to that generation from another portion which relates to a different and distant period. Every part of it rests on the same foundation, and the whole is so linked and concatenated that all must stand or fall together. We are justified, therefore, in holding that the exact accomplishment of so much of the prophecy as comes within the cognizance of the senses, and is capable of being vouched for by human testimony, is a presumption and guarantee in favour of the exact fulfilment of that portion which lies within the region of the invisible and spiritual, and which cannot, in the nature of things, be attested by human evidence. This is riot credulity, but reasonable faith, such as men fearlessly exercise in all their worldly transactions.

"We conclude, therefore, that all the parts of our Lord's prediction refer to the same period and the same event; that the whole prophecy is one and indivisible, resting upon the same foundation of divine authority. Farther, that all that was cognizable by the human senses is proved to have been fulfilled, and, therefore, we are not only warranted, but bound to assume the fulfilment of the remainder as not only credible, but certain." ( The Paousia pp. 547, 648.)

Thomas Scott (1817)
"The darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, denote the utter extinction of the light of prosperity and privilege to the Jewish nation; the unhinging of their whole constitution in church and state; the violent subversion of the authority of their princes and priests; and the abject miseries to these the people in general, especially their chief persons, would be reduced, and the moral darkness to which they would be consigned. This would be an evident sign and demonstration of the Son of man's exaltation to his throne in heaven; when he would come in his divine providence, as riding upon 'the clouds of heaven with power and great glory', to destroy his enemies, who would 'not have him to reign over them;' at which events all the tribes of the land would mourn and lament, whilst they saw the tokens and felt the weight of his terrible indignation" (Scott, vol. 1)

William Arnold Stevens (1887)
"It is of prime importance for the student of this subject to understand - so often is the case stated otherwise - that Parousia is the New Testament answer to two distinct words, arrival and presence, usually the former; that in most instances these meanings are not interchangable, but that one or the other is required, according to the context; for example, the former in I Cor. 16:17, and the latter in Phil. 212" (Stevens, p. 63)

J. A. Stephenson (1838)
"Faint indeed would be the splendour of Christ's divine appearance, and dim the lustre of His glorious advent, were it a splendour of which the perception could be borne - or a lustre of which a glimpse could be caught by any terrestrial eye ! An appeal to the [ordinary] senses, or to history founded on information through them, would be an appeal to evidence perfectly incompetent." (The Christology Of The Old And New Testaments., vol. ii. p. 132.)
"Faint indeed would be the splendour of Christ's divine appearance, and dim the lustre of His glorious advent, were it a splendour of which the perception could be borne - or a lustre of which a glimpse could be caught by any terrestrial eye ! An appeal to the [ordinary] senses, or to history founded on information through them, would be an appeal to evidence perfectly incompetent." (The Christology Of The Old And New Testaments., vol. ii. p. 132.)

"The series of trumpet blasts commencing with the Jewish war, and wonderfully indicating the events which marked its progress, having reached a termination the series of thunder claps, breaking forth with the siege of Jerusalem and strictly in unison with its leading occurrences, having come to a conclusion-the series of sealed envelopes all entirely unfolded and the series of vials all previously exhausted-the seventh thunder rolled away with the crash of the temple, and the seventh trumpet ushered in the consummations of prophecy and the presence of Messiah. Wrapt in clouds over Zion during the siege of Jerusalem, transcendent glory flashes forth with the final blast. Shaking earth and heaven, with a shout paralleled only by that on the cross, Messiah with His presence occupies all His conquest. That the fall of Jerusalem formed a perfect demonstration of Christ's veracity and an awful display of His indefeasible sovereignty-that it left nothing wanting in the proof of His Messiahship and completed the evidence of His being the Coming One and the Come-will be admitted with conviction proportioned to attention. Grand in itself, the fall of Jerusalem was infinitely more so in reference to concurrent but invisible [2] facts. A curtain dropping and covering at its base the shattered fragments of Satanic enterprise, its development veiled a burst of glory such as mortal vision was incapable of sustaining. But invisible' as was the Theocrat at both the commencement and the conclusion of the legal economy, at both the commencement and the conclusion the Theocrat Himself was there. Disparaging is every idea of Messiah's descent which does not suppose Him to have alike descended to the upper world and the under world, and in an instant to have filled all things with His presence and glory. The transcendently grand event of His descent occurring, no part of space was left in which the glory of Messiah may not be perceived by competent faculties." (The Christology Of The Old And New Testaments. 1838.)

Milton Terry (1898)
"Is there no other way to understand the words of Paul? Does not the doctrine of our Lord, as we have traced it the Gospel Apocalypse, warrant us in believing that all these sublime events ocurred at that momentous crisis of the ages when Judaism and her temple fell a hopeless ruin ? Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should then have raised many of them that slept in death? Why assume that the rapture of living saints must needs be visible to all mortal eyes ? The parousia, according to the Scriptures, was to take place at the end of an age, and not to involve the cessation of the human race on earth. Our Lord most plainly declared that then some should be taken and some should be left (Matt. xxiv, 40, 41), and as we have already shown (see above, p. 448), there is no sufficient reason for assuming that such a rapture of living saints must have been visible to those who were left.' The ascension of our Lord into heaven was witnessed by no great multitude. (Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 458)

"Chiliastic writers, in claiming that the word parousia, coming, or presence, always means a personal presence, appear to assume that there can be no personal coming or presence of the Lord unless it be literally visible to human eyes. This would exclude the personal presence of God and of angels from the divine government of the world. Will it be pretended that there was no personal coming or presence of Jehovah at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Comp. Gen. xviii, 21 ; xi x, 24, 25. But the Scriptures give no intimation of any visible appearance of the holy One to the inhabitants of the doomed cities. And so again and again has God come in terrible judgment upon wicked men and nations without any visible display of his person--a sight which no man may behold and live (Exod. xxxiii, 20). (Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 458b)

(On Acts 1:11) "Acts i, 11, is often cited to show that Christ's coming must Deeds be spectacular, in like manner as ye beheld him going into the heaven." But (1) in the only other three places where bv rp61rov, what manner, occurs, it points to a general concept rather than the particular form of its actuality. Thus, in Acts vii, 28, it is not sonic particular manner in which Moses killed the Egyptian that is notable, but rather the certain fact of it. In 2 Tim. iii, 8, it is likewise the fact of strenuous opposition rather than the special manner in which Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. And in Matt. xxiii, 37, and Luke xiii, 34, it is the general thought of protection rather than the visible manner of a mother bird that is intended. Again (2), if Jesus did not come in that generation, and immediately after the great tribulation that attended the fall of Jerusalem, his words in Matt. xvi, 27, 28, xxiv, 29, and parallel passages are in the highest degree misleading. (3) To make the one statement of the angel in Acts i, 11, override all the sayings of Jesus on the same subject and control their meaning is a very one-sided method of biblical interpretation. But all the angel's words necessarily mean is that as Jesus has ascended into heaven so he will come from heaven And this main thought agrees with the language of Jesus and the prophets." (Biblical Apocalyptics, note 34)

(On the coming of the Lord in Psalm 18) "The simplest reader of this psalm observes that, in answer to the prayer of the one in distress, Jehovah reveals himself in marvelous power and glory. He disturbs for his sake all the elements of the earth and the heavens. He descends from the lofty sky as if bending down the visible clouds and making a pathway of massive darkness under his feet. He seems to ride upon a chariot, borne along by cherubims, and moving swiftly as the winds... In the psalmist's thought winds, fire, hail, smoke, clouds, waters, lightenings, and earthquake are conceived as immediately subservient to Jehovah, who interposes for the rescue of his devout servant." (Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 25)

"David's deliverance was, of course, not really accompanied by such convulsions of nature, by earthquake, and fire, and tempest; but his deliverance, or rather his manifold deliverance, gathered into one, as he thinks of them, appear to him as marvelous a proof of the divine power, as verily effected by the immediate presence and finger of God, as if he had come down in visible form to accomplish them. - The Book of Psalms, new translation, vol. i. p. 186, 1876 (Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 25)

"The Son of man came in heavenly power to supplant Judaism by a better covenant, and to make the kingdoms of the world his own, and that parousia dates from the fall of Judaism and its temple. The mourning of 'all the tribes of the land' (not all nations of the globe) was coincident with the desolation of Zion, and our Lord appropriately foretold it in language taken from Zech. xii, 11,12" (Biblical Hermeneutics,p. 446-447)

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