Before Jerusalem Fell

Tb Th of Revelation 127
Clearly, the Judgment-Coming of Christ upon “those who pierced
Him,” was to be upon the Jews, according to the repeated and
uniform witness both of the New Testament and of early Church
history. As Chilton observes: “Verse 7 [i.e., of Revelation 1] an-
nounces the theme of the book, which is not the Second Coming of
Christ, but rather the Coming of Christ in judgment upon Israel, in
order to establish the Church as the new Kingdom.” 16 Clarke argues
for an early date for Revelation based on Revelation 1:7: “By this the
~~tih People are most evidently intended, and therefore the whole
verse may be understood as predicting the destruction of the Jews;
and is a presumptive proof that the Apocalypse was written before the
final overthrow of tlie Jewish state. 17
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