Before Jerusalem Fell

Tb Temporal Expectation of the Author 141
How could events related to the collapse of the Roman Empire
two or three hundred years in the future be considered “at hand,” as
per Swete, Barnes, and others? Several generations of these Christians
would have waxed and waned over such a period. Even more
difficult to understand is how events two or three thousand years in the
future could be considered “at hand,” as per Mounce, Walvoord, and
others. How could such events so remotely stretched out into the
future be “at hand”? But if the expected events were to occur within
a period of from one to five years — as in the case with Revelation if
the book were written prior to A.D. 70 – then all becomes clear.
Verses Using the iM4M0 Word Group
Rmelation 1:19
“Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which
are, and the things which shall take place after these things. ”
Revelation 3:10
“Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep
you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon
the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.”
Unfortunately, none of the major translations cited above translates
Revelation 1:19 in a literal fashion. Although, interestingly,
several do translate the same verb in a more literal fashion when it
appears in Revelation 3:10.20 Berry’s The Interlinear Greek-English New
Testament, Young’s Literal Translation of the Ho~ Bible, and Marshall’s
Th Interli~ar Greek-English New Testament, however, are quite literal
in both instances.2’ The relevant phrases read: “the things which are
about to occur” (Rev. 1: 19) and “being about to come” (Rev. 3:10).
Certainly it is true that the verb @Mo can indicate simply
“destined,” or it can be employed in a weakened sense as a periphrasis
for the future tense. Nevertheless, when used with the aorist
infinitive — as in Revelation 1:19 — the word’s preponderate usage
20. See AV, NASB, Weymouth, and Williams.
21. George Ricker Berry, The Intalinear Greek-Engli.rh New Ttitarrseat (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, [n.d.] rep. 1961), pp. 626-629; Robert Young, i?se New Testament in Literal
Translation of t~ Ho~ Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, [1898] rep. n.d.), p. 168; Alfred
Marshall, Th Interlinear Greek-Engltih New Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondewan,
1959), pp. 959, 966; and Jay P. Green, Sr., The Interlinear Bible, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1983), p. 927.