A.D. 165 – 1863 12 witnesses 14 excerpts
“But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him.”
“For as two advents of our Lord and Savior are indicated in the Scriptures, the one being his first advent in the flesh, which took place without honor by reason of his being made nothing, as Isaiah spoke of him previously, saying, "We saw him, and he had no form or beauty." … But his second advent is announced as glorious, when he shall come from heaven with the host of angels and the glory of his Father, as the prophet said, "You shall see the King in glory," and, "I saw one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven; and he came to the Ancient of Days" … and he was brought to him. And there were given him dominion and honor and glory.”
“"His dominion is an everlasting dominion." The Father, having put all things in subjection to His own Son, both things in heaven and things on earth, showed Him forth by all as the first-begotten of Cool, in order that, along with the Father, He might be approved the Son of God before angels, and be manifested as the Lord also of angels: (He showed Him forth also as) the first-begotten of a virgin, that He might be seen to be in Himself the Creator anew of the first-formed Adam, (and) as the first-begotten from the dead, that He might become Himself the first-fruits of our resurrection. "Which shall not pass away." He exhibited all the dominion given by the Father to His own Son, who is manifested as King of all in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and as Judge of all: of all in heaven, because He was born the Word, of the heart of the Father before all; and of all in earth, because He was made man, and created Adam anew of Himself; and of all under the earth, because He was also numbered among the dead, and preached to the souls of the saints, (and) by death overcame death.”
“For instance, Daniel the prophet, under the influence of the divine Spirit, seeing his kingdom at the end of time, was inspired thus to describe the divine vision in language fitted to human comprehension.… It is clear that these words can refer to no one else than to our Savior, the Word who was in the beginning with God, and who was called the Son of man because of his final appearance in the flesh.”
“Glance over the whole course of time, and realize in what guise he appeared to Joshua the son of Nun, a prophet bearing his name, or to Isaiah, who relates that he saw him, as the gospel also bears witness, or to Ezekiel, who was admitted even to knowledge of the resurrection, or to Daniel, who confesses the Son of man in the eternal kingdom of the ages, or to all the rest to whom he presented himself in the form of various created beings, for the ways of God and for the works of God, that is to say, to teach us to know God and to profit our eternal state. Why does this method, expressly designed for human salvation, bring about at the present time such an impious attack on his eternal birth? The creation, of which you speak, dates from the commencement of the ages; but his birth is without end and before the ages. Maintain this by all means: we are doing violence to words, if a prophet, or the Lord, or an apostle or any oracle whatever has described by the name of creation the birth of his eternal divinity. In all these manifestations God, who is a consuming fire, is present, as created, in such a manner that he could lay aside the created form by the same power by which he assumed it, being able to destroy again that which had come into existence merely that it might be looked on.”
“What we proclaim is not one single coming of Christ but a second as well, much fairer than the first. For the first presented a demonstration of longsuffering, but the second wears the crown of the kingdom of God. Most things about our Lord Jesus Christ are twofold. His birth is twofold, once of God before the ages, and once of the Virgin in the end of the ages. Twice he comes down, once all unseen like dew on a fleece, and a second time still future and manifest. When first he came, he was swaddled in a manger. When next he comes, he will "clothe himself with light as with a garment." At his first coming "he endured the cross, despising the shame";6 at his second, he comes surrounded with glory and escorted by hosts of angels. We do not therefore simply rest on Christ's first coming, by itself, but let us look forward also to his second.… The Savior comes again, but not to be judged again, for he will pass judgment on those who passed judgment on him, and he who previously kept silence as they judged him now reminds those lawless people who did their outrageous deeds to him on the cross and says, "these things you have done, and I kept silent." He adapted himself when he came then and taught humankind by persuasion, but this time it is they who will be forced to bow to his rule, whether they will or not.”
“What, I ask, is more obvious than these words? "And all the peoples, tribes and tongues will serve him." See how he embraced every nation of the world. See how he took the judge's seat and power. Lest you should think that this is temporary, he says, "These things will not pass away, and his kingdom will not perish" but will stay and remain. But if you doubt, you can be persuaded by considering the matter. Do you see the equality of honor he has with the Father? Since the Son appeared after the Father, he says that the Son came with the clouds. But it is clear from the very clouds that he had existed before then, if indeed he came on them. "And honor was conferred on him," namely, the power that he had. "And the peoples, tribes and tongues will serve him." Indeed, he had dominion previously, but then he will take that dominion that he had obtained. For just as you understand the hair of the Father and the other aspects of the vision, so you must understand this part of the vision. When you hear "it was given" and other similar things, you will not think in human terms about the Son or think lowly of him. For though you saw an old man, you did not think that he was an old man, so also you must think about the other things. Do not seek crystal clarity among the prophets, where you will find instead shadows and riddles, just as you do not seek constant light in a thunderbolt. Instead, it suffices if light appears for just a bit.”
“And he came even to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him—and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. vii, 13, 14). This is one instance more of his saying the same thing both in the image and the vision, namely, that at the coming of the Lord Christ those kingdoms shall pass away and be destroyed, but his kingdom shall be indissoluble and eternal”
“Behold one like unto the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came even unto the Ancient of days, and he was brought near before him. And there was given unto him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all the peoples and nations and languages shall serve him.”
“And He gave him dominion And to that man He gave dominion over the nations, for the heathens he likens to beasts, and Israel he likens to a man because they are humble and innocent. which will not be removed [as translated,] will not be removed.”
“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,.... That is, a large, powerful, and glorious kingdom; not but that he had a kingdom before, but now it will be more extensive, and appear in greater glory: this will be fulfilled when the kingdoms of this world shall become his, and all nations shall serve and worship him, Rev 11:15, as follows: that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; embrace his Gospel, submit to his ordinances serve and worship him in every religious duty; every people, of all nations, and of every language under heaven; which will be the case when the everlasting Gospel will be preached to them all with success, Rev 14:6, his dominion is an everlasting dominion; it shall never have an end, as the rest of the monarchies, signified by the four beasts, have had, or will have; see Psa 14:6, which shall not pass away; or be removed from one to another, like the above monarchies: and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed; or "corrupted" (z) abolished and brought to nothing, as the said monarchies were one by another; and, at last, all of them by the stone cut out of the mountain; see Dan 2:44. (z) "corrumpetur", Pagninus, Montanus; "corrumpitur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Coccceus.”
“And there was given him dominion - This also is applied to our Lord Jesus by himself, after his resurrection, Mat 28:18. His dominion is an everlasting dominion - Christianity shall increase, and prevail to the end of the world. See the parallel passages in the margin.”
“Destroyed. The eternal dominion of Christ could not be expressed in stronger terms. He seems to allude to them, Matthew xxviii. 18. (Calmet)”
“The angels who waited on Him were like dlouds veiling His brightness. a The Eternal gave the Son of man power, glory, all the honors of royalty and an everlasting king- dom. These were due to the human nature in consequence of its union with the Divine person. S^pra”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.