Benjamin Wills Newton, (1807-1899) author of numerous writings on prophecy, including this thorough examination of the book of Revelation, was a friend and contemporary of Charles H. Spurgeon. Newton shares insightful observations about the Church as epitomized in Revelation. It also expresses gratitude for Israel and the apostle John, who was a Jew who saw the judicial darkness that unbelieving Israel was then going through.
In contrast to John Darby, the founder of premillennial dispensationalism, this author understood 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 as evidence of a public, post-tribulation rapture. He viewed Darby's dispensational and pre-tribulation rapture teaching as "the height of speculative nonsense". Unlike Darby, he also held that the church is composed of both Jews, including Old Testament saints, and Gentiles, who have been made one in Christ, and that Darby's scheme, followed logically, implied two distinct and separate ways to salvation.
This commentary on Revelation is discerning, skillfully written, and wide-ranging in its breakdown of both Revelation and the entirety of God's word.
