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In today’s program, Paul Trask provides a “deep dive” into 1 verse of scripture: Revelation 1:7.
“BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”
1. The Apostle John intended Revelation 1:7 to express the essence of his message, or visions he is about to relate; it is his “theme verse.”
2. Revelation 1:7 combines portions of both Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10.
3. Jesus was the only other person to combine those same Old Testament passages like this, which He did in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:30).
4. Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, while contained in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke), is conspicuously missing from John’s Gospel, causing some to feel that his Book of Revelation is the “motion picture” version of this Discourse.
5. In His Olivet Discourse, Jesus uses Matthew 24:30 to depict an actual event which He said would precede Jerusalem being destroyed, and which would also be within the lifetime of at least some of those under the sound of His voice that day. It was a stark and dramatic prophecy, with expected near-term fulfillment, consistent with John’s emphatic sense of urgency expressed as “what must soon take place,” and “because the time is near” (Revelation 1:1, 3).
6. As Jesus had thus prophesied, in 70 AD Jerusalem and its Temple were in fact utterly destroyed, and within the natural lifetime of at least some of those standing there that day.
7. The “cloud coming” depicted in Rev 1:7/Matt 24:30 hearkens back to Daniel 7:13, wherein Jesus first ascends “with clouds” to receive His kingdom from the Ancient of Days (God), and then returns “on clouds” to inaugurate His kingdom’s worldwide dominion, as evidenced in the Great Commission. Consistent with the time statements of both Jesus and John, this is a first century event.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)
8. The portion of Revelation 1:7/Matthew 24:30 prophesying that “all the tribes of the land will mourn” hearkens back to Zechariah 12:10.
It should be noted that Zechariah 12:10 has well defined limits, geographically and ethnically. It is limited geographically to the land of Israel (and in particular the city of Jerusalem), and ethnically to the nation of Israel. And in His Olivet Discourse Jesus provides two more limits: one limit regarding a specific event, and another regarding the timing of that event. Regarding the specific event, Jesus is proclaiming the prophetic fulfillment of this passage in the destruction of the Jewish temple, “not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down” (Matt 24:2). Regarding the timing of that event, He says it would happen within the natural lifetime of at least some of those then living, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt 24:34).
Popular versions of the Bible tweak the wording of Revelation 1:7/Matthew 24:30 a bit, blurring its original power and clarity.
9. When John in Rev 1:7 speaks of “every eye seeing Him,” he is expanding upon Jesus’ version, “all the tribes of the land,” indicating that the entire nation of Israel will be acutely aware of the event at hand. John further explains that the “every eye” which will see Jesus coming are “those who pierced Him,” consistent with Zechariah’s 12:10 prophecy which we saw pertained exclusively to the nation of Israel.
Additionally, when John refers to “every eye,” he doesn’t mean every eye without exception, rather every eye without distinction. In other words, this will not be an event known only to a select class or group. It will not be hidden, secret or obscure. On the contrary, if you’re alive in the land of Israel when this thing goes down, you certainly aren’t going to miss it!
And so John left the key for understanding his book right at the front door. His vivid imagery depicted the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem and her temple in 70 AD, just as Jesus had done in his Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24. A careful examination of John’s imagery readily confirms this understanding.
Jesus is indeed returning again, at the end of world history, to set everything right again. All people will be resurrected, and even the cosmos itself. Judgment, rewards and punishments, will also occur. All evil will be forever extinguished. The final enemy to be destroyed is death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26). And all God’s people will live together with Him in eternal bliss in the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
But this “end of the world” coming of Jesus is not the coming depicted in Matthew 24:1-34, nor in the first 19 chapters of the book of Revelation. To confuse the two is not faithful to the Biblical record and breeds confusion. Our faulty understanding of these passages has also, sadly, turned some away from the faith altogether. That understanding also minimizes (or ignores altogether) Jesus’ “judgement coming” to the nation of Israel, climaxing with the dismantling of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD. This event looms large in Biblical prophecy. And as such, it needs much, much more focus and attention, not less.
Yes, John did indeed hang the key to understanding his Book of Revelation right at the front door. And we ignore it, or distort it, to our own peril.
(Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:30; Daniel 7:13; Zechariah 12:10)