Every eye shall see Him

We are continuing our study on Revelation, may the Holy Spirit bless us in opening our understanding, in retaining all we need to retain, learning what we need to learn. Please Father, please guide us in all this. We need Your power, Your help, Your will in all of this because left to our own we can't comprehend anything.  In the name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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Revelation 1:7   Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Here John carries us FORWARD to the second advent of Christ in glory, the climax and crowning event of His intervention in behalf of this fallen world.

Once He came in weakness, now He comes in power; once in humility, now in glory.

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He comes with clouds, in like manner as He ascended. (Acts 1: 9, 11.)

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Act 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

His Coming Visible.--

"Every eye shall see Him."

All who are alive at the time of His coming shall see Jesus.

We know of no personal coming of Christ that will be as the stillness of midnight or take place only in the desert or the secret chamber. He comes not as a thief in the sense of stealing in secretly and quietly upon the world. But He comes to take to Himself His dearest treasure, His sleeping and His living saints, Himself, whom He has purchased with His own precious blood; whom He has wrested from the power of death in fair and open conflict; and for whom His coming will be no less open and triumphant.

It will be with the brilliancy and splendor of the lightning as it shines from east to the west. (Matthew 24: 27.) It will be with the sound of a trumpet that will pierce to earth's lowest depths, and with a mighty voice that shall wake the sainted sleepers from their dusty beds. (Matthew 24: 31, margin; 1 Thessalonians 4: 16.)

He will come upon the wicked as a thief, only because they persistently shut their eyes to the tokens of His approach, and will not believe the declarations of His word that He is at the door.

To represent two comings, a private and a public one, in connection with the second advent, as some do, is wholly UNWARRANTED from the Scriptures.

"They Also Which Pierced Him."--

They also (in addition to the "every eye" before mentioned) who were chiefly concerned in tragedy of His death shall behold Him returning to earth in triumph and glory.

But how is this? They are NOT NOW living, and how then shall they behold Him when He comes?

There will be a resurrection from the dead.

This is the only possible avenue to life to those who have once been laid in the grave. But how is it that these wicked persons come up at this time, since the general resurrection of the wicked does not take place until a thousand years after the second advent? (Revelation 20: 1-6.) On this point Daniel says further:

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"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Daniel 12: 1, 2.

Here a partial resurrection is brought to view, a resurrection of a certain group of both righteous and wicked. This takes place before the general resurrection of either group. Many, not all, that sleep shall awake-- some of the righteous, not all of them, to everlasting life, and some of the wicked, not all of them, to shame and everlasting contempt. This resurrection takes place in connection with the great time of trouble such as never was, which precedes the coming of the Lord. May not "they also which pierced Him" be among those who then come up to shame and everlasting contempt? What could be more appropriate than that those who took part in our Lord's greatest humiliation, and other special leaders in crime against Him, should be raised to behold His terrible majesty as He comes triumphantly in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not His gospel?

The response of the church is, "Even so, Amen." Though this coming of Christ is to the wicked a scene of terror and destruction, it is to the righteous a scene of joy and triumph. This coming, which is with flaming fire, and for the purpose of taking vengeance on the wicked, is to recompense all those who believe. (2 Thessalonians 1: 6-10.)

Every friend and lover of Christ will hail every declaration and every token of His return as glad tidings of great joy.

Verse 8

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Here another speaker than John is introduced. In declaring who He is, He uses two of the same characterizations,

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"Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," as are found in Revelation 22: 13, where according to verses 12 and 16 of that chapter, it is plainly Christ who is speaking. We conclude, then, that it is Christ who is speaking in verse 8.

Verse 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The subject here changes, for John introduces the place and the circumstances under which the Revelation was given. He first sets himself forth as a brother of the universal church, their companion in the tribulations of the Christian.

In this passage John evidently has reference to the future kingdom of glory. He introduces the thought of tribulation as part of the necessary preparation for entry into the kingdom of God. This idea is emphasized in such scriptures as:

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Acts 14: 22.

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." 2 Timothy 2: 12.

 It is true that while here in the flesh, believers in Christ have access to the throne of grace. This is the throne of the kingdom of grace into which we are inducted at conversion, for He "hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Colossians 1: 13.

But at the second advent of the Saviour, when the kingdom of glory will be inaugurated, then the saints, members of the kingdom of grace here, redeemed from this present evil world, will have access to the throne of His glory. Then tribulation will be over, and the children of God will bask in the sunlight of the presence of the King of kings throughout eternity.

The Place of the Writing.--

Patmos is a small, barren island off the west coast of Asia Minor, between the island of Icaria and the promontory of Miletus, where in John's day was located the nearest Christian church. It is about ten miles long, six miles wide at its greatest breadth. Its present name is Patmo. The coast is high and consists of a succession of capes, which form many ports. The only one now in use is a deep bay sheltered by high mountains on every side but one,

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where it is protected by a projecting cape. The town attached to this port is situated upon a high, rocky mountain rising immediately from the sea. About halfway up the mountain on which this town is built there is shown a natural grotto in the rock where tradition says that John had his vision and wrote the Revelation. On account of the stern and desolate character of this island, it was used under the Roman Empire as a place of banishment. This accounts for the exile of John there. The banishment of the apostle took place under the emperor Domitian about the year A.D. 94; and from this supposition the date assigned to the writing of the Revelation is A.D. 95 or 96.

The Cause of Banishment.--

"For the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." This was John's high crime and misdemeanor. The tyrant Domitian, who was then invested with the imperial purple of Rome, more eminent for his vices than even for his civil position, quailed before this aged but dauntless apostle. He dared not permit the promulgation of the gospel within the bounds of his kingdom. he exiled John to lonely Patmos, where, if anywhere this side of death, he might be said to be out of the world. After confining him to that barren spot, and to the cruel labor of the mines, the emperor doubtless thought that this preacher of righteousness was finally disposed of, and that the world would hear of him no more.

Probably the persecutors of John Bunyan thought the same when they had shut him up in Beford jail. But when man thinks he has buried the truth in eternal oblivion, the Lord gives it a resurrection in tenfold glory and power. From Bunyan's dark and narrow cell there blazed forth a spiritual light, through the Pilgrim's Progress, which for almost three hundred years has built up the interests of the gospel. From the barren Isle of Patmos, where Domitian thought he had forever extinguished at least one torch of truth, there arose the most magnificent revelation of all the sacred canon, to shed its divine luster over the whole Christian world until the end of

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time. How many will revere the name of the beloved disciple, and thrill with delight at his enraptured visions of heavenly glory, who will never learn the name caused his banishment!

Verily those words of the Scriptures are sometimes applicable to the present life, which declare that "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance," but "the name of the wicked shall rot." (Psalms 112: 6; Proverbs 10: 7.)

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So much truth!

Do we believe it?! Do we comprehend it?!  We have to ask ourselves these questions.

Our Savior will return in the clouds- THE SAME WAY HE LEFT.

Every eye shall see him-  DO we know how this happens?  In our world of technology today it's easy to comprehend, IF that is how it's done. If NOT, our GOD has the ability to give visions to any He chooses and a vision of an occurring event is NOT beyond our GOD.

Some who PIERCED Jesus when He was in the flesh on His way to the second death WILL see His return. Again who are WE to question HOW God does what He does?
 

Miracle after miracle can take place. I PERSONALLY know of miracles that have occurred in my life. Events that had there NOT been divine intervention would have transpired so very differently. Things we might call coincidence etc but in truth GOD'S hand is working in our lives.  Even in TRAGEDIES God's hand can be witnessed. There may be horrific grief and rightly so, but through that grief the working of God can be seen. We are tried in FIRE and no fire, no purification by fire is without pain, without agonies.

These truths of Christ's return are just that- TRUTHS!

These truths are necessary for US to know and one reason could be,  we need to know because the deceiver will use everything in his power to deceive us, to keep us from the TRUTH. The deceiver will give us partial truths. The deceiver will give us all the truth but 1% of it, and when he keeps that 1% of truth, he allows us to be deceived and in that deception when we accept what is a lie, then we are aligned with the Father of lies, Satan. When we align ourselves with Satan we leave the God of NO GUILE, we leave the God of TRUTH!

Please LORD keep us in YOUR TRUTH, all of it!

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ!

Our Lord, our Savior, now and forever!

AMEN!