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.
This is not the rapture of the saved. This is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ
at the end of the Tribulation Period, coming with the saved to begin His
millennial reign. It is identified as
the Second Advent. I never doubt the
Word of God, but I do doubt the ability of myself, and others, to correctly
interpret it. I know that the Word of
God is infallible, but I know that men are not. If the Bible says something, I believe it even if I do not
understand it, but I enjoy it a great deal more if I understand what I
believe. This verse of Scripture says,
“And every eye shall see him.” How is
that possible? This means that
survivors in England, Russia, China, Africa, North and South America, and
everywhere else will all see him. How
is that possible? I know it will happen
because the Word says it; but is it possible to understand how within the laws
that God has established in his creation?
In order to answer these questions, let us examine this verse point by
point. We are told “he cometh with
clouds.” This means all across the
earth he will be seen with the clouds. This
is certainly consistent with the manner in which he departed from the earth in
the Book of Acts.
Acts 1:9-11
And when
he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and A CLOUD
received him out of their sight. [10] And while they looked stedfastly toward
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; [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.
In verse 9 we are told that a cloud received Him out
of their sight, and in verse 11 we are told that when he returns to rule He
will return in like manner as He departed into Heaven. He disappeared in a cloud. He will reappear through a cloud – the great
cloud depicted in figure 14. This is
His return to rule following the destruction of Daniel’s fourth beast with the
11th horn.
Daniel 7:11-14
I beheld
then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld
even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning
flame. [12] As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken
away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. [13] I saw in the
night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man CAME WITH THE CLOUDS OF
HEAVEN, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
[14] 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, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed.
Please note that the Son of man comes with the
clouds of heaven. The meteorological
conditions of the great day of the Lord will be similar to the clouds, and
their associated gloom, described in the following Scriptures.
Zephaniah 1:14,15
The great
day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the
day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. [15] That day is a
day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Ezekiel 30:3
For the
day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the
time of the heathen.
Ezekiel 34:12
As a
shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places
where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
Just how will the heavens appear when Jesus returns
at the end of the Tribulation Period?
Matthew paints the picture of His return in graphic form.
Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: [30] And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man COMING IN THE CLOUDS of
heaven with power and great glory.
I have already described in Birth Pang Numbers 9 and
10 how the gradual building of the great cloud in the stratosphere will engulf
the entire outer portion of the earth’s atmosphere. This will cause the sun to be darkened and the moon not to give
her light. In verse 30 the “sign of the
Son of man” will appear in heaven. What
is this sign? As the Son of man
approaches the outer limits of the earth’s atmosphere, His “great glory” of
verse 30 will light up the stratospheric cloud around the entire earth, and his
glorious light will spread through it by God’s laws of refraction, scattering,
and reflection. Every eye on the face
of the earth will behold the blinding light of the glory of God in this great
cloud. This is the sign of the Son of
man in the heaven the Hebrews identified as our atmosphere. The closer Christ moves to the earth, the
more brilliant will be the illumination of the cloud band around the entire
earth. There will be no night as he
returns to reign. He will break through
the great cloud over the holy land, and, by the effects of light created by
scattering, diffusion, reflection, refraction, inferior mirage, superior
mirage, light inversion, and looming through air of differing temperature
densities, His bodily presence image will be seen around the globe as he
descends towards the Mount of Olives.
The Shekinah Glory of God, in the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ, will descend on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and the prophecy of
Zechariah 12:9-14 will begin to be fulfilled.
Zechariah 12:9-14
And it
shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations
that come against Jerusalem. [10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:
and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for
him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as
one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [11] In that day shall there be a
great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of
Megiddon. [12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the
house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan
apart, and their wives apart; [13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and
their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; [14] All
the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.