Jesus was to come with clouds

JESUS WAS TO COME WITH CLOUDS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
“Behold, He comes with clouds;and every eye shall see Him, and they also
which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because ofHim.
Even so, Amen.” Revelation1:7.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Mourning At The Coming Of The Lord
Revelation 1:7
S. Conway Behold, he cometh with clouds, etc. For the parallels and explanations of this
mourning, we must turn to Zechariah 12:10, and to our Lord's words in Matthew 24:30. These
show that the mourning will be of very varied kind. There will be that contrasted sorrow of
which St. Paul tells when he speaks of the "godly sorrow" and "the sorrow of the world." The
former, that which will be the result of the outpouring of "the Spirit of grace and supplication" of
which Zechariah tells; and the latter, that which has no element of hope or goodness in it, but
tendeth only to death. Let each one of us ask - Which shall mine be? Consider -
I. THE COMING OF THE LORD. "Behold, he cometh with clouds." This tells:
1. Of the manner of his coming. In majesty (cf. the cloud of glory at Transfiguration). See the
frequent gorgeous magnificence of the clouds; fit and apt symbol are they of the august majesty
of the Lord. Mystery. "Clouds and darkness are round about him." "Who by searching can find
out God?" How incomprehensible by us are his movements and ways! Might. How the clouds
rush along! with what speed, volume, force! They blot out the radiance of sun, moon, and stars;
they darken the face of the earth. So will he come with great power. Mercy. The clouds herald
"the times of refreshing" (cf. Acts 2). So will he come to all them that love his appearing. Hence
the Church's cry, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus: come quickly."
2. This coming is to be understood literally. If the words of Scripture have any meaning, they
affirm this. Why should it not be? So was it at Sinai; so, in forecast, at the Transfiguration.
Announcing it a short time previously (Matthew 16:28), our Lord spoke of it as "the Son of man
coming in his kingdom." It is evident that the apostles and first followers of Christ understood
his coming in a literal sense, and it is difficult to see how they could have understood it
otherwise. True, their wish was father to their thought when they spoke of it, as they so often did,
as close at hand, as likely to happen in their own lifetime. But they were not taught by Christ to

affirm this; rather the reverse. For he said, "It is not for you to know the times," etc. (Acts 1.).
But they were right in believing the nearness of Christ's spiritual advents. For:
3. Christ's coming is to be understood in a spiritual sense as well as literally. All advents of
Christ, though he be personally unseen, to judgment are real comings of the Lord. What else
were the destruction of Jerusalem, the downfall of pagan Rome, the Reformation, the French
Revolution, and yet other such events? And to every man at death (cf. Hebrews 9:27). "After
death, judgment." Therefore it is ever true that he comes quickly. The Lord is at hand. He shall
suddenly come; in an hour when ye look not for him; as a thief in the night. And in the sudden
and marked manifestations of the Lord's displeasure which come now and again upon ungodly
men; and as the direct consequences of their sin; - in these also should be seen the coming of the
Lord. This truth, therefore, of Christ's coming should not be relegated to the region of
speculative, mysterious, and unpractical truths, but should be, as God grant it may be by us all,
held fast as of most momentous present and practical import to bear upon and influence all our
daily life and thought and conduct. But St. John, in our text, has undoubtedly in view the literal
coming of the Lord, and he tells of -
II. THE MOURNING THAT SHALL ATTEND IT. "All ... shall mourn because of him." So
then:
1. None will be indifferent. Many are so now. Try we ever so much to arouse them to religious
thought and action, we cannot do so. The world and its concerns baffle all our efforts. But at the
Lord's coming, the one thought of all will be concerning their relation to him. In the parable of
the ten virgins (Matthew 25.) we are told that "all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps."
The foolish had been careless about this hitherto, but now all were aroused and eager, though for
them it was all too late. And so at our Lord's coming, "every eye shall see him," and all "shall
mourn because of him." But:
2. The mourning will be of different kinds.
(1) There will be that which belongs to hatred - the mourning of vexation, rage, terror. Thus will
it be with those who shall be found impenitent at the last - the hardened, the reprobate, who
persist in saying, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." Such is the deceitfulness of sin,
that no truth, though none be more sure, is more commonly disbelieved. Ministers of Christ
know too well, by experience gained at many death beds, that "there shall be mourning at the
last." What frantic efforts to hurry up the work of salvation that has been neglected all the life
long! what vain looking to outside help there is when none such can avail! The writer has scenes
of this sad kind vividly in remembrance, when the dying ones, do what he would, would in their
fear persist in looking to him to, help them. Such facts force one to believe that there will be
mourning of this hopeless sort at the coming of the Lord. Yes, it is "a fearful thing" for an
unforgiven man "to fall into the hands of the living God."
(2) But there will be other mourning than this - the mourning of love. Love that grieves for good
left undone or but imperfectly done, and for evil done. Of such mourning not a little will be
found in those spoken of or suggested in our text, as:
(a) Mankind generally. "Every eye shall see him," etc. And this looking upon Christ shall be the
look of faith and love. Zechariah, in the parallel passage, teaches this - even of those who have
"pierced him." James, the unbelieving brother of the Lord, seems to have been converted by the
Lord's appearing to him. Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle by the same means. And
so, doubtless, not a few amidst the masses of mankind, who have known and felt how little their

heathenism and varied misbeliefs could do for them, will, when they behold the Lord, exclaim,
"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him." And they will mourn their long estrangement, and
the darkening of their hearts that their own sin has caused.
(b) Israel. Special mention is made of them here and in Zechariah 12. It was they "who pierced
him." But it is told how they shall bitterly mourn when they see him, as if they mourned "for an
only son." And it shall be a godly sorrow, though, as it should be, it will be heartfelt and deep.
How could it be otherwise when they remembered how they ought to have received Jesus as the
Christ! "He came to his own - and they were his own" - "and," etc. They rejected him, rejected
him cruelly, persistently, generation after generation, age after age, and yet the Lord bore with
them all this time; and now they see him - him, coming to help and save them. Yes; though they
pierced him, hung him up and crucified him, yet, behold, he cometh, and not to destroy, but to
save; and the sight of that breaks them down, as well it may. Ah! what tears of penitence will
flow then! Yes; Israel shall mourn.
(c) The spiritual Israel - the Church. The ancient prophet plainly has them in view as well as the
literal Israel. And will not the Church of God mourn at her Lord's coming when she thinks what
she might have done, and should have done, but did not do? It is the one sorrow that we shall
take into the presence of the Lord, that we so ill served him who did all for us. Then the Church
will see, as now oftentimes she is slow to see, that she is but an unprofitable servant, even when
she has done her all. How will the Church think then of her apathy and indifference in regard to
the masses of the ungodly outside her borders; of the half-hearted service she too commonly
renders, her members spending more on their own luxury and ease than they surrender for Christ
during a whole lifetime; of the strange things that have been done in the name of Christianity,
and of the dishonour many so-called Christians have brought upon the holy name they bear? The
Church, when she beholds her Lord, will mourn for these things. Would it not be well if she
mourned more now, and so set herself to alter and amend her ways?
(d) Families are spoken of as sharing in this mourning - those whom St. John speaks of as "all
the tribes of the earth," and Zechariah tells of as "all the families of the land." And he specially
dwells on this family, household, mourning, naming a number of these families as representative
of all the rest. How suggestive this is to us all! For whatever else we may not be, we are all
members of some family or other. And this divinely appointed institution of the family, how
immensely powerful it ever has been and must always be for good or ill. What the families are
the nation will be. And amid the families there will be mourning when the Lord comes. Godly
parents, cannot you understand this? Do you not now, or would it not be much better if you did,
mourn over your many failures in duty as regards the position God has placed you in? How
intent you are on your children's secular good! and so you ought to be; but how little solicitude
you display that their young hearts may be yielded up to the Lord! And how much more was
thought of what the world and society would say, than of what would please Christ, in regard to
the business, social, or marriage relationships into which you allowed or caused your children to
enter! And if they have lost their love for Christ and his blessed service, whose fault is it? Oh,
how will these things look in the presence of your Lord? Then let them be so to you now, and so
is there less likelihood of your being "ashamed before him" at his coming.
(e) Individuals are not omitted in this enumeration. "Every eye" means every individual person.
There will be matter for the mourning of each one, one by one, separate and apart. Yes; that we
were so late and laggard in coming to him; that when we did come, too often, for all the service
we rendered him, we might almost as well have stayed away; that our conversion is so imperfect;

that sin lurks and lingers in us, and often breaks out and overpowers us even now. The language
of many a heart will be then -
"Oh, how I fear thee, living God,
With deepest, tenderest fears,
And worship thee with humble hope,
And penitential tears!" Well will it be for us often to review our own personal lives in the light of
the coming of the Lord. For it will send us swiftly to that "fountain opened for all sin and
uncleanness," which Zechariah tells of in connection with this mourning - that most precious
fountain of the Saviour's blood. And it will lead us to pray with greater fervour and frequency,
"Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; prove me," etc. (Psalm 139:23). - S.C.
Biblical Illustrator
Behold, He cometh with clouds.
Revelation 1:7
Behold, He cometh
W. Hay Aitken, M. A.The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us as the
supreme hope of the Church, that great and glorious event towards which all is leading up, or for
which all is preparing. This being so, our feelings in regard of it will serve us as a test by which
to gauge ourselves with respect to our present condition before God. If things are as they should
be with us, we shall be able to say from our heart, "Even so, Amen." Have any of us failed before
this simple test? Have we come to the conclusion that, though we hope we love the Lord, we do
not love His appearing? What are the causes that render it possible for any true child of God to
shrink from the thought of his Master's return? Conspicuous amongst these is that secret
worldliness of heart, against which the Master so solemnly warned us: "Take heed to yourselves,
lest at any time your heart be overcharged with... the cares of this life." Have we to confess that
we have been living and labouring to win wealth, or fame, or social distinction, or to better our
position, and to gain the honour that cometh from man? Ah! no wonder then that we love not His
appearing, for has not our worldly self become within us a little Antichrist, whom the Lord must
needs destroy by the brightness of His coming? Or peradventure we are entangled by worldly
associations. Instead of so loving the world as Christ loved it, and going into it to save its
perishing children, we have gone there in search of social pleasure, and have found a social
snare; and instead of going outside the camp bearing Christ's reproach, we have become
conformed to the world's image, and accept its maxims and wear its uniform. Ah! how can we
desire the Lord's appearing if we have been false to our colours? Or again, is it not only too
obvious that many are prevented from uttering this prayer from the heart because they know that
they have been leading an indolent and useless life? Have you an inward conviction that the Lord

Jesus Christ must, as a matter of simple truth, say of your service, were He now to appear, "Thou
wicked and slothful servant... take the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten
talents"? Or, once again, how many a Christian is robbed of his Advent hope by some secret sin,
known perhaps only to God and himself, extenuated and even defended by a perverted
understanding, but already condemned by the inward witness of the Holy Ghost in his hearty It
may be some crooked, or at any rate questionable, practice in business; it may be some impurity
of thought, or even of action; it may be some habit of levity and frivolousness, or loose and
giddy speech; or it may be a custom of exaggeration and untruthfulness which you have
familiarised yourself with until you scarcely are aware of it when you fall into the fault. Or
perhaps it may not be secret sin which stands between us and our hope, but rather an open and
obvious inconsistency apparent to all around as well as to ourselves. Many real Christians, I am
persuaded, are unable to love the Lord's appearing because they are walking rather after the flesh
than after the Spirit. Now, if for any of these reasons you feel yourselves unable to love and pray
for the Lord's appearing, consider, I pray you, whence you have fallen, how your highest glory is
being turned into your deepest shame. Oh, cast away all that robs thee of thy Advent hope and of
the joys of anticipation, and make a fresh and full surrender of thyself. But if the thought of this
glorious event prove so very heart-searching to us, who have already come under the influence of
God's grace, how very powerfully should it weigh with those who have not yet taken the very
first step in the Christian life! It is surely high time for such to listen to the Advent cry, "Behold,
He cometh with clouds." "Behold, He cometh." Oh that men would respond to that call for here
indeed is something worth looking at. Man may say "Behold!" about many things of small
import, but when God says "Behold! "rest assured there is something worth looking at before us.
A voice from heaven is pleading for our attention, and it seems to say, "Stop and think, the
foredoomed hour draws nigh, return and come!" "And every eye shall see Him." It will not be a
matter of choice or preference then, as it is now; a stern necessity will compel every human
being that God has made, whether he will or no, to behold the approaching King. Drawn as by an
irresistible force, all shall be brought into His presence, and find themselves arraigned before the
bar of the Judge. Who are they to whom this revelation of Jesus Christ will cause such
unspeakable despair? They are described here. And let us be honest with ourselves, and face the
question candidly: "Do I belong to the classes that are mentioned here as being plunged into such
dire distress? First we hear of those who pierced Him. Have any of us pierced Him? True, we
were not present at Calvary, we had no part in driving in the iron nails into His quivering palms,
or in thrusting the spear into His side. But have we never pierced Him? Yes, not once only, but
over and over again, in the long, dark ages of man's history, Jesus Christ has been pierced, and
He is being pierced still. How do men pierce Him? Surely by undisguised hostility and
contemptuous scorn. It is wonderful to what length men will still go in their hatred of Christ. Still
He has to complain, "They hated Me without a cause." The bitter things that men of the world
say about Christians, what is it but a determined attempt to wound the Master through the
servants? Others, again, pierce Jesus by cold indifference and heartless ingratitude. You can be
kind and tender in every other relationship of life; you are a generous husband and a considerate
and sympathising father; and you are a gentle and devoted wife and a tender-hearted mother and
friend; there is only one Person whom you habitually slight and treat with ingratitude and
neglect, as though it were a matter of indifference to you whether you pleased or pained Him,
and that Person is Divine. Him you have treated with contempt, His love you have rejected, and
His mercy you have despised. Ah, how will you face Him when every eye shall see Him, and
you shall know at last how your callous indifference, your black ingratitude, has pierced the

sensitive heart of the Son of Man, who lived and died for you? How will you endure the wrath of
the Lamb? Some of you again have pierced Jesus by deliberately choosing something which He
hates in preference to Himself. Ah, how often this is done! It may be that your preference falls on
some evil habit that is destroying you, body and soul; it may be some accursed sin that is
poisoning your whole being, and yet you prefer it to Christ. But our text speaks of others besides
these. It tells us how "all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." To which of the two
kindreds do you belong? Are you of the earth, earthy, or are you citizens of Mount Zion? for to
one or other of these two classes we all belong. Judge yourselves, lest that day come upon you as
a thief in the night, revealing to you your true character and position when the revelation comes
too late. Again, we ask, Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He
appeareth? Those surely have nothing to fear from the Lord's appearing who can say, "Unto Him
that has loved us," etc. Judgment has no terrors and eternity no alarms for those who are living in
the conscious enjoyment of the benefits of redeeming love.
(W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The revelation of the mystery
Canon Knox Little.St. John is speaking in the language of ancient prophecy. Christ is coming.
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." This is a truth of the faith, and
St. John corroborates Daniel, not because he imitates the prophetic spirit by echoing prophetic
phrase, but because each prophet stands on a mountain peak of Revelation, and surveys an
unalterable fact. For the mind to grow into the force of that fact is one of the most necessary
methods of advance in the Spirit and will of God.
I. ST. JOHN IS SPEAKING IN THE LANGUAGE OF A SEER, WHICH IS THE REAL
LANGUAGE OF MAN'S IMMORTAL LIFE. His words are a cry of relieved tension of feeling,
of suddenly fulfilled expectation; like the watcher from Athens catching sight of the corn-ships
as they doubled Sunium; like the anxious gazer descrying in the distance the British flag which
announced approaching relief to the beleaguered sufferers in Lucknow; like the dying man
straining the ear through the silent night for the first footfall of one he loves, and longs to see
before he dies.
1. Man expresses his sense of relation to objects and persons external to himself by two names
— Time and Eternity. These names of course represent real ideas. These ideas are dim and vague
enough. Surely he has to learn that Time is "a phantom of succession"; that he himself, not Time,
is moving on; that now his life is partially developed; surely he has to realise that Eternity can
include no sense of succession, but represents life as fully possessed. We must learn in the things
of the soul to weigh and measure by the scales, by the standard of Eternity, for we are immortal.
Speaking, then, as we should speak, with a sense of our full, our endless life, the close of the
great conflict is not far off.
2. To each one of us there shall be a full consciousness of the coming and the presence of the
Lord. "Every eye shall see Him." The eye is the watch-tower of the human spirit, whither it
ascends to view God's universe. The eye is the instrument by which impressions from the objects
of an outer world, impressions of colour and harmony and form, are conveyed to the lonely soul.
The eye can alone convey the message, the power to use it is in the soul itself. My friends, it
would seem that the human soul has a strong likeness to the poor frail human body. Living,
though sick with sin, it is conscious, in a dreamlike consciousness, of the presence and claims of
God; if life is failing in it, if the disease of sin is settling into spiritual death, it loses that

consciousness. But one thing is certain: the hour is coming when each of us — with a
consciousness of soul as clear as the sight of the eye of the body — when each of us shall see the
fairest, the most awful vision, the coming Christ. Here we see but dimly; there will be the full
revelation.
II. WE ARE BROUGHT FACE TO FACE WITH HIM WHOSE APPEARING SHALL BE
THE INTERPRETATION OF ALL DREAMS, THE SOLUTION OF ALL PERPLEXING
PROBLEMS, "BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH CLOUDS."
1. St. John's account of the pageant of Christ's appearing is an appeal to an instinct of humanity
face to face with nature. Of all natural objects that awaken the sense none can rival for power
mountains, clouds, and sea. But clouds combine, in a measure, the resources of sea and
mountains; smoothed out at dawn or sunset, twisted into strange contortions by the storm, they
rival the solemnity of mountains in their vast proportions, and imitate in their changeful
movements the beating of the waves. Everywhere they give the sense of thinly veiled depths of
mystery yet to be revealed, and of the wrath and power of God against human sin. When Christ
comes, then, this is certain, He will come revealing "hidden things of darkness," ay! and hidden
things of light. It will be a time of unveiling. But more: He will come in the fully manifested
display of God's irreconcilable antagonism to human sin. It will be a moment of startling and
complete revelation.
2. But there is a further feature, the most striking of all. It is an unexpected touch in the picture
which follows — "they also that pierced Him" — a sudden allusion to the Passion. Doubtless
there is a warning in such words, that those who deride, reject, or seek to destroy the highest
goodness now shall one day see the magnitude of their madness. But this is not all. Face to face
with human sin in its closing crisis, the great Representative of the race displays before
assembled worlds the extent of its malignity in wounding God. Even those who have hated it
most shall then for the first time vividly realise its actual dreadfulness. And in these wounds of
the Passion are exhibited the stores of the experience of human life, He is in direct relation to all,
for all have pierced Him, and He has learned by experience the sorrow and sin of that humanity
which is common to all. And then we are reminded that the judgment to follow takes its force
and derives its necessity from the necessities of His nature. With the knowledge of God He
comes, and with the feelings and experiences of man.
3. The great wail of the human family recorded in the close of the verse is its outspoken sign of
recognition of the truth. In some — His persecuting enemies — the cry of fear and fury at the
certainty of the triumph of goodness; to some undeveloped soul the anguish of fuller recognition
of that marvellous majesty, which on earth it only recognised by stray sigh of penitence or a
passing thought of desire: to some who through no fault of their own, by a specialite of
circumstances, or mystery of mental build, or owing to a fog of prejudice, or an involuntarily
blinded mind, have never known Him — the purifying sorrow of awakening at last to the
unveiled beauty; to some who have known and loved Him, the fuller sense — for love is the real
illumination — of how unworthy they have been, how their best has been bad, their self-
sacrifices pitiful, face to face with the unshrouded loveliness of that supernatural sorrow.
III. WHAT, THEN, IS THE RELATION OF THAT FINAL VISION WITH THE MYSTERY
OF THE PASSION? This: in that supreme crisis of humanity it is a mystery no more; or rather
the souls of those who are passing from the limitations of time are themselves in a sphere of
mystery; they see, they understand such visions with the quickened senses of eternity. Life here
is in deepest shadow, but nothing since the beginning of creation has been so wrapped in shadow

as the fact and the consequences of Calvary; if that be clear, all must be plain. And clear it will
be. Christ is the Great Revealer, in Him we shall see all. What shall we see? This. The real
meaning of humility. The strange and now interpreted story of the humiliation of the Cross.
What shall we see? The perfected sympathy of God in Christ with all that is truly human, all that
would permit that sympathy by a surrendered will. What shall we see? The evident and now
intelligible splendour of the ideal of humanity. But, oh! the surprise of the souls of the blessed
when first they see unveiled in awe and majesty the ideal of Divine, of human beauty — the
Fairest of the fair! What shall we see? The meaning of suffering. It seemed awful, almost cruel,
when borne in the darkness of probation, but here is the end. In the light of the Crucified now in
unshrouded beauty, the full splendour of that suffering once borne with difficulty, but borne in
patience, will reveal what, in the "valley of the shadow," lay concealed within it — some
inconceivable secret of the love and the loveliness of God. What shall we see? We shall see in its
overwhelming glory the mystery of power. It could only speak on earth in the mystic but
eloquent symbol of the Cross. Here it is plain in the clear Revelation. Power elevating, perfecting
the uncreated beauty. The power that could deal with the ruin of the creature, the redeemed the
work of the Redeemer, the forces of redemption — God in Christ.
(Canon Knox Little.)
The Second Advent of Christ
W. Nisbet.I. THE JUDGE. "Behold, He cometh." Who? Christ Jesus. Were He only a man, He
could not be qualified for this high office, for no man, however acute his discernment, can know
"the thoughts and intents of the heart"; but, being God as well as man, He is omniscient. His
justice is equal to His knowledge, for "justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne,
while a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom." There is no quality more
important in a judge than this.
II. THE CERTAINTY OF HIS APPROACH. "Behold, He cometh," exclaims the apostle, as if
he had actually seen Him on His way.
III. THE MANNER OF HIS COMING. "Behold, He cometh with clouds." This agrees with the
exhibition that was given at the promulgation of the law from Sinai, when clouds and thick
darkness, from which there proceeded flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, enveloped the
mountain. And further, since clouds are always spoken of as the symbols of Divinity, and since
few things are more sublime in their appearance and motion, could any representation be more
descriptive of the God-like manner of His operations, or better calculated to convince us that the
mighty agent in this grand movement is God?
IV. THE UNIVERSAL PUBLICITY OF HIS APPEARANCE. "Every eye shall see Him, and
they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Men of all
creeds, in short, of all colours, of all grades of talent, and of all conditions of society, will be
there.
V. THE WAY IN WHICH THESE TWO DIFFERENT CLASSES WILL BE AFFECTED BY
THE SIGHT OF THEIR JUDGE. Not one of them, we may well conceive, will behold Him with
indifference. Still, however, there will be a vast difference between the feelings of the wicked
and the feelings of the righteous.
(W. Nisbet.)
The final coming of Christ to judgment

J. S. Exell, M. A.I. CHRIST WILL COME TO JUDGEMENT.
1. The announcement of prophecy: Enoch, Job. Christ and His disciples were frequent in their
reference to fits final advent. They made it a motive for diligence, an incentive to watchfulness,
and the occasion of other solemn instruction.
2. The statement of Scripture. "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of
Man cometh." "He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained."
3. The conviction of reason.
4. The dread expectation of conscience.
II. THE COMING OF CHRIST TO JUDGMENT WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH MAJESTY
AND GLORY. "He cometh with clouds."
1. The clouds are indicative of mystery. Clouds hide many things from mortal vision. So the
coming of Christ will be associated with great mystery. There will be the mystery connected with
a judge possessed of a nature at once human and Divine. There will be the mystery associated
with the life and attendance of angelic spirits. There will be the mystery consequent upon the
resurrection and trial of humanity.
2. The clouds are indicative of beauty. We have all seen and admired them. So the great coming
of Christ will be associated with everything that constitutes moral grandeur. The scene will be
one of supreme rectitude, of infinite purity, and, therefore, unrivalled glory.
3. The clouds are indicative of power. With what force do the clouds rush along the heavens;
who, or what could resist them in their rapid march? So the final coming of Christ to judgment
will be irresistible.
III. THE COMING OF CHRIST TO JUDGMENT WILL BE WITNESSED BY AN
ASSEMBLED UNIVERSE. "And every eye shall see Him."
1. He will be seen by the devout Christian. By men who have consecrated their lives to His
service. These will be in sympathy with His coming.
2. He will be seen by the impious sceptic. Hobbs and Hume will see Him. These will behold His
coming with surprise.
3. He will be seen by the morally impenitent. Herod, Judas, Pilate; sinner, you will see Him.
These will see Him with dismay. Hypocrite and backslider, you will see Him. You will see Him
with despair.
IV. THE COMING OF CHRIST TO JUDGMENT MEETS WITH THE SOLEMN
APPROBATION OF THE GOOD. "Even so, Amen."
1. They approve, not because they desire the final overthrow of the wicked. The good man's
desire is, that the whole world should be saved.
2. They approve, because it is the legitimate termination of mortal affairs.
3. They approve, because it will lead them into a bright and more durable vision of the
eternal.Lessons: —
1. The world will one day see Christ.
2. Will you "wail because of Him," or say, "Even so, Amen"?
(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The second advent
J. E. Beaumont, M. D.Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great ordinance of Jehovah for bringing all
things to that state and bearing which He has assigned them in His eternal mind. The whole of
this dispensation of God to man is called the mystery of God, and the whole of this mystery has
its accomplishment in three comings of Christ; His coming in the flesh, His coming in the Spirit,
and His coming in the clouds. It is to the last of these comings that John refers our attention in
the text. "Behold He cometh." The coming of Christ in the clouds is yet, perhaps, at some
distance, but faith anticipates it, realises it.
1. Now, that the coming of our Lord in the clouds is an event worthy of all your attention and
wonder, I think will appear, if we consider —(1) The place from which He comes — from
heaven. Angelic voices sound from that far country whither He has gone to receive a kingdom,
into the royalties and glories of which He has entered as the reward of His suffering. From that
country He shall come back.
2. The coming of Christ with clouds is worthy of all our attention and wonder because of the
place to which He comes. To this earth once more — to this earth where His delights were with
the sons of men — to this earth in which He was born — to this earth, again, where He lived,
like a common Jewish peasant, three and thirty years — to this earth again, from which He was
hissed away by a scandalised death.
3. The coming of Christ in the clouds is worthy of your attention and regard, because of the
circumstances of glory in which it will take place. "Behold, He cometh with clouds." Why, He
came with clouds before, but they were clouds of poverty, clouds of obscurity, clouds of shame;
but now He comes in clouds of glory, of brightness.
4. This coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds is an event worthy of your attention and
wonder also, because of the time of it. He says, "Behold, I come quickly." He will not delay His
coming beyond the time assigned for it.
5. The coming of our Lord in the clouds, is further worthy of all your attention and wonder,
because of the solemn preparations which shall usher it in. There will be signs in the air, signs in
the sea, signs in the sun, signs in the stars, "men's hearts failing them for fear, the sea and the
waves roaring," mighty events treading on the heels of one another.
6. The coming of Christ in the clouds is an event worthy of your attention and wonder, because
of the solemn work He then comes to perform. He says, "Behold I come; My reward is with
Me."
(J. E. Beaumont, M. D.)
Christ coming with clouds
C. H. Spurgeon.John, who once heard the voice, "Behold the Lamb of God!" now utters the
voice, "Behold, He cometh!"
I. OUR LORD JESUS COMES.
1. This fact is worthy of a note of admiration — "Behold!"
2. It should be vividly realised till we cry, "Behold, He cometh!"
3. It should be zealously proclaimed. We should use the herald's cry, "Behold!"
4. It is to be unquestioningly asserted as true. Assuredly He cometh.

(1)It has been long foretold. Enoch (Jude 1:14).
(2)He has Himself warned us of it. "Behold, I come quickly!"
5. It is to be viewed with immediate interest.
(1)"Behold!" for this is the grandest of all events.
(2)"He cometh," the event is at the door.
(3)"He," who is your Lord and Bridegroom, comes.
(4)He is coming even now, for He is preparing all things for His advent, and thus may be said to
be on the road.
6. It is to be attended with a peculiar sign — "with clouds."
(1)The emblems of His majesty.
(2)The ensigns of His power.
(3)The warnings of His judgment. Charged with darkness and tempest are these gathered clouds.
II. OUR LORD'S COMING WILL BE SEEN OF ALL.
1. It will be a literal appearance. Not merely every mind shall think of Him, but "every eye shall
see Him."
2. It will be beheld by all sorts and kinds of living men.
3. It will be seen by those long dead.
4. It will be seen by His actual murderers, and others like them.
5. It will be manifest to those who desire not to see the Lord.
6. It will be a sight in which you will have a share. Since you must see Him, why not at once
look to Him and live?
III. HIS COMING WILL CAUSE SORROW. "All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
Him."
1. The sorrow will be very general. "All kindreds of the earth."
2. The sorrow will be very bitter. "Wail."
3. The sorrow proves that men will not be universally converted.
4. The sorrow also shows that men will not expect from Christ's coming a great deliverance.
5. The sorrow will in a measure arise out of His glory, seeing they rejected and resisted Him.
That glory will be against them.
6. The sorrow will be justified by the dread result.Their fears of punishment will be well
grounded. Their horror at the sight of the great Judge will be no idle fright.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The coming of Christ
James Young.I. THE COMING OF CHRIST.
II. THE EVIDENCE OF HIS COMING. This appears from the character of God, from His
holiness and righteousness, His faithfulness and truth, from His holy covenant, counsels and

promises, His infinite glory, and Divine government. The truth of this appears from the character
of Christ — from His human nature, His atoning death, His resurrection from the dead, His
ascension to heaven, and Divine administration. The evidence further appears from the work of
the Spirit, who convinces the world of judgment to come — from the law of God, which is
perfect, pure, and spiritual, holy, just, and good. The truth of this appears from the types of Holy
Writ (Numbers 6:24-26; Matthew 25:34). Again, the evidence appears from the prophecy of
Enoch (Jude 1:14, 15); from the character of God as the Judge of all the earth; from the faith of
Job in the living Redeemer (Job 19:25, 27); from many of the Psalms; from the vision of Daniel
(Daniel 7:10-14); from Christ's parables, the testimony of the angels when Jesus ascended, and
from the doctrines and promises of the prophets and apostles. The truth of this will be rendered
obvious from the works of Providence, and the unequal distribution of Divine dispensations.
Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. The
evidence of this appears from reason, the light of nature, the power of conscience, and the
inseparable connection between the Creator and the creature.
III. THE MANNER OF HIS COMING.
1. We have in these words the solemnity of His coming. This great event is ushered in with a
"Behold!"
2. We have in these words the reality of His coming. He will come personally: "The Lord
Himself will descend from heaven."
3. The certainty of His coming.
4. The nearness of His coming.
5. The suddenness of His coming. His first coming was slow and progressive.
IV. THE MAJESTY OF HIS COMING. "Behold He cometh with clouds." Clouds are the
symbols of Divine majesty. He shall come in the Father's glory, invested with all His essential
perfections, with all His authority, excellence, and majesty. He shall come in His own glory, the
glory of His Deity, His person, and His offices as mediator. He shall come in the glory of the
Holy Spirit, resting upon Him as the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
of counsel, and of might, of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He shall be glorious in His
throne — the great white throne. He shall be glorious in His apparel — robes of light; and also in
His power — travelling in the greatness of His strength, mighty to save. He shall be glorious in
His chariot — the clouds of heaven, the wings of the wind. He shall be glorious in His attendants
— the holy angels, the beings of light. He shall be glorious in His Church, who shall bear His
blessed image, reflect His moral glory, and exhibit the transcendent excellence of the last, the
finishing touch, of His glorious, skilful, wonder-working hand. He will be glorified in His saints,
and admired in all them that believe. He shall be glorious in His last great work of judgment and
mercy, now finished for ever, and He shall contemplate the whole scene with Divine delight, and
pronounce it to be good.
V. THE EFFECTS OF HIS COMING. The first effect is the misery of the wicked: "All the
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." There is here an allusion to the book of
Zechariah (Zechariah 10:12). The second effect is the triumph of the righteous: "Even so,
Amen." The first word is Greek, the last word is Hebrew. The expression is doubled, to
strengthen the assertion. It expresses the apostle's acquiescence in the promise: even so, thus let
it be; it is just and right that it should be so. It expresses the soul's approbation of the promise; of
all the counsels and arrangements of heaven. It expresses faith in the promise: "Lord, I believe

that Thou wilt come." It implies hope in the promise: "Looking for the blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour."
VI. THE USES OF HIS COMING. Hence see the glorious consummation of the whole plan of
mercy. All the perfections of God shall be displayed, His character shall be glorified, His law
shall be honoured, and His government vindicated; all His counsels shall be fully unfolded, and
all the predictions of His Word shall be verified; and God shall then be all in all, in His ineffable
resplendent glory. Hence see the necessity of constant preparation for the coming of Christ. We
cannot die in safety unless we enjoy peace with God.
(James Young.)
Wail. —
Despair of sinners in judgment
C. H. Spurgeon.I cannot put into English the full meaning of that most expressive word. Sound it
at length, and it conveys its own meaning. It is as when men wring their hands and burst out into
a loud cry; or as when eastern women, in their anguish, rend their garments, and lift up their
voices with the most mournful notes. All the kindreds of the earth shall wail: wail as a mother
laments over her dead child; wail as a man might wail who found himself hopelessly imprisoned
and doomed to die. Such will be the hopeless grief of all the kindreds of the earth at the sight of
Christ in the clouds: if they remain impenitent, they shall not be able to be silent; they shall not
be able to repress or conceal their anguish, but they shall wail, or openly give vent to their
horror. What a sound that will be which wilt go up before high heaven when Jesus sits upon the
cloud, and in the fulness of His power summons them to judgment! Then "they shall wail
because of Him." Will your voice be heard in that wailing? Will your heart be breaking in that
general dismay? How will you escape? If you are one of the kindreds of the earth, and remain
impenitent, you will wail with the rest of them.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(7) Behold, he cometh with clouds.—Better, with the
clouds. The reference to Christ’s words (Mark 14:62) is undoubted. In the “clouds” St.
Augustine sees the emblem of the saints of the Church, which is His body, who spread as a vast
fertilising cloud over the whole world.
Every eye shall see him, and they also which (they were who = “whosoever”) pierced him.—
Here again is a reference to the incident of the piercing of Christ’s side (John 19:34), recorded
only by St. John.
Shall wail because of him.—Or, shall wail over Him. The prophecy in Zechariah 12:10, is the
suggesting one of this. But the passage in Zechariah describes the mourning of grief over the

dead; the passage here is the mourning towards one who was dead, and is alive. He towards
whom they now direct their sorrow is the One over whom they should have wailed when He was
laid in His tomb.
Benson CommentaryHYPERLINK "/revelation/1-7.htm"Revelation 1:7. Behold — In this and
the next verse are the proposition and the summary of the whole book. He cometh — Jesus
Christ. Throughout this book, whenever it is said He cometh, it means his glorious coming. The
preparation for this began at the destruction of Jerusalem, and more particularly at the time of
writing this book, and goes on without any interruption, till that grand event is accomplished.
Therefore it is never said in this book, He will come, but, He cometh. And yet it is not said, He
cometh again. For when he came before, it was not like himself, but in the form of a servant. But
his appearing in glory is, properly, his coming; namely, in a manner worthy of the Son of God.
And every eye — Of the Jews in particular; shall see him — But with what different emotions,
according as they had received or rejected him! And they who have pierced him — They, above
all, who pierced his hands, or feet, or side. Thomas saw the prints of these wounds, even after his
resurrection. And the same, undoubtedly, will be seen by all, when he cometh in the clouds of
heaven; and they that condemned him shall be arraigned at his tribunal. And all the tribes of the
earth — The word tribes, in the Revelation, generally means the Israelites; but where another
word, such as nations, or people, is joined with it, it implies likewise, (as here,) all the rest of
mankind. Shall wail because of him — For terror and pain, if they did not wail before by true
repentance; even all who have rejected his government and opposed his interest, shall lament the
fatal opposition, by which, instead of prevailing in the least against him, they have only effected
their own destruction. In this verse is prefixed the great moral, which the whole book is designed
to illustrate; namely, that though there should be great opposition made against the cause and
kingdom of Christ, yet it should be utterly in vain, and his kingdom should triumph in the most
illustrious manner, so that all who opposed it should have the greatest reason to mourn. And as
this series of divine prophecy begins, so it ends with this sentiment, and with the joyful consent
of his faithful servants to this glorious truth, which should fill the enemies of Christ with both
terror and dismay. Yea, amen — This refers to, every eye shall see him. He that cometh saith,
Yea; he that testifies it, Amen. The word translated yea is Greek, amen is Hebrew; for what is
here spoken respects both Jew and Gentile.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary1:4-8 There can be no true peace, where there is not true
grace; and where grace goeth before, peace will follow. This blessing is in the name of God, of
the Holy Trinity, it is an act of adoration. The Father is first named; he is described as the
Jehovah who is, and who was, and who is to come, eternal, unchangeable. The Holy Spirit is
called the seven spirits, the perfect Spirit of God, in whom there is a diversity of gifts and
operations. The Lord Jesus Christ was from eternity, a Witness to all the counsels of God. He is
the First-born from the dead, who will by his own power raise up his people. He is the Prince of
the kings of the earth; by him their counsels are overruled, and to him they are accountable. Sin
leaves a stain of guilt and pollution upon the soul. Nothing can fetch out this stain but the blood
of Christ; and Christ shed his own blood to satisfy Divine justice, and purchase pardon and
purity for his people. Christ has made believers kings and priests to God and his Father. As such
they overcome the world, mortify sin, govern their own spirits, resist Satan, prevail with God in
prayer, and shall judge the world. He has made them priests, given them access to God, enabled
them to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices, and for these favours they are bound to ascribe
to him dominion and glory for ever. He will judge the world. Attention is called to that great day
when all will see the wisdom and happiness of the friends of Christ, and the madness and misery

of his enemies. Let us think frequently upon the second coming of Christ. He shall come, to the
terror of those who wound and crucify him by apostacy: he shall come, to the astonishment of
the whole world of the ungodly. He is the Beginning and the End; all things are from him and for
him; he is the Almighty; the same eternal and unchanged One. And if we would be numbered
with his saints in glory everlasting, we must now willing submit to him receive him, and honour
him as a saviour, who we believe will come to be our Judge. Alas, that there should be many,
who would wish never to die, and that there should not be a day of judgment!
Barnes' Notes on the BibleBehold he cometh with clouds - That is, the Lord Jesus, when he
returns, will come accompanied with clouds. This is in accordance with the uniform
representation respecting the return of the Saviour. See the notes on Matthew 24:30. Compare
Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:26; Mark 14:62; Acts 1:9, Acts 1:11. Clouds are appropriate symbols
of majesty, and God is often represented as appearing in that manner. See Exodus 19:18; Psalm
18:11 ff; Isaiah 19:1. So, among the pagan, it was common to represent their divinities as
appearing clothed with a cloud:
"tandem venias, precamur,
Nube candentes humeros amictus.
Augur Apollo"
The design of introducing this representation of the Saviour, and of the manner in which he
would appear, seems to be to impress the mind with a sense of the majesty and glory. of that
being from whom John received his revelations. His rank, his character, his glory were such as to
demand respect; all should reverence him, and all should feel that his communications about the
future were important to them, for they must soon appear before him.
And every eye shall see him - He will be made visible in his glory to all that dwell upon the
earth; to all the children of men. Everyone, therefore, has an interest in what he says; everyone
has this in certain prospect, that he shall see the Son of God coming as a Judge.
And they also which pierced him - When he died; that is, they who pierced his hands, his feet,
and his side. There is probably an allusion here to Zechariah 12:10; "They shall look upon me
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn." The language here is so general that it may refer
to any act of looking upon the pierced Saviour, and might be applied to those who would see him
on the cross and to their compunctious visitings then; or to their subsequent reflections, as they
might look by faith on him whom they had crucified; or to the feeling of any sinners who should
reflect that their sins had been the cause of the death of the Lord Jesus; or it might be applied, as
it is here, more specifically to the feelings which his murderers will have when they shall see him
coming in his glory. All sinners who have pierced his heart by their crimes will then behold him
and will mourn over their treatment of him; they, in a special manner, who imbrued their hands
in his blood will then remember their crime and be overwhelmed with alarm. The design of what
is here said seems to be, to show that the coming of the Saviour will be an event of great interest
to all mankind. None can be indifferent to it, for all will see him. His friends will hail his advent
(compare Revelation 22:20), but all who were engaged in putting him to death, and all who in
any manner have pierced his heart by sin and ingratitude, unless they shall have repented, will
have occasion of bitter lamentation when he shall come. There are none who have a more fearful
doom to anticipate than the murderers of the Son of God, including those who actually put him to
death, and those who would have engaged in such an act had they been present, and those who,
by their conduct, have done all they could to pierce and wound him by their ingratitude.

And all kindreds of the earth - Greek, "All the tribes - φυλαὶ phulai of the earth." This language
is the same which the Saviour uses in Matthew 24:30. See the notes on that passage. The word
"tribes" is what is commonly applied to the twelve tribes of Israel, and thus used, it would
describe the inhabitants of the Holy Land; but it may be used to denote nations and people in
general, as descended from a common ancestor, and the connection requires that it should be
understood in this sense here, since it is said that "every eye shall see him"; that is, all that dwell
on the face of the earth.
Shall wail because of him - On account of him; on account of their treatment of him. The word
rendered "wail" - κόπτω koptō - means properly to beat, to cut; then to beat or cut oneself in the
breast as an expression of sorrow; and then to lament, to cry aloud in intense grief. The coming
of the Saviour will be an occasion of this:
(a) because it will be an event which will call the sins of people to remembrance, and
(b) because they will be overwhelmed with the apprehension of the wrath to come.
Nothing would fill the earth with greater consternation than the coming of the Son of God in the
clouds of heaven; nothing could produce so deep and universal alarm. This fact, which no one
can doubt, is proof that people feel that they are guilty, since, if they were innocent, they would
have nothing to dread by his appearing. It is also a proof that they believe in the doctrine of
future punishment, since, if they do not, there is no reason why they should be alarmed at his
coming. Surely people would not dread his appearing if they really believed that all will be
saved. Who dreads the coming of a benefactor to bestow favors on him? Who dreads the
appearing of a jailer to deliver him from prison; of a physician to raise him up from a bed of
pain; of a deliverer to knock off the fetters of slavery? And how can it be that people should be
alarmed at the coming of the Saviour, unless their consciences tell them that they have much to
fear in the future? The presence of the Redeemer in the clouds of heaven would destroy all the
hopes of those who believe in the doctrine of universal salvation - as the approach of death now
often does. People believe that there is much to be dreaded in the future world, or they would not
fear the coming of Him who shall wind up the affairs of the human race.
Even so, Amen - ναὶ, ἀμήν nai, amēn. "A double expression of "so be it, assuredly, certainly,"
one in Greek and the other in Hebrew" (Prof. Stuart). Compare Romans 8:16, "Abba, Father" -
ἀββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ abba, ho patēr. The idea which John seems to intend to convey is, that the coming
of the Lord Jesus, and the consequences which he says will follow, are events which are
altogether certain. This is not the expression of a wish that it may be so, as our common
translation would seem to imply, but a strong affirmation that it will be so. In some passages,
how. over, the word (ναὶ nai) expresses assent to what is said, implying approbation of it as true,
or as desirable. "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight," Matthew 11:26; Luke
10:21. So in Revelation 16:7, "Even so (ναὶ nai), Lord God Almighty." So in Revelation 22:20,
"Even so (ναὶ nai), come, Lord Jesus." The word "Amen" here seems to determine the meaning
of the phrase, and to make it the affirmation of a "certainty," rather than the expression of a
"wish."
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary7. with clouds—Greek, "the clouds," namely, of
heaven. "A cloud received Him out of their sight" at His ascension (Ac 1:9). His ascension
corresponds to the manner of His coming again (Ac 1:11). Clouds are the symbols of wrath to
sinners.
every eye—His coming shall therefore be a personal, visible appearing.

shall see—It is because they do not now see Him, they will not believe. Contrast Joh 20:29.
they also—they in particular; "whosoever." Primarily, at His pre-millennial advent the Jews, who
shall "look upon Him whom they have pierced," and mourn in repentance, and say, "Blessed is
He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Secondarily, and here chiefly, at the general judgment
all the ungodly, not only those who actually pierced Him, but those who did so by their sins,
shall look with trembling upon Him. John is the only one of the Evangelists who records the
piercing of Christ's side. This allusion identifies him as the author of the Apocalypse. The reality
of Christ's humanity and His death is proved by His having been pierced; and the water and
blood from His side were the antitype to the Levitical waters of cleansing and blood offerings.
all kindreds … shall wail—all the unconverted at the general judgment; and especially at His
pre-millennial advent, the Antichristian confederacy (Zec 12:3-6, 9; 14:1-4; Mt 24:30). Greek,
"all the tribes of the land," or "the earth." See the limitation to "all," Re 13:8. Even the godly
while rejoicing in His love shall feel penitential sorrow at their sins, which shall all be
manifested at the general judgment.
because of—Greek, "at," or "in regard to Him."
Even so, Amen—Gods seal of His own word; to which corresponds the believer's prayer, Re
22:20. The "even so" is Greek; "Amen" is Hebrew. To both Gentiles and Jews His promises and
threats are unchangeable.
Matthew Poole's Commentary St. John being to speak of the various afflictions of the church of
God, which should immediately begin, and hold on during the whole time that Rome should
continue heathen, and one thousand two hundred and sixty years after, during the whole reign of
the beasts, prepareth Christians for it, by calling them by the eye of faith to see (though at a great
distance) Christ coming to judgment, whom he speaks of as already coming, according to the
usual style of prophets, who use to speak of those things that shall shortly be done, or certainly,
as if they were already done. He describes the manner of Christ’s coming to judgment, and saith,
he cometh with clouds, that is, in a glorious manner; in the clouds with power and great glory,
Matthew 24:30; in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, Matthew 25:31; with ten thousand
of his saints, Judges 1:14; with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, 1
Thessalonians 4:16; here, with clouds, bright and glorious clouds, not obscuring him, but making
his appearance more glorious and terrible.
And every eye shall see him; he shall come visibly, for, Acts 1:11, he shall so come, as he was
seen going up to heaven: see Isaiah 40:5.
And they also which pierced him; they also which pierced him shall look on him, Zechariah
12:10; yea, not those only which pierced him with their spears, but every sinner who hath pierced
him with his sins, Hebrews 6:6. From whence we may observe, that the resurrection will be
general; and those in the Great Mogul’s country are like to awake out of their sleep in the grave,
as well as others.
And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him; all the nations of the earth, (Greek, the
tribes of the earth), shall wail, not with a mourning of repentance, the time for that will be past,
but with a wailing of despair and horror.

Even so, Amen: these words are either a prophetical assertion, confirming the truth of what he
had said, or a pious prayer or desire, or rather both together.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleBehold he cometh with clouds,.... John carries on the account
of Christ in his kingly office, one branch of which is to execute judgment; and describes him by
a future coming of his, which cannot be understood of his coming to take vengeance on the Jews,
at the time of Jerusalem's destruction, though that is sometimes expressed in such language, and
with such circumstances, as here; see Matthew 24:30; because if this revelation was made to
John, in the latter end of Domitian's reign, as is commonly reported by the ancients, and in the
year 95 or 96, as chronologers generally place it, it must be upwards of twenty years after the
destruction of Jerusalem, and therefore cannot relate to that; nor to his coming in a spiritual sense
to convert the Jews in the latter day; for this coming is personal, and with clouds, when he will
be seen by every eye; all which circumstances do not so well agree with that; besides, all the
kindreds of the earth will not lament on that account: the wicked will take little notice of it, the
tribes of the Jews will rejoice at it, and so will all the converted Gentiles: it is better therefore to
understand this of Christ's second coming to judge the quick and dead, which is represented as
just at hand, to denote the certainty of it; and a "behold" is prefixed to it, to excite attention, and
to denote the importance of it: things of great moment, and very surprising, will then be done;
Christ will appear in great glory and majesty, the dead in Christ will be raised, Christ's personal
kingdom will take place, and the general judgment come on. The manner of his coming will be
"with clouds"; either figuratively, with angels, who will attend him both for grandeur and
service, or literally, in the clouds of heaven; he shall descend in like manner as he ascended, and
as Daniel prophesied he should, Daniel 7:13. Hence, one of the names of the Messiah, with the
Jews, is, "Anani" (r), which signifies "clouds"; and his coming is so described, both to denote the
grand and magnificent manner, in which he will come, making the clouds his chariots; and to
strike terror into his enemies, clouds and darkness being about him, thunder and lightning
breaking out of them, as tokens of that vengeance he comes to take upon them; as also the
visibility of his coming, he shall descend from the third heaven, where he now is, into the airy
heaven, and sit upon the clouds, as on his throne, and be visible to all: hence it follows,
and every eye shall see him; that is, everyone that has eyes shall see him, or all men shall see
him; the righteous shall see him, and be glad; they shall see him in his glory, as he is, and for
themselves, and be satisfied; they shall rejoice at the sight of him; they will be filled with joy
unspeakable, and full of glory: but the wicked will see him and tremble; they will be filled with
the utmost consternation and astonishment; they will not be able to bear the sight of him; they
will flee from him, and call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from his
face,
And they also which pierced him; his hands, feet, and side, when they crucified him; both the
Roman soldiers, who actually did it, and the body of the Jewish nation, the rulers and common
people, who consented to it, and at whose instigation it was done; these, being raised from the
dead, shall see him with their bodily eyes, whom they so used,
And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him; all the wicked, in the several parts of the
world, will lament, and wring their hands, and express the inward terror and horror of their
minds, at his appearing; they will fear his resentment of all their wicked words and actions; will
dread his wrath, and tremble at his righteous judgment:
even so, Amen, says John, and so say all true believers; what the wicked lament, they rejoice at;
they desire the coming of Christ, they love it, look and long for it; they believe it shall be, and

wish it may be quickly, as in Revelation 22:20; This expression of faith in, and desire after the
coming of Christ, is signified by two words, the one Greek and the other Hebrew; suggesting,
that this is an article of faith among all the saints of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, and is what
they are wishing and waiting for,
(r) Targum in 1 Chronicles 3.24. vid. Beckii Not. in ib. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 85. 2.
Geneva Study BibleBehold, he cometh with clouds; and every {e} eye shall see him, and they
also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
(e) All men.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/context/revelation/1-7.htm"Revelation 1:7-8. Just as
Amos (Revelation 1:2), by a forcible expression, concentrates the chief contents of his book at
the very head; so here the writer of the Apoc., who in this also follows the mode of the ancient
prophets, by adding to the passage Revelation 1:7, containing the sum of his entire
prophecy,[638] the full authority of the name of God, of whose message he is the prophet,
Revelation 1:8.[639] Klief. incorrectly denies that the parousia is the proper theme of the
Apocalyptic prophecy, and therefore combines Revelation 1:7-8, not with Revelation 1:4-6, but
with Revelation 1:9 sqq.
[638] Cf. Joel 3:16.
[639] Cf., especially, Amos 4:13.
Already the ἰδού is an indication that something important is presented.[640]
ἔρχεται. He (Christ) cometh;[641] this is the theme of the Apoc.,[642] which is expressed here
not in indefinite generality, but directly afterwards its chief points, as they are further unfolded in
the book, are stated. For the coming of the personal Christ is a coming to judgment,[643] and
indeed not only for hostile Jews (οἵτινες αὐτὸν ἐξεκέντησαν), but also for the heathen (καὶ κοψ.
πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς). Christ cometh “with the clouds.” The μετά[644] designates the coming
one as accompanied by clouds; whether we are to regard these as beneath[645] or about
him,[646] is not expressed. The ἐρχ. μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν does not form an apposition to “arising
out of the sea,” and is not simply a descending from heaven,[647] for the conception, Revelation
13:1, is too unique to correspond to the stereotyped idea in our passage;[648] also, the μετὰ τ.
νεφ. is too significant for “down from heaven.” But, according to the O. T. mode of
representation, God coming to judgment appears surrounded by clouds.[649] [See Note XXIII.,
p. 124.] When he comes, absolutely all (πᾶς ὀφθαλμός) will see him; not only his believers, who
have remained steadfast to him, and whom he, their Judge, their Deliverer, will introduce into his
glory,[650] but also—as is expressly declared by the words ΟἽΤΙΝΕς
Τῆς Γῆς,—unbelievers. Among these, the first to be especially mentioned are ΚΑῚ ΟἽΤΙΝΕς
ΑὐΤΟΝ ἘΞΕΚΈΝΤΗΣΑΝ, i.e., the Jews. Volkmar and Hilgenf.[651] incorrectly think here
chiefly of the heathen, since heathen hands directed the plunge of the lance into the Crucified.
[Note XXIV., p. 124.] But decisive against this is not only the relation to the subject, but also the
expression, Κ. ΚΟΨ.

Πᾶς ΑἹ ΦΥΛ. Τ. Γῆς. Here, as in John 19:37, the prophecy, Zechariah 12:10, forms the
foundation, where the words ‫ֶא‬‫ת‬‫א‬ ‫אֶש‬ ‫ד־‬ ‫ק־‬ ָ‫ר‬ ‫וש‬ ְ‫ה‬ְ‫וִּב‬ ‫ּוט‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ל‬ ‫אט‬ are rendered by the LXX., ΚΑῚ
ἘΠΙΒΛΈΨΟΝΤΑΙ ΠΡῸς ΜῈ, ἈΝΘʼ ὮΝ ΚΑΤΩΡΧΉΣΑΝΤΟ. According to Zechariah, the
converted people are to look towards their God, whom they had wounded by their infidelity and
disobedience, i.e., as the LXX. correctly explain, had despised; but in this passage the “seeing,”
i.e., the actual beholding of the coming Christ, is understood in the sense that then, at the
commencement of the judgment, repentance is no longer possible, and only terror remains
concerning sins that have then undoubtedly occurred. Against the pragmatism of this passage,
Ebrard wishes here to find the meaning: “When he cometh, Israel shall be converted,[652] and
the nations of the earth shall certainly lament,[653] as those who have fallen away.” Bengel falls
into the same error, when he remarks of the ΚΌΨΟΝΤΑΙ in the second member, “Undoubtedly
with hostile, or even, on the part of some, with penitential, terror.” How John 19:37 is in this
respect related to this passage, is not manifest; since there only the fact of the ἐξεκέντησαν, i.e.,
the thrust of the lance, is stated. The difference between John 19:37 and this lies in the fact that
there (ΕἸς ὋΝ ἘΞΕΚΈΝΤ.) the special point of the thrust of the lance is emphasized; while
here (ΑὐΤῸΝ ἘΞΕΚΈΝΤ.) the subject is the death—“the slaying”[654]—in general, as the
most manifest proof of hostile unbelief. As to ἘΚΚΕΝΤΕῖΝ in this sense, cf. Numbers 22:29,
Jdg 9:54, 2Ma 12:6. Partly because of this difference, and also partly because Aquila,
Symmachus, and Theodotion translate the word ‫,והד‬ Zechariah 12:10, by ἘΚΚΕΝΤΕῖΝ,[655]
we dare not infer the identity of the Evangelist and the writer of the Apoc.
καὶ κόψονται ἐπʼ αὐτὸν πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς. Although this expression may comprise also the
Jews, yet, according to the connection, it is to be limited to the anti-theocratic and antichristian
heathen. The κόψονται[656] obtains, by the construction with ἐπὶ and the acc.,[657] a graphic
clearness, such as is peculiar to the entire style of the writer of the Apoc., by representing the
mourning, not according to its inner reason (ἐπʼ αὐτῷ), but according to its external direction,—
towards the coming Judge.[658]
Not only by the twofold assurance in both Greek and Hebrew,[659] at the close of Revelation
1:7, but still more completely and solemnly by the entire Revelation 1:8,[660] is the main
sentence, Revelation 1:7, sealed. This verse contains a significant unfolding of the old prophetic
formula ‫ְק‬‫ר‬‫ק‬ ‫א־‬ ִ‫אה‬ָ‫.ה‬ For the Eternal, who is at the same time Lord of all, will execute his prophecy,
Revelation 1:7.[661]
The formula ΤῸ ἈΛΦᾺ ΚΑῚ ΤῸ Ὦ[662] is, according to its meaning,[663] correctly explained
by the gloss ἈΡΧῊ ΚΑΙ ΤΈΛΟς.[664]
Ὁ ΠΑΝΤΟΚΡΆΤΩΡ. Cf. Amos 4:13, where the LXX. have it for ‫הְֱל‬ ְִֵָּ‫א‬ ָ‫ָק‬‫.אֹו‬
[640] Cf. Revelation 16:15, where, in like manner, the same fundamental thought of the book
suddenly enters with surprising force.
[641] Cf. concerning the present, Winer, p. 249.
[642] Introduction, sec. 2.

[643] Matthew 16:27.
[644] Daniel 7:13; Mark 14:62.
[645] Matthew 26:64.
[646] Cf. Psalm 97:2.
[647] Ebrard.
[648] Among the later Jews, the Messiah is expressly called “the cloud-man” (Wolkenmann) ‫א‬‫ְה־‬‫ה‬ִ‫י‬
or ‫א‬‫ת־‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ה־‬ ‫ֶו‬‫י‬; cf. Ewald.
[649] Psalm 97:2; Psalm 18:10 sqq.; Nahum 1:3; Grot., Hengstb.; cf. Knobel, Prophetismus d.
Hebr., i. p. 361 sqq.
[650] Cf. Revelation 19:1 sqq., Revelation 20:11 sqq., Revelation 21:1 sqq.; Matthew 25:31 sqq;
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/revelation/1-7.htm"Revelation 1:7. A reminiscence
and adaptation of Daniel 7:13 (Theod.) and Zechariah 12:10-14. The substitution of ἐξεκέντησαν
(so John 19:37, Justin’s Apol. i. 52, Dial, xxxii., cf. 61., 118., adding εἰς) for κατωρχήσαντο (70
mistranslation in this passage, though not elsewhere, of ‫—)רוהד‬shows that the original text was
used (though Lücke and Ewald hold that ἐξ. was the LXX reading till Origen), and that it was
interpreted in some (Johannine? Abbott, Diatessarica, 1259–1262, 2317) circles as a prophecy of
the crucifixion. Only, the reference is no longer to repentance (Zech.), but, by a turn of
characteristic severity, to remorse and judgment. There is a remarkable parallel in Matthew
24:30, where patristic tradition (cf. A. C. 233–36) early recognised in τὸ σημεῖον τ. ὑ. ἀ. the
cross itself, made visible on the day of judgment. The first of the three signs preceding Christ’s
advent in the clouds, acc. to Did. xvi. 6 (cf. Zechariah 2:13 LXX), is σημεῖον ἐκπετάσεως ἐν
οὐρανῷ (Christ with outstretched arms, as crucified?); and, acce. to Barn, vii. 9, “they shall see
him on that day wearing about his flesh τὸν ποδήρη κόκκινον”. Note (a) that the agreement with
John 19:37 is mainly verbal; the latter alludes to the crucifixion, this passage to an eschatological
crisis, (b) No such visible or victorious return of Christ is fulfilled in the Apocalypse, for visions
like Revelation 14:14 f., Revelation 19:12 f., do not adequately correspond to Revelation 1:7,
Revelation 22:12, etc. (c) No punishment of the Jews occurs at Christ’s return, for the vengeance
of Revelation 19:13 f. falls on pagans, while Revelation 11:13 lies on another plane. καὶ, κ.τ.λ.:
the monotonous collocation of clauses (Vit. i. 9–16) throughout the Apocalypse with καί, is not
necessarily a Hebraism; the syntax of Aristotle (e.g., cf. Thumb, 129), betrays a similar usage.
καὶ οἵτ. κ.τ.λ., selected as a special class (καὶ τότε μετανοήσουσιν, ὅτε οὐδὲν ὠφελήσουσι,
Justin). The responsibility of the Jews, as opposed to the Romans, for the judicial murder of
Jesus is prominent in the Christian literature of the period (Luke–Acts, cf. von Dobschütz in
Texte u. Unters. xi. 1, pp. 61, 62), though the Apoc. is superior to passages like 2 Clem. xvii.
πᾶσαι κ.τ.λ.= the unbelieving pagans, who are still impenitent when surprised by the Lord’s
descent (ἐπὶ = “because of,” cf. Revelation 18:9 in diff. sense); a realistic statement of what is
spiritually put in John 16:8-9.—This forms an original element in the early Christian apologetic.
To the Jewish taunt, “Jesus is not messiah but a false claimant: he died,” the reply was, “He will
return in visible messianic authority” (Mark 14:62 = Matthew 26:64, significant change in Luke

22:69). In several circles this future was conceived not as a return of Jesus, nor in connexion
with his historical appearance, but as the first real manifestation of the true messianic character
which he had gained at the resurrection (cf. Titius, 31, 32). See on Revelation 12:4 f. ναὶ, ἀμήν: a
double (Gk. Heb.) ratification of the previous oracle.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges7. This verse, as indeed may be said of the whole
Book, is founded chiefly on our Lord’s own prophecy recorded in St Matthew 24, and secondly
on the Old Testament prophecies which He there refers to and sums up.
with clouds] “With the clouds,”—“he clouds of heaven” of Daniel 7:13.
and they also which pierced him] Zechariah 12:10; in his Gospel, John 19:37, St John translates
that passage correctly, and here refers to the same translation: that of the LXX. is wrong and
almost meaningless. But while the words here are taken from Zechariah, the thought is rather
that of Matthew 26:64 : “they which pierced Him” are thought of, not as looking to Him by faith,
and mourning for Him in penitence, but as seeing Him Whom they had not believed in, and
mourning in despair.
all kindreds of the earth] Better, all the tribes—the reference is still to Zech. l. c., through the
medium of Matthew 24:30. Thus we see that the fact that the profitable and the unprofitable
“mourning” (or “wailing”—the Greek word is the same in St Matthew as here) are foretold in the
same terms, in solemnly suggestive contrast with each other, is due not to the Apostle but to his
Master: it is He that tells us that all tribes of the earth must mourn, either now for the woe our
sins caused Him, or then for the woe they will cause us.
because of him] Literally, “at him;” at sight of Him. R. V. “over Him,” which can hardly be
meant here.
Even so, Amen] Or, Yea, Amen—the two words, Greek and Hebrew, being similarly coupled in
2 Corinthians 1:20. The second, like the first, is an emphatic word of confirmation—so used e.g.
repeatedly by our Lord Himself, St Matthew 5:18, &c., where it is translated “verily.” The
popular tradition that “Amen” means “So be it” is only partially true: even in its liturgical use,
we append it to creeds as well as prayers. It comes from the same Hebrew root as the words for
“faith” and “truth;” the primary meaning being apparently “solidity.” See on Revelation 3:14.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/revelation/1-7.htm"Revelation 1:7. [14] ἜΡΧΕΤΑΙ) namely,
Ὁ ἘΡΧΌΜΕΝΟς. He who is to come, cometh. His glorious advent at the last day is meant.—
ἐξεκέντκσαν, pierced) The Saviour and Judge both exhibited Himself, and will exhibit Himself,
with most evident marks of the nails and spear in His raised and glorified body. Then the disdain
and reproaches of His enemies, especially of the Jews, which He for so long has borne and still
bears with wonderful long-suffering, will be for ever refuted.—κόψονται, shall wail) without
doubt through fear, as of an enemy, or even through a feeling of penitence in the case of some.
[14] αὐτῷ, to Himself) that is, to Jesus Christ.—V. g.
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 7, 8. - It is difficult to determine the exact connexion of these verses
with one another, and with what precedes and follows. It seems best to make ver. 7 a kind of
appendix to the salutation, and ver. 8 a kind of prelude to the whole book. They each give us one

of the fundamental thoughts of the Apocalypse; ver. 7, Christ's certain return to judgment; ver. 8,
his perfect Divinity. Verse 7. - He cometh. He who loveth us and cleansed us and made us to be
a kingdom will assuredly come. While interpreting the verse of the second advent, we need not
exclude the coming to "those who pierced him" in the destruction of Jerusalem, and to "the tribes
of the earth" in the breakup of the Roman empire. With the clouds. This probably refers to Mark
14:62, "Ye shall see the Son of man ... coming with the clouds of heaven" (comp. Daniel 7:13,
"Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven"). Aquinas and other writers
make the clouds symbolize the saints, "who rain by preaching, glisten by working miracles, are
lifted up by refusing earthly things, fly by lofty contemplation." And they also; better, and all
they who (οἵτινες) pierced him. This is strong evidence of common authorship between the
Fourth Gospel and the Apocalypse.
(1) St. John alone mentions the piercing.
(2) Here and in John 19:37 the writer, in quoting Zechariah 12:10, deserts the LXX. and follows
the Masoretic Hebrew text. The LXX. softens down "pierced" into "insulted" (κάτωρχήσατο),
"piercing" appearing a violent expression to use respecting men's treatment of Jehovah.
(3) Here and in John 19:37 the writer, in translating from the Hebrew, uses the uncommon Greek
word ἐκκεντᾷν. The reference here is to all those who "crucify the Son of God afresh," not
merely to the Jews. In what follows the Revised Version is to be preferred: "and all the tribes of
the earth shall mourn over him? The wording is similar to Matthew 24:30 and the LXX. of
Zechariah 12:10. The mourning is that of beating the breast, not wailing, and it is "over him" (ἐπ᾿
αὐτόν). Even so, Amen. Ναί Αμήν, like "Abba, Father" (Mark 4:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians
4:6), combines a Hebrew word with its Greek equivalent (comp. 2 Corinthians 1:20).
Vincent's Word StudiesHe cometh with clouds (ἔρχεται μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν)
The clouds are frequently used in the descriptions of the Lord's second coming. See Daniel 7:13;
Matthew 24:30; Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62. Compare the manifestation of God in the clouds at
Sinai, in the cloudy pillar, the Shekinah, at the transfiguration, and see Psalm 97:2; Psalm 18:11;
Nahum 1:3; Isaiah 19:1.
Shall see (ὄψεται)
The verb denotes the physical act, but emphasizes the mental discernment accompanying it, and
points to the result rather than to the act of vision. See on John 1:18. Appropriate here as
indicating the quickened spiritual discernment engendered by the Lord's appearing, in those who
have rejected Him, and who now mourn for their folly and sin.
They which (οἵτινες)
The compound relative describes a class. See on Matthew 13:52; see on Matthew 21:41; see on
Mark 12:18.
Pierced (ἐξεκέντησαν)
See on John 19:34, and compare Zechariah 12:10; John 19:36. The expression here refers not to
the Jews only, but to all who reject the Son of Man; those who "in any age have identified
themselves with the Spirit of the Savior's murderers" (Milligan). The passage is justly cited as a
strong evidence that the author of the Gospel is also the author of Revelation.

Kindreds (φυλαὶ)
More correctly, tribes. The word used of the true Israel in Revelation 5:5; Revelation 7:4-8;
Revelation 21:12. As the tribes of Israel are the figure by which the people of God, Jew or
Gentile, are represented, so unbelievers are here represented as tribes, "the mocking counterpart
of the true Israel of God." Compare Matthew 24:30, Matthew 24:31.
Shall wail because of Him (κόψονται ἐπ' αὐτὸν)
Rev., better, shall mourn over Him. Lit., shall beat their breasts. See on Matthew 11:17.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
THE COMING OF THE LORD SECRETLY AND OPENLY
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Revelation 1:7; 16:15
3-12-61 10:50 a.m.
I feel like reading the last of my text first: “Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7, which is the text of
the Book; it is the great theme of the Word. Revelation 1:7, “Behold, ecce, 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.” The last time I preached in this pulpit, I spoke
on the first part of this great theme and text of the Apocalypse, “Behold—behold—He cometh
with clouds” [Revelation 1:7]. That was the last sermon. And the sermon today is the remainder
of the text, “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” [Revelation 1:7]. This is the great and the
sublime announcement of the consummation of this age. This is the first chapter of the second
Thessalonian letter, beginning at verse 7: “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power…” [2 Thessalonians 1:7-9]. That great
announcement is this: in Matthew 24:27:
For as lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of
the Son of Man be.
After the tribulation of those days, the sun shall 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:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
[Matthew 24:27-30]

That is the sublime announcement, the great theme in Revelation 1:7: “Behold, He cometh with
clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him: and all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of Him.”
But, there is in the Word of God, an altogether different description, and presentation, and
delineation, and outline of the coming of our Lord, and seemingly, diametrically, categorically
contradictory. For example, in Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. I come as a
thief.” That same thing is found in Matthew 24:42: “Watch therefore: for you know not what
hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman had known in what watch the
thief—there’s that word again—the thief would come, he would have watched, and he would not
have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as you
think not the Son of Man cometh” [Matthew 24:42-44]. That is the same thing that you find in 1
Thessalonians, chapter 5, “Of the times and the seasons…you have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” [1
Thessalonians 5:1, 2]. That is the same thing that you find in 2 Peter, chapter 3 and verse 10,
“But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night”; secretly, furtively, quietly,
clandestinely, unannouncedly, “as a thief in the night” [2 Peter 3:10].
Is that a contradiction? He is coming, the Book says, like lightning across the livid sky [Matthew
24:27]. And He is coming as a thief, with sandaled feet, softly, quietly [Revelation 16:15]. No,
this is no contradiction. These are just two acts in the great and final drama. He is coming as a
thief, quietly, without announcement, suddenly [1 Thessalonians 5:2]. Then He is also coming
like lightning, with great publicity, when the whole earth shall behold the King in His beauty and
His glory [Matthew 24:27-30]. You see, we often times read in the text what is not there. We
read it, “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him simultaneously.” But the
Word of God in nowise presents it like that. We shall not all see Him simultaneously. There will
be those who see Him in one time and in one place, and there will be others who see Him at
another time and in another place. Our text does not say that all shall see Him at the same time;
in the same place, in the same manner, with the same feelings. Our text here is avowing that
every eye shall see Him—every eye, that ever has, that every human being born—nor shall there
ever be a human being born who shall not sometime, someplace look upon the face of Jesus
Christ. The dead shall hear His voice and shall be raised, and they shall stand in His presence [1
Thessalonians 4:16-17]. And at the great coming of the Lord, those who remain shall look up and
see the glorious Savior descending with ten thousands of His saints [Jude 1:14]. Coming when
some shall say, “Our great God and Savior”; and others shall wail in the horror and the despair of
that awful judgment. You see, He is coming twofold. He is coming secretly, furtively, softly,
quietly, without announcement for His people [1 Thessalonians 5:2]; then, He is coming openly,
publicly, like the livid lightning, with His people [Matthew 24:27-30]: two acts in that great
drama that closes the consummation of the age.
He is coming first without announcement, suddenly, this hour, this evening, in the twilight, in the
midnight, at the early dawn. He is coming first secretly as a thief to steal away His jewels [1
Thessalonians 5:2]. In this earth is the heart of our Lord. Our Savior is with His people. He is
identified with His own. The most precious thing God has in this world is not His universes, and
it’s not the earth, and it’s not this creation. The most precious thing and the most costly that God
has in this earth is you. You’re called the pearl of price [Matthew 13:45-46].

God by fiat spoke these universes into existence. “Let them be!” and they were [Genesis 1:3-28].
But for you, Christ died [1 Corinthians 15:3; Galatians 1:4; Hebrews 2:9]. You cost the blood,
the tears, and the sobs, and the agony, and the wounds, and the death of God’s Son. And in this
earth is that precious jewel—you. And He is coming like a thief to steal it away, to take it out of
the world [1 Thessalonians 5:2]. And God’s people are waiting for that hour when He comes.
And our Savior is waiting for that hour when He cometh. That is the reason I had you read
Romans 8: “And the entire creation—you have it translated in the King James Version
“creature.” The word is creation—“and the entire creation waiteth.” That was the text you read,
“And the entire creation waiteth for the manifestation of the children of God” [Romans 8:19],
when our Savior descends with ten thousands of His saints [Jude 1:14, Revelation 1:7] and the
whole earth, in this grand incomparably glorious announcement, shall be recreated and restored
[Romans 8:19-21]. “Behold! He cometh with His saints” [Jude 1:14]. After secretly, furtively,
quietly He has come for them to take them out of the world and away from those horrible,
indescribable judgments that shall fall upon the impenitent and unbelieving. So the great
denouement begins. This great drama begins—first without announcement—when the Lord shall
come quietly, secretly to take His people out of the world [1 Thessalonians 5:2], the pearl of
price, to steal it away and to heaven [Matthew 13:45-46].
And that is presented in so many figures and in so many types and in so many texts in the Word
of God. Like Enoch, he just suddenly was translated [Genesis 5:24]. The world did not know.
The world did not see. Enoch was just gone. Here he was, there he lived, then suddenly, he was
taken away. The translation of Enoch, a type of the rapture, of the gathering of the church of God
to their Savior in glory; that is the meaning of the word “church.” You have it translated
“church” [Ephesians 1:22] which means nothing to us in the translation. The word is ekklesia, an
ekklesia. An ekklesia is a “called out, a called away, a called forth,” a church is the called forth,
“called out assembly” of God [1 Corinthians 1:2]. Two shall be sleeping in a bed, one shall be
taken and the other left. Two shall be grinding in a mill, one shall be taken and the other left.
Two shall be working in a field, one shall be taken and the other left [Luke 17:34-36], coming as
a thief, quietly, for His own [1 Thessalonians 5:2].
A type of that is in Noah, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming
of the Son of Man” [Matthew 24:37]. For in the days of Noah, the world was riotous in its
pleasure, and in its madness, and in its iniquity, and villainy, and rascality, and sin, and greed,
and war, and hate [Genesis 6:5-8]. And in midst of those corrupt and tragic days, without
anyone, without any announcement, God called Noah into the ark [Genesis 7:1], and He shut the
door. God shut the door [Genesis 7:16]. Like the five wise virgins who entered in and God shut
the door—without announcement [Matthew 25:1-10]. After one hundred years of preaching and
pleading and nobody turned, nobody repent, nobody believe, God says: It is enough! And He
called Noah into the ark out of the world of judgment [Genesis 6:8, 7:1, 7] and shut the door
[Genesis 7:16]. And after Noah entered into the ark, while the world was in its blasphemy, and in
its impenitence, and in its cursing, and in its barren challenge to God in heaven, then the
fountains of the deep broke up and the skies rained flood [Genesis 7:17-24]. “So shall it be in the
days of the Son of Man” [Luke 17:26-27], called away secretly, furtively [1 Thessalonians 5:2].
As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man [Luke
17:28-30]. When the Sodomites in their villainy and indescribable filth and iniquity, while they
were in their drunkenness and rascality and sodomy, the Lord snatched Lot away [Genesis
19:15-21]. For—and this is one of the strangest things in the Word of God—for said God, “I can

do nothing until thou be come hence” [Genesis 19:22]. As compromised as Lot was, the
judgment could not fall upon that city until he was taken out! Lot looked toward Sodom [Genesis
13:12-13]. He pitched his tent toward Sodom. He entered Sodom. He took an office in Sodom.
He sat at the gate of Sodom [Genesis 19:1]. He lost his pilgrim spirit in Sodom. He was
compromised in Sodom. He lost his testimony in Sodom. He vexed his soul with the filthy
conversation of Sodom [2 Peter 2:7]. But as compromised as he was, God said: “I can do nothing
until thou be come hence” [Genesis 19:22]. And He took Lot and snatched him away! [Genesis
19:15-21]. And when Lot was taken out, secretly, without announcement, while the Sodomites
were in their revelry and wickedness, after he’s taken away, the judgment of God fell in fire, in
fury, and in flame and in brimstone [Genesis 19:24-29].
And it is thus with the compromised people of God and the worldly church. As compromised as
it is, and as worldly as it is, and as full of every kind of worldly pleasure and desire as it is, living
in Sodom as it does, the judgment of God does not fall upon this world as long as His church is
here, as long as His people are here. But when those people are taken away [2 Thessalonians
2:7], the only thing that stands between the judgment day of God and the awful fire and
brimstone in these plagues and these judgments that shall fall upon this world in this Apocalypse,
the only thing that stands between that and this world are the people of God. And when those
people are taken away, called to meet the Lord in the air [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17], coming as a
thief in the night [1 Thessalonians 5:2], then is the beginning of the great tribulation! [Matthew
24:21]. Coming first as a thief, quietly, without announcement to steal away His people.
Suddenly, just gone.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall hear the voice, they alone shall hear it and shall rise to meet their Lord in the air:
then we, then we who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord shall rise to meet them
also: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
[1 Thessalonians 4:15-17].
Coming first secretly, calling His people out of the world [1 Thessalonians 5:2].
And then, and then, the days of the judgment, and the days of the visitation, and the days of the
awful consummation of God in this earth which is climaxed by this glorious apocalyptic
announcement: Behold, behold here is an ecce beyond compare, “Behold, He cometh with
clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they who pierced Him: and all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him” [Revelation 1:7]! That is the Apocalypse, that is the great last book of
the Bible. This last Apocalypse, this last Revelation, this last book, does not speak of the furtive,
secret coming of the Lord. This is the great public announcement. This is the unveiling of that
final appearing of the Lord God in heaven. And He shall appear as the livid lightning across the
bosom of the sky [Matthew 24:27]. “Behold, He cometh; and every eye shall see Him”
[Revelation 1:7]. The floodlight of the throne of His presence and the glory of His countenance
shall cover the earth, the mountains, the valleys, the hills, the seas, and every tribe in the earth
shall look upon our descending and coming Lord. All heaven shall be fascinated, full of
adoration in the presence of that great and indescribable glory, when the Lord shall come.
“Behold, He cometh,” when the Lord shall come in the glory of the Father [Matthew 16:27]; God
the Son and the Son of God [Matthew 16:16]; when He shall come in the glory of the angels
[Matthew 25:31], their Lord and Master, the Captain of the heavenly hosts; when He shall come

in the glory of the church [Ephesians 5:27], coming with His saints, as Jude says, “Coming with
ten thousand times ten thousands of His saints” [Jude 14]; when He shall come in His own glory
as the Son of God, as the Son of Abraham, as the Son of David, as the Son of Man [Matthew
24:30], the immortal Man, the risen Man, the eternal Man, the resurrected Man, the God-Man,
Christ Jesus [Revelation 1:18]; when He shall come to be the King of Israel [John 1:49], and the
King of the nations of the earth [Psalm 2:9, Revelation 2:27] and the restorer of this world [Acts
3:21]—its rightful Creator, its Prince and its manifest and eternal God [John 8:58, Revelation
1:8]. “Behold, He cometh . . . every eye shall see Him” [Revelation 1:7]. That is the grand
announcement, the great theme of the Apocalypse, the Revelation, the last and climatic word of
the Bible.
Then John speaks of those who are remaining. In that tragic day, that judgment day, that horrible
day, when in impenitence, and in unbelief, and in rejection, they look up and see the church of all
the earth, and they stand unwashed, unforgiven in impenitence, naked, full of shame and
condemnation, “and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” [Revelation 1:7].
That is the sixth chapter of the Revelation, when we shall come to it, when “the heavens shall be
rolled back like a scroll. . .” [Revelation 6:14], when the fires and the glories of the stars of the
heavens above shall fall and fail, and when men everywhere shall cry for the rocks and
mountains to fall upon them “for the great day of His wrath has come: and who shall be able to
stand?” [Revelation 6:14-17]. “And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him”
[Revelation 1:7]. That word “wail” is strong in our language, but it is nothing comparable to the
word John uses in this Greek text. “And all the peoples and kindreds shall koptō, ‘cut’
themselves.” Koptō is the simple Greek word for “cut”—like you cut off a branch, like you cut
down a tree. And in Oriental grief, in despair, and in horror they cut themselves. So John says in
that great and climatic hour, the kindreds of the earth, in their unbelief and rejection, lost men
everywhere, shall “cut” themselves, shall “wail” in despair, in the presence of the throne of His
judgment. And John picks out one especial group. “And they also who pierced Him” [Revelation
1:7]. I used to wonder at that, and it was just the last day or so that it came to my heart. “And
they who pierced Him.” Why did John single them out, these who especially murdered Him?
John says they who crucified Him, who nailed Him to the tree, who drove the nails in His hands,
who thrust the spear in His side, who shared in the condemnation that brought His death [John
19:16-37], they shall confront someday the Lord Glory in the hour of judgment. Why singled
them out? And it came to my heart. John was there when Jesus was crucified. He was standing at
the foot of the cross when they raised Him between the earth and the sky. And he saw their hard
looks, and he heard their blasphemous voices, and he beheld their impenitences. John could
never forget it, and in writing the great day of the judgment that is yet to come, he said, “And
they too shall look upon the face of the risen, redeemed, glorified Lord, those who nailed Him to
the tree” [Zechariah 12:10].
“And all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” [Revelation 1:7]. There are those
who say, see, he uses the word phule, translated here “kindreds.” Phule is the word for “tribe”:
“And all the tribes of the earth shall wail.” Some people see in that Zechariah 12:10 and
following, when Israel shall look upon their Messiah whom they crucified and shall be in
bitterness of spirit and shall lament [Ezekiel 20:42-43]. And a nation shall be born in a day
[Isaiah 66:8]. It includes that, but I think it also includes all mankind everywhere. God’s people
shall be taken out [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]. And in this earth, there is wickedness. In this
world, there is vile iniquity. In this world, they blaspheme and curse the name of God. In this
world, in the days of those horrible tribulations, they shall, even those that God raises up to

Jesus was to come with clouds

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