EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM

When people share their belief that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled, listeners routinely protest with a short phrase from Rev. 1:7: “…every eye will see Him…” (NASB throughout). This response is almost always offered without regard to the context or even the rest of the verse. Here is the complete quotation:

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

Most see this verse as a major problem since there is no evidence Christ’s second coming in the clouds was ever seen by anyone, let alone everyone in the world. However, we will demonstrate that it is actually the popular futurist view of the second coming that cannot be reconciled with Rev. 1:7.

Popular scenario difficult to imagine

Many Christians would consider the following an accurate description of the second coming:

1. Jesus returns bodily on the clouds riding a white horse (Matt. 24:30; Rev. 19:11);
2. He streaks across the sky from east to west like a flash of lightning (Matt. 24:27);
3. Everyone in the whole world sees it take place (Rev. 1:7).

Popular author Max Lucado envisions a somewhat more serene return, evidently, minus the lightning:

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns—and there he is. Jesus. Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King. He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud. (Max Lucado, When Christ Comes [Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999], xvi)

Although Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) and is certainly able to perform amazing feats, the descriptions above raise some puzzling questions:

1. If Jesus and his horse are on top of the clouds, how will anyone see them? Won’t they actually be hidden by the clouds? Who hasn’t strained without success to see an airplane flying over that was above the clouds? Perhaps they might be visible on top of a cloud in the distance, but then, they would probably be too far away to be seen without a telescope.
2. When a lightning bolt strikes, we are usually looking somewhere else, and by the time we turn our heads, the flash has disappeared. So if Jesus races around the world like a streak of lightning, won’t most people miss it? Won’t everyone in the world need to be looking up at precisely the right moment and all at the same time? Does that ever happen? What about people in buildings, or millions looking downward to read or do their work? What about miners working underground, or sailors in submerged submarines? What about half of the world’s population on the dark side of the globe who will be sleeping? At any given moment, only a small fraction of humankind is looking toward the sky.
3. If Jesus were to orbit the earth at the equator for example, he would be visible to only a relatively small number of people living within a narrow strip of land. How would people in other parts of the globe manage to see him? Can you see clouds over the equator from your house?

Even with a loud trumpet blast to get everyone’s attention (Rev. 11:15) it seems impossible to imagine how “every eye” in the world could witness the second coming as most seem to understand it. Of course, some will argue that although we don’t have a complete understanding of Christ’s return, it will all work out, and we don’t need to be concerned with the details. Nevertheless, we think our questions indicate something is seriously wrong with the popular scenario. We will further suggest that the commonly held interpretation of Rev. 1:7 completely misses the intended meaning.

Zech. 12:10-11

Rev. 1:7 refers to Zech. 12:10-11:

10“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem… (Zech. 12:10-11)

The “house of David” refers to the nation of Jews under the Old Covenant. In the first century, God ceased working through this physical nation because under the New Covenant, we are all spiritually one in Christ (Rom. 10:12). Today, the church is God’s “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9). Therefore, this prophecy must refer to something within the bounds of the Old Covenant era which came to its complete end when Herod’s temple was destroyed in a.d. 70. Jerusalem became irrelevant at this time as well. God will never again use a physical temple in a physical city for animal sacrifices because Jesus has been sacrificed once for all (Heb. 10:10). Today, we have come to the “heavenly Jerusalem,” the church (Heb. 12:22-23). Sometimes, the church is described as God’s “temple” (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). Therefore, since earthly Jerusalem with its physical temple is now irrelevant, the “great mourning in Jerusalem” can refer only to the city’s destruction in the first century.

Matt. 24:30

Jesus referred to Zech. 12:10-11 in Matt. 24:30:

…all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

We have already seen that the original prophecy referred to the first century. Now, immediately after referencing Zechariah’s prophecy, Jesus confirms the time of fulfillment:

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (v. 34)

“Tribes” is translated from the Greek word φυλή (phule). It is the same word used in Jas. 1:1:

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

This refers to the 12 tribes of Israel, not all nations of the world, in which case the Greek would be ἔθνος (ethnos).

“Earth” is an unfortunate rendering since this English word has several shades of meaning. Most have assumed it refers to the entire globe here. However, a clump of earth can be held in one’s hand. A gardener might plant a seed in the earth and then, cover it with earth. The gardener would not have the globe in mind at all.

The word “earth” in Matt. 24:30 is γῆ (ge) in the Greek. It is translated “land” in other places:

And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah… (Matt. 2:6); Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel… (v. 20); The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali… (ch. 4:15); Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. (ch. 27:45)

In every case above, ge refers to the land of Israel or Judah, not the globe.

That the original prophecy refers to God’s Old Covenant people has been firmly established. Now, with additional support from the Greek in Matt. 24:30 we reconfirm that conclusion: “all the tribes of the earth will mourn” should be understood to mean all the tribes of the land of Israel will mourn.

Rev. 1:7

It is abundantly clear that Zech. 12:10-11, restated in Matt. 24:30, refers to the first century. So, when we find it referenced again in Rev. 1:7, the timing of its fulfillment is simply not open to question; the verse must refer to the first century; and once again, this is corroborated by the surrounding text:

1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place…3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Rev. 1:1-3)

The “soon” theme is carried right on through to the end of the vision:

And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. (ch. 22:6); And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (v. 10)

It is unnatural and unbelievable that “near” could mean almost 2,000 years. However, most futurist expositors either read right over all this or attempt to redefine “soon” and “near” with questionable appeals to the Greek and some rather creative interpretive techniques.

We can now begin to illuminate Rev. 1:7. The verse appears to contain three statements:

1. behold, He is coming with the clouds,
2. and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him;
3. and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

However, there are really only two declarations here; everything before the semi-colon, i.e., items one and two, belong together.

1. “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him;”

This combines an allusion to Zech. 12:10 (“pierced”) with a reference to Christ’s trial. The High Priest demanded Jesus answer this charge: “…tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matt. 26:63). Jesus gave him the answer he wanted: “…hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (v. 64). To some, this may not seem like a very direct response. However, it was, in fact, quite clear to those attending the trial; they knew exactly what Jesus meant. They mocked him saying, “Prophesy to us, You Christ” (v. 68). They knew he was claiming to be the Christ because he was identifying himself as “the Son of Man” mentioned in Dan. 7:13:

I kept looking in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven

One like a Son of Man was coming,

And He came up to the Ancient of Days

And was presented before Him.

Christ’s answer was “blasphemy” to the Jews (Matt. 26:65) because they knew that only God or the Son of God could be coming on clouds. But Jesus was not suggesting they would actually see him coming in the clouds; rather, he was simply identifying himself as the Christ: the “Son of God” (Matt. 26:63). This was the purpose of his slightly oblique reply.

God is sometimes figuratively pictured as coming on clouds. For instance, when David was delivered from his enemies, he praised God for things that never occurred literally:

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
And He sped upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,
Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,
Hailstones and coals of fire. (Ps. 18:9-12)

God didn’t literally “come down” in “thick clouds,” and no one saw him. This is imagery portraying God as all-powerful. Christ used this same device to answer the High Priest who understood it immediately. Today, we know that looking up into the sky actually peers into outer space. However, in the past, the sky was simply viewed as heaven. Anyone coming down through the clouds was coming from God’s throne.

We often use the word see to mean understand or perceive. Such usage is not new. Jesus did the same thing. So did Isaiah:

13“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’
16“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
17“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matt. 13:13-17).

Jesus used “eyes” as a metaphor for the mind, and by “see” he meant “understand”: “…blessed are your eyes, because they see.” When he told those present at his trial they would “see” him coming with clouds, he meant they would finally understand he was the Christ. He meant the same thing in Rev. 1:7 and even mentioned “those who pierced Him,” a clear reference to his accusers. They and the mob who demanded his crucifixion were the ones ultimately guilty of his murder (Matt. 27:1-2; Acts 2:23; 3:14-15), not the Roman soldier who pierced his side (John 19:34). So “see” in Rev. 1:7 means many people, including those guilty of his murder, would finally comprehend who he was.

The word “every” is common hyperbole. It was just as prevalent in ancient times as it is today. We use it all the time, but don’t expect people to take us literally. (Incidentally, the phrase all the time is hyperbole too.) One might say, “Oh, everybody knows that.” This just means a fact is well known, not that every living soul on earth knows it. It is not necessary to include every eye on the entire planet when interpreting Rev. 1:7. The point is Christ’s return would be dramatic, and his true identity as the Christ would be perceived by many.

Therefore, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him” in Rev. 1:7 does not require a literal interpretation. It simply predicts that the Jews who handed Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion would finally understand who he was. This pronouncement should be understood to mean many will perceive that Jesus is the Christ, even those guilty of his murder.

2. “and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.”

This has already been covered. In Zech. 12:10-11, it was “the house of David” and “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” who would mourn over the one they had pierced. In Matt. 24:30, it was the tribes of the land of Israel. The Greek is the same in Rev. 1:7: “tribes” is phule; “earth” is ge. Therefore, “all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him” should be understood as all the tribes of the land of Israel will mourn over Him.

The full meaning of Rev. 1:7 is now evident:

Many will perceive that Jesus is the Christ, even those guilty of his murder; and all the tribes of the land of Israel will mourn over Him.

Enormous implications

Since Rev. 1:7 clearly refers to the destruction of the Jews in a.d. 70, the book of Revelation must have been written no later than the late sixties. Furthermore, since this one verse from Revelation was fulfilled in a.d. 70, then all of Revelation must have been fulfilled by that time. And since all of Revelation has been fulfilled, then all eschatological events including the second coming, resurrection of the dead, rapture and judgment must have come to complete fulfillment as well.

We marvel at the tremendous power packed into Rev. 1:7. The proper understanding of this solitary verse is enough to prove that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. The verse most often quoted to refute the first century fulfillment when it actually supports it.

Conclusion

1. When Jesus returned in a.d. 70, many perceived that he was the Christ, even those guilty of his murder; and all the tribes of the land of Israel mourned over him;
2. The book of Revelation was written before a.d. 70;
3. All Bible prophecy came to complete fulfillment in a.d. 70.

Objection

Objection: In Acts 1:9-11, we see Jesus ascending into a literal cloud. The “men in white clothing” said he would return “in just the same way.” Doesn’t that demand a literal cloud?

Answer: Yes. However, we must be careful to distinguish between two groups of people: the loyal followers of Jesus and the unrepentant Jews. It was Christ’s disciples who witnessed the ascension. The promise that Jesus would return “in just the same way,” i.e., in a cloud, was made to them only. They eventually rose to meet Jesus in the clouds at which time their bodies were transformed in the “twinkling of an eye” to be conformed to his glorious body (1 Thess. 4:16-17; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:50-54).

The unrepentant Jews experienced nothing like this. They received only vengeance, fire and death (Luke 21:22; Matt. 13:41-50; 22:7). Granted, they were predicted to “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky” (Matt. 24:30), but this should no more be taken literally than other similar Old Testament descriptions of God taking vengeance on his enemies at which times he was not literally seen on clouds (Ps. 18:9-12; 97:2-3; 104:3; Isa. 19:1).

Who knows? Perhaps those punished by God actually do see him in the clouds as they meet their doom. However, since they are always being destroyed, they never leave behind a record of their experiences. We cannot prove this occurs; however, neither can anyone prove it doesn’t. So ultimately, we are not stating categorically that Jesus was not seen on the clouds; we are simply saying that references to coming with clouds do not require a literal interpretation. They are best understood as symbolic, indentifying Jesus as the Christ.