Revelation 1:7-8 - "Every Eye Will See Him"

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Yesterday we talked about how that we are to be overcomers! With God’s Word living in us, we can overcome the “wicked one” and his temptations (1 John 2:14). With God’s Holy Spirit working in us, we can overcome the spirit of antichrist (1 John 4:4), because greater is He who is in us than he that is in the world. And by faith in Jesus Christ, we can overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5). Remember the overriding theme of the Book of Revelation is the return of Jesus Christ to defeat all evil and to establish His reign. The statement in Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He cometh with clouds," describes our Lord's return to the earth, and is amplified in Revelation 19:11-21, where John sees Jesus coming on a white horse with the armies of heaven. This is not the same as His return in the air to catch away His people (1 Cor. 15:51-58).  1 Thessalonians 4:17 describes it this way: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” When He comes to catch away (rapture) His church, He will come as a thief.  In His message to the church of Sardis, Jesus tells them in Revelation 3:3: “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.” After Paul describes the catching up of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, he goes on to say this in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” It is obvious that this event of Jesus coming to the earth as described in Revelation 1:7, will be witnessed by the whole world, (“Every eye shall see Him…”),  and especially by a repentant nation of Israel, (“even they who pierced Him”). Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10-12 also describe this event! It will be public return, not a secret one (Matt. 24:30-31), and will climax the Tribulation period that is described in Revelation 6-19. Godly Bible students have not always agreed as to the order of events leading up to the establishment of God's eternal kingdom (Rev. 21-22). I personally believe that the next event on God's calendar is the Rapture, when Christ shall return in the air and take His church to glory. Christ's promise to the church in Revelation 3:10-11 indicates that the church will not go through the Tribulation, and this is further supported by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9-10. It is also significant to me that there is no mention of the word church between Revelation 3:22 and 22:16. After the church is raptured, the events depicted in Revelation 6-19 will occur: the Tribulation, the rise of the "man of sin," the Great Tribulation (the wrath of God), and the destruction of man-made world government, and then Christ's return to the earth to set up His kingdom. Daniel indicates that this period of worldwide trouble will last seven years (Dan. 9:25-27). Throughout the Book of Revelation, you will find measurements of time that coincide with this seven-year time span (Revelation 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). Twice in these two verses, Revelation 1:7&8, we read that Jesus is coming! And for a fact His coming is nearer today than it was yesterday! Are you ready?