Many folks have used Revelation 1:7 to say that Jesus’ Second Coming has not yet occurred. After all, if every eye would see the Lord, coming on a lily white, cumulus cloud when he returns, and, given the fact that no one has reported seeing such a news worthy event up to this present day, then surely we must still look for Jesus’ Second Coming in the future. Personally, I think it is high time we stop shooting from the hip with the word of God and take the time to investigate what the text really says. Do you really believe you are able to interpret Jesus’ coming by understanding Biblical language in a 21st century context? We need to consider the fact that the whole Bible, that is, the first and second covenants, were written by Jews and for Jews, using a Jewish manner of speaking. In other words, we need to acquaint ourselves with the Jewish culture of the day, and take advantage of the Greek lexicons and other scholarly writings about the Bible available to us today.
First of all, we need to realize that where we place the date of the writing of the Apocalypse in the first century has an intense eschatological consequence, as far as our ability to understand the truth contained in this book is concerned. For example, if we have the wrong date of the writing, how could we know who Babylon or the Harlot are? Who is the Beast and the False Prophet, if we place the date of the writing of the Apocalypse **after** their judgment? A false dating of this book dooms the Bible student to accept a false interpretation of the things he reads in this marvelous prophecy.
As I mentioned above, John tells us that Jesus is coming and “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). Context is very, very important at this point. Is John speaking of every eye in a global sense, or is he speaking of every eye in a local sense? Well, verse-7 tells us that “those who pierced Him; (would see him) and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him” (NASB). In other words, the Jews of the first century AD are the **they** who would see him! Obviously, this has to do with the judgment of those who were responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. The Apocalypse is all about the judgment of those responsible for Jesus’ death and that of his disciples and Apostles, and their “eyes would see Him; and all the tribes of the earth (meaning the land of the Jews or Israel) will mourn over Him” (because he is the coming Judge). Obviously, the parenthesis are mine in that excerpt.
Notice what we are told in one of the Gospel narratives:
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:24-25 NASB)
“All the people” in the text refers to the Jewish authorities, but do you see what they are saying? They are admitting to the blood guilt of Jesus. These are those whose eyes would see Him (Revelation 1:7). There’s really no room for debate here. Three times Pilate tried to release Jesus, but he was prevented by the Jewish authorities and a threat of a riot by close to a million or more Jews, if we can believe Josephus’ account of how many Jews were celebrating the Passover in 66 AD, and how much difference would there be thirty some years earlier?
Finally and concerning “every eye shall see Him,” Jesus claimed in Matthew 16:27-28 that he would come to vindicate the deaths of his disciples and their reward would be with him. This is not only speaking of the judgment, but also the resurrection of the saints, because one cannot separate those events from the coming of the Lord. Moreover, Jesus said all this would occur in the expected lifetimes of his disciples (Matthew 16:28; 23:34-36; compare Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62). Did they see him (Revelation 1:7), certainly not physically, but they saw his judgment coming in the war with Rome cir. 66-70 AD, just as Pharaoh, hundreds of years earlier, saw his judgment coming from the Lord in the person of the Assyrian king (Isaiah 19:1).
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30 responses to “Every Eye Will See Him”
Greetings Gary, at the end of the day we are going to have to agree to disagree. I see no point in trying to convince you about how you need to read the Apocalypse. I’ve written how Revelation 1:7 should be understood and backed my understanding up with Scripture and how the Greek is understood by scholars who wrote the Greek Lexicons that we use to help us in our studies.
“All” Judea in Matthew 3:5 is the same Greek as “every” eye in Revelation 1:7, yet, clearly, Matthew didn’t mean all the people who lived in Judea went out to be baptized by John. If **every** eye of every last man, woman and child in the world saw a physical Jesus returning in the clouds, what would that look like? How could someone fishing or swimming in the ocean see Jesus descending upon Mount Olivet? How could everyone in America, Canada, Argentina and folks in a submarine (all at the same time, mind you) see that? I offered a simple, plausible explanation of the Scriptures, but you say I am twisting them, but it seems alright if you make a circus out of them. How is the circus you want me to believe not **twisting** the Scriptures?
Concerning the verse adding “even those who pierced him”, The word “even” is G2532 and is often translated “and” in the Bible. Yet, this word cannot alway mean “in addition to” as you seem to desire it to mean. It also has an explanatory meaning as in Acts 23:6 where Paul speaks of the “hope and resurrection of the dead.” the **hope** and the **resurrection** are the same here. The **hope** of the dead is the **resurrection** of the dead. So, too, the “every” eye in Revelation 1:7 is of those who pierced Jesus, as was prophesied in Matthew 26:64. Moreover, the verse continues with “…and all tribes (G5443) of the earth will mourn because of him.” The Greek word is translated into ‘tribe’ everywhere in the New Covenant Scriptures **except** in Revelation. It nearly always refers to all the tribes of Israel.
Concerning Matthew 24:23-27, I have neither claimed that Jesus is in a secret room somewhere, or that he is in the wilderness, and you should go out to see him? Believe me, just as no one could hide a lightning bolt out of the sky, no one could keep the fall of Jerusalem secret. It was known throughout the world. No one missed it. The news spread quickly (like lightening). The war lasted for 3 ½ years, and everyone would have been wondering how the rebellion was going. Once the war began, folks would have understood Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 26:64. He didn’t have to be literally seen for folks to know he had come to judge the Jews and the world (cp Matthew 16:27-28).
Let me ask you a question, Gary. Is Abraham lying in a grave somewhere, or is he in heaven? Do you believe you will go to heaven when you die? If you do, and / or that folks like Abraham are with Jesus, then you have agreed that the resurrection has already occurred, because before our resurrection, there can be no such thing as immortality for you and me (or even Abraham for that matter). On the other hand, if Abraham is alive today, the resurrection has occurred, and you and I go to be with Jesus when we die. If not, when we die we are in a place where nothing but blackness of darkness exists, where our very thoughts perish, and there we’ll stay, while we ‘wait’ unconsciously for Jesus. Pick one or the other, my friend, because you can’t have life and no resurrection too, and you can’t have a resurrection without the Second Coming.
Lord bless you as you ponder his word.
Eddie,
Yes, you will not be able to convince me that the Lord has already come, since this is clearly a false doctrine. When Jesus does return, we are promised immortal bodies, we will become like Jesus, we will see him as he really is, face to face, and we will live with him forever. And those that have died in Christ will be raised up at the same time, at the second coming of Jesus, to meet him in the clouds.
It’s a pointless argument to insist that this event already occurred, twisting every scripture to fit that sad narrative. Seriously, Eddie, what does your doctrine say for you and I, for all modern day Christians? I’m clearly still living in a perishable body, and I’ve never seen Jesus as he really is, face to face, knowing him as he knows me. Have you seen Jesus face to face? Did he reward you with a new body?
No, it’s just all too obvious that this has not yet happened – all the promises that Jesus made, throughout the bible, the very main point of the bible, the promise that when Jesus returns, he will bring us our reward. Full Preterism would sacrifice all of this for the silly notion that Jesus already came and went and all the Christians since 70 AD missed it. This is just crazy talk.
The news of 70 AD didn’t spread like wildfire, more like a wet match. I’d never even considered the idea until I started researching different views of eschatology, literally stumbling onto it from searching the internet. The promise of Jesus’ second coming, the good news, is what spread like wildfire. The idea that we all missed it has been heard by only a small set of people, and believed by even fewer.
About the resurrection, it will occur at the end of our age, when Jesus does return, just like the bible says – there’s really no choice for me to make beyond accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Still alive or already dead in Christ, we’ll meet Jesus in the clouds and receive our reward, just like the bible says – this is the blessed hope.
The bible is actually quite ambiguous about the exact state of the dead, even those awaiting new life at the resurrection. However, Jesus does make it clear that Abraham is alive in 32 AD, well before even his own resurrection:
Matthew 22:30-32 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
So, Eddie, using your logic, we could make the argument that the resurrection had already occurred well before 70 AD. In my opinion, that would also be misinterpreting scriptures, it would be contradicting many other scriptures that fix the time of the resurrection at the second coming.
My best understanding of this paradox is that Jesus often speaks in a timeless sense. Abraham is alive at the time Jesus walked the earth because, in the context of God, the resurrection has already occurred, even though we’re still quite restricted by time and must still wait for the second coming and the resurrection to happen in our own sense of time sequenced events.
A similar paradox is presented when Jesus tells one of the criminals “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Of course, this passage has also sparked much debate about what happens to us when we die in Christ, and what states exists between death and resurrection. For myself, while it’s more aesthetically pleasing to think we go to be with the Lord as soon as we die, it’s just as likely that we just sort of blink out of time and then awaken at the end of the age.
Not sure it really matters all that much, and none of this provides a valid argument to believe the resurrection has already occurred. Just a lot more twisting scripture to fit a narrative. And, in this case, a clearly false narrative. The bible is quite explicit about this:
2 Timothy 15-18 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
God Bless,
-Gary
Not trying to convince you Gary, just wondering why you still come with the same type of question. After all a while back you claimed:
Why are you still trying to convince me that you are correct?
All of your replies are off the cuff, no substance and no Scripture. For example:
Were you there? How would you know how fast such news would spread?
Yet, the Bible says Jesus appeared in the end of the age (Hebrews 1:2), and promised he would return before that generation died off (Matthew 16:27-28).
What seems to be the problem is you already have it all figured out and, naturally, the Bible must agree with you. When you are faced with a Scripture like Hebrews 1:2 or and Matthew 16:27-28, they must be interpreted to mean something that wouldn’t be obvious to the natural understanding.
The Bible was written by Jews, to Jews and for Jews. When it speaks of “the end of the age” it is speaking of the end of the Old Covenant or the end of the Jewish age (Deuteronomy 31:28-29), the end of when God addressed the world through them.
You attempted to answer whether or not Abraham is alive–he is according to God, but not really alive according to us and the ‘future’ resurrection. But, really what does that mean? Is that a yes or a no? You didn’t even attempt an answer about yourself. Do you believe when you die you will go to be with the Lord? If you do, you must believe the resurrection already occurrred, beause there is no immortality without a resurrection. But if you don’t go to be with the Lord when you die, how would you interpret the Scripture that as a believer you will never die (John 11:26)?
You cannot have immortality without a resurrection and you cannot have a resurrection without the return of Christ. Think about it before (or if) you reply again.
One simply cannot cast the Scriptures above aside in favor of: “Well, I didn’t see Jesus come, therefore, he couldn’t have come!” I have to wonder where “faith” is in that statement. Nevertheless, if you say its there, I know you belive it. Have a great day Gary, and may the Lord guide you in your studies.
Eddie,
You’re the one that claimed the news of the second coming in 70 AD spread like wildfire. Were you there? Do you have any evidence of this? Clearly if it did spread like wildfire, then it would still be news today – and it’s not, hardly an obscurity. It’s self evident that your claim is false.
You claim that there can be no immortality without a resurrection and that you cannot have a resurrection without the return of Christ. But then you agree that Abraham was already alive before the resurrection and before the return of Christ, supposedly in 70 AD. This argument makes no sense.
Faith comes from believing what the bible says, not from what we want it to say. The bible says that when Jesus returns, he will bring us our reward. So, Eddie, again, have you seen Jesus face to face? Have you received a new immortal body? Do you recall being gathered up in the clouds to meet Christ with all the other Christians, both alive and dead?
Since we haven’t received what Jesus promised to bring us upon his return, it directly follows that he has not yet returned. That’s simple logic. That’s simple faith. To argue that he has already returned, but failed to deliver on his many promises, that’s a very sad position to be in.
So, Eddie, I do still get emails from your blog, and read through many of them. And I do appreciate the time you spend and your dedication to study God’s word, working hard to make rational sense out of it. But, more times then not, I’m left feeling that you are more intent on twisting the word to fit your own narrative, as you declare yet again, that all the facts line up around 70 AD – your holy grail it seems.
I guess I’m worried about you, Eddie. A Christian brother that clearly invests way more time and effort than I ever have, reading the same word as I do, guided by the same Holy Spirit. And, yet, still insisting on such a radically different interpretation. It does bother me Eddie. The fact that there can be such a wide divergence amongst serious Christians really bothers me.
So, I hope that I’m not being too annoying and I truly do not want to offend you, but I do believe that you are not only holding on to a false doctrine, you’re also preaching a false doctrine. Clearly, if you are wrong about the resurrection, then you have placed yourself in alignment with Hymenaeus and Philetus. And that is dangerous ground to be standing on…
God Bless you Eddie,
-Gary
Greetings, Gary. You know what. I was offended with the “twisting” the Scriptures remark, but I can see you didn’t mean any offence by reading your latest reply. Thank you for your concern, but really, you needn’t worry about me. We differ on many things, but I don’t worry about you. We’re in the hands of the Lord, and that’s a good place to be.
Concerning the Hymenaeus Heresy (2Timothy 2:17-18), which concerns preaching that the resurrection is past, think about what you are saying Gary. Let’s suppose for a moment you are correct that Jesus would come and every eye in the world would see him, that it would be such an earth shattering event that none could miss it, and that this is what the Apostles preached. How could someone like Hymenaeus convince folks that such an event had already occurred? This fact alone ought to make your understanding suspect. How could anyone believe the resurrection had already occurred in the days of the Apostles, if they described that event as you have in this discussion? Notice the problem:
If the Second Coming and the resurrection have all the “bells and whistles” that you claim they have, how could anyone during the days of the Apostles’ testimony be deceived into thinking they had missed those events, that they had already occurred (2Thessalonians 2:1-2; 2Timothy 2:17-18)?
Concerning “wildfire”, that’s a term only you have used to describe how I thought the news would spread. I used the Biblical term “lightning”, which is an obvious metaphor for “quickly”, which is the definition I used, and that only once.
Concerning Abraham being alive before 70 AD, that was never my claim. He and all the Old Covenant saints were dead awaiting resurrection. The Scriptures claim there is no consciousness in the grave, because there our thoughts perish (Psalm 6:5; 146:4). No, according to Scripture Abe saw Jesus’ day in vision and was glad (John 8:56), and was content to wait (Hebrews 11:13). So, if good ol’ Abe is alive today, it is because the resurrection has already occurred.