THE COMING GLORY

Revelation 1:7

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and the people who pierced him will see him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over him. Yea! Amen!

FROM now on in almost every passage, we shall have to note John’s repeated use of the Old Testament. He was so familiar with the Old Testament and it was so much a part of his thinking that it was almost impossible for him to write a paragraph without quoting it. This is interesting and significant. John was living in a time when to be a Christian was desperately difficult. He himself had experienced banishment and imprisonment and hard labour; and there were many who met their deaths in the most cruel ways. The best way to maintain courage and hope in such a situation was to remember that God had never failed in the past and that his power had not grown less now.
In this passage, John sets down the motto and the text of his whole book, his confidence in the triumphant return of Christ, which would rescue Christians in distress from the cruelty of their enemies.
(1) To Christians, the return of Christ is a promise on which to feed the soul. John takes as his picture of that return Daniel’s vision of the four great beasts, the powers which have held the world in their grip (Daniel 7:1—14). There was Babylon, the power that was like a lion with eagle’s wings (7:4). There was Persia, the power that was like a savage bear (7:5). There was Greece, the power that was like a winged leopard (7:6). There was Rome, a beast with iron teeth, beyond description (7:7). But the day of these bestial empires was over, and the dominion was to be given to a gentle power like a son of man. ‘As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a [son of man] coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him’ (7:13—14). It is from that passage in Daniel that there emerges the ever-recurring picture of the Son of Man coming on the clouds (Mark 13:26, 14:62; Matthew 24:30, 26:64). When we strip away the purely temporary imagery–we, for instance, no longer think of heaven as a localized place above the sky–we are left with the unchanging truth that the day will come when Jesus Christ will be Lord of all. In that hope, there has always been the source of strength and the comfort of Christians for whom life was difficult and for whom faith meant death.
(2) To the enemies of Christ, the return of Christ is a threat. To make this point, John again quotes the Old Testament, from Zechariah 12:10, which contains the words: ‘When they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.’ The story behind the Zechariah saying is this. God gave his people a good shepherd; but the people in their disobedient folly killed him and took to themselves evil and self-seeking shepherds. But the day will come when in the grace of God they will bitterly repent, and in that day they will look on the good shepherd whom they pierced and will sorrowfully lament for him and for what they have done. John takes that picture and applies it to Jesus. The day will come when all people, even those who crucified him, will look on him again; and, this time, he will be not a broken figure on a cross but a regal figure to whom universal dominion has been given.
The first reference of these words is to the Jews and the Romans who actually crucified Jesus. But, in every age, all who sin crucify him again. The day will come when those who disregarded and those who opposed Jesus Christ will find him the Lord of the universe and the judge of their souls.
The passage closes with the two exclamations: ‘Even so. Amen!’ In the Greek, the words are nai and amÄ“n. Nai is the Greek and amÄ“n is the Hebrew for a solemn affirmation–‘Yes, indeed! So let it be!’ By using the expression in both Greek and Hebrew, John underlines its fearful solemnity.

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 41—43). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

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