Behold, He Comes!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Behold, 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. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
We are at the end of the opening of this book now and I want to call your attention to something we say every time we take the Lord’s Supper. At the end, we repeat this line:
1 Corinthians 11:26 (KJV 1900)
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
And I say that to point out that what we are doing then primarily for remembrance, should also at the same time move our minds to what it is that we also ought to be looking to the future for.
When we take the Lord’s Supper we are looking forward because we are doing that “till he comes.”
When we take the Lord’s Supper we are looking forward because we are doing that “till he comes.”
And so the second part of our hope in trouble deals with this promise in the form of an exclamation in verse 7.
Behold, 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.
That word “behold” is an imperative. You could think of it this way: “Look! He comes with the clouds”
That word “behold” is an imperative. You could think of it this way: “Look! He comes with the clouds”
If you get the picture in your head of someone pointing to the sky, you are right on with what is happening here. This is the first prophecy and it is one the comes to the coming of Christ. We are going to look at many of them here, but this is the first.
The word come is used 11 times of the Lord’s coming and seven of them are from the Lord Himself
The word come is used 11 times of the Lord’s coming and seven of them are from the Lord Himself
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
And that is when the bride of Christ replies “even so, come, Lord Jesus”
Now the big question on this:
Which of the comings of the Lord Jesus is this referring to?
Which of the comings of the Lord Jesus is this referring to?
Why do we ask that? Well, because the NT indicates that there are two comings.
The first of them is when He comes to catch away His bride.
The first of them is when He comes to catch away His bride.
1 Thess 4 We are told that we will be caught-up. That has reference to being snatched or taken away suddenly. And it is that word that the Latin word Rapto is translated into. The word rapture is not in your NT.
It isn’t even a Greek word, but it is the Latin translation of the word caught up.
So that first coming is commonly referred to as the Rapture. And our NT has some illustrations of that.
Enoch. He was not because God took-him. He just snatched him up and took him away.
Enoch. He was not because God took-him. He just snatched him up and took him away.
Elijah was caught up in a fiery chariot.
Elijah was caught up in a fiery chariot.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 (KJV 1900)
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
This happened to our Lord as well when He ascended
This happened to our Lord as well when He ascended
Revelation 12:5 (KJV 1900)
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
It happened to Paul
It happened to Paul
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
What Paul experienced, what our Lord experienced in being caught up. 1 Thess 4 promises to the Bride of Christ.
What Paul experienced, what our Lord experienced in being caught up. 1 Thess 4 promises to the Bride of Christ.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
with them… with who? With those who were dead who have already been raised.
And when they are raised, they will be raised incorruptible.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
This is a mystery… not previously revealed, but we are not all going to sleep in Christ. they will not die a physical death. Even though we won’t all die, we all are going to be changed and that’s going to happen in an incalculably small moment in time.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
He said He was going to come again for us. And so, as believers. As believing people, we are waiting for this.
So… as a result of all those references. NT believers have laid hold of the doctrine of immanency pertaining to Christ’s return.
So… as a result of all those references. NT believers have laid hold of the doctrine of immanency pertaining to Christ’s return.
The immanent coming of Jesus Christ has
Latin word has to do with something hanging over. Something hanging over your head
Immanency carries with it both certainty and uncertainty of an event.
Immanency carries with it both certainty and uncertainty of an event.
Behold, I come (certain), but I come as a thief (uncertainty) the timing.
So you are always prepared for Him to come, just like you always lock your door.
There is another coming of Christ, whose timing is more certain. We still don’t know the day or hour of this coming, but it is more certain in relation to other events.
This other coming happens at the end of the seven year period we know as the tribulation and we usually refer to it as the Second Coming.
This other coming happens at the end of the seven year period we know as the tribulation and we usually refer to it as the Second Coming.
The tribulation the time of Great pressure. That period of time is described in terms of years and months and days. So to me, it is pretty clear how long that is going to be.
And that tribulation is going to end with a glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. He will not be alone. He is going to come with all of the armies of Heaven. This coming is described in Rev 19. At that time He is on a white charger and He has a vesture dipped in blood. And on His thigh is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He will destroy His enemies in a moment.
After that an earthly rule will be set up by Him to demonstrate that He alone can rule and do so justly.
So… which one of those is verse 7 referring to. Look again at our text.
Behold, 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.
Two Scriptural options:
Two Scriptural options:
Well… we have two scriptural options for this. I hope you don’t get disappointed when I don’t just come out and say this is what it is. We like dogmatism in our theology. So I’ll give the options, and you can be dogmatic
One possibility is that this verse actually telescopes both of the comings we have referred to together.
One possibility is that this verse actually telescopes both of the comings we have referred to together.
So it’s actually bringing together both the rapture and the second coming.
This happens in Scripture sometimes. There are verses that will bring together events that are separated by thousands of years.
In Luke 4 there is a very famous passage where on the Sabbath, they brought to Jesus the scroll to do the reading that day. When Jesus took the scroll, He went immediately to the first two verses of Isaiah 61.
And Luke we see what it is that He read:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Now if you have your finger there, look back at Isaiah to see the original prophecy.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all that mourn;
What’s different?
Verse 1 is the same… but verse 2. In Luke, once He read the phrase “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” He closed the book. But the passage in Isaiah keeps going. What about the day of vengeance? That is to be proclaimed, but that wasn’t true at the first coming. In fact. John says this explicitly
John 3:17 (KJV 1900)
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
The first coming wasn’t a coming to proclaim the vengeance of our God, but there is a coming that is for that purpose. When He comes to deal with His enemies, their persecutions and to condemn them for their unbelief. So if He had read the whole passage, He wouldn’t have been able to say “today this is fulfilled in your ears” of that line. That line is for a future coming along with verse 3 and many other things that goes through chapter 61.
Now we looked at that because that is an example of something like this taking place. And the readers of the OT before having the NT would most likely have put all of that together in one coming. But with further revelation we see the separation.
So maybe that is happening in verse 7
Behold, 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.
Or maybe it’s just one. But if one.... which one.
We get a clue on this from the Olivet discourse.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The similarities between these two passages really pop out. Coming with clouds the fact that everyone is going to mourn or wail when they see Him.
So this parallels in 1:7 very closely, but what is helpful is that we have a time indicator in Matthew 24.
In verse 30 it say that this shall happen “then” So when is the then? Look back at verse 21 in the same chapter
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
In verse 21 we are are talking about the “then” of the great tribulation. An unprecedented tribulation. Not since the beginning of the world or ever will be again. There really is only period of time that fits this description.
Then look at verse 26
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
People are going to start saying Jesus is in a particular place. They’ll be convinced of this, and we are not to believe that because when He comes it is going to be overwhelmingly obvious.
Matthew 24:27 (KJV 1900)
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
So you don’t need to wonder about it, or make some special effort to catch a glimpse.
And then you have this
Matthew 24:29 (KJV 1900)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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:
So if Rev 1:7 isn’t telescoping these two comings together, which it very well could be, which one do we know for sure is included?
This is certainly referring to the Coming that happens at the end of the Tribulation
This is certainly referring to the Coming that happens at the end of the Tribulation
And this fits because, this book’s climax is that second coming of Christ. That really is the focus.
This coming has been emphasized repeatedly in Scripture. In the book right before this one If you just turn a page back in your Bible to Jude. Jude tells us this:
Did you know that Enoch prophesied about this coming?
Turn back just one page in your Bibles from Rev 1 to Jude.
Jude 14–15 (KJV 1900)
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
This has been prophesied to take place even before Abraham. He is coming to execute judgment. It’s been prophesied and anticipated since the very beginnings of the human race.
Revelations opens with the anticipation of this coming.
Now. Let’s turn our attention for a moment to two other things about His coming.
There is a universality and a particularity to those who this coming will be seen by.
There is a universality and a particularity to those who this coming will be seen by.
Revelation 1:7 (KJV 1900)
Behold, 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.
God is describing something about seeing that coming.
So first. how many eyes are going to see Him? All of them.
How is that going to happen? CNN?
Would this have been possible before our modern technology? Is God under the restraints of our conventions to demonstrate His power? There would not have been any trouble then, nor would there be any trouble now of God displaying Himself to all eyes globally with His own power.
Remember that even Satan was able show our Lord, in a moment of time, all the Kingdoms of the earth. If Satan could do that, what trouble would our Lord have with such a feat?
But also, there is a special reference of Him displaying Himself to a particular group of people. He’s going to do it to those who pierced Him.
The particular group of people that will see this are those who pierced Him.
The particular group of people that will see this are those who pierced Him.
That is a direct quotation from an OT prophet.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
We have touched on this before, but I want to go over it again because of the unique depth this adds to our understanding of God’s love and sovereignty.
The context of this chapter is centered around Jerusalem. The word Jerusalem occurs 22 times in Zech 12-14. This place is the focal point.
You also have the phrase “in that day.” That phrase occurs 17 times in those three chapters.
There is a coming day when God is going to deal with Jerusalem. And this prophecy wraps around those things.
The day, if you read through it, is also referred to as “The day of the Lord” That period of time includes the tribulation period we talked about because you will see the constant reference to coming judgment and cataclysmic events and awful disasters.
The Day of the Lord is also used of that wonderful time in the future where the Lord reigns on the earth and there is finally perfect peace.
We touched on this during our first lesson I think, but the Day of the Lord refers to that whole sequence of events. The wrath, the tribulation, and the 1000 year reign. We are in that day in Zechariah Now look at 12 9:
And it shall come to pass in that day, That I will seek to destroy all the nations That come against Jerusalem.
There is coming a day when all the nations that are going to come together against that city, and God is going to seek to destroy them. But not everyone.
Verse 10
Zechariah 12:10 (KJV 1900)
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
The house and David is going to get grace and supplications and they are going to see something.... they are going to look upon me, whom they have pierced.
And they’re going to mourn. Now the Jewish people have never done that. They have never mourned for the one they have pierced. But they will.
This phrase “upon me whom they have pierced” is absolutely astounding. In all honesty, it is almost unbelievable if the Scripture had not explicitly stated it. And the reason is because of the one who is saying this. Who is speaking?
And it shall come to pass in that day, That I will seek to destroy all the nations That come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
The Speaker is the the Lord. What? How do you pierce the Lord. You can’t pierce Jehovah God. I guarantee you the bulk of interpreters who saw that failed to interpret it literally. But it was fulfilled literally wasn’t it?
We know this for sure because it is quoted in our passage in Revelation, but there is another passage where this is quoted as well. Where?
For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
This happened right after the Roman soldiers stuck that spear into Jesus’ side during His crucifixion. Now for clarity, John wasn’t saying here that the piercing there on the cross was the fulfillment of the prophecy. He was saying that that action needed to happen on the cross so that the prophecy could be fulfilled later. Zech 12 is not going to get fulfilled until way in the future, but it could not have be fulfilled then had it not happen when it did on the cross.
The book of Acts testifies that the apostles do not differentiate between the Romans who did the act and the Jews who called for it.
The book of Acts testifies that the apostles do not differentiate between the Romans who did the act and the Jews who called for it.
Peter says this in Acts 2
Acts 2:22–23 (KJV 1900)
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
They did it. And some day they are going to look on Him whom they have pierced. And when they do, they are going to mourn.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
There is going to be an incredible mourning. They are going to mourn like they would for the loss of their only son. It is one thing to mourn for a child who was miscarried or stillborn. That is an incredible grief, but it would be another to lose your only Son, there is an intensified bitterness to that grief and that is anguish that will be felt over this. That’s a grief that would cause you to accuse God of not being good. A grief that is inconsolable even by your spouse. And you see that in verses 11-12 where they have to just separate themselves from each other because they are going to be so overwhelmed with sorrow.
The mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon was the mourning when Judah lost Josiah. His untimely death where they lost their last hope.
It is going to finally dawn on them that they pierced their Messiah. But.... they don’t need to fear because of this.
In that day there shall be a fountain opened To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem For sin and for uncleanness.
And they will be saved. A third of them anyway. And they are going to be converted at the sight of their Messiah. I don’t fully understand this, but I am very anxious to see it. And we are going to get to see it. Now as if to answer the question, “What in the world will it take to make something like this happen.” We get the answer in verse 8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
The confirmation that this incredible even could even possibly take place is in the description of the God who will be doing the work. He is the beginning and the end. And He is not just powerful. He is the all-powerful.
He is mighty to Save!
In conclusion:
The people in the NT had a real and tangible fervency with which they anticipated the coming Messiah.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.
Paul is pronouncing this condemnation not just generally to lost people, but specifically of those He was contending with the gospel against. The false apostles. And then after that He says this word “Maranatha” Now that is an aremaic word that has just been transliterated into our Bibles. So this isn’t a translation, that is the actual word and how it is pronounced.
The word Maranatha is really not a word, but a sentence. It says either “Our Lord comes!” or “Our Lord, Come!”
The word Maranatha is really not a word, but a sentence. It says either “Our Lord comes!” or “Our Lord, Come!”
There is a little confusion on where the emphasis lands on this.
Maran atha. Our Lord, Come! Our Lord comes. Either way, there is this astounding and fervent expectation that Christ would just come.
And when we observe the Lord’s table as often as we do this we show the Lord’s death and the fact that He is coming.
He is coming, and we need to be expecting His coming. Not just because it is our duty to do so, but because it is the second part of our Hope in trouble and tribulation. Are you hurting? Is the burden too much? Look, He comes. And regardless of what we are experiencing on earth, would not the glory be exponentially multiplied if we were there, with Him. So Our Lord, Come!