BEHOLD!
REVELATION
BEHOLD!
Revelation 1:7 (NASB 2020)
“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.
The word “behold” alerts us to turn our full attention to that which follows. It is a call to focus our minds. A proclamation is about to be made and we will not want to miss or ignore it.
He is coming with the clouds. No one will miss this or mistake it for any natural phenomenon. Those who were complicit in His death will see Him. All the tribes, the nations or people, of the earth will mourn. Clearly we are going to need to unpack this.
He is coming with the clouds. He is coming with great glory. This statement calls us to remember earlier words.
In Daniel 7:13–14 we find.
“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.
And to Him was given dominion, Honor, and a kingdom,
So that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.” (NASB 2020)
In Matthew 24:30 Jesus Himself tells us
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then 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.” (NASB 2020)
We might also remember the pillar of cloud that led the Hebrew people as they traveled to the Promised Land and the smoke and cloud that surrounded Mount Sinai veiling the presence of God.
This is the way our Lord will come. The first time, He came as a helpless infant, completely dependent on those He had created. This time, He will be revealed in His glory, majesty, and power. No one will fail to see Him. His awesome presence will overwhelm and compel their full and rapt attention. As prophesied in Zechariah 12:10 and initially fulfilled in John 19:37, “And again another Scripture says, “THEY WILL LOOK AT HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED.” (NASB 2020) Those who pierced Him will look upon Him.
Those that pierced Him are all who were complicit in His death, but we learn in Acts 26:15 (see also Acts 9:5 and 22:8) which says, “And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” (NASB 2020) Those who persecute God’s children are really persecuting Him. Scripture demonstrates this idea in a number of places. One is 1 Samuel 8:7. God sets Samuel’s thinking right, saying, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them.” (NASB 2020)
No wonder then that the people of the earth will mourn over, or because of, Him. The mourning that is indicated here is beating the chest, deep woeful wailing of the kind we see in Jeremiah 6:26
“Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth
And roll in ashes;
Mourn as for an only son,
A most bitter mourning.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come against us.” (NASB 2020)
At the revelation of our great God and King, none shall stand who has rejected Him. All hope will be lost and finally, “[As] it is written: “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, TO ME EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, AND EVERY TONGUE WILL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.” Romans 14:11 and Isaiah 45:23 (NASB 2020)
“So it is to be”
The construct here is “yes, and amen”, but it uses the Greek nai, an affirmation like “yes certainly” along with the Hebrew amen as if underscoring the truth and certainty of this declaration to both groups of God’s people.
This will surely come to pass.
