Revelation Part 8
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Tuesday 21st October 1997
Revelation Part 8
(Revelation 1:7-8 NKJV) 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. {8} "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."
(Zechariah 12:10-12 NKJV) "And I will pour on the house of David and
on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication;
then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for
Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves
for a firstborn. {11} "In that day there shall be a great mourning in
Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
{12} "And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of
the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the
family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by
themselves;
Jesus is coming again and He is coming from above. He is "coming
with the clouds". God in the clouds is a familar Bible metaphor. In
the clouds God placed the rainbow, appeared on Mt. Sinia, and guided
the Israelites as a "pillar of cloud" by day. There are many verses
referring to God being wrapped in cloud or riding on the clouds. The
clouds point us to His hiddenness and His majesty and the fact He is
in heaven and much higher than us and more able to help. (Deuteronomy
33:26 NIV) "There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on
the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. (Psalms
68:4 NIV) Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides
on the clouds -- his name is the LORD-- and rejoice before him.
"and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him." This says
two things. Firstly that the whole world will see Jesus return,
secondly that the observers will include the Jews."They who pierced
Him" were Roman soldiers but under Jewish instigation so it can be
said that the Jews pierced Him. These verses certainly refer us back
to a prphecy in Zechariah. (Zechariah 12:10-12 NKJV) "And I will
pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they
pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,
and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. {11} "In that day
there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at
Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. {12} "And the land shall mourn,
every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself,
and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by
itself, and their wives by themselves; There is an unmistakable
parallel here and John must have had Zechariah in mind when He wrote
this.
If Revelation was written after AD 70 (and most scholars say
it was) then Jersualem had been destroyed by Rome and the Jewish
nation no longer existed. The tension between Judaism and
Christianity was somewhat diminished and now both were seen as
victims of Roman brutality. The above reference to "even those who
pierced Him.." is a kind of back-handed reassurance that the Jewish
nation and its tribes would not be wiped out but would be there when
the Lord returned. They would survive. It also carries the sting of
accusing them of killing Jesus their Messiah. But they would repent
of this eventually with great mourning.
"And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so,
Amen" This sentence certainly makes a lot more sense if the
original language of Revelation was Hebrew or if the person was
thinking in Hebrew then translating into Greek. The Hebrew phrase "ha
eretz" means both "the earth" and "the land". Often ha eretz
when translated "the land" generally stands for "the land of
Israel". If we go back to the prophecy in Zechariah we find that the
mourning was distinctly Jewish and to be tribe by tribe, clan by
clan and family by family. Perhaps, considering the context of "them
who pierced Him" the translation "all the tribes of the land of
Israel will mourn.." would be better. (Zechariah 12:12-14 NKJV) "And
the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the
house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family
of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;
{13} "the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by
themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by
themselves; {14} "all the families that remain, every family by
itself, and their wives by themselves." The rendering "all the
tribes of the land of Israel will mourn.." fits much better. Also we
find later in Revelation that universal mourning is not the world's
response to the Lord's return. There will be many it seems that will
not mourn at all but will be defiant until the end." (Revelation
19:19 NKJV) And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their
armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the
horse and against His army." Even when Christ is revealed on His
white horse with His mighty angels they will fight Him. So it seems
that the Jews will mourn and the majority of the rest will fight.
Prayer:
Lord make us surrender to You now so that when You return we neither
have to mourn or fight but rather rejoice with You in the air and
join the wedding supper of the Lamb. Amen.
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