Rev 1:7 KJG 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.
Rev 1:7 jvb Each of you, look, and learn! (1), He is coming (2)
with clouds (3). And every eye (4) will perceive Him (5). And those who pierce
Him will perceive Him (6). And all the tribes of the earth will mourn (7) because
of Him. This is true and sure (8).
(1) - A familiar interjection, found over 200 times in the New
Testament. I have expanded its translation to encompass the nuances of the
word, particularly in its imperative force toward the individual reader or
hearer.
(2) - Our Lord is in the act of "coming" at the time of
the writing of Revelation. His manifestation is imminent. This is affirmed by
the command to each reader and hearer to "look and learn", and by the
focus on "things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev 1:1).
(3) - "Clouds" are obscuring His form at the time of
writing. For most they continue to obscure. But John has directed each of us to
focus on His manifestation, particularly in the visions of this book. If the
inner spiritual eye of the begotten again Christian is "single" (Mat
6:22-23), he is able to "look and learn", Jesus comes again to His
own in the same way that He left (Acts 1:9, 11).
(4) - Eye in the singular is often used in scripture to refer to an
inner spiritual eye that "sees" in the senses of
"perceives" and "comes to know". "Every" is not
always universal, but applies to a group implied by context. Here two groups
are implied. The faithful remnant ("servants") to whom the angelic
explanations of the imminent events (Rev 1:1) are to be repeated by the
assemblies (Rev 1:3), and the assemblies themselves. The secular Greek
assemblies were gatherings of the citizens of city-states. The Christian
assemblies are gatherings of the citizens of heaven, (In either case, there may
be non-citizen adherents.) The golden lampstands (Rev 1:12, 20) represent the local
regular gatherings of the righteous and eternal spirits of the begotten again in
Christ.
(5) - The perception of the visions and the manifestation of our
Lord is mediated by a begotten again spirit and the written word of God.
(6) - The perception of the manifestation of our Lord will be
mediated by a special spiritual vision to a world that pierces Him as much as
Providence allows (Rev 6:16-17).
(7) - The mourning may lead to repentance for some. An earlier
prophesied (Zec 12:10) event (John 19:34, 37, Luke 23:48) pertained to Israel.
The future mourning includes both Jew and gentile. (If it were only gentiles,
"nations" which has a sense of "gentiles" would have been
written instead of "tribes"}.
(8) - A rather free translation of the meaning of two familiar
Greek particles in this context.
At present, with Scripture complete (1Cor 13:10, Eph 4:13-16), the
first born ones (Heb 12:23-24) are seeing (1Cor 13:12) Him "face to
face".
I2C 131016a Rev 1v7 The first born see Him / I2C M1310 / 10/16/2013
12:17 PM / Rev 1v7 The first born see Him
