Judgment From the Clouds

Notice the text of Revelation 1:7, “Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye shall see him, even they who pierced him.  And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him.  Even so, Amen.”  This verse is often used to illustrate the second coming of Jesus.  But an important point to remember is that just because something sounds like a certain event, doesn’t mean it is, especially when dealing with prophecy. 

The book of Revelation is not a prophecy about the end of time.  The book was written by the apostle John to encourage Christians of the first century to remain faithful to the Lord in the face of terrible persecution.  The Roman empire had declared war on Christianity and Revelation shows that the Lord will destroy the enemies of his people.

This is the context of Rev. 1:7.  The figure of clouds is nothing new.  Isaiah 19:1 shows God riding the clouds in judgment against Egypt and this is the way John is using the cloud figure.  Revelation 17:14 shows the Roman empire making war against the Lamb and John lets us know all through the book that the Lamb is victorious.  So, when we read Rev. 1:7 that Jesus is coming in the clouds, he was coming in judgment against Rome.  Every eye would see it because Rome was a world empire and her fall would effect the known world.  The verse is quite specific as it points out “those who pierced him.”  Chapter 18 shows every class of people mourning the fall of Rome. The point John is making is that Jesus was coming against those who pierced him (the Romans) and every one would be effected.  What John said came true for today we do not see a Roman empire.  But what we can learn is that when we are told that we will stand in judgment and give an account of what we have done (Rom. 14:10) we know it will come to pass just as surely as Rome fell.  Are we ready?