What does it mean that every eye will see Him when Jesus returns (Revelation 1:7)?

Answer

Scripture promises that Christ will return to earth, yet the various passages predicting that event seem to indicate two separate returns. Revelation 1:7 describes a return in which every eye will see Him. First Thessalonians 4 describes a return in which not everyone will see Christ.

As John introduces the book of Revelation, he alludes to Zechariah 12:10 and asserts that Jesus Christ is coming with the clouds and that “every eye will see Him” «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. », (Revelation 1:7). Roughly five centuries earlier, Daniel recorded a similar scene in which he observes that a Son of Man will be coming with the clouds of heaven «I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. », (Daniel 7:13) to begin an eternal kingdom over the earth «And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. », (Daniel 7:14). Paul describes the Lord descending from heaven with a shout, the dead in Christ rising from the dead, and then those who are in Christ and still alive being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air «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. », (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

(1 Thessalonians 4:17).

John, Daniel, and Paul all mention clouds associated with the coming of the Lord. Despite the similar terminology, there are differences in the prophecies. Daniel states that Jesus will immediately begin His kingdom upon His return. In the prophecy that Paul foretells, Jesus does not actually come to the earth; instead, those who are caught up to Him remain in heaven with Him. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”, (1 Thessalonians 4:13). After this, Paul describes the day of the Lord taking place “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”, (1 Thessalonians 5:2ff). This does not appear to be the coming of Jesus when every eye will see Him; instead, it resembles what Jesus mentioned in John 14:2, where He said He would go to prepare a place for His followers, come again, and receive them to Himself so that where He is, they would be also.

In John 14:2, Jesus describes His journey from earth to heaven (going to prepare a place), then coming from heaven but not all the way to earth (receiving them to Himself), and then remaining in heaven (where He is, they would be also) for a time. Similarly, Paul describes the event of saints joining Jesus in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17 and in 1 Corinthians 15:51–52. In the latter passage, Paul describes believers changing and being with Christ in the “twinkling of an eye”—a sudden event that is perhaps so quick as to be visually imperceptible. This does not seem to describe something that every eye will see—something so vivid and broad that everyone on earth will witness at the same time.

In Revelation 19:11&n

14, John describes Jesus coming to earth with armies of saints and then reigning on earth with them «And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. », (Revelation 20:4). Since those saints are already physically with Christ, the event that unites them has already occurred. The timeline suggests that the event Jesus and Paul mention, involving the “catching up” of believers to Jesus, will have already taken place before Christ’s return in Revelation 19—also mentioned in Revelation 1:7—Jesus’ coming in the clouds. The first of these events is commonly known as the rapture, derived from the Latin term for “caught up” «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. », (in 1 Thessalonians 4:17). The second event is usually referred to simply as Jesus’ second coming, as it is His second arrival on earth (unlike the rapture, where He only appears in the clouds to meet His followers in the air).

During the rapture, only believers will see Jesus. In the second coming, every eye will see Him—the entire world will witness Him. It is this second event to which John alludes in Revelation 1:7.