… and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. – Revelation 1:6-8
If you have been following this series, recall that I mentioned that the sign Jesus gave that would signal that he has been coronated king over the earth (thus, the beginning of his kingdom over the earth) is given at Matthew 24:30.
Permit me to paste that scripture below as it ties in directly with Revelation 1:6-8.
Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. – Matthew 24:30
A Kingdom and Priests to Serve His God and Father
The Apostle John says something very interesting as he includes himself in it. He says …
… and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. – Revelation 1:6
The Apostle is writing to the members of the seven congregations of followers in The Province of Asia. While I do not know how many people collectively made up that membership, I would venture to say that there must have been many. Here we have the Apostle John saying that he – Jesus Christ, the ruler of the kings of the earth – has made them (including John) to be a kingdom and priest!
Not only that but as kings and priests, they would serve his God and Father. So Jesus has a God and Father! (I mention this because it is a good teaching point for those who insist that Jesus is God). But all of those members in the congregations to whom John is writing will be “a kingdom” that is, kings within Christ’s kingdom and within that kingdom, they will serve as kings with the authority of kings and they will be priests to serve the God and Father of Jesus Christ their king and their kings God and Father is their God and Father.
The Apostle acknowledges something with reference to the sign Jesus gave him and the other disciples on that day they were with him at the temple back at Matthew 24:30, as he says it here at Revelation 1:6 …
… to him be glory and power forever and ever!
That is, to Jesus Christ who will be king, be glory and power forever and ever.
Amen. So be it! Let it come to be.
He Is Coming With Clouds – Revelation 1:7
At Matthew 24:30 when Jesus gave his disciples the sign that would be seen in heaven – that is witnessed by those who live in heaven – Jesus said that he, The Son of Man, would be seen coming on clouds of heaven with power and great glory. What does this mean and in what manner is The Son of Man seen coming?
Recall I mentioned that Solomons temple contained two primary compartments: (1) A Holy and (2) The Most Holy. The Most Holy represented the presence of God.
Only the High Priest was allowed to enter into The Most Holy. Thus, he alone could see what was inside that compartment. To all others, what was inside could not be seen. It was invisible to them.
Also, The Most Holy’s presence is also represented by smoke or cloud of smoke sometimes accompanied by fire. (You can read this for yourself at Exodus 19:18, Exodus 20:18, Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 6:1-6 and Revelation 15:8)
Smoke or a cloud of smoke symbolized or represented the invisibility of God. Since He is not flesh and blood as we are, appearing as smoke or a cloud was a way a human could see that He was present.
Jesus, as the High Priest, is the only one born of a woman to ever see God, The Most Holy, without the representation of smoke or a cloud. I can only imagine what Jesus saw. It must have been dazzling. As God is Spirit. In fact, flesh and blood cannot reside in the heavenly realm. The angels, who were created by God are spirit creatures, and they must be dazzling in beauty and can be looked upon by humans. Yet, by comparison to their Creator, they pale in dazzle. Their brightness and illumination would be very dim compared to their Creator.
I personally believe what we see as stars in the heavens are angels. Those luminaries are not what scientists say they are .. because they do not know. Stars have intelligence. The Father created them and calls them by name. (Psalm 147)
When Jesus leaves his Father’s presence when he is given his kingdom over the earth, he exits out of The Most Holy’s presence to administer his kingdom over the earth. The Father will not interfere.
That Christ comes on the clouds of heaven means that he comes with the AUTHORITY of the invisible God.
Notice that the clouds mentioned here are not CLOUDS OF THE EARTH. But rather CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.
And Every Eye Will See Him – Revelation 1:7
Not only do humans have eyes. Almost every living creature on earth has them. When Christ comes with kingly authority, the earth and everything in it will feel the effects of his authority. The earth will know that something incredible has happened. All will mentally perceive – that is see – that something has happened that has never happened before on the earth and all will know for a certainty that this promised coming of Christ has occurred.
Please understand that no one will ever see Christ in the flesh and blood because he is no longer that. All of the earth will know of his presence in the same manner that Moses knew of God’s presence represented by the cloud at the top of Mount Sinai.
I believe that the earth will be surrounded by a literal thick cloud that scientists will not be able to explain. As something intelligent will be sensed inside that cloud that will all at once envelop the entire earth.
Those alive at that time will see this event. They will see Christ in this manner, represented by unusual cloud formations not or this earth.
Even Those Who Pierced Him – Revelation 1:7
Those responsible for and who plotted to take his life and who put him to death are long dead. So how can those who pierced him see him?
Here is the answer in Acts 24:15 and John 5:28-29 …
And I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. – Acts 24:15
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out – John 5:28-29
They will be resurrected. One of Christs’ acts as king over the earth is to resurrect all of dead mankind. (This will occur in stages as you will see as we progress through the entire revelation scroll).
When they open their eyes for the first time after having died, they will know who it was who called them out from their death condition. “Who has that kind of power to raise the dead?” they might think. But Jesus says that they will hear his voice and come out of their graves.
And All Peoples on Earth Will Mourn Because of Him – Revelation 1:7
Attention now is made to all of the people on earth. We saw that those living at his coming will see him and then those who are resurrected at his coming (in stages) are all together now. That is, those who had been dead thousands and hundreds of years ago alive again among the living!
Friends and family are back together. People from different time periods are all together. Emotions will be at an extremely high level to see dead relatives that go back many generations!
The mourning that will occur will be because of what the coming of Christ will have done with regard to the earth.
What I am about to say will be very difficult for many to accept or digest. Those who are alive at the coming of Christ represented by the clouds of heaven enveloping the earth must die.
When they die I can only imagine the mourning that will occur after they start dying off. Many may even be confused given that billions have been resurrected!
They must die so that they can be resurrected or born-again from the dead.
Remember what Jesus said to the inquisitive Pharisee Nicodemus at John 3:3 (see John 3:4 also)
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
So in order for anyone to see and then enter into the Kingdom of God – which comes down after Christ’s kingdom of 1000 years ends and Satan has been destroyed sometimes afterward – they must die, that is, be born-again from the dead.
Those who were resurrected will have already had their born-again experience.
Amen. So be it.
I am the Alpha and the Omega – Revelation 1:8
The Most Holy, God Himself speaks and John writes down what he hears.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. – Revelation 1:8
This utterance from the Most High God tells us that He is the beginner and the finisher. That He is the LORD GOD.
Note: Whenever you see the expression Lord written in all capital letters LORD or God written as GOD, that is where the Tetragrammaton of God’s name – YHWH or JHWH in Hebrew appeared in the writings. Early translators felt that the pronunciation of God’s holy name could not be ascertained by the Tetragrammaton so they removed it and inserted LORD and GOD instead.
That He is now God Almighty, He was God Almighty in the past, and will be God Almighty in the future and forever.
This is not referring to Jesus as Jesus is not God Almighty, but a servant to The One God.
At the conclusion of the revelation, one will see that it is God’s Kingdom that will come down to the earth.
You will see that Christ’s kingdom is a definite kingdom of 1000 years and it ends. Following the end of Christ’s kingdom, Satan is released and he will set up a kingdom on earth. We do not know how long it will reside on the earth, but it will be for some time. So, his kingdom is a definite one.
When Satan and his kingdom are destroyed by God’s champion, then God’s kingdom comes down and it will be an indefinite kingdom. That is, it has no end. It is eternal.
Not trying to get ahead of myself, but this is going to be fascinating.
In the next post, I will pick up at Revelation 1:9 where John is full of Holy Spirit and is shown a future time period called The Lords Day.
