Christ the Coming King

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

    ‘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.’

    Here is an announcement worthy of attention, admiration, and investigation. ‘Behold, he cometh with the 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.’ John is not describing the pompous parade of some earthly despot. He is talking about the glorious appearance of the great God who is our Savior. He is proclaiming the second advent of the King of kings in his glory. That same Jesus whom the disciples saw ascending into heaven shall come again. The God-man who now rules all things from his lofty throne in heaven is coming to this world again.

    ‘Behold,’ pause, look, consider this great fact. The finger of inspiration points to this momentous event, and says, ‘Behold, he cometh!’ These words should sound like a terrifying alarm in the heart of every unbeliever; but they are words of joy, comfort, hope and peace to every child of God. Your trials may be heavy. Your temptations may be many. Though your heart now aches, both with affliction and with sin, you have reason to be of good cheer. All your troubles are temporary. Do not look upon them as though they will last forever. ‘Behold, he cometh!’ And ‘I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Rom. 8:18).

    Having shown us what Christ has done for us in verses 5 and 6, John here encourages us to live in expectation of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again in power and great glory. Though Christ's second coming is not the central theme of the Book of Revelation, ‘Yet it constitutes a real source of comfort for afflicted believers. It is the hope of believers and the consternation of the enemies of the church’ (William Hendriksen). Therefore, John gives us this picture of Christ the coming King.

    Who is coming

    The One who is coming is the One John has just described, ‘Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth...him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father.’ He is the One who came in humiliation as the Son of Man. Two thousand years ago the Son of God came into this world as a man. In order to redeem his people, he took manhood into union with himself and dwelt in human flesh. Everything associated with the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was humiliation (Phil. 2:5-8; 2 Cor. 8:9). He was born in Bethlehem in a cow stable! He lived in poverty and sorrow. He was tempted in all points like as we are. His disciples, his followers, were the despised riff-raff of society: publicans, fishermen, harlots, and beggars.

    This One who is coming is the One who suffered and died as the sinner's Substitute at Calvary. In dark Gethsemane, our Savior's agony was so great that he sweat blood. His heart broke within him as he anticipated the shame he must suffer to redeem us. There he was arrested like a common thief in the dark of night. The Lord of glory was beaten, mocked, and led through the streets of Jerusalem in a procession of humiliation and sorrow. Then he was stripped naked, nailed to a wooden cross, and hung up to die by the hands of wicked men. All of this he voluntarily endured because he had come into this world to die in the place of chosen sinners (Rom. 5:6-8; Gal. 4:4-5).

    As he hung upon the cursed tree, the Lord Jesus Christ was made to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). He suffered all the vengeance and wrath of almighty God in our place (Gal. 3:13). He died under the curse of God's holy law, satisfying all the claims of the law's justice against us, so that God might be just and yet justify the ungodly (Rom. 3:24-26). Then he was buried in a borrowed tomb.

    This One of whom John says, ‘Behold, he cometh,’ is the Christ of God who now reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. Though he lived as the man of sorrows and died as the sinner's Substitute under the wrath of God, he is yet alive! On the third day after his death he arose triumphant over death, hell and the grave. Forty days later the crucified Christ was exalted. He ascended back into heaven, took his seat upon the throne of universal monarchy and was crowned with glory and honor. There he reigns as King supreme for evermore (Act 2:36). This One who is coming is Christ the King. He is not coming to be king. He is coming as King! Christ the King is coming to put an end to all rebellion in his empire. ‘And all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed’ (Isa. 45:24). The Lord Jesus Christ who ‘loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God,’ is coming again. ‘Behold, he cometh!’

    What should our attitude be with regard to Christ's coming

    We should look upon the second coming of Christ as a matter of fact. John does not say, ‘He will come some day,’ or ‘He will come soon,’ or even, ‘He may come at anytime.’ He says, ‘Behold, he cometh!’ His language is in the present tense. He seems to have caught a glimpse of Christ coming even as he was writing. He speaks of it as a matter of fact, a present reality, not as a distant hope. He who came in humiliation to suffer is coming in power to conquer. He who came to redeem is coming to gather his redeemed ones. This is not something to be embraced as a prophetic theory in the development of a sound eschatological creed. It is a fact to be seen with the eye of faith and anticipated in the believing heart.

    The Word of God speaks plainly and constantly about Christ's glorious second advent (Jude 14; Job 19:25; Dan. 7:13-14; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Peter 5:4; 2 Peter 3:10; John 14:3). Our Savior gave us perpetual reminders of his second coming in the ordinances of the gospel. Every time a believer confesses faith in Christ by believer's baptism, we are taught to look for Christ's second coming. The new convert goes down into the watery grave as one crucified with Christ and rises up out of the water as one risen with Christ in the new birth, living in hope of the resurrection at the Lord's coming (Rom. 6:4-6). As often as we sit around the Lord's Table with God's saints and take the bread and wine, we are vividly reminded that Christ is coming (1 Cor. 11:24-26). Though that is a blessed ordinance, it is only a temporary thing. We will cease to celebrate the Lord's Supper when our Lord who has gone away returns.

    We should always look upon Christ's second coming with immediate interest and anxious expectation. I fear that our thoughts about Christ's second coming are too much like the scoffer's words. Though we might never say the words, ‘Where is the promise of his coming,’ I am afraid we live too much as those who do not expect it to happen. That should not be! John says, ‘Behold, he cometh!’ He will be here so soon that John puts it in the present tense - ‘He cometh!’ He means for us to understand that Christ is already on his way back to this world.

    Do not imagine that our Lord delays his coming, or that he is simply waiting in heaven to return at the appointed hour. Everything he is doing in providence and grace he is doing in preparation for his glorious advent. We get uneasy because he has been gone for two thousand years; but he does not calculate time as we do. To him one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8). By that measurement he has only been away for two days! He went away on business for his beloved bride (John 14:1-3; 16:7). As soon as his business is done, as soon as everything that has to be done is done, he will return. His bride may fret and worry, but he knows what he is doing. He will not be moved with passion. He is faithful. He dwells in the leisure of eternity and in the serenity of sovereignty. He is not limited by time and space. He will accomplish his work. Then he will return.

    From the very moment that he went away, the Lord Jesus has been coming back again. Everything is moving toward that end. ‘Behold, he cometh!’ He is on his way! Every hour brings him nearer. Soon he shall appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation. ‘Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.’ At the time appointed, Christ will appearA We should await our Savior's coming with patience and anticipation. The grace of God teaches us to be always ‘looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13). Looking for the glorious appearing of Christ, be patient in trial (1 Peter 1:7), diligent in service (Acts 1:10-11), and always watchful. Live upon the tiptoe of faith, looking for Christ to appear.

    How will the Lord Jesus Christ appear

    John says, ‘Behold, he cometh with the clouds.’ John Gill tells us that this ‘denotes the grand and magnificent manner in which he will come, making the clouds his chariots...and the visibility of his coming.’ When our Savior comes, he will make a glorious, climatic appearance. ‘He comes with the clouds,' that is with glory (Dan. 7:13; Mk. 14:62; Rev. 14:14; Ezek. 1:4-28) and with anger, wrath, judgment (Zeph. 1:15; Ps. 97:2). The Bible knows nothing about the invisible or secret second coming. Nowhere is this taught. On the contrary, 'every eye shall see him’ (William Hendriksen). When Christ comes, everyone will know it!

    In the wilderness, the presence of the Lord was known by the visible pillar of a cloud by day and of fire by night. The cloud was the sure token of God's presence. Even so, every eye shall see ‘the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Matt. 24:30). Christ will come with great majesty. The King of Glory shall descend from heaven with clouds of angels and of saints at his side. All the forces of nature will announce his arrival. The archangel will shout, the trump of God will sound, the thunder shall announce him, the lightening shall dance before him, and the clouds will be his chariot. As God came down upon Sinai in clouds and thick darkness to give the law, so shall the God-man descend in final judgment.

    His coming with clouds also implies the power with which he shall appear. ‘His strength is in the clouds.’ He once came as a tender plant, a root out of dry ground, robed in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger; but now he comes with clouds, robed with the tapestry of heaven's throne, in power and great glory. Certainly, the clouds represent the terror of his judgment. All believers shall be caught up together with him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17). But, to those unbelieving rebels who remain upon the earth, those clouds shall be signs of horrifying wrath and judgment (Ps. 97:1-6), as clouds filled with justice, vengeance, and anger. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming with clouds of unparalleled splendor. To his saints, this is glorious. To his enemies, this will be terrifying (1 Thess. 5:2-10; 2 Thess. 1:6-10).

    What will happen when Christ comes again

    It is evident that Christ's coming will be a literal appearance. It is true, Christ comes to his people spiritually in grace, in providence, and at death. But John is talking about the literal, bodily, visible coming of the Son of God to this earth the second time. Child of God, you will see your Savior with the very same eyes with which you read these words, for at his glorious appearance there will be a general resurrection (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Job 19:25-26).

    At his coming, the Lord Jesus Christ will be seen of all men. ‘Every eye shall see him.’ Every child of Adam, both the living and the dead, shall see the God-man face to face. Your eyes and mine shall look upon him. In that day, we will look on him, nothing and no one else but him. Nothing else will be of any significance. Every believer shall look upon him with satisfaction and delight (1 John 3:2).

    ‘They also which pierced him’ shall see him. Pilate and Judas, Herod and Caiaphas, the Jews and the soldiers, all shall see him. Indeed, all who have pierced him by enmity, rebellion and unbelief shall see him. When our Lord appears the second time, an overwhelming horror shall engulf the world. ‘All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.’ In the last day, as in this present day, God's elect in the world will be few. However, in that great day, Christ will conquer his enemies. Every knee shall bow before him and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord (Isa. 45:23-24; Phil. 2:9-11). Then every unbeliever, every rebel will wring his hands in fear, scream in terror, and their hearts will convulse with horror before the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:14-17). What do God's people say to these things? ‘Even so. Amen!’ ‘Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord’ (Ps. 97:8). Our hearts rejoice at the prospect of Christ's coming, his triumph over all his enemies, our complete salvation, and the ultimate , universal revelation of our Savior's glory.