Echoes of Revelation - Behold, He is Coming!

Behold, He is Coming in the Clouds!
The Context
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In Scripture, we see two aspects or purposes of Yeshua’s return in the clouds –

• to complete judgment, and
• to gather together His believers to be with Him

Many of the prophecies of His coming, as well as His own accounts given to His disciples, overlap with multiple meanings, echoing in and out in nuances that are sometimes difficult to understand.

Yeshua’s disciples asked Him, “What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Here are a few of the topics He covered in Matthew and Luke’s accounts that seem to be interwoven:

        General lawlessness will increase.
               Matthew 24:3-14; Luke 21:7-19

        Jerusalem will be destroyed (in AD 70).
              Matthew 24:15-28; Luke 21:20-24

        Judgment on evil will happen as seen in Seal 6.
              Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-26

        Yeshua is coming.
              Matthew 24:30-31; Luke 21:27-28

        He gives words of preparation for His coming.
               Matthew 24:32-25:30; Luke 21:29-36

        The judgment will come. 
              Matthew 25:31

Reflections on Scripture Verses about His Coming

Following are passages about His coming followed by my current reflections (indented) that include learning from the Revelation study. The first three passages are key, so, please read them slowly before continuing. Then, I share more passages with reflections that expound the beauty of these verses.

Yeshua to His disciples by the Temple
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31; Mark 13:26-33)

The Apostle John echoes His words to the disciples in Asia Minor
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. (Revelation 1:7; Daniel 7:13-14)

The Apostle John to the disciples in Asia Minor
And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great feast of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, and small and great.”

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:11-21)

Reflections on the two aspects of His coming:

1. 1. Judgment
      As we see in Revelation 1:7 and 19:11-19, Yeshua is coming in the clouds in power to crush the enemy where the demonic frogs have gathered them at the foot of the symbolic Mount Megiddo (transliterated as Armageddon, see Revelation 16:13-16). They think they are staged for battle, but they are consumed by the birds in mid-heaven and thrown alive into the lake of fire. Some were killed by the sword of His mouth, His word! The light of the words from His lips obliterates the darkness they embody! He crushes all kingdoms of this world that colluded against Him.

He crushes them with His sword (word) and sacrificial death. His robe is dipped in His blood. His death conquered death. (The original Greek word for dipped is baptō meaning immersed); His robe is saturated with His sacrifice and His victory is complete! He has no need to wage war as the world wages war with a thrashing, violent sword. No, He has already finished the war when He said It is finished on the cross! The tribes of the earth mourn as they see the Truth of His Kingship in the light of His victorious, glorious, undeniable presence! When He comes in the clouds, He shows Himself as King. The kings and kingdoms of this world mourn because they see they missed the mark – their pride, selfish ambition, and hypocrisy blinded their recognition of Him before. They fall like stars from the sky in the fierceness of His brilliance!

Zechariah’s prophecy of Yeshua to Israel shines light on this place called Megiddo at the foot of the mountain. John’s prophecy is to all the tribes of the earth.

“And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon (a city) in the plain of Megiddo.” (Zechariah 12:9-11)

2. Gathering

We, His sealed children, are gathered away from every place on earth and protected from that battlefield that represents all the battles ever fought against Yahweh and His Kingdom of Shalom. At the judgment, the seal and mark of His blood over the doorposts of our hearts is our protective covering. Nothing can assail us! Our protection is current, real, and eternal. There is absolutely no condemnation (Romans 8:1-4). Yeshua said that we should not fear anything man can do to us, because our lives are eternal in Him, destined for the place He has made ready for us – “the holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Yahweh, made ready [by Yeshua] as a bride adorned for her husband” where there will be no more suffering, tears, mourning or crying, or pain, or death. (Revelation 21:1-4)

In conclusion, every eye will see Him! Some will mourn. His children will rejoice!

More Scripture and Reflections about His Coming

The words of Yeshua to the multitudes and prideful Pharisees
For I say to you, from now on, you shall not see Me until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” Matthew 23:39

Yeshua had just given a long discourse to the multitudes and the hypocritical Pharisees (Matthew 23). (Not all Pharisees were hypocrites; some followed Him. He spoke to the prideful.) Verses 37-38 express His intense grief over their stone-cold hard-heartedness. He wishes He could wrap His arms around them, but it’s no use. They have chosen to be a part of the world systems – the group that is judged along with the kingdoms of this world as stated above. When He comes in the clouds to judge, the prideful Pharisees, too, will recognize Him and mourn over what they missed.

Two men in white clothing to Yeshua’s disciples just after His last words to them that they should wait until they receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them:
He was lifted up as they watched, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Yeshua, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:7-11)

The Apostle Paul to the Philippian Believers
For our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Master Yeshua the Messiah who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

We will be gathered and transformed in newness and wholeness. 

The Apostle Paul to the Believers at Thessalonica
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then, we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air, and so we will always be with Him. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

Paul comforted the believers who were concerned about those who had died. When we are gathered, the dead will rise first in order to be gathered together with us to the New Jerusalem!

Yeshua to His Disciples
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. (John 14:3)

At Yeshua’s last Passover meal with His disciples, He reassured them of this promised, prepared place! 

The Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Believers
Behold, I am telling you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

Paul beautifully repeats to the Corinthians what he shared with the Philippians.

The Apostle John to Believers
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

The Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

This verse and Romans 14:10 are the only two of their kind. It is important to read their contexts and interpret them in light of the entire Gospel of Grace. Judgment is a neutral word. A judgment is an evaluation or assessment based on discerning and observing certain factors. There are good and bad judgments. If I say, “It is a beautiful day,” I have made a judgment.

Also, from a Hebrew perspective, to judge is to bring order. Yeshua said, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.” (Matthew 25:31-32)

In this way, he will bring order. We who have been born again of His Spirit are covered by His blood. His Spirit in us wants to do His will. Although we sometimes fail and must repent, we long to mirror Him in this world. In this verse in 2 Corinthians, Paul was challenging an extremely wayward group of people to be sure they were in Him. (See 2 Corinthian 13:5) Our “deeds” and our “good” come from His Spirit within us. When we appear before Him, He will see the blood that covered us when we received His invitation. (See John 1:12-13 and 3:3-7)

Summary

Our Bridegroom, full of indescribable love and eagerness, will bring a final end to all that is opposed to Yahweh’s Kingdom of Shalom and all who gave allegiance to the kings of this world. He will gather us who are sealed with His mark, dead and alive, to that glorious, prepared place described in Revelation 21-22; Ezekiel 40-48; Isaiah 65:17-25, and others.

As John writes about the New Jerusalem and echoes the prophets of old, he overwhelms our senses with Yahweh’s creativity and grandeur! We don’t need to analyze its specific dimensions. Rather, we see His intense attention to detail that allows us to freely experience the thrilling brilliance, serenity, perfect peace, and joy of the Lamb and the City!

Let’s be certain that we are armed with powerful spiritual weapons that we should be using. Yeshua (Jesus) has given us authority to use them. Let us pray for one another and encourage one another as we fight the good fight of faith!

Shale Fragments™ - devotionals by Beth Ann Phifer is a division of Flower Girl Greetings, LLC. ©2023, All Rights Reserved.
Blessings and love in Him,
Beth Ann