Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. This will be study #22 of Revelation, chapter 1, and we are presently reading in Revelation, chapter 1, verse 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.

We learned in our last study that Christ coming in the 'clouds' points to the judgment the Bible will bring upon the Earth in the Day of Judgment, that is, outwardly - there will be nothing visible - but, spiritually, the Bible will reveal that Christ is judging the world: the Bible teaching that God shut the door to Heaven, and darkened the sun, and that the voice of the bridegroom will no longer be heard, and much more, is revealing, by that language, Christ coming in the 'clouds,' as we have this witness of the Scriptures.

In this study, we will consider how Christ can be seen in the 'clouds,' as our verse says, "and every eye shall see him." In order to get an understanding of what God means, we are going to start at the beginning, in the sense of salvation. Let us turn to John 3, and we will read verse 3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In order to 'see' the Kingdom of God, you must be "born again," and it is certain that by being "born again," God has in view a spiritual birth. Nicodemus actually went on to ask that very question, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" And Christ, in part of his response, said in verse 6:

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

And that is the 'new birth' that the Lord Jesus is speaking of, a spiritual birth, and when someone is born of the Spirit, that is, born of God, God is one the one who saves; that statement is made back in John 1, in verse 13: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh," as John 3, verse 6, said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and here in John 1:13, "...not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" born of God, born of the Spirit. And if any is 'born again,' born of God, he will 'see' the Kingdom of God, because God will give him 'eyes' to 'see.' He will give him sight in the spiritual realm.

We have to be clear, in case any is thinking, "Oh, then we will see visions." No, nothing like that. It is not seeing physically anything, and we are not seeing ghosts or spirits or visions, or anything like that. By 'seeing' the Kingdom of God, God has something completely different in mind, and the best explanation for that is found in Ephesians, chapter 1, in verses 17 and 18. It says there:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Now the important part of that verse is the "eyes of your understanding being enlightened." This is not referring to our physical eyes. Our physical eyes may see very well, or maybe we are not seeing all that way, and we may need some help with glasses, or we could be physically blind. But none of that has anything to do with our understanding - our understanding is what we know, what we have learned. And God, of course, when He says, "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened," He is referring to understanding concerning Himself, concerning the Bible, which gives us that understanding of the Person of God.

That is the understanding that needs to be 'enlightened,' because that is the area of man that is in darkness, in which we are completely ignorant of God, in which we are spiritually blind. This is why the Bible uses the figure of a blind man to point to someone in their sins. A person in their sins is blind - he lacks understanding of the truth of the word of God, the Bible. That is what spiritual blindness has to do with.

In John, chapter 8, beginning in verse 42, I am going to read a passage here that is very interesting, and addresses the point we are looking at. In John 8, verse 42:

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

The Jews of Christ's day did not understand His speech; they did not believe what He was saying, even though He was "God in the flesh." He was the truth Himself, personified, in bodily form. Everything He said was true, but because He said the truth, they did not believe Him.

Why is that? Because man is dead in sin, dead to a proper understanding of the things of God, and the things of God are true and faithful; they are what the Bible is declaring, the truth of the Scripture. Man, of course, is quite willing and capable of understanding falsehood. He excells in that area, and delights in that area. People love the Bible statements such as "God so loved the world," when that verse is turned to indicate, "well, God loves everyone, and God loves you." Then people respond.

But, no, no, when the Bible's truth is declared, that God loves His people, the ones that He predetermined to save before the foundation of the world, His elect whose names He wrote down, in a figure, in the Lamb's Book of Life; these are the people of God; these are the ones loved of God; and this truth is resisted, rejected and vilified, and this truth is turned from. Why? Well, because people do not understand it. They do not understand; they have an intimate understanding of the truth of God because they have never been 'born again.' They have not entered into the Kingdom of God, spiritually.

The Spirit of God has not begotten them and, therefore, they lack understanding; the 'eyes' of their understanding have not been enlightened, and this is a very difficult thing for them to hear; as Jesus was speaking to the Jews, and as they heard these things, they responded, "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" Their response actually proved Jesus' point that they were not of God, but, rather, in the spiritual realm, they were of their father the devil, that is to say, they were unsaved people.

Well, the great need for each one of us is to have our understanding opened, our 'eyes' enlightened. It says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, beginning in verse 13:

And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded...

And this is referring to the Israelites.

...for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

Here, the Lord is telling us that the Jews, the Israelites, that were once His people, and once were the outward representatives of the Kingdom of God upon Earth, that they have been forsaken by God; we know that when the veil of the temple was rent in twain, God divorced national Israel, and they lacked understanding of who, exactly, the Lord Jesus Christ is. They did not understand He was the Messiah; He was the one whom the Jewish nation looked forward to coming; He was JEHOVAH, eternal God in the flesh. They lacked insight and they could not comprehend these things, and so God says there is "the veil upon their hearts," that their minds were blinded. There is the direct statement and very plain language of the Bible indicating the problem of mankind when it comes to understanding spiritual things, the truth of the Scriptures.

This was Israel's problem of old: they were blind in their mind's 'eye,' in their ability to understanding, properly, that Righteousness is Christ, and who He was, and so on. And, likewise, it was the New Testament church's failing, to properly understand the spiritual things of God, dealing with many doctrines and Scriptures over the centuries. God put up with their ignorance for 1,955 years, and then He came to visit, and at that time (when "judgment began on the house of God," on the churches and congregations of the world back in May of 1988), the LORD simultaneously, in judging the church, opened up the Scriptures to give greater understanding, great knowledge of Himself, to His people.

Remember, is that not what Daniel, chapter 12 states? It says in Daniel 12, verse 4:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

What kind of knowledge will increase? Well, the only knowledge the Bible is concerned with, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of the word of God. God sealed it up until the time of the end; He sealed up many, many things: the information about the church age, itself, and its end; annihilation; He sealed up exactly how it was Christ paid for sins and when (before the foundation of the world); He sealed up the day of judgment for the world on May 21, 2011. He hid these things as part of the 'mystery' of the Gospel, and then opened them up at the time He began judging the churches of the world.

And what was the response of the churches to this information coming forth from the Bible? Well, it was a complete rejection of these things. Remember what God said a little further on in Daniel 12, in verses 9 and 10:

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

And what does that mean, given what we were just looking at in the previous verses, "the eyes of your understading being enlightened," that you must be 'born again' to 'see' the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, it means that God is indicating that when these things come forth, His people, only, His elect people (who have been granted spiritual life and, therefore, granted eyes of understanding, spiritual sight into the Kingdom of God) will understand or 'see' them.

But, on the other hand, "none of the wicked shall understand." They will not 'see' these things; they will not comprehend them. And, again, the reaction of the church to the information that God ended the church age: "Oh, no way! No way." They would not put up with that idea, even for a little bit, and, certainly, they did not dig into the Bible, as a Berean, to check it out to see if it was so, at least for the vast majority of them.

Of course, some of God's elect were in the churches during the twenty three years of the great tribulation, and they came out before the last day, but the overwhelming, vast majority of people in the churches and the congregations remain. They did not hearken to the warning of God to "flee to the mountains," because they did not 'see' it.

Many of them heard the teaching, and it just did not make any sense to them; they could not understand it at all. They clearly would see a verse like "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against Christ's church, and that was it - that was all they needed. They did not bother to investigate that statement in a meaningful, deeper way, to find out that the church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against is the eternal church of God's elect. No, you see, for the natural-minded man, he does not really understand digging into the deeper, spiritual things. That is foolishness to him. No, for the natural-minded man, you look for the "plain, literal meaning." You stay on the surface of the Bible. You do not get out your shovel and dig in, and this was the problem - it was the reason God was judging the church in the first place, because it become filled up with natural-minded men - tares that overwhelmed the wheat, and were in positions of power and authority, so that their doctrines, and their teachings, and their erroneous understanding of the Bible was what was in place in congregation after congregation. This was the reason God was judging them, and, so of course, when the judgment came, they stayed "true to form," and they could not understand, just as Jesus said to the Jews, "Why is it that you do no understand my speech?"

Likewise, the New Testament churches and congregations of the world - Israel's sister, in a sense - failed to understand the things of God at the time when the LORD was opening them up. But we do, though, have a great hope that some will understand the things of God, and that hope is not based on a man's intellect; it is not based on how intelligent or wise he may be, that he has excellent reasoning abilities. No, our hope that people understand the truth of the word of God is not found in man himself, or in man's ability to come to truth. Then we would have no hope.

But our hope is that the Lord Jesus Christ would open up a person's understanding. For instance, we read in Luke 24, beginning in verse 44:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

(And it continues on.) You see, here, Jesus "opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures." This is how anyone comes to understand the word of God, or to say it another way, to 'see' the things of God, to 'see' what God is declaring in His word.

It is 'seeing' with the mind, just as 2 Corinthians 3 told us that their minds were blinded; well, someone's mind can be made to 'see.' This is the work of God, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He opens up a person's understanding, so that an individual (and this would be during the day of salvation) would, or possibly could, have heard the gospel for years and years and years, but never understood it and never showed any interest in it. Then, one day, since that person was one of God's elect, according to the timetable of God, in due time, God opens up his or her understanding, and they begin to respond to the word of God, and to show more and more interest in the Bible.

So, in salvation, Christ opens up the understanding of the one that He is saving. That is why John 3:3 said that we must be born again to 'see' the Kingdom of God. So, in that point, it can be said that we all have spiritual sight; we all 'see' spiritual things.

However, even though this is true of all of the elect, it is not true that we all understand or 'see' all that the Bible has to say immediately to the same degree. And Christ opened up their understanding, to understand certain truths, and that is the way it is all through a person's relationship with Christ: He opens up our understanding to this information, and that information, and we did not have that understanding before.

It is a different schedule for each one of us. There could be two elect people - both born again - and God shows one a certain truth of the Bible early on, and that person begins to 'see' it quickly, and, yet, another person hears the same thing and does not 'see' it, although that person also is a child of God. And, yet, since Daniel 12 tells us "the wise will understand and none of the wicked will understand," we have an expectation that God's people will continue to come to truth concerning spiritual things, whereas, the wicked will not, in this day of judgment.

And, yet, even though that is true, it is also true that it could take some time for a believer to come to the point of understanding, and the Lord Jesus is in complete control of what a person knows and what they do not know. It is as if He is continually opening up our 'eyes' more and more to the things of the Bible; but we are all in different places, and God is dealing with us in different ways, in different times, and, so, it could be a month later, six months later, a year later, or however long, and the other person does not see it at first, but then, now it clicks for some reason (and that reason would be God), and, of course, the more we are in the Bible, spending time in the Scriptures, and digging into God's word, that is how God operates through the hearing of His voice, as Christ works to enlightens our eyes, then it would seem we would be coming ever closer to a proper understanding of the word of God.

Well, let us turn to Matthew, chapter 16, and I am going to read a passage here, before we end our Bible study, in verse 6 of Matthew 16 and following:

Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Christ is addressing the disciples. Many of them are true believers; they have been born again. Then in verse 7:

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Here, you see, God is giving us an historical example and picture of how someone can have their 'eyes' opened in salvation, as the disciples had, and, yet, concerning a certain truth, lack understanding. What was the problem? They were not looking for the deeper, spiritual meaning, but they were falling into an old, and typical, habit of just taking the "plain, literal meaning." They heard bread; they thought of bread; and Christ had to remind them of 'spiritual bread,' and then they understood what He was saying, or (they understood) the Scripture.

And, likewise, sometimes God has to remind us, "Look for the deeper spiritual meaning," (as with) "He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him." Well, let us not make the same mistake as the disciples did in Matthew 16.