Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. This will be study #23 of Revelation, chapter 1, and we are presently reading in verse 7, which says:

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 spent some time looking at the idea of Christ coming with 'clouds,' and we saw how that relates, or how the Bible identifies that, as coming in the Scripture. That is, as we have learned, judgment day is spiritual, to begin with, and the duration of the day of judgment is a spiritual judgment upon mankind; and then it finishes with the actual end of the world, and the believers meeting the Lord in the air, in the 'clouds,' with the rapture on the very last day of this day of judgment.

But, when we see this language that, "he cometh with clouds," as it is found here and in Matthew 24, and some other places, it is language that is directing us to the understanding that Christ is coming as the Judge, and we will learn this through the Bible. We will 'see' Him in the 'eyes' of our understanding, as God opens up those 'eyes' to see what He is doing in this time.

Now let us look at the second part of this phrase, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him;" And we want to be sure that we are being as careful as we can with the Bible. Now why cannot this just refer to every human being? Why cannot this be everyone in the world, or everyone that has ever lived?

Well, for one thing it cannot be every person that has ever lived, saved and unsaved, because the unsaved people that died in times past are gone; they no longer have any life; they no longer have any eyes to see anything; they will never know anything, ever again. The moment they died, they perished, and it is only what is left of their physical body that remains, so there is no possibility they could ever 'see' Christ coming in the day of judgment.

Well, yes, that is true; the Bible teaches annihilation, well, then it has to refer to every human being alive upon the earth, because when Jesus returns every eye shall see Him then? Well, we will take a look at that, and we will see how that is not possible - that is not what God is saying here.

And we also want to investigate why it is that God uses the word 'eye,'(singular), rather than 'eyes,' (plural); in other words, why did God not say, "and everyone's eyes shall see him?" After all, most people have two eyes, and why not say, "everyone's eyes?" Or the word 'every,' here, is actually often translated as 'all.' As a matter of fact, in the very same verse, in verse 7 towards the end of the verse, where it says: "all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him," it is the same Greek word translated as 'all' there, so it could read 'all eye,' but the translators knew that did not sound right - it would have to be plural - "all eyes shall see him," so they made the decision to say 'every eye.' And why is that? Why singular, and not plural?

Well, we will find as we check that out, that that is going to give us the answer as to who, exactly, is in view in this verse. Is it every human being in the world? Is it just the true believers, because it is the believers that would be looking in the Bible, "looking for and hasting onto the coming day of God," searching the Scriptures, and there we would 'see' Christ coming in the clouds, as we learned that the clouds identify with the word of God?

But, we, again, want to prove that, so let us look at the idea of 'every eye,' or let us just see what what the Old Testament has to say. We have heard this often, and even many people in the world quote this verse from Exodus 21. I am going to read a few verses here, beginning in verse 22, through 25:

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

And, there, we find the language of 'eye for eye,' an eye for an eye, and we think, "Well, if anyone harms you, then the Bible says you can harm them back." Well, no, that is not true - that is how people in the world use it; if someone has injured them in some way, they think it is justification for taking vengeance against them, and that is not the case at all.

God is, here, laying down a rather simple Law, and that is that a transgression demands equal satisfaction, and notice that here it is speaking of a woman with child that someone hurts and her child departs from her, and in that context, we read 'eye for eye,' and 'tooth for tooth.' You know, you might be interested to find out that in verse 26 of Exodus 21, it says:

And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

Now there would have been a perfect place for God to say, "He smote his servant's eye. He will pay with his eye," if it were literally 'an eye for an eye.' And the same thing with the tooth: "He knocked out the servant's tooth, so his tooth must be knocked out." But we do not find that. What we do find is that when a wrong has occurred, when someone commits a wrong doing (in other words, when they have transgressed the Law of God, and we call it, more commonly, sin), when a person sins, there must be satisfaction for their transgression; it must be a just payment for their sin.

For instance, we also find in Leviticus, chapter 24, and beginning in verse 17:

And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.

Now, all sorts of wrongdoings are listed here - someone who kills a man, someone who kills a beast, someone who causes a blemish in a neighbor - and in this context, we read, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth," and so on. The Law has pronounced the judgment: there must an equality in payment. That is the important principal that God wants us to understand regarding the Law of 'an eye for an eye.'

It has nothing to do with any individual seeking vengeance. God is the offended one: against Him, Him only, have we sinned; if we sinned against any person, we are, in the first instance, sinning against God. We have offended Him and His Law.

We have transgressed the Law, and the Law says, "The wages of sin is death." If we offend in one point, we are guilty of all, and that means we are subject to death, to being destroyed with an eternal destruction - where we will be annihilated, and seek to exist forever more.

This is the 'equal payment' that the Law of God demands for any one of our sins, whether it be murder, or injuring an animal, or hurting a man, or knocking someone's tooth out, whatever it is. Whatever wrongdoing we are guilty of, the payment that God's Law requires is death, and that is what this language of 'an eye for an eye' is getting at, that we have broken the Law of God, and the Law of God must be satisified, somehow.

Now also in Deuteronomy, chapter 19, we read a little bit more about this, beginning in verse 16. It says:

If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before JEHOVAH, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

And God, here, is again establishing equality. Here is a man, a false witness, who rose up and lied against his brother, hoping (for whatever reason) that his brother would be punished, that some penalty fall upon the one he is lying against, that he suffer, somehow, because of his lie. Well, God establishes the Law that the false witness, if he is caught in his lie, is to experience that same judgment that he had hoped would come upon his brother.

So, if this man were lying and saying, "Well, I saw him kill someone or murder," it could be that that man would lose his own life as a result. There is an equality of payment, and in this context, again, notice it is something different each time: there was the woman whose fruit departed from her when she was injured, there was the murder, or the killing of a beast, and, here, it is a false witness. And, in each case, God is using the same language: 'eye for eye,' and 'hand for hand,' and 'foot for foot,' in order to let us know this is God's Law - God's Law is just.

He is like the scales (of justice). We have offended Him, and that is the weight of our sin laid on one scale, and then justice demands death to equal out our transgressions; and so we will die at the hand of God, as He pours out His wrath upon us and destroys us. Or there is the possibility that we could have become a child of God during the day of salvation, and the Lord Jesus Christ could have taken these sins upon Himself, and died on our behalf for our sins. Of course, that is the good news of the Gospel, that we then would be free, and no longer have to make payment. The 'eye' that God requires would have been given by Christ; the 'foot' would have been given by Him; the 'hand' would have been given by Him.

You know, is that not interesting that we do read there 'eye' and 'foot' and 'hand?" Of course, it also mentions the 'tooth,' but in the New Testament we read something interesting in a couple of places, but I am just going to read in Mark, chapter 9, (and I am sure you will remember this passage, once I start reading), in verse 42:

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Now, is it not interesting that God has spoken of the 'hand,' the 'foot' and the 'eye' here? And we just read some verses in the Old Testament where the Law of God says, "eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot." And now God is saying if your eye offend thee, pluck it out, and if thy hand offend thee, cut if off, and if thy foot offend thee, cut it off.

And if we can only understand this, that God is referring to the child of God whose sins are an offence: we sin with our eyes, we sin with our hands, we sin with our feet; the hand and the foot represent our will. We constantly have sin, and have offended God and His Law and, due to that offence, we are subject to the wrath of God and to that eternal death, the second death, to be annihilated.

So, here, God is saying, "If you find your eye has offended you, or your hand, or your foot, here is what you do: get rid of it, pluck it out, cut it off," and so on, and that reminds us, "eye for eye." We have offended the Law of God. The Law of God requires an 'eye.' We have transgressed the Law of God. The Law of God requires a foot. We have broken the Law of God. The Law of God requires a hand.

And, of course, we cannot, ourselves, make this payment. If we were making payment for our sins, we would never be able to pay the penalty. No, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has made payment for us, and as Christ took upon Himself our sins (before the foundation of the world), and God poured out His wrath upon Him, and as Christ died for our sins, it is as though our 'eye' has been plucked out, our 'foot' has been cut off, and our 'hand' has been cut off.

But, now, here is the significant thing for our present study, as we are looking at Revelation chapter 1. Let us read Mark 9:47 once again:

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Here, the believer - all believers - must have their 'eye' plucked out and, therefore, we are typified as someone with one 'eye.' It is the unbelievers that have two 'eyes,' because they have not, as yet, made payment for their sin: so they have two hands, they have two feet, and they have two eyes; and then they will go with their full bodies (and their two eyes) into the grave; they will die and they will not experience the blessing of God or eternal life, in any way.

But the true believer is likened to someone with one 'eye.' Now that explains why Revelation, chapter 1, verse 7, says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye (singular) shall see him," that is, every child of God, the true believers, who have experienced the salvation of God, who through Christ have made payment for their sins, they are the elect people of God; and they will be looking in the Scriptures, as the 'clouds' identify with the Bible, and there they will 'see' him with their (singular) 'eye,' because God will open up the 'eyes' of their understanding to realize what He has done, when we have entered into the day of judgment.