Sunday School Notes: Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn on account of him. Yes, amen.
The final part of what I’m calling the “prologue” to Revelation is actually a sort-of citation of Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10. Neither are being quoted completely verbatim, but certain words and phrases point to these passages as being the source material for John’s quotes. These passages also seem to be behind Matthew 24:30, where Jesus is foretelling the end times. It’s possible there was an underlying oral tradition that combined these passages, and both Jesus and John used that common tradition. It’s just as possible the combination of these verses originated with Jesus, and John is simply repeating what he learned from Jesus. Whatever the case may be, both the Daniel and the Zechariah passages have a Messianic context, which is why Jesus could so easily use them to speak of his second coming.
The original context of Daniel 7 is the destruction of God’s enemies and the enthronement of the Son of Man, a figure that later Judaism (as well as Jesus and the early church) associated with the Messiah. Zechariah 12:10ff is also speaking of the defeat of God’s enemies, but also noting the response of the “true” Israel–those that repent after realizing they have rejected God’s messenger. It appears John wanted his readers to connect Daniel and Zechariah to the present day situation of the church. For John, Daniel and Zechariah find their fulfillment in Christ. Jesus is the Son of Man coming on clouds, defeating the enemies of God. And this coming won’t be hidden away in a stable in an obscure Jewish town. Every eye will see him. We noted how John has universalized the Zechariah passage, so it’s not just speaking of the nation of Israel, and the “true” Israel that repents. Rather, John sees the repentant people as those coming from every tribe across the earth. God’s people are no longer concentrated within one nation; they are scattered throughout the world. They are those that recognize their rejection of the Christ, turn to the the Lord, and find forgiveness.
We also noted briefly the quotation of these passages by Jesus in Mark 13:26 and 14:62, where he is speaking of the judgment of Jerusalem, predicting the fall of the Temple which would happen in 70 AD. Some might suggest that if the fulfillment of the passages is in that catastrophic event, this points to an early date for Revelation (i.e., during the last few years of Nero’s reign). However, I don’t think we need to see Daniel and Zechariah as referring to either Jesus’ first or second coming. They could speak of both, since the point of the passages is that a divine Son of Man will come in judgment–something that happened in 70AD, and will happen again at the end.
It’s important we don’t lose sight of the purpose of these quotes. John is setting up the rest of the book, and these quotes serve as a bit of a spoiler: Jesus wins! Christ’s victory is set in the language of Daniel and Zechariah to show that this was foretold long before John ever put pen to papyrus. John is connecting Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church. He’s saying that what was predicted to happen for Israel in the prophets will come true within the church. Daniel and Zechariah looked forward to the Messiah, and we see that Jesus Christ was and is that Messiah. They looked for the Messiah to come in judgment and restore a repentant Israel; John sees Jesus coming in judgment and restoring a repentant church. It’s not that the church has replaced Israel; rather, the plan that God initiated within the nation of Israel will be (and was always intended to be) expanded out to encompass every tribe, tongue, and nation.
We only got through verse 7 today largely because the group wanted to review what Dispensationalism teaches. This is particularly relevant here, because Dispensationalists draw a distinction between Israel and the Church. They believe that God’s people have only and always been the nation of Israel, and it is His plan to restore them. For the Dispensationalist, the Church is a “parenthesis” in God’s plan. They draw upon Paul’s language in Romans (particularly 10:18ff) to argue that God brought salvation to the Gentiles only as a way to draw His people (Israel) back to Him. On the contrary, we believe what God is doing with the Church has always been His plan, with Israel being the starting point, and the multitude from “every tribe and peoples and languages” standing before the throne in Revelation 7:9-10 being the future goal.
While Dispensationalism came out the Plymouth Brethren, it has found favor in many non-Reformed churches in the U.S., particularly Baptist and non-denominational. There are a number of people who today identify themselves as Reformed Baptist that were once Dispensational in the their theology, but no longer hold that view. One such Reformed Baptist is Steve Garrick, pastor of Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church. In 2005, he presented an overview and critique of Dispensationalism. If you want a little more information on what Dispensationalism teaches, as well as a Reformed appraisal of it, you can find his presentation HERE on Sermon Audio. [A chart comparing the different millennial views can be found at The Reformed Reader website HERE.]
Next time, we’ll pick up with verse 8.
