Monday, November 4, 2013

THE RETURN OF JESUS TO PLANET EARTH WILL BE VISIBLE TO ALL


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.”

The truth declared in these two verses inspires great awe and wonder.  When Jesus returns to planet earth, John tells us that “every eye shall see him.”  That wasn’t the case when He returned to heaven after His resurrection.  Luke tells us that only those whom He visited over a period of 40 days so as to provide incontrovertible proof of His resurrection witnessed His ascension from the Mt. of Olives.

Acts 1:1–9 “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me….And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Many throughout history have argued whether Jesus actually resurrected from the grave.  No one will be able to argue His return; everyone on planet earth will see it.

The Jews have suffered much throughout history from professing Christians that have directed their hate towards them because they murdered Jesus.  Scripture does identify “they also which pierced him” (a reference to the crucifixion) as the Jewish people.

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Yes, they were accountable for pressing false charges against Jesus and pressuring Pilate into condemning Him to death; however, they are not solely responsible for His death.  The truth is that it “pleased the Father” for His Son to die such a death.

Isaiah 53:6&10 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all…. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief….”

Jesus died as a sacrifice for the sin of all mankind.  It was me and it was you just as surely as the Jews who are responsible for the death of Jesus. 

When Jesus returns, everyone on planet earth will mourn.  Why?  Because they will finally realize that everything revealed about Him in scripture was true.  They will finally understand that He is the Messiah, the one and only way to salvation.  Some will mourn that it took them so long to realize this truth and turn to Him in saving faith.  Others will mourn as they realize that in light of the truth of scripture, they are eternally condemned.

The Complete Jewish Bible translation was interesting to me in light of the verse in Zechariah quoted above.  The translator focused on the response of the tribes of Israel to His return.

Revelation 1:7 “Look! He is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, including those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the Land will mourn him.”

(to be continued…)

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