And They also which Pierced Him

 

 

Let the Bible speak!

The explicit before the implicit,

Inductive before deductive

The facts before we interpret.

 

The dominant thing in the church

Is that of the denomination,

That’s where most believers began:

Within their congregation.

 

For the most part, top-down

Rather than bottom-up,

And for the rest of their converted life

They sip the denomination cup.

 

Nothing's wrong with denomination

Unless it becomes a bar:

A bar that sets one’s limitation

And becomes that believer’s star.

 

Our North star is the Bible:

The infallible Word of God

And all else that obfuscate God’s Word

Is a companion to the king fraud.

 

Our adversary, the deceiver,

Is more fraudulent than any

And by his alluring and deceptive ways

He imprisons many.

 

Let us therefore contextualized

The title of this poetic piece,

Bearing in mind as we examine it

Denomination must decrease.

 

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.

 

  

“John to the seven churches”

It says this in verse 4,

And in verse 7, “he cometh with clouds”

But stay with me, there is more.

 

This is not the first reference

Re a coming involving clouds,

There is another in the Old Testament

Let’s go there and browse.

 

Daniel 7:13-14

 

I saw in the night visions,

and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,

and came to the Ancient of days,

and they brought him near before him.

 

And there was given him dominion,

and glory, and a kingdom,

that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

 

This is not the old Jewish covenant

But the fulfilment of the same

For it was in that same 1^st Century

God sent the Spirit in Jesus’ name.

 

Jesus, in Matthew chapter 24,

Prophesied to his coming in the clouds

And the indicators that he meant that generation

Were particularly loud.

The word generation as used in Matthew

Bears this out supremely,

Yes, in reference to the Pharisees and Sadducees

And all that followed them blindly.

 

All that abused the old covenant law

And appealed to their own agenda,

And them that crucified the Lord Christ

Referring to him as a blasphemer.

 

All in their pseudo love for Caesar

Since any was better than the Christ,

Ignorant that they were fulfilling prophecy

For he was God’s determinate sacrifice.

 

 

And hence, the reason for this title:

And they also which pierced him:

A reference to that present generation

And not to one to which it is dim.

 

A factual and historic fulfilment

Of a prophecy that came to pass

During the lifetime of some of those enquirers

That stood in Jesus’ prophetic class.

 

Some argue it was the Romans

That pierced the Lord Jesus Christ

But the Jews had demanded his crucifixion;

Any executioner would suffice.

 

It was the harlot astride the beast

As identified in the Revelation:

Jerusalem riding on Rome’s authority

To effect their Messiah’s crucifixion.

 

 

And no doubt, in AD 70,

As God’s judgment rained on Jerusalem,

Much of what was prophesied

Would have been clear to them.

 

And they also which pierced him,

Not who will witness his second advent

But of that generation that were still alive

That experienced God’s judgement.

 

“Crucify him!  Crucify him!”

“We have no king but Caesar!”

“His blood be upon us and our children!”

The Jews were Christ’s executioners.

 

“And they also which pierced him”

Not the Romans, but the Jews,

They, along with the 1^st Century Christians,

Had that experiential view.

  

Thus, showing that this prophecy

Came to pass exactly as prophesied,

And that Bible prophecy forms history

And the future must comply.

 

Stewart Russell © June 21, 2022

 

 

A Coming Still to Come

 

 

 

Every eye shall see him

And also they that pierced him,

Though it sounds very like it

Could this be the second coming?

 

The Bible speaks of two advents

The first was the virgin birth,

Angels proclaimed to shepherd folk

The Saviour had come to earth.

 

Jesus is that Saviour

That the Father had promised to man,

To redeem man from the curse of sin

Was the Father’s salvation plan.

 

Adam and Eve had sold us out

But Jesus came to buy us back,

Hence, the purpose of the first advent:

His death is a historical fact

 

His death was only temporary

For up from the grave he rose,

The evidence of this was an empty tomb

And the grave clothes he disposed.

 

 

There were many who testified

They had seen the risen Christ,

Some days later he ascended on high

Having paid sin’s ultimate price.

 

The culmination of his first advent

Was at his glorious ascension

But he will appear in the second advent

Amidst tremendous exultation.

 

At this time, the Bible says,

All that are in the grave will hear:

Some will come forth to eternal life,

The others to everlasting despair.

 

Turn to Revelation 1 verse 7

For the words in verse number 1,

Is this prophecy yet to be fulfilled

Or, has it already gone?

 

For some it is already gone

For others it is yet to come,

But all are agreed on the central one

Which is Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

 

 

Some believe this visitation

Is the judgement promised on Jerusalem,

Others see it much differently

And with this have a problem.

 

It all depends on how we see

Words like “near” and “at hand”,

 Whether they are explicit or implicit

Regarding the timing of God’s plan.

 

It must be understood my friend

That neither position is salvific

But what is important to you and me

Is that an advent is still futuristic.

 

I could go on and argue some more

On either side of the dispute,

But there is something far more critical

That none of us should refute.

 

We may never come to a conclusion

Concerning our respective positions

But far more critical than that resolve

Is Christ’s Divine commission.

 

 

Go ye into all the world

And preach the glorious gospel,

Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit

And of them make disciples.

 

There is a coming still to come

For the children of the kingdom,

Meanwhile we tell of God’s great salvation

Through Jesus Christ, His Son.

 

Our eschatology might be different

Leading up to the second advent

But far more important than our positions

Is the teaching to repent.

  

John the Baptist preached repentance

Jesus taught it too

And while we wait for him to appear

This we must also pursue.

 

We’ve a story to tell to the Nations

The story of man’s redemption:

How Jesus came and is coming again,

The culmination of man’s salvation.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019

 

Our Future or Theirs?

 

 

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.

 

In whose future is this?

The popular view says ours,

Thus, let me share with you

My study of several hours.

 

When studying the Scriptures

Audience relevance is vital,

Not everything that is written therein

Is for every people.

 

As I read Revelation 1:7

In conjunction with Matthew 24

I get the clearest of impressions

It’s their future more and more.

 

Whose future you may ask?

The Future of those Jews

The very ones that Jesus was addressing

In that prophetic view.

 

 

John on the Isle of Patmos

Picks up this very intent

That it’s to his brothers in tribulation

That this revelation was sent.

 

These were scheduled events

That must shortly come to pass,

John was certainly clear on this

And the urgency of his task.

 

Not only would they happen shortly

But the time was at hand,

Note the imminence of the prophecy

This was a short-term plan.

 

In their future not ours,

It was to happen in their time

Or why this intense urgency?

It’s time we disabuse our mind.

  

Written to seven churches then

Not to churches in our time

Though these specified characteristics

Are applicable to yours and mine.

 

There is a message there for us

That we should take to heart

But this would be so in every era

Post Pentecost and from the start.

 

The events of that 1^st Century

Affected the entire world,

Not long after Jesus left

Began the chaotic whirl.

 

The Christians were persecuted

Firstly, by the Jews

And the Romans subsequently joined

According to historic reviews.

 

 

In the Olivet discourse

As in the events of the Revelation

Jesus spoke to the horrid times at hand

Also known as the tribulation.

 

The disciples were apprehensive

Not for us in our time

But for themselves and others,

Fear and distress racked their mind.

 

Remember this is pre-Pentecost

Jesus is still with them,

However, soon he’ll be going away

Herein lies the problem.

 

 

The temple will be destroyed

Jerusalem will be laid waste,

Nothing like this had they experienced

And it was coming with haste.

  

Like an oncoming storm

With little chance of escape,

The disciples understood its imminence

Let us make no mistake.

 

Do not be deceived

Jesus warned his disciples,

That they bear in mind what he said

Was absolutely vital.

 

It was vital to them

Because it would happen to them,

Not in two thousand years

But imminently back then.

 

In their time I must repeat

Certainly not in ours,

The urgency was as clear as could be

Concerning the oncoming horror.

 

 

Then shall they deliver you up

To be afflicted and killed,

The audience that Jesus addressed

Was standing before him still.

 

Many shall be offended

And shall betray one another,

It was of them that he spoke

Hence why they were bothered.

 

When would these things be?

The disciples had enquired,

And Jesus’ response was

Before that generation had expired.

 

When you shall see these things

Know that it is near,

It was the generation that heard him

 Right then and there. 

 

Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27

 

There be some standing here,

Which shall not taste of death,

Till they see the son of man

Coming in his kingdom.

 

Matthew 24:15-21

 

When ye therefore shall see

The abomination of desolation,

Spoken of by Daniel the prophet

Stand in the holy place.

 

Let them that be in Judea

Flee to the mountain

And let him that be on the housetop

Not come down for anything.

 

Neither let him that be in the field

Return back for his clothes,

All this would befall Jerusalem

In this time of woes.

 

Then shall be great tribulation-

In that time, not now

But for a reason unknown to me

It will be in our day, somehow.

 

Daniel the prophet

Prophesied of this occasion,

Matthew 24 is Jesus’ confirmation

It will happen to that generation.

 

That generation, not ours

More than two thousand years hence,

Read the Scriptures as they are

And I mean no offense.

 

 

Coming with clouds

According to chapter 1 of Revelation

But this does not speak to the end

As in the final consummation.

 

And even if it did

None knows when that would be,

To say it would be in our time

Would be to say so mistakenly.

 

Their future, not ours

Speaks to the end of that age,

The end of the old Jewish covenant-

This was the transitional stage.

 

It speaks to Jesus’ lament

Over the city of Jerusalem

As he bemoaned their rejection

And their coming desolation.

 

Matthew 23:37-38

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

thou that killest the prophets,

and stonest them which are sent onto thee,

how often would I have gathered thy children together,

even as a hen gathereth her chickens under hew wings,

and ye would not!

 

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

 

Revelation1:7

 

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.

 

Revelation 22:10

 

 

Daniel 12:4

 

 

Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book:

For the time is at hand.

Very unlike the instructions that Daniel had:

Shut up the words and seal the book was the plan.

 

In their time not ours

Not our future but theirs,

I have given a condensed summary

But I believe the point is clear.

 

Stewart Russell © October 27, 2020