When Will the Nations See Christ?

A dear friend and fellow student wrote in with a question, and they’ve given me permission to share their question and my response for the benefit of others who may have the same question. The question regards AT WHAT POINT the world will see Christ when he returns.

The Question

Tanner....I'm trying to get a sequence of events properly arranged in my mind.  Not all the events, just a couple of the very first few. Correct me if I'm wrong please: At what point does Christ actually show himself to the world?  Definitely NOT at the same time or during the period when the believers are gathered for judgement, right?  That's a period where the world's eyes will be holden so that Christ can accomplish what must first be done with his people (in Sinai?) without any interference from the world, right?  When we read that every eye shall see him that occurs much later after the saints are immortalized and he reveals himself to the world WITH the saints. 

Also, when does Armageddon actually take place.....during the time his feet stand on the Mount, before that or after that?

All the signs that we're seeing now are leading us much, much closer to the return of Christ.  Think about this: He has to come back to first resurrect all those in covenant who have fallen asleep in the past and then those of us which still remain. Then we have to be whisked away to the place of judgement.....then the judgement must take place.....then the marriage supper of the Lamb and whatever else needs to be done. However long all that takes is anyone's guess.  All that has to take place prior to when he stands upon the Mount of Olives because we read in Zechariah 14:4 & 5 that the SAINTS are with him!  4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 

That means that all which I just mentioned above must first occur.  So in my mind, that brings his return very, very close...much closer that when Armageddon starts!

Our Answer

Hey Bro. -----, excellent question - I agree completely. I find the Scriptural testimony to place Christ's appearance to the world at a very specific moment in time. The verse you mentioned is one of those verses and supplies pretty much everything we need to get the timing of when Christ shows himself to the world:

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.

Those who "pierced" Christ are none other than the Jews. The time when the world sees him is when the Jews first see him again, and that is only when Christ appears to save Israel from "all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem" (Zechariah 12:2). This is of course the Psalm 83 conflict. It is at this time that "they also which pierced him" see Christ just as Zechariah shows a verses down in

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.

So this is the time when the world sees Christ for the first time. It is the same time that Israel sees him, but only Israel understands his identity at this time, for it seems that they only are given to see the holes in his hands - the clear markers of his identity (Zechariah 13:6).

But what does Christ come with when the world and Israel sees him? Is he alone? No - "he cometh with clouds". Clouds are obviously symbolic of something because A) this is Revelation we're talking about, and B) why would Jesus come with literal formations of water droplets? Clouds represent something, and we believe those are the saints. Some say that these are the angels, but I believe this is referring to the saints for a few reasons.

First, the context of Revelation 1 was just showing saints in a glorified state.

Revelation 1:5-7 - And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,  (6)  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.  (7)  Behold, he cometh with clouds...

Second, I find that other passages show that the saints are with Christ when he appears to Israel's salvation. 

Zechariah 14:4-5 - And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives... (5) ... and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

Obadiah 1:18-21 details this same "round about" conflict and how the land will be conquered and inhabited, and we're told in verse 21 that "saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S." A plural entity "judges" the mount of Esau (which happens to be one of the enemies listed in Psalm 83:6), and the result is that the Kingdom is the Lord's. Who are these "saviors"? It is not just Jesus, for then it would say "a savior shall judge the mount of Esau". This is the same group performing the same action described in Zechariah 14:5. Whoever "the saints" are in Zechariah 14 are the "saviors" of Obadiah, and I believe that can only be the saints.

Some believe that the angels will help Christ conquer the world, and I've had conversations on this subject. But they're forgetting what we're told in

Hebrews 2:5 - For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

That honor and role of ruling and conquering is given to Christ's proven and faithful servants as we see clearly in

Revelation 2:26-27 - And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:  (27)  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Psalms 149:4-9 - For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.  (5)  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.  (6)  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;  (7)  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;  (8)  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;  (9)  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

And many such others.

So the general sequence I see is this: Christ first send out the call to gather his servants - both dead and living - for judgement like we're told in

Psalms 50:4-5 - He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.  (5)  Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

Because Christ has his saints with him when the nations and Israel "shall see him", this occurs well before any nation sees Christ. As you say, Christ will gather, judge, and immortalize his people, and I also believe that this is when the marriage supper occurs. All of these things I believe will occur at Sinai for a number of reasons (there seems to be clear evidence that this is so, and we also can track the trajectory of Christ from Jerusalem to that vicinity). It is then that Israel requires saving and Christ and his "cloud" of righteous saints go forth to Israel's salvation, and the conquering begins. So yes, I firmly believe that we can be gathered at any possible moment, and I believe we've been blessed to witness far more developments than we should expect to see.

I find the Scriptures to teach that the first time any mortals see Christ and or his saints is when they go "forth for the salvation of thy people (Israel)" from the southern regions of Paran, Edom, and Midian (Habakkuk 3:13, 3, 7, Isaiah 63:1-3). This is after Christ has his redeemed multitude. That this is the first time any mortals see or know of Christ's coming (though they know not his identity) is indicated in Isaiah 63 where we see their coming described from the perspective of a mortal in Jerusalem. Note the kinds of questions they will be asking:

Isaiah 63:1-2 - Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.  (2)  Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

In the time when they need saving, they are made aware of this mighty group which is coming from the southern regions and destroying Israel's enemies along the way. Their response is not, "Ah, this is that Jesus who we crucified." No - this is the first time they see him, but they know no who he is or what is business is. "Who is this?" they will wonder. It is then that what we see in Revelation 1:7 seems to come into play - "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."

All of this means that nobody will know of Christ's return until he marches forth with his redeemed. We don't know how long the gathering of the saints, judgment, or marriage supper of the lamb will take, but we can confidently conclude that mortal nations will not be interfering with any of this. It is even wondered whether the nations will even make a big notice of some of their citizens (the saints) suddenly disappearing. I don't believe any government will take serious notice of this at all. Only those who personally know us will likely notice that something is off. Particularly since the percentage of the world population that is in covenant with God is so proportionally few, I don't expect there to be news headlines saying "MASS NUMBER OF PEOPLE SUDDENLY MISSING - HAS THE RAPTURE OCCURED?" I don't believe that will happen at all.

How the governments of the world will be unaware of what Christ and the saints are doing before they reveal themselves, we can't know for sure. Perhaps their detection and satellite systems are simply made of none effect. Perhaps there is enough going on in the world that they don't take notice? Our God is limitless and can make that happen more than 1000 different ways - "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14). The Scriptures indicate in numerous ways that the world knows of his appearance only after Christ has his redeemed saints with him, and that is the position I therefore take.

I'll comment quickly upon Armageddon. I believe some in the household have fallen prey with the rest of modern Christendom into the "Hollywood" idea of Armageddon - that it refers to all of the "end time troubles". I believe this refers to a very specific phase of Christ's conquering plan. We're told about it in the context of the sixth vial, and I'll copy those verses here and interweave my understanding of it within the passage:

Revelation 16:12-16 - And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates (the Ottoman Empire - NOT TURKEY TODAY); and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared (this has been fulfilled with incredible detail. The Ottoman Empire "dried up" as a result of WWI, and its territory was broken up into the many "Middle East" countries we see TODAY. Many of those "kings" are the players of Psalm 83, and because those nations had to come against Israel, it was necessary that the Ottomans be pushed out to "make way" for them. This places the time period of these verses from the 1920s-1940s, for that is when the Ottoman territory was split up. The prophecy continues from that time forward to explain what happens next).  (13)  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  (14)  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. (I believe that these "spirits" started going forth after the Euphratean power dried up. Now is not an efficient time or place to explain that in any detail, but it's worth noting that all systems of the earth started preaching humanism and the democratic concepts of liberty, equality, and fraternity to bring us to this humanistic world we live in TODAY. As the passage says, those spirits are what will cause the nations to fight against Christ like we see in Psalm 2. I do not believe that the Psalm 83 nations are included in this, for they are not motivated by self-preservation and humanism, but by a hatred of Israel and the Jews. The motivation of the Psalm 83 nations is very different than that of Gog or the rest of the world, and I don't believe this passage even deals with that.) (15)  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.  (16)  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

I believe Armageddon refers to the conflicts after Christ has sat upon his throne in Jerusalem. It could include that Gogian war of Ezekiel 38 and that of Europe and the rest of the world, or it may include only that latter portion. While it is interesting and profitable to try and sift through that, it makes no true practical difference to us TODAY because we will have already been gathered and judged well before either of these events occur. Such is my position after studying the subject.

I hope that explains my thinking and makes some sense. Sorry for the long letter - I did try to keep it concise, but you know me!

Love and thanks in Christ,

Bro. Tanner