1:7. “…He cometh with clouds…”
The following quotes show different opinions and aspects of Christ’s ‘coming’. I disagree with Dr. Dodd, quoted below, that the church was disappointed that He did not come immediately and so had to change its theology. I believe the promises of His coming were gloriously fulfilled in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and His coming in judgment upon Jerusalem in AD 70 His ‘coming to sup and abide’ with His disciples was fulfilled repeatedly as they lived out their lives. There was no ‘jilted Bride’, but a joyous and productive marriage of the Lamb and the prolific increase of offspring when the whole Roman world was evangelized.
Commenting on Matt. 12:20, “…till he send forth judgment unto victory,“ Lightfoot says:
“…’he sent forth judgment unto truth,’ and asserted himself the true Messias, and the Son of God, before the eyes of all; and confirmed the truth of the gospel, by avenging his cause upon his enemies, in a manner so conspicuous and so dreadful. And hence it is, that that sending forth and execution of judgment against that nation is almost always called in the New Testament ‘his coming in glory.'” (See also Revelation 19:11.), [2:202]
When Jesus was transfigured, the Voice came out of a cloud that overshadowed them, (Matt. 17: 2, 4.) The traditions of the Jews say:
“That the cloud of glory, the conductor of Israel, departed at the death of Moses; for while he lived, that cloud was the people’s guide in the wilderness; but when he was dead, the ark of the covenant led them. Therefore, as that cloud departed at the death of Moses, that great prophet, so such a cloud was now present at the sealing of the greatest Prophet {Jesus}.” [2:242]
“It scarce appears to the Talmudists, how those words of Daniel concerning the Messias, that ‘he comes with the clouds of heaven,’ are consistent with these words of Zechariah, that ‘he comes sitting upon an ass.’ ‘If (say they) the Israelites be good, then he shall come with the clouds of heaven; but if not good, then riding upon an ass.’ Thou art much mistaken, O Jew: for he comes ‘in the clouds of heaven,’ as judge and revenger, because you are evil and very wicked; but sitting upon an ass, not because you are, but because he is, good….” [2:271]
The traditions say that after the ‘thousand years’ and the creation of new heavens and earth, “…’eternity should succeed.'” Concerning the questions the disciples ask in Matt. 24:3, they should be understood in the light of the traditions they had been taught:
“…they do not ask the signs of his coming (as we believe of it) at the last day, to judge both the quick and the dead: but, …When he will come in the evidence and demonstration of the Messiah, raising up the dead, and ending this world, and introducing a new; as they had been taught in their schools concerning his coming.” [2:311]
“…That Christ‘s taking vengeance of that exceeding wicked nation is called Christ’s ‘coming in glory,’ and his ‘coming in the clouds,’ Daniel vii. It is also called, ‘the day of the Lord.’ See Psalm i.4; Mal iii.1,2, &c.; Joel ii.31; Matt. xvi.28; Rev. i.7, &c. See what we have said on chap. xii.20; xix. 28. [2:319]
” (Quoting Josephus), …When huge stones were thrown against the city by the Roman slings, some persons sitting in the towers gave the citizens warning by a sign to take heed, crying out in the vulgar dialect, ”The Son cometh,’ …. The son of man indeed then came in the glory of his justice and his vengeance, as he had often foretold, to destroy that most wicked and profligate nation.” [2:363] {In Hebrew the words ‘stone’ and ‘son’ are very similar.)
Commenting on Mark 9:1, “The kingdom of God coming in power,” Lightfoot notes that:
“In Matthew, it is…the Son of man coming in his kingdom. The coming of Christ in his vengeance and power to destroy the unbelieving and most wicked nation of the Jews is expressed under these forms of speech. Hence the day of judgment and vengeance:
“I. It is called ‘the great and terrible day of the Lord,’ Acts ii.20; 2 Thess. ii. 2, 3.
“II. It is described as ‘the end of the world,’ Jer. iv. 27; Matt. xxiv. 29, &c.
“III. In that phrase, ‘in the last times,’ Isa. ii.2; Acts ii.17; I Tim. iv. 1; 2 Pet. iii.3; that is, in the last times of that city and dispensation.
“IV. Thence, the beginning of the ‘new world,’ Isa. lxv.17; 2 Pet.iii.13.
“V. The vengeance of Christ upon that nation is described as his ‘coming,’ John xxi.22; Heb. x.37: his ‘coming in the clouds,’ Rev. i.7: ‘in glory with the angels,’ Matt. xxiv.30. &c.
“VI. It is described as the enthroning of Christ, and his twelve apostles judging the twelve tribes of Israel,’ Matt. xix.28; Luke xxii.30.” [2:422]
Discussing Luke 13:35 where Jesus said: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until [the time] come when ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” Lightfoot believes Jesus was referring to the fact that His doctrine and teaching was in the Name of the Lord. The referent for Jesus’ remark is Psalm 118:26, a Psalm that was required to be sung every Passover. For people who did not know all the words, they could respond to the recitation of a master or elder by repeating the words: ‘Hallelujah,’ that is, ‘Praise the Lord.’
“…When they came to the words…blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, if it be a boy or a servant that is the praecentor…he saith, Blessed is he that cometh; and the rest answer, In the name of the Lord. And this is that for which I have so long ventured upon the reader’s patience, that he may observe what is done differently from the rest when this clause is recited. It is cut in two, which is not done in others. And the first words are not repeated after the praecentor, as they are in other clauses. And whether this custom obtained only in families where servants or boys led in singing, we may judge from this following passage:
“‘They asked R. Chaijam Bar Ba, ‘How doth it appear, that he who heareth and doth not answer performs his duty?’ ‘From this, saith he, … That we see the greatest Rabbins standing in the synagogue…and they say, Blessed be he that cometh, … and they answer, … In the name of the Lord: and they both perform their duty.'”
“…to come is oftentimes the same with them {the Jewish Doctors} as to teach; ‘If any one shall come in his own name, him ye will receive:’ i.e. If any one shall teach….”
“…Those doctors did not come and teach in the name of the Lord, but either in their own name, or in the name of some father of the traditions. Hence nothing is more familiar with them, than ”R.N. in the name of R. N. saith:”” [3:146-9]
Commenting on John 21:22, “If I will that he tarry till I come…”, Lightfoot says: “Till I come: that is, till I come to destroy the city and nation of the Jews. As to this kind of phrase, take a few instances:–
“Our Saviour saith, Matt. xvi.28, ‘There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom:’ which must not be understood of his coming to the last judgment; for there was not one standing there that could live till that time: nor ought it to be understood of the resurrection, as some would have it; for probably not only some, but, in a manner, all that stood there lived till that time. His coming, therefore, in this place, must be understood of his coming to take vengeance against those enemies of his which would not have him to rule over them….” [3:451-2]
When Stephen quoted Daniel 7:13, “I saw one like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven,” and coming to the Ancient of Days, “R. Saadiah saith upon this place, ‘like to the Son of man … This is the Messiah our righteousness; but is it not written of the Messiah, Poor and riding upon an ass? For he shall come in humility. ‘And they brought him before the Ancient of days:’ this is that that is written, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand.”
“The doctors in Sanhedrim talk much more out of the way; … If they are worthy (i.e. the Israelites), then he shall come with the clouds of heaven; but if they are not worthy, then he will come poor and riding upon an ass.’…” [4:89-90]
[Davies, 280 note 1] “The human figure in Dan.7.13 coming with the clouds of heaven was also interpreted of the Messiah, Sib.Oracles,5.414. Cf. b.Sanh.96b, which reads: ‘R. Nahman said to R. Isaac [late third century]: ‘ ‘Have you heard when Bar Nafle will come?’ ‘Who is Bar Nafle?’ he asked. ‘Messiah’, he answered, ‘Do you call Messiah Bar Nafle?’ ‘Even so’, he rejoined, ‘as it is written, In that day I will raise up [97a] the tabernacle of David ha-nofeleth [that is fallen]’.’ Bar Nafle represents the Greek … ‘the Son of the clouds’, Dan.7.13.”
[285-7] “The earliest Christians recognized in the life of Jesus,… the advent of the powers of the Age to Come; for them ‘the eschaton, the final and decisive act of God, has already entered human experience’: it only remained for Jesus to come again on the clouds to complete the act. Dr. Dodd has insisted that it was not an early but an immediate advent of Christ that was expected. He writes:
‘…. It was not an early advent that they proclaimed [286] but an immediate advent. They proclaimed it not so much as a future event for which men should prepare by repentance, but rather as the impending corroboration of a present fact.’
“When, however, the Lord did not come on the clouds the Second Advent ‘came to appear as a second crisis yet in the future’. This demanded a readjustment in the Church‘s theology. We may again quote Dr. Dodd:
‘As the revelation still delayed the believers were driven to conclude that they had been mistaken in thinking that the Lord would return immediately, but a more attentive study of His teaching, and observation of the signs of the times, they thought, would enable them to divine the time of His coming, as well as the reason for its delay. The Church therefore proceeded to reconstruct on a modified plan the traditional scheme of Jewish eschatology, which had been broken up by the declaration that the Kingdom of God had already come. Materials for such a reconstruction were present in profusion in the apocalyptic literature.’
“…. The belief in the Second Advent was integral to that eschatological faith which Paul shared with the early Church…. it was the unexpected and continued delay of His coming that came to exercise Paul’s thought, and it is to the postponement of the Second Advent that we owe Paul’s elaboration of apocalyptic details in his description of the latter…. that the manner in which Paul … pictured the Second Advent … is throughout dependent upon the apocalyptic traditions of Judaism is self-evident when the eschatological details of his Epistles, e.g. 1 and 2 Thess. and 1 Cor., are compared with the [287] relevant passages in the apocryphal and rabbinical literature.”
That Paul departs from Judaism in his doctrine of the Resurrection… see further quotes at Revelation 20:5, below.
[296-7]”… Paul clearly connects the Parousia of Christ with the day of judgement for the world…. [1 Cor.1.7-8; 2 Cor.1.14; Phil.1.6; 1.10; 2.16.]
[298] “… [with the Resurrection of Jesus] the Age to Come has come…. for Paul, as indeed for most of the New Testament writers, the eschaton has come …. already in the Resurrection of Jesus the Age to Come has dawned…. for Paul the Resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of that general resurrection which should inaugurate the Age to Come….”
[314-5]”… (the distinction between this age and the Age to Come)… was as familiar to the Rabbis as to the apocalyptists… [315] On the one hand, there are passages which clearly imply that the Age to Come always exists ‘in heaven’ or ‘in the unseen’.
[Note 1: …The Book of Enoch (Oxford, 1893), p. 33]… there is here merely the recognition of a realm that always IS. Into this Age to Come that always IS the souls of the righteous enter at death. Thus this world is the vestibule of the Age to Come, i.e. it immediately precedes the latter…. [Quotes R. Jacob ( AD 140-65) Note 5: P. Aboth4.16;…Sifra Lev.85d; J.Yeb.15.14d, and quotes R. Johanan b. Zakkai, Note 6: b. ber.28b.]”
[316-7] {Paul the Christian} now believed that the Age to Come eternally existent in the Heavens had already appeared in its initial stages in the Resurrection of Jesus. Already the resurrection body, the body of the final Age to Come was being formed. Paul had died and risen with Christ and [318] was already being transformed…. To be ‘in Christ’ in this world and to be ‘with Christ’ in the sphere beyond death was the final blessedness, the Age to Come in its second and last phase…. [p. 319] … Christians are already partakers in the Age to Come ‘in Christ’….” {See also 14:13 below for further quotes.}
1:7. “…and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him….”
The Jewish writings teach that the Messiah will punish, destroy, judge and curse the Gentiles.
“…’The morning cometh, and also the night,’ Isa.xxi.12. It will be the morning to Israel {when the Messiah shall come]; but it will be night to the nations of the world.'”
Yet Revelation 1:7 shows that His coming will be visible to “those who pierced him”, that is, the Jews, and they will wail because of Him. “Kindreds of the earth” may also be “kindreds of the land,” that is, the tribes of Israel. [3:268-9]