Revelation 1:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here He who was slain as a Lamb will come in the glory of the Father as Judge, upon the clouds.

This may mean upon the bodiless noetic powers, or upon something like the cloud that overshadowed Him with the holy Apostles on Tabor.

Every eye will see Him coming with glory. Those who crucified Him, and the tribes of the earth that remain in unbelief, will mourn (Mt 24:29-30).

"Yea, amen" means: truly, so it is. For by these words one and the same meaning is signified in both Greek and Hebrew. Amen means: let it be.

Understand firmly and in no way doubt that the Word made flesh always possessed true human flesh. In it God the Word was born of the Virgin. In it He was crucified and died. In it He rose and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God. In it also He will come to judge the living and the dead. Therefore the Apostles heard from the angels: “He will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). And blessed John says: “Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him. All the tribes of the earth will see Him.” This version of Rev 1:7, cited by Fulgentius, differs both from the Vulgate text and from the Synodal translation.

I think that divine Scripture calls the holy angels clouds because of their lightness, lack of heaviness, and free movement through the air. This is as if to say: the Lord will appear borne and accompanied by the divine angels. For the prophet also presents Him so when he says: “He mounted the cherubim and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind” (Ps 17:11). “And every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him.” At His second and glorious coming, He will not intrude as an uninvited guest, nor will He appear secretly as at the first coming, when He visited the world in the flesh. The prophet points to the hiddenness of that coming and says: “He shall come down like rain upon the fleece, like drops watering the earth” (Ps 71:6).

John confirms what the angels announced at Christ's ascension into heaven: "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

Then not only friends and a few faithful servants of the Word will see His coming. All the tribes of the earth will also see Him.

The crucifiers will see Him, those who crucify Him by their sins in every age. All who rejected the Savior will weep and grieve over it.

That is, because of that dread judgment which He will execute upon men when He comes in His own time. Why, immediately after the greeting, does the holy Apostle begin to speak of the dread judgment? He hastens to mark out the chief theme, or chief subject, of his book. He does this to prepare his readers for it and to dispose them in a certain way toward receiving the great and dread revelations about the world’s subsequent destinies. To confirm the immutability and inevitability of the Lord’s universal judgment, and likewise all the events connected with it, about which St. John is about to speak, he first says on his own behalf: “Yea, Amen.” Second, he calls as witness Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of all that exists (Rev 1:8).

Then the Apostle expresses the chief thought of his book: “The Lord is coming with clouds.” In the Old Testament, the cloud served as a sign of divine presence. Among later Jews, the Messiah was even directly called “the man of the clouds.” He is coming, of course, to execute judgment upon His enemies. All men will turn their gaze toward Him, both the Jews who pierced Him and all the nations. His coming will appear dreadful to all, so that men will cry aloud in terror, κόψονται. This is entirely true. It will certainly happen, the Apostle notes. God Himself further guarantees this, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of all. He holds all things in His power and therefore can accomplish everything foretold in the Apocalypse (verses 7-8).