---
title: Revelation 1:7
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-7/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-7.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 1:7
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 1:7

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary handles Revelation 1:7 by redefining "see." Christ's return in 1914, on the JW reading, was an invisible parousia — a presence discerned only by the faithful. "Every eye will see him" is therefore taken to mean "every eye will perceive him" or "every eye will recognise the evidence of his presence" rather than literal physical sight. Reasoning From the Scriptures redirects readers to John 14:19 ("the world will see me no more") to support the invisible-return position.

## Protestant Usage

The Greek verb is opsetai — the future of horao, the same ocular verb used for seeing the risen Christ in John 20:18 and Mark 16:7. There is no idiomatic "mental eyes" reading anywhere else in the New Testament. And the verse names a specific subgroup: "those who pierced him" — the crucifiers — will physically see him. Pair Revelation 1:7 with Acts 1:11: the angels said Jesus "will come in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky." He went visibly, bodily, with witnesses; he comes the same way. John 14:19 describes the resurrection-to-ascension window, not the mode of the final return — and Acts 1:11 was spoken by angels to the same disciples six weeks later. The Watchtower's invisible parousia requires correcting the angels.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Visible, Bodily, Every Eye — The Return Acts 1:11 Promised](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/visible-bodily-return-acts1.md) — Acts 1:11 / Revelation 1:7 / 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 [Eschatology]
- [When Was Jehovah Pierced?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/zechariah12-pierced-yahweh.md) — Zechariah 12:10 / John 19:37 / Revelation 1:7 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Son of Man on the Clouds — A Divine Prerogative](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/daniel7-son-of-man-deity.md) — Daniel 7:13-14 [Deity of Christ]