When studying the topic of the coming of the Lord and the coming of the kingdom of God, many Christians quickly point to a statement in the Book of Revelation 1 in order "to prove" that Jesus cannot have come, because it is written there that "every eye shall see him [Jesus]". After pointing these words out, it is argued that there has never been a situation where really every eye of every person living on earth has seen Jesus, therefore this statement could not have been fulfilled as of yet and the event of his coming must still be in the future.
However, is this what Rev 1 really says? Let's have a closer look at that verse in Rev 1:7.
Rev 1:7 (KJV)
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.
A slightly different translation is found in the NIV version, where the expression about those "which pierced him" is introduced not by the word "and" but by the word "even".
Rev 1:7 (NIV)
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
A careful reading leads to recognizing that we do not have a listing of several groups of people here, that is, at first "every eye" (all men), then "they also which pierced him", then afterwards "all kindreds of the earth". This cannot be such a listing, because the "they also which pierced him" as well as the "all kindreds of the earth" are both already part of the "every eye"! This is therefore not a listing of several groups of people, but rather the terms "they which pierced him" and "all kindreds of the earth" are more detailed descriptions in form of apposition of who is meant by "every eye".
The Greek word kai means "and" as well as "even", "also", and can be used to grammatically link an expression as apposition. In such a case, what follows after the kai is a further description of the previous term. We must carefully read such expressions and pay attention to the immediate as well as remote context, in order to accurately understand what the writer has meant.
What is John saying to his readers? He confirms in an emphatic way and manner that Christ will come in the clouds, and that they who pierced him will see him! This verse is by no means a proof to show that this event and the fulfillment of John's words is still in the future; it rather confirms that the coming of the Lord must have happened during the time period of the generation of those who had pierced him!! This statement of John actually confirms the various other statements where the coming of the Lord, the return of Christ, is said to happen and be fulfilled still in "this generation" and before "this generation is passed".
We should also note, that the expression "peoples of the earth" could be translated "tribes of the land" (the NKJV, NASB and perhaps some more translations translate "kindreds" as "tribes", and the word for "earth" is the word for "land"); the translation "tribes of the land" would be more in harmony with the overall content and context of the book, as it is obviously a reference to the tribes of Israel!
In the record about the execution of Jesus, John also records that a number of prophecies from the OT were fulfilled then, among them he mentions that section of Scripture which speaks of those who would pierce him.
At Pentecost then, there were Jews gathered from many different places and nations, and they heard Peter's sermon that day and some repented of what had been done and that their Messiah had been delivered up and executed and hung on the wood. What did Peter say they should do? Those who repented and were baptized received salvation which had been made available through the blood of Christ and which now was granted them on the basis of God'S grace. Those who hardened their hearts and refused to repent experienced a few decades later the judgment that Christ himself had propounced , they "saw" when he came in the clouds and the day (judgment) of the LORD was executed as Jerusalem was taken and the city and temple were destroyed.
Yes, "every eye" saw his "coming with the clouds" ... but this coming had nothing to do with the human person Jesus flying through the sky on top of a cloud and people actually seeing him with their naked eye as he was sitting on top of the cloud. They "saw" what happened when this event took place! How could "every eye" ("all people living on earth" ... as some folks seem to interpret it, see above) see Jesus in the clouds with their naked eye in a literal sense? Even with binoculars, one can see a person only within a relatively short distance! Giving such a scenario a little common sense thought shows that the passage cannot be talking about a literal seeing with the naked eye. Some try to argue that God will mysteriously or mystically find a way whereby He will make it that every eye can literally see Jesus in the clouds all at once ...well, how is such an assumptive conjecture then to prove the point? It doesn't! Instead, it adds further spurious assumptions into the scenario.
The answer to accurately understand what Rev 1:7 records is far more simple: This "see him" as he cometh with the clouds, etc. cannot be meant literally but is a figure of speech by which the record emphatically states that those people, that generation, who lived then at the time of Jesus' execution ("they which pierced him", "the tribes of the land") "saw" the event of his coming. No mystical or mystery assumptions are necessary. It was the Israelites at the time who did "see" the coming of the Lord with the clouds in that day [judgment] of the LORD. It was not a seeing in a literal sense, but a "see" in a figurative sense of "understand", "recognize", "realize", etc. When they saw (in a literal sense) the city of Jerusalem surrounded by armies and when they saw (in a literal sense) the terrible things which had been prophesied unfold in Jerusalem, those who had pierced him then knew that he had come with the clouds in judgment and that God had made this Jesus both Lord and Messiah (Christ) and that he had been appointed judge for the judgement at the end of the world (age).