It depends on how you are accessing the data. If it is from a Service, you may not be able to change this behavior yourself.
However, if you are viewing a feature class in a mxd, then you can usually alter it. For example, a Scale Dependency may have been set, which suppresses the data display outside a preset scale (usually to improve performance and to prevent the display from getting cluttered).
ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)
Chris Donohue, GISP