Jesus Coming In The Clouds?

Johnny Ova

Senior Pastor of Sound of Heaven Church

Jesus Coming In The Clouds...what does it mean?

There are so many prophecies, dreams and visions surrounding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ with the specific image of Jesus coming in the clouds. Many Christians have often thought that they were the generation that would be alive during this epic Biblical event. We’ve had people try and predict dates and name places with all of them to have fallen short.

Some of these people to make these predictions are very well known. From the likes of John Wesley, to Edgar C Whisenant, to yes of course, the late Harold Camping all spoke about Jesus coming in the clouds. They even named specific times and dates (which I know goes against most of the popular doctrine today).

Instead of having this article focus on the nature or time of the coming of Christ, I want to focus on a specific aspect of the coming…the clouds. Yes, Jesus coming in the clouds! The big beautiful white puffy “Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” type of clouds that are mentioned in scripture. Now because this is such an important topic in Christianity, I had wanted to take a deeper dive into this. So join me on this brief yet fascinating journey through the scriptures as we study Jesus coming in the clouds and the impact it has for us today.

The Bible, Clouds and is Jesus coming in the clouds?

In the Bible clouds always represent The Glory of God, but many things make up Gods Glory. The Glory consists of power, authority, miracles, provision, law, and judgement among other things. When the Glory of God is present all of these things can be present. When blessings are manifesting, His Glory is here. When a healing supernaturally takes place, His Glory is here. When judgement is happening, His Glory is here. I know the last one is tough but we have to have a true and proper understanding of His Glory. Not everything with God is always “sunshine and rainbows”…see what I did there!?!? 🙂

In ancient Israel, they had a very unique teaching style. One of the ways they primarily taught is using words that describe imagery to further explain a thought. Every culture has these. In America, where I live, we use phrases like, “I was star struck,” or ” I’m going to knock you off your high horse” etc. I don’t literally mean I am going to push you off your horse but it is an expression, using imagery, to further explain that you have a lot of pride and you are going to come crashing down. This is why we need to take a deeper dive into the phrase, “Jesus coming in the clouds.”

Knowing that every culture has these, we really need to make this a focus of ours to learn and understand the language of the writers to truly understand the intent of these writers. I think we can all agree that understanding the most genuine intent of the Biblical authors will have the greatest benefit for us today. Let’s circle back to the Glory of God. So now that we see from reading the scriptures and taking a look at history that every time the writers of the Bible were expressing the Glory of God, most of the time they would use the word “clouds”. Let’s look at some examples before getting into Jesus coming in the clouds.

Numbers 9:17 states, “Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.”

The sons of Israel were to follow the Glory of God. How did the writers express this? They used the word Cloud! We see the Israelites would camp out wherever the “cloud” would settle and once it left it was time to go! This is good advice for us too. Always stay where the Glory of God is even though it can be full of blessings or judgement. Either way it is the best for you. Could this be similar with the phrase Jesus coming in the clouds?

Now let’s read Exodus 13:21-22 which states, “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”

So the Lord’s Glory lead the people of God by day and the fire of God (which is a whole other topic) led them by night. The people of God were suppose to follow the Glory of God (expressed as a cloud) to the promised land. There is so much prophetic insight in clouds and there is so much more to Jesus coming in the clouds than you would think. Clouds are high above the Earth. We should be the same. Your perspective changes as you go higher (above every situation). The other powerful prophetic insight is if clouds are around you, it’s hard to see with your physical eyes. So maybe we should keep our head “in the clouds”(another expression) to block our view from the storms around us and stay focused on the Glory that surrounds us and is ahead of us.

I also want to point out that there is not a scholar alive that believes God physically came down on a literal cloud and just taxi’d the people of God out. Every single one of them (that I can find) knows that it is a very common figure of speech used in the writings of ancient Israel to teach at a deeper level. Again, could this be the same for the phrase, “Jesus coming in the clouds”? Keep reading and let us see what the Bible says.P

Can you show me in the Bible where clouds are mentioned like this?

Yup! Now since this article we specifically want to discuss Jesus coming in the clouds as stated in the New Testament, I want to propose a different perspective than the normal teachings we hear in the United States these days. Before we really discuss Jesus coming in the clouds, I would like to present other scriptures that show the term clouds being used. I pulled out a few for us to break down.

Zephaniah 1:15- Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! … That day will be a day of wrath– a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness...

This verse is specific to a judgement coming onto Judah but let’s take a look at the language used. They use the term “day of the Lord” and also mentions that it is “near and coming very quickly”. Zephaniah prophesied this in about 640 B.C. This historically happened in 586 B.C. So it was only 54 years after Zephaniah prophesied this that it actually happened. This is why they use the words “soon and very quickly“. He also mentions it as a day of distress, wrath, trouble….but also a day of clouds (Glory). God’s judgement was finally going to come for all of the wickedness in the land.

So to recap:

The day of the Lord was near ( a day of judgement)
It was near and coming very quickly (Only took 54 years to literally see this judgement)
It historically was a day of wrath, distress, anguish, trouble and ruin.
It is summed up as a day of clouds. ( a day of judgment that quickly came over the audience being prophesied over)

Joel 2:1-4- Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. …. There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.

Again, we see a Judgement coming over different nations for their treatment of Judah. It is described as the “day of the Lord”, it is described as “being near” and once again….a “day of clouds.” Joel was prophesying this directly to “Tyre, Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia (Joel 3:4).” These people took all of their treasure (v5) and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from the land (v6).

God’s glory was about to manifest (day of clouds) and a judgement was coming over this region. The book of Joel was written around the Ninth Century B.C . There are historically recorded battles between the people of God and the Philistines (Philistia) all throughout the Bible and all throughout history but it’s pretty powerful how accurate the Prophets of the OT are. Every time they prophesied it happened within a few decades and in Joel’s case the “day of the Lord (judgement)” came quickly and it certainly was “near”…to them.

Here is an excerpt from www.livescience.com

“Stories in the Hebrew Bible say that the Philistines clashed with the ancient Israelites many times. One of the battles supposedly took place between a Philistine force led by the giant man named Goliath and an Israelite force that included a man named David who would go on to become king of Israel. In the story David kills Goliath with a slingshot and the Israelites go on to rout the Philistine force. Whether David or Goliath ever existed — or if a series of wars between the Philistines and Israelites occurred — are matters debated by scholars. The Philistines pop up again in Assyrian texts dating to the 8^th century and 7^thcenturies B.C. when the Assyrian Empire ruled much of the Middle East.

One text records a treaty between the Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon (ca. 681 – 669 B.C.) and the ruler of a city named Tyre. In the treaty, Esarhaddon’s control “of the land of Philistines” is acknowledged and the ruler of Tyre agrees that the cargo of any ships wrecked off this area belong to Esarhaddon. The Assyrian texts don’t specify exactly what the “land of the of the Philistines” encompassed during the 7^th century B.C.; however, an earlier text, dating to the reign of Tiglath Pileser III (reign 745–727 B.C.) says that the Assyrian king had trouble finding a reliable vassal ruler who could control Ashkelon (a place which the Hebrew Bible says was a Philistine city).

One text, written in the name of Tiglath Pileser III, says that a “King of Ashkelon” named Sidqia “did not bow to my yoke” and as a consequence, Sidqia and his family were deported to Assyria. The Philistines disappear from written history during the 6th century B.C. when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (reign ca. 605 BC – c. 562 BC) conquered the region and destroyed several cities, including Ashkelon.”

This type of contextual understanding is EXTREMELY important to understanding the Bible. Imagine that there are people ignoring these historical facts and try to use verses out of this specific prophecy for events of today. It doesn’t make any sense, especially when Joel was talking to a specific group of people, about a specific event that we can historically verify.

My position is that this type of teaching of the Bible is an extreme case of doctrinal error that is causing God’s people today to move further away from their identity, authority and power from living in the fullness of the Kingdom of God that is here.

Exodus 30:3,18– For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near– a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations….Dark will be the day at Tahpanhes when I break the yoke of Egypt; there her proud strength will come to an end. She will be covered with clouds, and her villages will go into captivity.

Exodus mentions this judgement as “near” and references it as the “day of the Lord.”

***I hope you are beginning to see how the term “day of the Lord” is used as a judgement term in general throughout the Bible. Could it be that when we hear this or “Jesus coming in the clouds” it is the same type of statement?

Exodus also mentions this day as a “day of clouds”. It also mentions Egypt as a “she” and her “proud strength” will come to an end. The Bible describes this destruction with the term “covered with clouds”. When a judgement comes, it’s an end to something.

Also, when we see the term “the Lord is near” , it is speaking a deeper meaning that the judgement is near. Nobody hearing this thought a physical God was going to show up and knock on their door and be like…”YO!”.

So to recap:

The day is near…what day you ask? The day of the Lord ( a day of judgement was about to come)
It is described as a day of clouds (Again…Judgment)
Clearly gives you the audience of this prophecy (Egypt)

Exodus 34:12– As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Although there are many other instances, this will be the last one we will use in this teaching. I think you get the point and we still have to further discuss what this means when the Bible mentions Jesus coming in the clouds. This particular verse in Exodus 34 talks about how on a day of Judgement, the people of God were scattered snd He will seek them out. Another common theme is that when judgement comes, people flee. Matthew 24 mentions that when God judges Israel for their adulteries, the remnant will flee to the mountains of Judea which happened at the fall of the Temple in 70 A.D. The Church father Eusebius confirms these things as already happened and it was the fulfillment of prophecy in his “Church History” works.

See below.

“The people of the Church in Jerusalem were commanded by an oracle given by revelation before the war to those in the city who were worthy of it to depart and dwell in one of the cities of Perea which they called Pella. To it those who believed on Christ traveled from Jerusalem, so that when holy men had altogether deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judaea…”

— Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3

Eusebius relates the events of the first century as fulfillment of scripture. Makes you wonder what he believed when hearing the scriptures about Jesus coming in the clouds.

We most certainly know, God did not plan on doing all of these things on cloudy day. He wasn’t waiting for physical clouds to appear to move and act on behalf of His people. I am saying things in jest here to prove the importance of understanding the language and intent of the writers. This logic must also be applied to the expectation of Jesus coming in the clouds.

But does the Bible mention God "coming in the clouds" in any other verses?

Yup! I know you were thinking this but I am trying to teach here…gees :-). By now, I hope you can see how the word “clouds” is used in scripture. We also see the word “clouds” with a lot of language around “the day of the Lord” and “God is near” text as well…but I want to get a bit more granular and specifically bring up scriptures about God coming on a cloud. I believe it will help us discern Jesus coming in the clouds. The first example I want to highlight is in Isaiah 19:1-2.

Isaiah 19:1-2- See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, one against the other,
neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

The book of Isaiah in the Bible is heavily loaded with Prophecy. The main goal of the prophetic is ALWAYS to re-align and encourage. Sometimes the re-aligning hurts, but it is needed.

Isaiah is bringing the heat in the Old testament and in chapter 19 he is SPECIFICALLY prophesying/speaking to the Egyptians.

Let’s look at the LANGUAGE used in verse 1.

“The pronouncement concerning Egypt:

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,

And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.”

We see the term the Lord is riding on a swift cloud. A fast cloud. What is being expressed here is that judgement was coming onto Egypt…quickly. The term cloud in the Bible most of the time represents the Glory of God. Understanding the language is VITAL!

The Lord did NOT physically ride on an actual cloud to the land of Egypt. Not one scholar alive (that I have found) believes this.

The idols of Egypt did NOT physically tremble (they did fall down and break into pieces during their civil war)

The Egyptians hearts did NOT literally melt.

In the very next verse Isaiah prophesies a civil war in Egypt.

V2- “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;…

Isaiah was written in 740-700 BC

There was a HUGE civil that started in 664 B.C which you can read here:

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lapd/hd_lapd.htm

The Historian Poole also writes:

“I will set Egyptians against Egyptians: Isaiah prophesies a coming civil war in Egypt, which was indirectly the hand of God’s judgment against them. Not many years after this time it was divided into twelve several kingdoms, between whom there were many and cruel wars, as is related by the historians of those times.” (Poole)”

We need to do better and teach better with terms like “coming in/on the clouds” and keep it consistent with the intent throughout the Bible because a judgement did come at the end of the New Testament and ushered in this amazing “Kingdom Age” of the Church.

For the second example, let’s go to the Psalms.

Psalm 18:9-10: He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew;
And He sped on the wings of the wind.

Does anyone believe this was a physical event? No. This was metaphorical and prophetic language about God rescuing David. He did not physically/literally bow the heavens down low, He did not literally come down, He did not literally have thick darkness (whatever that is) under is literal feet, He did not ride on a cherub, and the wind does not have wings and He did not “sped” on their wings.

So the million dollar question is this. If we see the language of the Old Testament using the term “clouds” and “coming in the clouds” in this manner and it clearly does not mean a physical/literal coming in physical clouds anywhere, why then in the New Testament does it mean this? Did the terms of the language suddenly change regarding “Jesus coming in the clouds”?

I also want to spend a moment on the term physical. Something can physically happen and not be literally physical (if that makes any sense lol). On Sunday’s when we gather, God is with us. He is literally with us. Is He physically with us? Yes…but define physically. Does Jesus show up like a man, with skin, walk in the door…no. Does Jesus show up, in the Spirit and manifest physically through transformation, breakthrough and healings…yup!

Most people miss revival because that have an image (idol) of what it looks like. They haver a certain way that Jesus is going to come and change their life. When you make that image an idol, you miss it. God is working and moving around about you and you miss all of things He is doing because you are so fixated on your image of how it is going to go.

The first century Jews believed that the Messiah was going to come in a physical kingdom to sit in a physical throne and because of that view, they missed their Messiah (Jesus) who was right in front of their face. Not only did they miss their Savior, they in turn were the reason for His death. Stop killing your blessings by focusing on your view of things and start seeing things from the Lord’s perspective.

Is “Jesus coming in the clouds” literal? Then how do we compare to previous statements in ancient Hebrew culture?

Is “Jesus coming on the clouds” figurative? What should we expect when we hear this in God’s Word?

Is Jesus Coming In The Clouds...explained

The argument I am presenting before you today is one for Biblical consistency. We need to stop making the Bible fit around our doctrines and start getting our doctrines from the Bible. Understanding covenants (Old Covenant and New Covenant), as well as context is vital! As mentioned above, it is pretty clear how we see the term clouds used all throughout the Bible. Just about every single time it is used, it means judgement. All of the references to “God riding on a cloud”, or “coming in clouds”, or “coming with clouds”, or ‘a day of clouds” literally meant physical clouds….so why would we now make it a physical cloud? Is “Jesus coming in the clouds” a literal event in Him physically riding them? That contradicts how the scripture uses the term.

Let’s go to Daniel chapter 7:13-14 which states:

“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a son of man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.

¹⁴And to Him was given dominion,
Honor, and a kingdom,
So that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.”

Daniel is prophesying about a future day that was ahead of his time. He describes this vision in this order. “with the clouds of heaven One like the son of man was coming”. Then He was “presented before Him”. THEN AFTER THAT, He was “given dominion, honor, and a kingdom.” THEN people of all ethnic backgrounds (not just the Jewish people) can serve Him as children of God. This dominion that was given would be forever and never pass away and this kingdom, once established, will never be destroyed.

So then according to the order of things from Daniels vision, if we are still waiting for Jesus coming in the clouds physically, then He has not yet been given dominion, Honor, or a kingdom and everyone can not serve Him yet. We push all of this in the future and take away ALL of our power.

In my opinion, that goes against logic and scripture. This verse means that Jesus was coming in judgement and break the power of the Holy people which would complete everything ( Daniel 12:7). The ONLY power the “Holy People” of that day had was the temple. That temple was destroyed in 70 A.D which completed everything. Jesus already has dominion now, which only happens AFTER the coming with/in/on the clouds (Jude 1:25, Rev 1:6). The Honor is already given to Jesus and the Kingdom is US (the people) and is already here (Luke 17:21, Rev 1:6). Once this kingdom was here, it would never go away and will never be destroyed. We are in the kingdom age of dominion and the biggest lie we can believe is that we are not in the fullness of that age.

Revelation 1:7 says that “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 over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

How could the eyeballs of the ones who pierced Him (John 19:34) see Him coming on the clouds…if it is future? They have been dead for 2000 years.

So of the common retorts I get from this question is:

“We pierce Him everyday with our sin.” Interesting thought, but that is not what it is saying. You are adding to this verse to make it fit your belief, that is incorrect.
“They can see Him coming from heaven.” You have physical eyeballs in heaven? I mean…this is quite a stretch. There would be no need to make this statement if everyone after death could see him. John wrote this to pin point a time frame. Besides, this Roman soldier is in heaven? Not if Jesus didn’t come back. He would be in Hades or Sheol….in which he can see Him coming on the clouds from there?
“The Roman soldier who pierced Jesus is still alive.” 😐

What about Jesus coming in the clouds as the “Son of Man”?

Mark 13:24-30- ²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. ³⁰Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Jesus makes quite a statement here but again completes portion of verses with a time frame of this event described. He says in verse 30 “this generation will not pass away until ALL these things take place.” That generation. The generation he was speaking too would not die, until everything mentioned would be fulfilled. Then after this in verses Mark 13:33-37 he tells his audience to be on alert because they won’t know the exact time frame. Why would Jesus tell those people alive to be on alert if it was not going to happen in their life time. Was the implication their that THEY would see Jesus coming in the clouds?

Jesus gave time frames (not exact times) in the Bible. I like to relate this to a pregnancy. A baby is born about 9 months from conception. Can I tell you the exact day, time and minute…no. Can we estimate 9 months? Certainly! So if the baby comes in 9 months and 2 weeks…fine…that is plausible…but if I told you the baby would come in 45 months….that is just silly!

The last verse I want to tackle in this teaching is 1 Thessalonians. The infamous scripture used to teach about Jesus coming in the clouds. Reading this in our 21st century mindset, it can be very easy to mis interpret this because we are defining these words with our current and modern definitions.

When contextually looking at this verse, you can easily see who Paul was talking to as he was instructing a particular group of people.

Paul is writing to a young church in Thessalonica in the 1st century. These people were concerned about where their dead relatives were since they died before “the Parousia” or the coming of the Lord.

Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 4:10-18

^“for indeed you practice it toward all the brothers and sisters who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to excel even more, ¹¹and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we instructed you, ¹²so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope.¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. ¹⁵For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

Right away you can clearly see the specific group of people Paul is addressing. In verse 10 the Apostle was encouraging the Thessalonians on how they treated the people in Macedonia. He then charges then in good behavior in verses 11 and 12.

In verse 13 Paul is about to answer their question. He doesn’t want them to be uninformed because his desire is to bring them comfort. In verse 14 he explains that is we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Jesus will bring them to heaven too.

Now if we need any more proof that Paul is writing to a specific group of people that were going to partake in this event he is describing, let’s go to verse 15. In the middle of the verse Paul’s statement, “we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.” Well, what is this saying? We who are alive? Who is “we”?

If Paul is writing the letter to the Thessalonians, “we” includes Paul and the Thessalonians. They will be alive (obviously) and REMAIN until the coming of the Lord (judgement). Does that mean Jesus coming in the clouds, as well?

Paul goes on to explain that we who are alive will not precede those who are dead and on the day of Judgement (coming of the Lord), the dead will rise first…and then the ones who are alive. God will descend from heaven (His judgement/Glory). He will establish a kingdom on earth that is not of this world (the reason for the coming. He was coming with a kingdom (establish a people. the “us” in Rev 1:6) that will rule and reign and be “caught up” in His Glory forever and ever.

He states then at this time we will always be with the Lord. Today, currently, everyone who professes to be Christian is “with the Lord.” He never leaves you or forsakes you (Deut 31:6). This was NOT the case to the people before the judgement. The judgement on the Jewish people, the destruction of the temple, established a new covenant with God. Once, people always had to go to a physical temple building to be with God, now God is with us (the new temple) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Finally, Paul caps off this portion of verses with “comfort one another with these words.” If it wasn’t happening to them, why is this Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians? And if Paul was wrong, and we are still waiting for “Jesus coming in the clouds” physically to be in the future, what else was he wrong about? Now we are attacking the very validity of the Word of God.

To add a final argument towards this, were the eyewitnesses during the fall of the temple in 70 A.D. Read some of the supernatural signs that appeared from the historians themselves that recorded ancient history.

Josephus (A.D. 75) – Jewish Historian
“Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence” (Jewish Wars, VI-V-3).

Could these be visual signs of Jesus coming in the clouds in Glory and Judgement?

“A supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to be believed. What I am now to relate would, I imagine, be dismissed as imaginary, had this not been vouched for by eyewitnesses, then followed by subsequent disasters that deserved to be thus signalized. For before sunset chariots were seen in the air over the whole country, and armed battalions speeding through the clouds and encircling the cities.” (rendered in Chilton)

“Supernatural apparitions” in the sky “followed by disasters”. Could this, considering the use of the term, have been the fulfillment of Jesus coming in the clouds? By clouds we contend in God’s Glory!

Tacitus (A.D. 115) – Roman historian
“13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world.” (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).

Tacitus was a Roman Historian that rejected Jesus and all of Christianity. That’s what makes his words powerful. He didn’t care about Jesus coming in the clouds, yet reported what they experienced. Was his description Jesus coming on the clouds in the first century?

I present these things to you with the sole purpose to think. I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of my heart. I love His word and I love the truth. I believe that Reformation is needed in the body of Christ and this is just the tip of the ice berg. I believe that we need to get back to the foundations of scripture and let the Word of God guide us in all of our doctrine.

I am sharing a different view than you may have been taught on Jesus coming in the clouds to challenge you to think outside the box and honestly evaluate your current beliefs. If you can get it…and this clicks…it will change your life and set you on fire for the Lord. God will be manifesting around you 24 hours per day and we can see the Church return to being the Church.