Recently, Bruce Arnold sent me a link that contained many unusual pictures; this is one of them – A man walking on the salt flats of Bolivia. If you focus on the man and the top half of the picture, it looks like he is walking on water; but, if you look at the bottom half, it looks as if he is walking among the clouds. Deceptively beautiful!
I remember the incident of Jesus walking on water (John 6:19-21), but Jesus walking on the clouds? Humm, I don’t remember Jesus walking on the clouds, but I do remember him ascending into heaven…
Acts 1 ( World English Bible )
[6] Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” [9] When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. [10] While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing, [11] who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
And as I think of it; there is that passage from Matthew…
Matthew 24 ( WEB )
[29] But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;* Isaiah 13:10; 34:4 [30] and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
And why will he come back?
1 Thessalonians 4 ( WEB )
[13] But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. [15] For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. [16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, [17] then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. [18] Therefore comfort one another with these words.
To answer my own question: Jesus will come again to begin the final events of the return of Jesus; first to bring back to life, the faithful who have died and then to bring to himself those faithful ones who are still alive on the Earth. Knowing these things is truly a source of comfort (vs. 18, above). The remaining “last things” to be fulfilled are fully described in the book of Revelation.
You know, sometimes you can see a lot in a picture!
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