Christ is present in Clouds

[the_rev]

When one thinks about clouds, a thought that doesn’t always come to mind is the presence of God. In this research, you will find how clouds are symbolic in both the Old and the New Testament, and how clouds refer to Christ, our Lord. Clouds also resemble Christ who is the light of the world. And through the clouds light will shine.

[b]Christ and the Clouds[/b]

Isaiah 14:14 says, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (NAB) The prophet Isaiah, already prophesized that Christ would rise above all the clouds, and make himself a place, for he is the most high. This prophecy would indeed come true when Christ would ascend into heaven.

“Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it.” --Isaiah 45:8

Here, Isaiah prophesizes that the Father will bear a Son Who will be the most righteous. For when this occurs, salvation of our entire race will occur, because the Lord our God will allow for it. It is because God so loved the world he would send Jesus for our salvation (John 3:16).

Ezekiel 30:3 states, "For the day is near, Even the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, A time of doom for the nations.” Ezekiel says that when the Lord will return, it will be a time of judgment. All nations shall stand the test of time, and in some circumstances, will be “doomed.” This was also revealed in the book of Revelation, which will be discussed later.

[b] When Christ Returns[/b]

"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.” --Daniel 7:13

The above passage can be cross-referenced with the following bible verses; a reflection will be about all of them at once.

Jesus left the temple area and was going away, when his disciples approached him to point out the temple buildings. He said to them in reply, "You see all these things, do you not? Amen, I say to you, there will not be left here a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately and said, "Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus said to them in reply, "See that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah,' and they will deceive many. You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. All these are the beginning of the labor pains. Then they will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. And then many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, a person on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, a person in the field must not return to get his cloak. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days. Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect they will be shortened. If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you beforehand. So if they say to you, 'He is in the desert,' do not go out there; if they say, 'He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he will send out his angels with a trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. "Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, know that he is near, at the gates.

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

In (those) days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be (also) at the coming of the Son of Man.

Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. --Matthew 24:13

This is the account of Matthew of the second coming of Jesus. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Christ states that when Judgment Day occurs, their will be no moon, nor any sun. The Son of Man will come upon clouds; he will come with great power, and great glory.

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 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. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." --Revelation 1:7

The book of Revelation truly indeed is a book of what the end times will be like. However, many interpretations of Revelation differ from each other. I am by no means an interpreter of scripture, but will only provide insight in on how Christ will return. Revelation says that He will come on clouds and that every will see Christ. In the verse it is declared Christ is the beginning and end. When Jesus does return all will fall down and worship him.

[b] The Blessed Virgin, a Cloud [/b]

“The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. -- Luke 1:35

The angel told Mary that the power of God will overshadow her. Overshadow in this situation means cloud in a sense. But because of the fact the Holy Spirit will come upon her, she will conceive Christ, the only son of God. The Catholic Church also teaches that Mary, was without sin, and thus assumed into Heaven. She would likewise go to heaven as her Son did, on a cloud.

[b]Christ the Light, Ascends into Heaven [/b]

John 20:17-- Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, `I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God."

Acts 2:34 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: `THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."' "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

Jesus, after being crucified on the third day, would be resurrected. After doing ministry on earth, after dying, Christ would later ascend into heaven. However, we as Catholics believe Christ descended into hell but then ascended into heaven.

Ephesians 4:8-9 Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

In St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, it is written of Christ descending and then ascending.

[b]The Father, Son and Holy Spirit[/b]

“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." --Matthew 3:13

Christ had to be baptized as must we. When baptized, God the Father was truly indeed present when Jesus was baptized. Voices came from the heavens, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ. It is that Christ being baptized, that his presence would be represented by a cloud.

[b] Conclusion[/b]

In the end, Christ is the light of the world; that is obvious. It is through this light that God would show us the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:16). God led the Israelites out of Egypt into exile by a cloud. And it has been prophesized in the prophetic books of the Bible, Gospels and the apocalyptic book of Revelation that Christ will indeed come back on a cloud to reign here on earth.

[Apotheoun]

Nice article.

The clouds into which Christ ascended in the book of Acts -- and mentioned in other parts of scripture -- are the Shekinah glory.

[the_rev]

Well, I would have never thought, I could put something together like this, being only 15. But it was Nick who suggested it, and he gave me a lot of hints to cover, etc.

He should really be given credit. All I did was searched the bible, provided a glance into it and compiled it.

[MC Just]

[img]http://www.eakles.com/jesus3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.eakles.com/christflame.jpg[/img]

[phatcatholic]

good job brother

[the_rev]

You probably didn't think I'd get it done that soon did you?

[cathqat]

[quote name='the_rev' date='Jan 14 2005, 09:59 PM'] Well, I would have never thought, I could put something together like this, being only 15. [/quote]
"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity...."

[StColette]

[quote name='cathqat' date='Jan 15 2005, 02:39 AM'] "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity...." [/quote]
I love that verse

[cathqat]

(Singing) "I've looked at clouds from both sides now...."

I guess singing Joni Mitchell proves I lack youth myself! But I think it's awesome to see young people studying and writing about these things.