When God Returns in a Cloud

Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…. 

Rev. 1:7

Just as the disciples watched Jesus leave this earth, we now await His return. The angel on the Mount of Olives who spoke to the disciples didn’t specify that Jesus would return in a cloud, but John did. In his Revelation, John used a variety of Old Testament scriptures to describe what the world will one day see:  Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him… (Rev. 1:7). Toward the end of his revelation, John wrote, “Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand (Rev. 14:14). 

It’s interesting that what John witnessed was amazingly similar to what Daniel had seen centuries earlier in his own vision. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven (Dan. 7:13).

I’m enthralled by this new awareness of the multiple ways God uses clouds in His Word to communicate His character, His power and His return. The ever-changing skies now hold far more than beautiful displays of God’s handiwork. I’ll be seeking out formations similar to what might have covered the disciples when Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah or dusty-type-clouds where a powerful God is off to administer justice. Tall pillar clouds will remind me of God meeting with Moses and Joshua. Dark, seemingly impenetrable clouds will bring to mind Jeremiah’s deep anguish. But, most of all, I’ll admire those billowy, white cumulus clouds. I think they’ll be the perfect formation for a golden-crowned Jesus to sit upon when He comes to bring earth-time to a close. 

My heart agrees with John as he finalized his Revelation with the words: 

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).

Linda Les