The Return of Christ: Part 1 (Clouds)

A tenth grade student once asked me, “How can everyone in the world see Jesus returning at the same time?” I didn’t know how to answer and I still don’t. It seems that a universal and simultaneous vision is impossible on a spherical planet.

Christ’s return is hard to comprehend for several reasons. First, this glorious appearance has never happened before so we have nothing with which to compare it. Second, it originates beyond space and time so it transcends everything we know. Third, it is the end of history as we know it. Fourth, since the first century, this topic has caused confusion. John 21 narrates this intriguing exchange:

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” (vv. 22-23)

The phrase “the rumor spread among the believers” along with the fact that the author is seeking to correct this rumor shows that a significant number believed Jesus was going to return soon. Further, this misinterpretation is somewhat understandable. “If I want him to remain alive until I return” sounds like Jesus was implying something about the timing of his return. And it’s easy to imagine a small word like “if” vanishing in gossip. But the author is writing to correct this misunderstanding. Jesus did not promise that he would return within the lifetime of a person they knew; he was only speaking hypothetically.

Likewise, in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul addresses confusion about the timing of the Lord’s return.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. (vv. 1-2)

Unlike the community at the end of John’s Gospel, these believers were thinking Christ may have already returned. (Many believe 2 Thessalonians was written in the early 50s CE so this confusion probably happened within two decades of Jesus’ death and resurrection.) We have evidence, then, within the Bible itself that first-century believers were confused about this doctrine. Additionally, church history shows that this teaching continued to be a source of controversy in the following centuries.

Consequently, contemplating the return of Christ requires humility. We cannot dissect and explain Christ’s second coming as we would a scientific experiment. By the way, no one in the New Testament actually calls it the “second coming.” And one theologian I know of (Jürgen Moltmann) objects to that phrase because it implies that Christ is no longer here. What’s the problem with that implication? It contradicts Christ’s promise: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

With those qualifications stated, the Bible does provide us with details or symbols of this event, but again we must interpret them carefully. In the next few posts, I will highlight these details as stated in the New Testament, beginning in this post with clouds.

“Coming on the Clouds” 

Matthew 24:30 says: “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” In the previous post, I argued that “coming on the clouds,” which comes from Daniel 7:13-14, is a general expression of authority. And this authority, demonstrated in Christ’s resurrection and ascension, continues into the present day with his seating at God’s right hand, and will be expressed at his return. But will there be literal clouds at Christ’s return?

Here’s what happened when Jesus ascended:

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

Likewise, Paul writes:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. that those who are still alive when Christ returns will be caught up together . . . in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4:16-17)

And John says,

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen. (Rev. 1:7)

Clouds in the Bible

What’s the significance of clouds in Scripture? Consider these references:

• The Lord went ahead of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day (Ex. 13:21-22). At night this cloud contained fire to light Israel’s path in the dark (40:38).
• The Lord visited Moses in a “thick cloud” on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:9, 16; 24:16).
• When Moses went into the tabernacle, “the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance” (Ex. 33:9).
• When Moses received the Ten Commandments the second time, “the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord” (Ex. 34:5).
• After the tabernacle was completed, it was covered with “the cloud” and filled with the Lord‘s glory (Ex. 40:34-35).
• Likewise, after the temple was built, the cloud filled it and the priests could not perform their service because it was filled with the glory of the Lord. Solomon responded, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud” (1 Kings 8:10-11).
• The Lord promised Moses that he would appear in the cloud over the atonement cover, which was the lid of the ark of the covenant (Lev. 16:2).
• Moses describes God as the one “who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty” (Dt. 33:26).
• David describes God as parting the heavens and coming down with “dark clouds . . . under his feet” (2 Sam. 22:10).
• The Psalmist says, “Clouds and thick darkness surround him” (Ps. 97:2).
• Nahum says, “clouds are the dust of his feet” (1:3).
• When Jesus took Peter, James and John with him up the mountain, “a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matt. 17:5)

Throughout the Bible, God unites himself with clouds. Since Jesus is divine, it is not surprising that “he is coming with the clouds.” Our hope, then, is not in the continuation of life as we know it; our hope is in someone coming toward us on the clouds.