Coming Through the Clouds

 Mount Sinai and the Mount of Olives have some things in common

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Title: Coming Through the Clouds

Subtitle: Mount Sinai and the Mount of Olives have some things in common

Description: Where is the destination: up or down?

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/17468542

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

Coming Through the Clouds

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

I think there's something I've overlooked when I read about Jesus coming with clouds. I think more clearly when I ask "In this passage, where is Jesus headed?"

In this Episode, we're going to talk about two places where One Like a Son of Man comes with the clouds. One is in the Old Testament, the other in the Book of Revelation -- the first chapter.

I was confused about the phrase, "coming with the clouds." In the Old Testament book of Daniel, here's what Daniel says about about "coming with the clouds":

Chapter 7 

Verse 13 “I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man,

Coming with the clouds of heaven!

He came to the Ancient of Days,

And they brought Him near before Him."

I take the description "one like the Son of Man" to mean Jesus. Jesus himself during His ministry on earth called Himself the Son of Man more than a handful of times.

I used to read this much like some later verses in the Bible that talk about Jesus' return to the earth -- coming with the clouds.

My breakthrough on understanding this verse in Daniel was to ask, "Where is the one like the Son of Man headed?"

It says, "He came to the Ancient of Days,

And they brought Him near before Him."

It looks to me like He's not headed to earth! It looks more like He's headed toward somebody old and important in heaven!

But that would mean the clouds might not be above the one like a Son of Man; they would be below the One like a son of Man.

I realized my thinking was upside down, just as I was warned about with Noah's flood and with Isaiah 55.

Are there any examples of ascending past the clouds? I think of one big one.

Moses ascended Mount Sinai into a cloud to meet with the Most High for forty days. If I were sitting next to God on the mountain waiting to meet with Moses, I might see Moses "Coming with the cloud" and the cloud being below the one coming to meet with me.

The Book of Daniel was written before Jesus took on flesh like ours, was born, died and resurrected.

So moving on toward the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament,

At Jesus' ascension to His heavenly Father, Jesus' apostles are watching Jesus rise from the Mount of Olives into a cloud. At that moment, Jesus is acting a little bit like Moses who ascended Mount Sinai into a cloud. Then an angel spoke to the apsotles:

Acts 1 starting with the end of Verse 9:

while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Where will Jesus be headed? In the future, He'll be coming to earth with the clouds.

"In like manner" means Jesus will return with the clouds. The book of Revelation contains something about this in the first chapter:

Verse 7 "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him."

In The Future, Jesus' return may be uncomfortably like Moses' descent from Mount Sinai with stone tablets in hand.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC