I'm curious as to what you all think the cloud means our stands for.
"They will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory," and Revelation"™s statement: "He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him." (Lu 21:27; Mt 24:30; Re 1:7)
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Hebrews 12-1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Could also mean people.
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For ever running, but losing the race. If it were not for grace.
your right .that is on the scripture that you refereed to .in fact it would mean a lot of people,much like a cloud of locusts. but the cloud in Lu 21:27; Mt 24:30; Re 1:7 is a different kind of cloud than the one of Hebrews 12:1
So what was the Cloud that took Jesus up into heaven ?
And the angels said this very same Jesus would return in the same manner he left.
If it was a cloud of angels Am sure the Apostles would have said so.
i must admit this one is a tuffy. and evenafter it was explained to me ,i still had to see it happen to get a full appreciate for what it means
the key to under standing what is meant when a cloud is used in
scripture comes when you see a practical application in your own life's
experiences. when your hunting anda deer walks in to the woods or in to the brush it will disappear from your view you know the deer is there, but it has become not visible or eveninvisible to you.
the same thing happens with fog ,which is a cloud.i know that you have seen cars disappear in to a fog bank .you know the car is still there ,its still present, but it is know longer visible to you.
clouds there for denote invisibility.you will not see Jesus because he comes in the clouds .but with the signs that he gave in Matthew 24and with discernment you will know that he is here.
Jesus definitely did teach that he would return again. On one occasion his disciples asked him: "Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the system of things?" Jesus did not tell them that he would be visibly present with them. Rather, his presence with them would be noted solely by circumstantial evidence. That is why his disciples asked him for the "sign" of his presence. There would be no need for a sign were they to see him personally in the flesh. Jesus related a number of events that would occur on earth at the time of his enthronement in heaven. These events would spell out for mankind the presence of Christ and at the same time warn of the nearness of the battle of Armageddon. Jesus said that his invisible installation would be marked on earth by nation rising against nation in world war; that there would be pestilences, food shortages and earthquakes in many places; that his followers would be hated by all nations; that they would be persecuted and some even killed; that the faithful would be engaged in the preaching of the good news of his established kingdom as a witness to all the inhabited earth before the coming of Armageddon; that during these happenings there would be "anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth"; that there would be a vain effort to establish peace through a makeshift political government, and that when ALL OF THESE THINGS were seen happening in one generation, that generation should flee for its life because Armageddon would be near at hand."”Matthew 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21.
GOD in the bible often was seen by men to be "in a cloud" or "from a cloud". A cloud being a symbol of immence power. When JESUS comes again how much more IMMENCE a power could there be.
This is just another not so clever attempt by cat to push his russelisms off on any one gullibleenough to fall for them.Russelites teach that Jesus only rose from the grave spiritually. Their literature speaks for itself:
"Therefore the bodies in which Jesus manifested himself to his disciples after his return to life were not the body in which he was nailed to a tree. They were merely materialized for the occasion, resembling on one or two occasions the body in which he died . . . ." (The Kingdom Is At Hand, pg. 259) "Our Lord's human body . . . did not decay or corrupt . . . whether it was dissolved into gasses or whether it is still preserved somewhere . . . no one knows." (Studies In The Scriptures, Vol. 2, pg. 129)
According to the words of Jesus Christ Himself, He is NOT merely a spirit being. He is a literal and physical risen Savior. In Luke chapter twenty-four, beginning at verse thirty-six, the disciples see the risen Christ and they supposed they had seen a spirit (vs. 37). Then Jesus cleared the matter up for everyone when He said, ". . . Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luk. 24:38-39)
When Jesus appeared to Thomas He said, ". . . Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." (Jhn. 20:27) The risen Christ had the crucifixion scars in His body to PROVE that He had been physically resurrected from the dead. If Jesus didn't rise physically then He lied in John 2:18-22 when He said that His "body" would rise in three days. He didn't say His spirit would rise. He said that His BODY would rise. When He arose His disciples actually REMEMBERED this prophecy and believed. The bodily resurrection of Christ is a fundamental Bible doctrine. The salvation of a person's soul rests upon this doctrine, because if Jesus didn't physically rise from the dead AS HE SAID HE WOULD, then we're all lost and going to Hell according to 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 (JW's included).
If the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected literally and physically from the dead, and if He appeared physically to His disciples, then His Second Coming must also be literal and physical. Acts 1:11 tells us that Jesus will return "in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Jesus ascended into Heaven literally, physically, and visibly, so He will return "in like manner."
The JW's deny this. They insist that the Second Coming of Christ will be SPIRITUAL, rather than literal and physical:
"Christ Jesus comes, not again as a human, but as a glorious spirit person." (Let God Be True, pg. 196)
"Since no earthly men have ever seen or can see the Father, they will be unable to see the glorified Son." (Let God Be True, pg. 197)
"It is a settled Scriptural truth, therefore, that human eyes will not see him at his second coming, neither will he come in a fleshy body." (The Truth Shall Make You Free, pg. 295)
The word of God says otherwise. Paul says in Titus 2:13 that we should be LOOKING for that blessed hope and the glorious APPEARING of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. If the JW's are right in saying that we will not be able to see Christ, then why did Paul tell us to be LOOKING for His APPEARING?
Revelation 1:7 says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." In Matthew 24:30, Jesus Himself says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
There's nothing spiritual or invisible about the Second Coming of Christ. The "clouds" will be literal (Rev. 1:7), as will the "fire" (2 Ths. 1:8), the "saints" (1 Ths. 3:13), the "mountains and rocks" (Rev. 6:16), and the thousand- year reign (Rev. 20:1-7). A "spiritual" or "invisible" Second Coming is totally foreign to the written revelation of God.
the cloud
