Welcome back to All About the Rapture! Today we are going to look at the rapture in a different way, by looking at imagery of the Second Coming. As you will see, clouds are important imagery of the Second Coming. When Jesus describes His return in Matthew 24:30-31, Mark 13:26-27, Mark 14:62, and Luke 21:27, He says that He will be coming in the clouds. When the Apostle John describes Jesus’ return in Revelation 1:4, he says that Jesus will be coming in the clouds. Clouds are not only consistent, but defining imagery of the Second Coming. Let’s look at the aforementioned verses.
Matthew 24:30-31 (spoken by Jesus)
30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (NKJV)
Mark 13:26-27 (spoken by Jesus)
26. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
27. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. (NKJV)
Mark 14:62 (spoken by Jesus)
And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (NKJV)
Luke 21:27 (spoken by Jesus)
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (NKJV)
Revelation 1:7 (written by the Apostle John)
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. (NKJV)
Now, let’s look at Paul’s description of the rapture as found in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.
14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NKJV)
Clouds are the defining imagery of the Second Coming. Both Jesus and John clearly tell us that when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, He will be coming in the clouds. When Paul writes and tells us that, at the rapture, we will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (NKJV), he knows exactly what he is doing: he is describing the Second Coming. He’s not just using random imagery or just painting a nice word-picture of a pretty sky filled with pretty clouds. He is talking about the Second Coming. He is saying that the rapture is part of the Second Coming.
In addition, clouds symbolize power, strength, triumph, victory. When Paul says that we are “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (NKJV), he is describing our victory, our triumph. The rapture is not our escape. It is not a time when Jesus comes to get us and take us back to heaven where we rest for seven years while the Tribulation Period plays out on earth. The rapture is our Participation. It is our moment of victory. By being caught up in the clouds and meeting Him in the air, we are not only experiencing our victory, but we are sharing in His.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s topic. Next time, we will continue looking at Biblical support for a post-Tribulation rapture. See you then!
Julie J
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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