Cloud Gazing

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                          Acts 1:9

Cloud Gazing

by Robert T. Cooper

Jesus had said the last thing He was going to say in His human form on earth, at least until His Glorious Appearing. When He finished telling His Apostles the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would in the power of the Holy Spirit be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the world, Jesus was taken up. We have to infer that from the Mount of Olives that Jesus’ body was lifted up into the clouds in the sky.

We don’t know how Enoch was translated. There is simply no information given. Elijah was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot. But there is no such device cited in the Ascension of Jesus. It is an event that defies gravity. It seems He went straight up rather than off at an angle. Did He ascend only until He was no longer visible to the naked eye? Did the thinner atmosphere and cold of the upper atmosphere bother Him? Did He at some point disappear into the spiritual realm, or did He keep traveling in that general direction forever? We simply do not know.

All we know is that a cloud moved into position that from the Mount of Olives the ascending body of Jesus was no longer visible to the apostolic observers. They just stood there for some time gazing into the clouds, hoping for one more glimpse of Jesus in the air. But apparently they never did catch sight of His body again.

We know that when Jesus returns He will come back the same way He left. We assume that means that the clouds will move and there He will be in the air, coming back down. We also know that He will return to the Mount of Olives, to virtually the same location from which He left. One difference in His return is that somehow, every person in the world will be able to observe the event. (Does that mean television on mobile devices? Does that mean that God will have gathered every living human to the Greater Jerusalem area? Again, we don’t know.)

from Standard Bible Story Readers

 

We know we should live in expectation the Christ’s return could happen at any moment. We should live so as to be ready for it when it happens—there won’t be time to clean up your act then!

Paul tells us that God reveals Himself through nature. Certain authors suggest the observation and contemplation of nature and of natural revelation as a spiritual discipline.

Think about that! You can go for a hike in the mountains, or go into a park, or go to the coast. Sit on a rock or lie on the grass and gaze at the clouds. Don’t just look for shapes in the clouds. Look for Jesus. He’s coming back in the clouds and it could be today!

Questions:

1.      What do you think about cloud gazing as a spiritual discipline?

2.      Are you ready for Jesus to come again, perhaps even today?

3.      When and where could you spend some time cloud gazing?