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?

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Days

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                      Acts 1:6 – 11

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Days

by Robert T. Cooper

That morning I got up and got dressed as usual. It was a Sunday, but it was an ordinary Sunday. The family went to church. I went to my Bible Study group. What I had not counted on was being gripped by the idea of what it means to be a Christian, a person who has placed his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When we went home, we had lunch. It was a Sunday dinner, but it was an ordinary Sunday dinner. But after dinner, I asked my mother about this idea of what it means to be a Christian. I figured she would be able to answer my questions. And did she ever! But more than that, in the course of the conversation with her open Bible on the dining room table, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as well. That day I placed my faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It was an ordinary day, but it was an extraordinary day as well!

The Sunday the Jesus met His disciples at the summit of the Mount of Olives, it was a rather ordinary day. They had met there many times. Of course, this was the resurrected Jesus. It had been 40 days since Jesus rose from the dead. But He had met with the disciples enough times now that this was in one sense an ordinary meeting with them, or at least so they thought.

Suddenly, their ordinary teaching, questioning, conversing interaction with Jesus was interrupted. Something extraordinary happened. Jesus was answering a question and telling them about what would happen when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Suddenly, He “was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid” Him so that they could not see Him anymore. The ordinary turned extraordinary.

Isn’t that how God works a lot of the time? We are going about our ordinary, daily lives as though time will continue forever. Then, bang! God does the totally unexpected. Or it may be that we were expecting something, but we never realized it would be quite the way God finally brought it to pass. Extraordinary!

Enoch had been walking with God for a long time. He walked with God every day. He went out to walk with God on a particular day. It was an ordinary “walk with God” kind of a day. But that day, Enoch did not come home to his earthly home because God had translated him, taking him on to his heavenly home without going through death. So far as we know, besides the ascension of Jesus, Enoch and Elijah were the only ones to go straight to heaven without dying. It was an extraordinary day!

Noah and his family had been building on that boat for decades. They moved into it. But for the folks around him, it was just an ordinary day. Work, eat, sleep. Births, deaths, weddings, funerals. Ordinary days. Only on this one day, God does something extraordinary.

And at the end of time (could it be just any day now?) it will be like it was in the days of Noah. Work, eat, sleep. Births, deaths, weddings, funerals. Two will be working in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the bed; one will be taken and the other left. An ordinary day, but an extraordinary day.

But before then, God may do something else extraordinary in you, around you, through you, or with you. There is just no way of telling. We just live our ordinary lives. We live them for Him. We walk with Him today, and then we walk with Him again tomorrow. And just when you least expect it, bang! God just may do the extraordinary! He really might, you know?

Question: Have you ever had an extraordinary day because God did something totally out of the ordinary? If you don’t mind, please tell us about it. Be sure to give God the glory.