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?
