How Jesus left.
Acts 1:9
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up;
and a cloud received him out of their sight.
How Jesus will return
Acts 1:10 -11
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two
men stood by them in white apparel; 11
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Clouds in the New Testament
At Christ's Baptism
Matthew 17:5, Mark 9:7, and Luke 9:34
Matthew 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright
cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which
said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Mark 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed
them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son:
hear him.
Luke 9:34-35 While he thus spake, there came a cloud,
and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35
And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son:
hear him.
At Christ's Return
Matthew 24:30 and Mark 13:26
Matthew 24:30 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.
Mark 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in
the clouds with great power and glory.
A Statement Before Pilate
Matthew 26:64, Mark 14:62, and Luke 21:27
Matthew 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said:
nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Luke 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud
with power and great glory.
Elsewhere
1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that
ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and
all passed through the sea;
1 Corinthians 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea;
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
In Revelation
Revelation 1:7 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.
Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face
[was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
Revelation 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto
them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and
their enemies beheld them.
Revelation 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon
the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden
crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Revelation 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a
loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap:
for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Revelation 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle
on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
"A Cloud Received Him"
It happened to Moses!
The
Writings of Flavius Josephus
Antiquities
of the Jews:
Book 4 - Chapter 8
INTRODUCTION
THE POLITY SETTLED BY MOSES;
AND HOW HE DISAPPEARED FROM AMONG MANKIND.
48. When Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life,
and had foretold what would befall to every one of their tribes afterward, with
the addition of a blessing to them, the multitude fell into tears, insomuch that
even the women, by beating their breasts, made manifest the deep concern they
had when he was about to die.
The children also lamented still more, as not able
to contain their grief; and thereby declared, that even at their age they were
sensible of his virtue and mighty deeds; and truly there seemed to be a strife
betwixt the young and the old who should most grieve for him.
The old grieved
because they knew what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so
lamented their future state; but the young grieved, not only for that, but also
because it so happened that they were to be left by him before they had well
tasted of his virtue.
Now one may make a guess at the excess of this sorrow and
lamentation of the multitude, from what happened to the legislator himself; for
although he was always persuaded that he ought not to be cast down at the
approach of death, since the undergoing it was agreeable to the will of God and
the law of nature, yet what the people did so overbore him, that he wept
himself.
Now as he went thence to the place where he was to vanish out of their
sight, they all followed after him weeping; but Moses beckoned with his hand to
those that were remote from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he
exhorted those that were near to him that they would not render his departure so
lamentable.
Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favor, to let
him depart according as he himself desired; so they restrained themselves,
though weeping still towards one another.
All those who accompanied him were the
senate, and Eleazar the high priest, and Joshua their commander. Now as soon as
they were come to the mountain called Abarim, (which is a very high mountain,
situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a
prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan,) he dismissed the
senate; and as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still
discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he
disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the holy books that he
died, which was done out of fear, lest they should venture to say that, because
of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God. |
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Let's think on these words:
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Acts 1:9 a
cloud received him out of their sight. |
When at the end of a visit, the
President gets aboard Air Force One and takes off for Washington. If we called
his plane a cloud then we could say, "A cloud received the President out of
our sight." |
| Matthew 17:5 a bright cloud overshadowed them. |
Did Handel,
in his song call a bright cloud a 'bright immensity'. If Air Force One is big,
then God's Starship, if He has one, must be immense. It would have to be at
least a 1/2 mile long to make it look like a small cloud. |
| Luke 9:34 and they feared as they entered into the cloud. |
Would you be fearful to enter a space ship today? Imagine how
fearful Jesus companions must have been having no knowledge of modern
technology. |
| 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive [and] remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. |
Are we going to be transported in
shuttle craft into Jesus Ship, or will we be beamed aboard as in Star Trek
movies? |
| Revelation 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon
the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man. |
Picture Captain
Kirk, or Commander Picard sitting in their command chair. |
| Revelation 14:15 to him that sat on the cloud, |
Picture a fighter pilot sitting in the cockpit of his craft. |
| Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed
with a cloud. |
If John the Apostle were to see an Air Force pilot sitting
inside a fighter, could he say, "The pilot was clothed with a craft?" |
What need
does God have for a Starship?
Did Jesus need transportation while on Earth?
Luke 19:30-35: Saying, Go ye into the village over against {you}; in the
which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat:
loose him, and bring {him hither}.(31) And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose
{him}? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. (32) And
they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
(33) And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why
loose ye the colt? (34) And they said, The Lord hath need of him. (35) And they
brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set
Jesus thereon.
Jesus Christ could walk on water. The Apostles traveled with him in a boat.
The Apostles could not walk on water. Perhaps Jesus traveled in a boat, not
because he needed it but because those with him needed it. Obviously he
had no 'need' of a boat. But he still traveled in a boat.
Likewise, God has no 'need' of a Starship. But what if he
chooses to travel in one. In ceremonial parades the Queen of England travels in
a horse drawn carriage. In an age of motor cars, what need has the Queen of a
horse and buggy?
The President of the United States travels in Air Force One. It
is a symbol of the United States and its glory in our world. Does God have or
deserve something even finer? Even if God's 'Space Force One' is only used, like
the queen's horse drawn carriage, only for ceremonial purposes?
When Jesus returns, will
he travel in a Starship, not because he needs it, but because those with him
need it? Perhaps he just wants a really nice limonene.
You may recall the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This movie is
loaded with bible references. When the huge space ship landed, those who had
been 'raptured' earlier walked out. (The air plane pilots were still in their
old pilot uniforms. After all these years didn't they get new clothes? Just
wondering?)
What do They think?
If you hated Jesus Christ and feared that he would return to this earth to
bring vengeance upon you, His enemies, wouldn't you make preparations for his
arrival? (Yes!)
Perhaps, from their point of view, it would be an invasion from outer space.
Now think of all the science fiction movies that you have seen over the past
several decades. Many of them were made by Jesus Christ's enemies. Don't they
all have the same general theme, an invader from outer space that must be
destroyed?
A large number of movies and TV programs have hidden messages within the
program. In times past, stories taught "crime doesn't pay." What does
TV teach today? What is the unspoken moral or point of the story? What
attitudes are the producers trying to change? In South Pacific and Look Who's
Coming to Dinner the message was race-mixing. Many movies and TV programs are propaganda
disguised as entertainment.
Do these same people make some science fiction movies to mentally prepare us, in
the wrong way, for Christ's return?
The Visitors ("V"): A television
series. Many of the people who make movies and TV. programs must have
been well read
in the Bible. They fill their movies with Bible symbols and stories. In a
television series "V" there were many Bible symbols and references.
The Visitors ("V") were serpents from tspace. They came
in spaceships as large as clouds. They wanted to remove all the water from the
earth. Their leader's spokesman was "John". The first contact between
the galactic emperor and the elders of the Earth was from the top of
a United Nations Building.
Here at the Bible connections. In the Bible, enemies of
God are called 'serpents". When Christ returns he is to return 'in the clouds of heaven'.
From a distance these space ships looked like clouds. Not birds and not large
airplanes. The alien spokesman who went before his leader was named John. In the
Bible John the Baptist went before Christ. The Visitors came to take the earth's
water. Water is a Bible symbol for the word of God.
The scene where the representatives of the world's leaders went
up to the top of a building to meet the galactic emperor is based
upon Exodus 24 1-18 and the events at Mt. Sinai, "(1) And he said unto
Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of
the elders of Israel. (9) Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and
seventy of the elders of Israel: (10) And they saw the God of
Israel." (More about this later.)
Battle Star Galactica: Many of you have seen movie and TV series Battle Star
Galactica. There are many symbols here also. The leader of the good guys is
Commander Adama. His son is Commander Cain. (Adam's son was Cain.) They are a Colonial people.
(Israelites) The introductory statement about the Colonists fleeing across space
while being pursued by the satanic Cylon Empire remind one of Revelation
12:6-7,
"And the woman (Commander Adama and his fleet) fled into the wilderness (of
space pursued by the evil Cylons), where she hath a place prepared of God, that
they should feed her there a thousand two hundred {and} threescore days. (7) And
there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels (Adama and crew) fought against
the dragon; and the dragon (Lucifer and the Cylons) fought and his angels,"
The leader of the enemy Cylon Empire was a robot named Lucifer. The Battle
Star's symbol on the Commander's Log Book and other places is a modified Star of
David. The names, symbols and events are obviously from the Bible. The episode
on the birth of Dr. Z is based upon Christ's birth in a manger.
In the Bible we have God casting down Satan. In the last Star Wars movie, at
the end Darth Vader casts down the Galactic Emperor. The Princess comments, "the
Emperor is so old he is ancient." In the Book of Daniel, one of God's
names is "The Ancient of Days".
In the movie Dick Tracy, in
a last scene, the hero casts down a villain. Likewise, in the movie Bat Man, at
the conclusion, another villain , the Joker, is cast down. Why the same 'casting
down' theme in
vastly different movies? Star Wars, Bat Man, Dick Tracey and many, many more. How many movies have you seen where,
at the end, the villain is cast
down from a high place?
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind: The movie Close Encounters Of The Third
Kind is loaded with Bible symbols. A bright light compels people to seek
out 'devils mountain'. The mountain looks like Mt Sinai. Calling it 'devils
mountain' shows the mind set of the movie makers. The bright light is the Holy
Spirit.
The government wanted to keep people, upon whom the light had shown, away
from 'devils mountain'. To accomplish this they told a lie about a contagious
disease. (False doctrine) In the movie, the words of one actor are, "This will keep every
Christian within 200 miles away from here." Why did the actor say 'every
Christian" and not just "everyone"? As the movie heroes climbed the mountain
the government helicopters sprayed them with sleeping gas. The sleeping gas represents false
doctrine that puts Christians to sleep.
The missing air force pilots were 'raptured' and later return from heaven in
the spaceship. The spaceship upon arrival reminds us of Revelation 21:2,
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." So on and so forth.
The Bible stories and symbols in modern movies would fill many
pages. Make it a habit to watch for them.
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