To You: Meeting the Lord in the Clouds of the Air

Meeting the Lord

in the Clouds of the Air

Main references: 1 Thes 4:17; Ex 19:4; Mt 16:28; Mt 17:1-5; Mt 24:15-17; Rv 14:1-5; Lk 17:22-24; Jn 16:8-11; Jn 14:26; Mk 12:24, 27

It should be first pointed out that the New Testament includes scriptures that were written figuratively.

Meeting the Lord in the clouds of the air (1 Thes 4:17) refers to welcoming Jesus at the figurative Mt. Zion in his second coming (Rv 14). The Lord will come in the spirit, but the believers who welcome him are flesh. If this is the case, isn’t it unreasonable to think we will see the Lord with our naked eyes? Even if Jesus does come flying through the air, however, it will surely be impossible for us to levitate up to meet him. Both Jesus and Apostle John were inspired by the holy spirit and went up to heaven in the spirit (Jn 3:13; Rv 4). When Paul wrote 1 Thes 4:17, he referred to the same event that Jesus referred to in the gospels (Mt 24:30; Mk 13:26; Lk 21:27). We should remember that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is 55:9).

After the 70 disciples Jesus sent returned to him, Jesus told them, “Rejoice that your names stand written in heaven,” (Lk 10:20b). Jesus also said that his disciples did not belong to the world (Jn 15:19). Paul testified that our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Taken together, these passages make it clear that going to the place where God dwells is going to heaven. When Jesus told Peter and his brother Andrew that he would make them fishers of men (Mt 4:18-20), he used fish as a metaphor for people. A fish that is caught and pulled up from the sea (Mt 13:47-48) is a person who is lifted up to be with the Lord (the owner of the ship).

Jesus also told his disciples, “There are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” (Mt 16:28). Six days after he said this to his disciples, he took three of his disciples and went up into the clouds on top of a high mountain (i.e. the mountain of transfiguration). Jesus showed them his appearance as it would be revealed at the time of the second coming (Mt 17:1-5).

In Ex 19:4, God told his people, “You [the Israelites] yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you [approximately 600,000 men, not counting their families (Ex 12:37)] on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Were there real physical eagles that lifted God’s people out of Egypt at that time? One of God’s four living creatures (Rv 4) is an eagle. Thus, these eagles undoubtedly represent spirits. When Ex 19 says the Israelites were lifted up on eagles’ wings, it means that God’s angels delivered them out of Egypt and led them to be with God.

What, then, does it mean for us to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air?

This means that our spirits—not our flesh—are lifted up into the air like Ezekiel was (Ez 3:12-15). Just as John was lifted to heaven in the spirit (Rv 4), being caught up in the clouds means that the four living creatures lift up the living spirits of those who are still physically alive with the living spirits of those who are physically dead. Since the spirits of those who have died physically are invisible, it is as if they are hidden by clouds. After being lifted up, both the spirits of those who are physically dead and the spirits of those who are still alive will be gathered together at the figurative Mt. Zion. This is what it means for us to be lifted up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. According to Jn 3:13, Jesus went up to heaven before his crucifixion. At that time, it was Jesus’ spirit, not his body, that was lifted up to heaven. Only later did the spirit of Apostle John also get lifted up to heaven in Rv 4. If our physical bodies will really be taken up to heaven, then, shouldn’t the bodies, and not the spirits, of Jesus and John have been taken up to heaven too? If Jesus ascended into heaven with his physical body, shouldn’t he be able to return with the same body? Why then did Jesus warn his followers that they would no longer be able to see him (Mt 23:39; Lk 13:35; Jn 16:8-10)? He was pointing out that he will not be coming in the same form when he returns; he will be coming in the spirit. In addition, if Jesus were coming back in his physical body, then the spirit of truth—the Counselor who comes in the name of the Lord—would not have any work to do. In that case, we would not need to fight against and overcome Satan; we would not need the wedding banquet. The 144,000 of the twelve tribes, the great multitude in white robes, and Mt. Zion, which God promised to create on Earth, would be unnecessary if our physical bodies are going to be lifted up to heaven.

The Physical Israelites were compared to the sun, moon, and stars (Gn 37:9-11) in the sky (heaven). When Paul talked about being caught up in the sky in 1 Thes 4:17, he was talking about the place where the twelve tribes of New Spiritual Israel are with God, Jesus, the four living creatures, and the 24 elders (Rv 7, 14:1-5). Heaven is the location of God and the twelve tribes of his chosen people—the sun, moon, and stars of heaven (Rv 15).