clouds ~ and the Rapture

I told my children, tonight: "We're getting ready to see things we've never seen before."  Who ever heard, for instance, of people being taken up from the earth in "clouds"?

Actually, it has happened before, at the Ascension of Jesus:

"And when he [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight."  (Acts 1:9)

Notice, it does not say that Jesus ascended up through a cloud; or, that he disappeared as he passed into the cloud.  But the cloud "received" Jesus ~ "out of their sight."  Hmm.  

Interestingly, the Greek word which is translated "received," in the above passage, means: "to take from below, i.e., carry upward" (Strong's Concordance).

Now, pay close attention to what immediately followed:

"And while they [Jesus's disciples] looked stedfastly toward heaven as he [Jesus] went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 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."  (Acts 1:10-11).

Did you get that?  "In like manner...as ye have seen him go into heaven."  That is to say, "in a cloud."

Next, let's put that together with a certain description of the Rapture; as found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 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."

Notice the phrase: "with them in."  When those peculiar "clouds" (plural) appear ~ which shall take the then-living saints up from the earth, at the Rapture, those will not be empty clouds!  But there will already be other people in those clouds ~ before any living persons will, also, then be taken ~ in those clouds ~ to meet the Lord.

But why were/are "clouds" necessary ~ both at the Ascension of Jesus, and also at the Rapture?

I have often taught in the past that, at the Rapture, our spirit shall leave behind our earthly body, in the same instant as we shall possess our glorified body.  I still believe that shall be the case.  However, in view of the above Scriptures, it seems to me that SOME KIND OF OBSERVABLE OBJECTS ~ which in Scripture are described as "clouds," shall be instrumental in taking up and then taking away the Raptured saints to some destination "in the air," to meet with Jesus Christ. 

We see, in connection with yet a different occasion in the life of Jesus and his disciples, the appearance of yet another cloud; as shown in the following passage (Luke 9:28-36):

"And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.  And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.  And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. 

But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. 

And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.  While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.  And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.  And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen."

I never examined that passage so closely before, and in the light which it now seems is being cast upon the subject.  Let's deconstruct it, for closer inspection.

Evidently, when Moses and Elijah first appeared unto Jesus, the disciples were fast asleep.  But when Peter, James, and John awakened, they saw Moses and Elijah ~ who were just then in the process of "departing" from Jesus.  Up until that point in the narrative, there has been no mention of any cloud.

Just then, however ~ as Moses and Elijah were "departing," suddenly there did appear a "cloud."  Did that cloud appear in order to receive Moses and Elijah?  The text does not say.  We do know, however, that Peter, James, and John themselves "entered into" that cloud!  Not only that, but we are also told that they "feared," as they "entered into" that cloud.

I've been in lots of clouds, before; so have you.  "Fog" is nothing other than "clouds" that are at ground level; which, clouds, are variously more or less dense.  But I have never "feared" being in such "clouds."  Have you?

Notice, too, the text states that there came "a" (one) cloud ~ which "overshadowed" them.  In other words, a single cloud (which was not there previously) "came" and hovered above them (and not surrounding them, as one would expect in the case of fog).

How did Peter, James, and John (and probably Moses and Elijah and Jesus, too) "enter into" that cloud ~ which hovered above them?  I'm not making any of this stuff up, folks!  I'm just taking the text of Scripture exactly as it reads.

Then, without any explanation given in the text, the entire experience was...just...over.

Significant, too, is the fact Peter, James, and John didn't tell anyone ("in those days") about what they had experienced.  For some reason, they "kept it close."  That sounds eerily similar to many stories I've heard, which purportedly involved encounters that people have had with UFOs.  Moreover, the inexplicable lapses in time, or in consciousness, related to any kind of orderly sequence of events, also seems congruent with similar stories involving UFO encounters.  In the Biblical account we have been examining, the only thing we are told about what happened after Peter and the others "entered into" that cloud, was, that they heard a voice; after which, "Jesus was found alone".  The text leaves us with the impression that the whole experience never really happened; it was some kind of vision, or something.

Except, we are told that all three of those men were "awake" when those events occurred, and that all three of those men saw and heard the same things.  Doesn't sound like a vision or a dream, to me.

In the Bible, "clouds" seem to show up seemingly from out of nowhere ~ and, very often, in direct relation to people either coming or going between earth and what we ignorantly call, heaven.  There must be something to all of that; which, evidently, God has been willing for us to know at least a little something about that (else, it would not have been revealed in Scripture).

Besides all of which, there seems to be far too much evidence for the existence of "UFOs" (they are still referred to as "unidentified," for a reason), for any honest person to simply dismiss the massive amount of such evidence, out of hand as it were.

I suppose that most people, when they consider the nature of angels or of other heavenly beings, may think that such creatures do not need to rely upon any kind of "technology," in order to do whatever it is that angels do.  But I also suppose that not many people, including Christians, really take the existence of other-worldly beings very seriously ~ except, perhaps, in some mystical sort of way.