Consider the Clouds

I smiled when I saw that yesterday was Consider the Clouds Day. It was also the day that I was to teach about the prophecy of One like a son a man coming in the clouds. He came before the Ancient of Days and was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom. Yesterday when I considered the clouds I also considered the One who would be coming with the clouds of heaven.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters. He brought form from the formless and gave light where once there had only been darkness. The crown of His creation was man, created in His own image. And to him he gave dominion and the right to rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth. God saw all that He had created, and the man made in His image ruling, and He declared it very good.

Dominion was forfeited and Paradise was lost when sin entered the garden. The temptation to doubt the goodness of God was offered through the mouth of a serpent. The knowledge of good and evil brought with it a curse. Not only was man cursed, but all of creation was cursed as well. Now labor would be painful and the ground would produce thorns. When sin entered the garden, death became a reality, an enemy all would encounter. All would have been lost--but a promise was given that one day the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.

The second Adam came just as the Creator had promised. The first temptation to rebel against God had been presented to the first Adam in a garden where all his needs were met. Though he was full, he wanted more; though he'd been given the privilege to rule all of creation, he wanted more; and in the process he had worshiped at the wrong altar. The second Adam was tempted in every way the first Adam was, except he was tempted in a wilderness not a garden. He was hungry not full. The devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and offered them to him if he would fall down and worship him. The second Adam didn't challenge the devil's right to rule, but he refused him the right to be worshiped.

When Jesus, the second Adam, came, his followers believed that he had come to reclaim what had been lost in the garden. He spoke of a kingdom, and the title he used for himself was The Son of Man. The prophet Daniel had seen One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. This One came before the Ancient of Days and was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom. His dominion was not to be like that given to Adam in the garden because His dominion would not pass away, and His kingdom would not be destroyed. Those who followed him thought he had come to restore dominion. They didn't realize that he had come first to break the curse of sin and death. He took the thorns of the curse and wore them as a crown. And when he died, he laid death in its grave.*

How confused Jesus' followers must have been watching him die, seeing him resurrected, only to see him taken up as they were watching. They watched as a cloud received him out of their sight. They were still gazing up into heaven when suddenly two men in white clothes stood before them and told them that this same Jesus whom they had seen taken up into heaven in the clouds would return in the same way.

Jesus had come first to break the curse, but the promise was given to his followers, just as the prophecy was given to Daniel, that one day he would return in the clouds. On his return he would be given authority to rule, dominion that would not pass away, and a kingdom that would never be destroyed. So, for today, I consider the clouds and wait for the promise of his return.

*John Mark McMillian "Death in His Grave"