Coming in the Clouds of Heaven

“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.” Matthew 24:30. See also Mark 13:26 (“And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”) and Luke 21:27 (“And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”). What are the clouds of heaven? Literal clouds? Clouds of angels? Clouds of other believers already in heaven? Why clouds? Why not groups, if he’s writing about groups of people? Why not armies? Why is the word cloud important?

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Jesus Did Not Try to Trick Us

Let’s get one thing out of the way. When you encounter a scripture passage with clearly literal elements mixed with symbolic or allegorical elements, you interpret the literal parts literally and the allegorical parts allegorically, not the other way around. Second, everyone recognizes symbols in scripture, including those who shout the loudest about not interpreting the scripture symbolically. Third, you interpret the bible’s symbols using the bible’s symbols, not your modern spin on those symbols. These three points will take you a long way toward interpreting the bible, not only correctly, but also much more intelligibly.

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