Since Christ’s return will take place through his birth on earth, what can be the meaning of the biblical prophecies that he will come on the clouds? To probe into this matter, we must first investigate what the clouds represent.
The following passage is typical: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Even so. Amen (Rev. 1:7). According to this verse, everyone should be able to see Christ when he returns. When St. Stephen was martyred, only he and those faithful Christians whose spiritual senses were open were able to see Jesus sitting at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55).
Likewise, if Jesus is to descend from the spirit world as a spirit, then only those believers whose spiritual senses are open will be able to see him; thus not every eye would see Christ when he comes again. The biblical prophecy that everyone will see the Lord can be fulfilled only if he returns in the flesh.
Since a body of flesh cannot ride on the clouds, the clouds in the verse must symbolize something else. In the same passage, it is also written that even those who pierced Jesus will see his return. Those who pierced Jesus were Roman soldiers. However, those Roman soldiers will not be able to see the Lord at his return. To behold the returning Lord, those soldiers must be resurrected; but according to the Bible, those who will be resurrected at Christ’s return are only those faithful Christians who participate in the first resurrection. The rest of the spirits will be resurrected only after the passage of “a thousand years” in the Kingdom (Rom. 2:4-5).
Therefore, “every one who pierced him” must be a metaphor describing some other group of people, not the Roman soldiers. In fact, it refers to those Christians alive at the time of the Second Advent who hold fast to the belief that Jesus will return on the clouds.
When Christ returns to the earth through a humble birth contrary to their expectation, they will not recognize him but will persecute him. If “every one who pierced him” is a metaphor, then the clouds in the same verse should also be metaphorical.
What do the clouds actually symbolize?
Clouds are formed by the evaporation of impure water from the Earth. In the Bible, water often symbolizes fallen people (Rev. 17:15); (Ps. 144:7). We may deduce that clouds symbolize devout Christians whose hearts dwell in heaven and not on the earth because they have been reborn and raised from their fallen state. The Bible and other sacred scriptures also use the symbolism of clouds to indicate the multitudes (Heb. 12:1); (Ezek. 38:9).
We sometimes find this figure of speech used in casual conversation. In Moses’ course, the pillar of cloud which guided the Israelites by day represented Jesus, who was to come as the leader of Israel; the pillar of fire by night represented the Holy Spirit who, as Jesus’ counterpart, would guide Israel by the fire of inspiration.
We can conclude that Jesus’ coming on the clouds signifies that he will emerge from among a group of reborn believers to become the leader of Christians, the Second Israel. Recall that when Jesus was asked about the place of his return, he replied, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together” (Luke 17:37).
Jesus meant by this that he will return to the place where faithful believers have gathered, which basically signifies the same thing as the biblical prophecy that Christ will return on the clouds.
When we interpret the clouds metaphorically in this way, it is evident that at his First Coming Jesus himself symbolically came down from Heaven on the clouds. It is written, “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven,” (I Cor. 15:47) and “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man” (John 3:13).
Even though Jesus was born on the earth, from the standpoint of the providence and with regard to his true value, he indeed came from Heaven. This is also the true meaning of the prophecy in Daniel (Dan. 7:13) which foretold that Jesus would come on the clouds.
Sun Myung Moon