When it comes to the end-times sequence of events… we are in that split-second-moment where the walls of a drag racer’s tires ripple because the sheer power of the engine is too much too fast. Any moment now the rubber’s going to grip the road and we’ll be at ludicrous speed.
REPENT, PRAY, LOVE YOUR FAMILIES and point others toward Jesus Christ. God Bless.
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8
"The great day of the Lord is near— near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry." Zephaniah 1:14
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. " Revelation 1:7
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJV
16 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:
17 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.
What a day that will be...
REPENT, PRAY, LOVE YOUR FAMILIES and point others toward Jesus Christ. God Bless...Amen
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
https://youtu.be/nboxWhqQd-8 #1 video on Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
Also check out the documentary Before the Wrath.
Thanks for the viewing suggestions. Watching "Before the Wrath" now.
So glad when I lurk comments to come across these good finds! Thanks folks
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight... Hebrews 12:1
clouds ≠ literal clouds
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Luke 12:49
fire ≠ literal fire
....who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11
How did Christ enter "heaven"? By perfecting himself. Heaven is not a material place in the sky, or above the atmosphere, or in outer space. It is the spiritual realm where the Father resides, where there is spiritual perfection. How did Christ perfect himself (enter into heaven)?
in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Hebrews 2:10
Jesus was "taken up into heaven" because he perfected himself. When the disciples saw him ascend, they were observing, through their spiritual eyes, Jesus rise to the highest spiritual realms. It was a vision, not a literal material phenomenon.
(When Christ was victorious, he achieved the capacity to manifest in the material world as easily as he could manifest in the spiritual world. This is the meaning of the curtain in the temple between the holy place (the body) and the holy of holies (the spirit) being torn. Jesus rose above and became transcendent over the barrier between spirit and flesh.)
This is why the Angel asks, and admonishes the men of Galilee. Translation: "Don't you yet understand that Christ rose into heaven in the spiritual realms? ANd that his return will not be from the sky, but rather, through manifesting in human form just like he used to perfect himself?"
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. John 16:12
The people of Jesus time, 2000 years ago, could NOT grasp the truth on the level Jesus was, so Jesus was forced to teach them through parables and symbols. Likewise, the scriptures written 2000 years ago use symbology, metaphor. Until science developed to the level it has in the 20th century, people could not grasp anything but a LITERAL interpretation of the symbols of the scripture.
(Example: Because people did NOT understand the nature and structure of the material world, they thought that Heaven was somewhere in the sky, and hell somewhere under ground.)
Still today, many simply maintain that level of understanding, thinking in literal terms. But the evidence is there, if one looks. People kind of get it, but it takes a spiritual power to break through the illogicality of thinking: sky = literal sky, clouds = literal clouds, and all the symbols describing Christ's return are literal, instead of symbolic descriptions which was the only form the people of the last 2000 years could grasp. Hence, we should pray and ask God to show us: What do we need to understand?
"Why are you gazing up into heaven"?
The conclusion is the same: to bend our hearts towards Jesus and yearn for his return, but we should also free ourselves of ignorance and realize that in the fullness of time, God reveals his secrets .... if our hearts are open.
Think about it. How could Christ return like a thief in the night? A thief in the night enters your house, does his work, and then departs, and you ONLY realize it AFTER he has come and gone.
Starting with the 20th Century, mass media means that when Christ manifests in the world in a way people do not expect, they would very easily see him (every eye shall see him) but also could very easily not recognize him - if they were looking for the wrong thing.
It's worth praying and thinking about.
Amen
So with the whole context included, it paints the picture that Jesus did just literally go up and past a literal cloud that hid Jesus from their literal sight, and as He was going "up into heaven", two men dressed in white stood beside them and said what they said. It was an actual event. Jesus entered heaven physically by going up in a way that they could see Him going. It says it right there.
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
It says it. That's not the problem. The problem is your literal interpretation.
Imagine if you interpreted everything said to you as literal.
Question: Do you really think that Jesus was a pyromaniac, who wanted to set everything around him literally on fire? Surely not. So, in that case, does "fire" mean literal fire? I mean, it says so, right? Or is it s symbolic expression?
The description in Acts is a description of what was observed and experienced. It was described in the way they observed it. If you have never had a vision, perhaps you cannot understand it, but visions are real, and they are spiritual manifestations.
I understand that it can be hard to reconcile understanding every aspect of the scripture in a literal way with empirical truth, but doing that takes GREATER faith and understanding. Paul tells us that "we will know fully in the future". That time is now, when we must rise above superstitious faith and reconcile the truth of the scripture with the truth of the material world that was NOT available at the time of Paul. Doing so resolves many of the innumerable contradictions that the atheists constantly harp on to attack the faith of the faithful.
So, what would be the difference between having a vision (seeing with their spiritual senses) of Jesus rising up and then being hidden by a cloud, and observing a literally material phenomenon? None, from the experience of the observer.
But consider: do you really believe that Heaven is somewhere above the clouds? Which layer of the atmosphere is it, then? Do higher flying jet aircraft pass through heaven when they travel from one side of the planet to another? Do space shuttles pass through Heaven on their way to outer space, or the the moon? Did Voyager pass through Heaven on its way to the outer reaches of the solar system?
No, "Heaven" is a spiritual realm, not a material realm. However, when we live in Heaven in the spirit while alive on Earth, then the Kingdom of God will manifest: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."
The problem with not understanding this point occurs because some people read the scripture and interpret everything as literal, when it isn't. Visions are not literal.
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions..."
Seeing visions is one of the ways the Holy Spirit manifests, and has been used since the start as a means of communicating important information from the Father to people. A vision is experienced when one's spiritual senses are opened by the power of the Spirit. After the resurrection, the disciples and many people constantly experienced and outpouring of the spirit and had many, many visions.
They recorded these, as they experienced them, but without understanding the nature of the the spiritual sense, they are liable to be misunderstood.
The reason people historically have done this is (without putting too fine a point on it) due to ignorance of the relationship between the material world and the spiritual world, and how each of them functions.
I'm not denying the event. I'm saying they experience a spiritual vision.
Are there clear examples of what was written as a description being taken literally, that later proved NOT to be the case? There is a rock solid example of that in the scripture.
Read about how Elijah the prophet "ascended into Heaven" (as observed by Elisha) in Kings. Then, find in the gospel where and how Elijah the prophet returns. Reconcile.
A blessing on your day.
The story of the men watching Jesus physically ascend is not half literal and half allegory. Either the whole thing is allegory or it was all a real event. You do understand that at least?