Thank you Data. I'm not directly familiar with 'dispensationalism' as a theology, but what you write here resonates very strongly.

I am of the firm opinion that the literalist attitude towards interpreting certain sections of the scripture has led many astray and makes Christian worship almost into a form of superstition.

Symbols such as fire, the moon, the sun, heaven (the upper atmosphere), earth, etc, are mostly better understood as language used 2000 years ago to describe what at the time was intellectually unknowable, but spiritually perceivable.

Resurrection is a powerful case in point. Examination of scripture indicates that resurrection as referenced in scripture is the restoration of life from a state of being dead, but there are different types of death talked about in scripture, and Jesus himself highlights this point when he said "leave the dead to bury the dead".

The latter 'dead' here clearly means the physically dead, when the body ceases functioning and the spirit passes on. However, the former 'dead' here clearly means those who have not yet received and united with Jesus. It means spiritual death, because those people were still breathing and functioning physically.

Likewise, when Adam and Eve fell, they 'died'. "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Yet Adam lived physically for close to 1000 years. So what death happened when Adam and Eve fell, on that day? Spiritual death.

What is spiritual death then? It is the state of being separated from God and God's sovereignty, where God's (spiritual) life-giving love and truth are accessible, and being under Satan's sovereignty, cut off from God's love and light.

From this perspective, resurrection means the process of moving from Satan's realm of spiritual death and disconnect with God, and being restored to God's sovereignty. It is a spiritual process. There was not recorded visibly different features between Jesus disciples and those who did not believe in Jesus. Also, there is no perceivable physical difference between a believer and a non-believer, or someone who receives Christ. Yet, in the moment of accepting Christ, a resurrection takes place and continues on.

Again, from this perspective, the first resurrection in the last days is not saints physical bodies being recomposed (what would happen if two believers from different time periods both used the same atoms in their physical bodies when they were alive?) and somehow supernaturally rising up into the air, but rather is when a completely new level of resurrection is unveiled and enacted at Christ's return.

In scripture, particularly the new testament, clouds, too, can be understood as symbolizing something. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" Heb 12:1. He's talking about a multitude, not about evaporated water particles.

Water: Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Rev 17:15 The angel even explains directly what the waters represent here.

What are clouds? They are water that has evaporated, where all impurities are left behind. Clouds are purified water.

When the believers and saints are resurrected, such that all impurities are washed away, they will form the "clouds" "on which" Christ returns. In other words, "Christ coming on the clouds" itself is symbolic language, describing a situation where Christ returns, believers are resurrected and purified, and become the saints surrounding Christ returned just as the disciples surrounded and worked with Christ when he came first.

And so on. In my view, a lot of scriptural symbology needs to be unlocked, so that we can correctly understand and prepare and have right practice, particularly in the end times. Only in this way will it be possible to reconcile the intellectual development God has given us with the spiritual faith that lifts up truth.