Our Spiritual Awakening: Post #8 (Post #7 of Our Spiritual Awakening can be found here.) edited... 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.  —1 Thessalonians 4:17 Why did Jesus say he would come on the clouds?  The first reason is to prevent antichrists from creating confusion among Christians. If Jesus revealed that he would return through a physical birth, then every delusional Tom, Dick and Harry could claim to be the second coming of Christ. So in order to protect the mission of the Second Coming, Jesus made sure to prophesy his return in cloaked metaphors which only he could decipher on his “return.” The second reason was to encourage his disciples to persevere through the coming difficulties. We see this in the following passages: “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”  —Matthew 10:23 “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  —Matthew 16:28 These words inspired the disciples to believe they would meet the returning Jesus in their lifetimes. (It's sort of a carrot in front of a donkey idea, to put it bluntly.) So what does the “Rapture” passages of the bible really mean? The key to understanding its true meaning can be found in the following two bible passages: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a CLOUD OF WITNESSES, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”  —Hebrews 12:1 Here we see Paul using “cloud of witnesses” as a metaphor for a large “crowd of people.” Similarly, we find Ezekiel using the same “cloud” metaphor: “You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a CLOUD covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”  —Ezekiel 38:9 So what was Jesus alluding to when he said he would return on the clouds?  In the book of Revelation, we find that Jesus specifically uses “water” to symbolizes fallen people:  And he said to me, “The WATERS that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.”   —Revelation 17:15 And, since clouds are formed by the evaporation of water into the air, we can deduce that Jesus is using “cloud” to represent the process of steam purification. In other words, he is using coded language to explain that only those Christians who have purified themselves, through practicing the Word of God, will be able to meet Jesus in the “sky” upon his return....  Of course, this inevitably leads us to a whole new set of problems when Jesus doesn't show up on the clouds, but comes instead as a new Messiah with a new name. “Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  —Luke 18:8 (To be continued.)