The clouds looked amazing the other night. It reminded me of the verse, "Look up for your redemption draws near." Luke 21:28.
"He was taken up in the clouds...This same Jesus will return in like manner," Acts 1:11.
"Behold He is coming with clouds," Rev. 1:7.
"Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds," Mark 13:26.
As we see signs of the end times in a world that makes very little sense, we need to "occupy, (or 'do business' as most translate it), until He comes," Luke 19:13.
When the disciples were concerned about His COMING in His glory, He was more concerned about them GOING with the gospel!
When we see the clouds, it should remind us of the cloud of witnesses, encouraging us to be a witness of our faith (Heb. 12:1).
That ties into John 8:58 in which Jesus gave the fifth Intransitive I AM statement, “Before Abraham was, I AM”, which signifies that He is Perpetual in existence.
Who is Jesus? He is who He says that He is. He is. He is omnipresent, in every place and has been here for all time and will be here for all eternity.
Us? Not so much. We are here for a moment, then pass.
This was the clearest Intransitive “I AM” statement of them all, as Jesus boldly stated that He existed before Abraham. God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14).
When Jesus said before Abraham was, "I AM", He was identifying Himself with Yahweh, existing before and was greater than the Jewish spiritual father Abraham.
As a result, the Jewish people picked up stones to hurl at this blasphemous “prophet” as they presumed Jesus to be. But that is not who He Is. He Is the I AM. All-Knowing. All-Powerful. All-Present. Before your problems and after their solutions, He IS. He orchestrates the times and the seasons for His purposes. Others may mean it for evil, but He uses it for good. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose," Romans 8:28.
British Professor and Writer C.S. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia and numerous Christian classic books, put it perhaps the most succinctly:
Jesus was either
a liar,
a lunatic,
or the Lord He claimed to be.
