We all are now fairly familiar with the existence of “the cloud,” the place in cyberspace where all our files and information from our computers and phones are stored. I have gotten a few messages now and then that my cloud is full, which makes me laugh, envisioning a literal cloud completely stuffed with all my data. “Just move to a bigger cloud,” I say to no one in particular, not really completely understanding the concept.
We have become so accustomed to thinking about putting files in “the cloud,” that we do not consider that there are limits and boundaries to the cloud and that not everything we do on our computers should go onto the cloud, where it can potentially be accessed by anyone in the world.
I got to thinking about the concept of the cloud recently when I came across this familiar verse, so often spoken at funerals:
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.
—Revelation 1:7
There will come a day when Jesus will return with the clouds. Why are clouds mentioned here? I think it is a way for us to understand more clearly that Jesus will come from a place beyond us, a place we cannot see, a place with no limits. Some of the farthest things we can see with the naked eye are the clouds in the sky. That is where Jesus will be when he returns: on some of the farthest things we can see and then coming closer.
There is also a sense that there will be no mystery about the coming of Jesus. Everyone in the world knows what clouds are and everyone in the world will see Jesus returning on them. We will know for certain that the Second Coming is happening.
Clouds are sort of a comfort to us, too. We see them and sometimes try to make out common shapes of animals, people or things. Christ’s coming on the clouds will be a comfort to us and we will not have to discern who he is. We will make out his form fully.
While the computer cloud may remain complicated to us, the clouds of Christ’s return do not have to be. They are simply the chauffeurs of our Savior into the world that we might delight in his coming again to bring us home.
