You testify that God has incarnated and become the Son of man to do the work of judgment in the last days, and yet the majority of religious pastors and elders affirm that the Lord will return coming with clouds, and they base this primarily on the Bible verses: “This same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven” (Act 1:11). “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Rev 1:7). And furthermore, the religious pastors and elders also instruct us that any Lord Jesus who does not come with clouds is false and must be abandoned. So we’re not sure whether or not this view conforms to the Bible; is it correct to take this as truth or not?
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Picture of The Church of Almighty God
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Answer:
When it comes to waiting for the Lord to descend with the clouds, we must not rely on man’s notions and imaginations! The Pharisees committed a huge mistake in waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. They precisely used man’s notions and imaginations to measure the Lord Jesus who had already arrived. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. Is this not a fact? Is waiting for the Lord’s arrival as simple as we think? If the Lord returns and works among mankind like the way the Lord Jesus in the flesh had done, and none of us recognizes Him, then would we also judge and condemn Him as the Pharisees had done and crucify Him once again? Is this a possibility? The Lord Jesus prophesied that He shall return and said many words about it, but we only hold on to the prophecy that the Lord will descend with the clouds and don’t seek or investigate other more important prophecies spoken by the Lord. This makes it easy to walk down the wrong path and be abandoned by the Lord! There is actually not just the “descend with the clouds” prophecy in the Bible. There are also many prophecies like that the Lord will come as a thief and descend secretly. For instance, Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief.” Matthew 25:6, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him.” And Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” All these prophecies refer to God becoming flesh as the Son of man and descending in secret. “As a thief” means coming quietly, secretly. We won’t know He is God even if we see or hear Him, just as it was back when the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work during His incarnation as the Son of man. From the outside, the Lord Jesus was just an ordinary Son of man and nobody knew He is God, which is why the Lord Jesus used “as a thief” as an analogy for the Son of man’s appearance and work. This is too befitting! Those who do not love the truth, no matter how God in the flesh speaks or works, or how many truths He expresses, they do not accept. Instead, they treat God in the flesh as a normal person and condemn and abandon Him. That is why the Lord Jesus prophesied that when He returns: “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luk 17:24-25). Based on the Lord’s prophecy, His return shall be “the coming of the Son of man.” “Son of man” refers to God in the flesh, not the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus descending with the clouds to openly appear before all people. Why is that the case? Let’s think about it. If it were the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus descending publicly with the clouds, it would be incredibly powerful and shock the world. Everyone would drop to the ground and no one would dare resist. In that case, would the returned Lord Jesus still endure a lot of suffering and be rejected by this generation? Definitely not. That is why the Lord Jesus prophesied that His return shall be “the coming of the Son of man” and “as a thief.” In actuality, it is referring to God incarnated as the Son of man arriving in secret.