The Cloud

As spoken in the last writing, every generation carries its portion of the coming of Christ.

Every generation passes something forward.

But ultimately, the generations will be gathered together in Him.

The people who carried Christ through different generations are brought together.

Jesus speaks of His elect — His chosen ones.

“He will send His angels... and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

— Matthew 24:31

His elect are gathered from across the earth and heaven — those who belong to Him, separated by places, generations and even death.

What appeared to be generations separated by centuries becomes one people gathered in Christ.

The dead in Christ rise, and those alive at His coming are caught up together with them.

The gathering isn't simply people alive on earth being brought together in one place.

Death itself has divided the generations.

Some of Christ's people are alive.

Others have been dead for centuries.

Yet at His coming that separation ends.

The thread was never broken. Death may have separated one generation from another, but it could never separate them from the life they shared in Christ.

And when He gathers His people, what appeared divided through the centuries is revealed as one people in Him.

And then I began to see something else about His coming.

The clouds.

More than twenty-five years ago, long before I understood what I am writing about today, I had a vision.

I saw a great cloud.

People came out of their houses and businesses and looked upward. Their faces were filled with wonder and awe at what they saw within the cloud.

Then the cloud began to descend upon the people, coming over their minds.

They knew it was the Lord.

People turned from what they were doing and began moving in a different direction. Only a small number returned to their former routines, seemingly ignoring what had happened.

But there were others at the leading edge of the cloud as it was descending behind them.

They had already been gathered and positioned, and I understood that their work was only beginning. The Lord had placed them where they needed to be for what was about to happen.

For more than twenty-five years I have carried that vision.

Only now, as I look again at the Scriptures concerning His coming, do I see something I had not understood then.

The cloud runs throughout the story of God.

The cloud led Israel through the wilderness.

The cloud covered Mount Sinai.

The cloud filled the tabernacle.

The cloud filled the temple.

The Father spoke from the cloud.

When Christ ascended, a cloud received Him from their sight.

And Jesus said He would come on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Revelation declares:

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him.”

— Revelation 1:7

Perhaps what I saw all those years ago was pointing towards something I could not yet understand.

What has been unfolding through the generations is gathered together at His coming beyond death.

Those who carried Christ through generations separated by centuries are no longer separated.

The dead in Christ rise.

Those who remain are caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

Yet in the vision, the cloud did not simply remain above them.

It came over their minds.

And as it did, their direction changed.

Perhaps the cloud and the air speak of something far greater than I had previously understood.

And those whom the Lord has prepared and positioned find that the gathering is not merely the end of something.

Their work has only just begun.