Communion With the Christ:: The Cloud

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight"Acts:1:9

After giving the Disciples, the Great Commission of proclaiming the Gospel Jesus was then taken up into the Heavens and enveloped with in a cloud. At the Accession of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was enveloped by a cloud which hid him from his Disciples immediate view.

Like many things that our Lord did and said, at first the Disciples, and we, may not have fully grasped the import or the message. Nothing that Jesus did, or does, is an accident. Everything that relates to Jesus is of great importance and speaks to us about who our Lord is and what he does.

What message do we find then in our Lord being enveloped by a cloud? What does this teach to those who follow our Lord?

To understand why Jesus was taken into a cloud we need to return to the Old Testament, the body of writings that we are told speaks to us about Jesus. John: 5:39-47, Luke:24:25-27,44-45

The Cloud in the Wilderness

That is, all the Old Testament speaks to us about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is the Incarnation Anticipated as the New Testament is the Incarnation Accomplished.

Jesus is found throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. The Writers of the New Testament understood this, and after the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit to give them inspiration and understanding, they began to see our Lord throughout the Old Testament.

Jesus is there, even in the wanderings of the Children of Israel. St. Luke , in his history of the Apostolic Church records the sermon of the Deacon St. Stephen to the religious leaders. St. Stephen’s message points away from the Temple at Jerusalem and toward the person of Jesus. St. Stephen is insistent that Jesus, and not the Temple, is the focus of God's purpose and our relationship with God.

St. Stephen declares that Jesus is and always has been this focus, even citing that Jesus is God and, as such, Jesus is the very one who led Israel in the cloud that went before them, which was manifesting the presences of the Lord.

"This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give to us" Acts:7:38

St. Stephen is telling the Jews, and we, that it is Jesus who there in the cloud. This cloud which was a visual manifestation of the Lord's presences and is found in several places in the Scriptures.

This cloud is the Shekinah, in Hebrew it means to dwell or to inhabit. It shares a common entomology with the Hebrew word Mishkan, a form which is used for the Tabernacle, where God dwelt, where the people of Israel met their God.

Meeting God

Moses met God as the cloud descend atop the highths of Sinai. The manifestation was one of power and was accompanied by the blast of a heavenly trumpet. Tempest and lighting and roaring of thunder. The whole of the mountain was shaken, showing that the Lord God was present.

"The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said."Ex:19:9

"On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain."(16-20)

Moses met the Lord in the Tabernacle as the cloud descend to it.

"And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses."Ex:33:9

The Cloud on the Mountain

The one who descended there upon the mountain was the very one who came in the Person of Jesus Christ, there the Lord "proclaims the name of the Lord" to Moses.

"And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. And he said, If now I have found grace in your sight, O LORD, let my LORD, I pray you, go among us; for it is a stiff necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance." Ex: 34:5-9

Moses met the Lord surrounded by the cloud, and hears God's word and Moses' responds by worshiping.

When the Cloud Moves

As the Lord God led Israel through the Wilderness toward the Promised Land, Israel would encamp and stay in a given place until the cloud moved, when the cloud moved Israel moved, when it stopped, they stopped. This tells us that God was controlling the overall direction of the people of Israel. At the close of the book of Exodus, after a display of the glory of God, we read.

"And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." Ex: 40:37-38

Cloud On the Temple

At the dedication of the Temple at Jerusalem the very presence of the Great God, the same that is seen leading Israel, is here, descended to the sound of Trumpets as one hundred and twenty priest sing hymns of praise to God in unity, and fills the Temple with his glory so fully, that the Priest could not stay in the Sanctuary but were forced to go out into the court.

"And came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were in unity, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endures forever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God." 2Chron:5:13-14

When they were in unity, then the glory filled the Temple, the presence of God was manifested in a powerful way as they worshiped and gave glory to the God of Israel. We see ,that in this moment at the Temple of God what is spoken of in Psalm:22:3- "God inhabits the praises of His people". This speaks of that where our Lord is praised his presences is manifested.

Our Praises does not "work up" God's divine presence, it simply brings us to realize that he is present. Jesus is with us. He is within the Temple of his church.

Where He Meets Us Still

Like in the Temple and Tabernacles of ages past, our Lord still meets us today within his church, the living Jesus who came and dwelt among us as one of us in his incarnation still meets us.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jhn: 1:14

We meet our Lord in the Tabernacle of His humanity. It is here that God reveals himself to each and all in the person of His Son Jesus.

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me" Jhn:17:6-8

Jesus in the Cloud

The very one who led the people of Israel through the self-illuminating cloud of the Shekinah is the very one who came to humanity in the person of Jesus.

This truth is also seen atop the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus is seen glorified by the overwhelmed Disciples. Here the voice of God affirming the divine Sonship of Jesus is heard and the cloud surrounded them all as the fell before His glory.

"While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud enveloped them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only" .Matt:17:5-8

This moment of seeing the glory of Jesus in the cloud is again an affirmation that Jesus is the one who led the Children of Israel in their Journey toward the Promised Land.

The cloud would have invoked within the minds of the first Disciples, all who were Jewish, the racial memory of the cloud that their ancestors followed. They would have understood the message of Jesus being enveloped by the cloud.

This told them, and tells us, that the one whom protected, provided for, and led Israel will do the same for the Church. That Israel, as St. Stephen called them "the Church in the Wilderness". As the Lord was with Israel before the incarnation, so Jesus is with his people the Church in the wilderness of this world after the resurrection.

Jesus Hid By Cloud

Acts records that the cloud hid Jesus from the Apostles view, this teaches us all, that we are to walk by faith and not by sight, to trust our Lord Jesus that he is and will always be with us. And it is when we worship in unity giving Jesus praise, it is then, that we come to discern his abiding presences within the Temple of the Church.

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" Heb:10:38

Jesus, in his accession, is demonstrating that he will lead his Church, protect and provided for it in all of its wanderings throughout the ages just as he did with the Children of Israel.

In all that the Church faces, Jesus is with us, with all Christians. Jesus will lead us forward moving us ever onward, overseeing the Church's journey to the Promised land of his Kingdom, and even when we enter times of the encampments of little progress, where the cloud of his leading makes no sign of moving, even as with Israel, Jesus will be there as our Shepherd in times of hardship, whatever occurs, he is there with us by way of the Holy Spirit.

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." Jhn:14:15-20

Jesus' ascension, and being hid by the cloud speaks volumes, it tells us that Jesus will lead us onward to the conclusion of His purpose for each and all and is far from being an abandonment of his people, it is rather, a powerful affirmation that Jesus is ever with us as he was with Israel, and that he will do more for us than we can even begin to grasp.

None need to fear, Jesus is with us, his eyes are upon us, he will lead us onward. Jesus is the one in the cloud who is ever present in each of our lives. The cloud tells us all that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us he will lead us all to the Promised Land of his glorious Kingdom.

Jesus is as he spoke to the Disciples in Matt: 28:20b. "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".

Benediction: May we each and all ever trust our Lord to lead us and guide us ever in life, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.