By Hildegard
In Luke 21, the disciples ask Yeshua about the Signs of the End Times and the End of the Age:
So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” Luke 21:7
He then answers their question and tells them of many different signs.
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Luke 21:25-26
Yeshua also refers to the words of the prophet Joel:
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. Joel 2:30-31
But then he tells them of THE SIGN to be looking for.
What is THE sign?
“Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.Luke 21:27
In this article we will look at the cloud by day/pillar of fire by night, described in the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament). We will also look at the appearing of Yeshua in clouds of glory described in the Brit Hadashah (New Testament). Are they connected and related to each other?
Acts 2:20 also speaks of this great day:
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord. Acts 2:20
The day of the LORD is a “notable” day. In some versions, it is translated as an “awesome” day. The word notable, in Greek, is epiphanes. Epiphanes means the unexpected, the appearance of a deity, manifest, illustrious.
Yeshua continues in his end-time discourse:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30
What will be the sign of the Son of man that will appear then?
The Son of Man will come on the clouds of heaven.
Yeshua uses “Exodus talk” here. The Greek word for “clouds” is nephele, Strong’s G3507, and this is what it means:
“Used of the cloud which led the Israelites in the wilderness”
It is directly related to the word “pillar of cloud” in the Exodus 13: 21-22:
And YHVH went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light in the night. Psalm 105:39
Riding on a cloud is a deeply messianic symbol associated with the Messiah. It is a heavenly veil of his divine presence – his chariot and his hidden place of strength.
There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds. Deuteronomy 33:26
Jeshurun is a name of honor for Jacob Israel.
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him. Psalm 68:4
The pillar of cloud seen and followed during the exodus was a visible sign of the manifest presence of Yeshua, the son of Man!
The pillar of cloud guided the children of Israel through the desert.
And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. Exodus 14:19
In Hebrew, the word angel is Malak. The angel, the “Malak”, split into two, and so did the pillar of cloud. The angel of Elohim was IN the pillar of cloud. The pillar of cloud and he were ONE.
So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and YHVH caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry and the waters were divided. Exodus 14:20-21
This angel of the LORD, the “Malak”, was also present in the cloud on Mount Sinai:
Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Exodus 19:16
When they were building the tabernacle, YHWH promised them that He would appear in the cloud over the covering of the ark:
And YHVH said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Leviticus 16:2
For many years, the people of Israel would watch Moses go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. The Israelites would stand up and go to the entrance of their tent. They watched the pillar of cloud come down and stop at the entrance of the tent of meeting, as YHWH/Yeshua talked to Moses.
Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought YHVH went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. Exodus 33:7-8
At the dedication of the temple the cloud filled the house, so that the priests could not do their service because of the cloud, “for the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH.”
And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of YHVH, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of YHVH filled the house of YHVH. 1 Kings 8:10-11
In summary, it can be said that the divine presence of YHVH/Yeshua was in the clouds and this was an integral part of the experience that Israelites had in their encounters with the God of Israel.
The announcement that Yeshua’s will return is that he will return in a cloud:
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21: 25-27
This reference to Yeshua returning in a cloud (nephele), is the SAME CLOUD that led the children of Israel in the wilderness!
It is the language of the Torah and it is nothing new. Daniel reports this in Daniel 7:13-14:
“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7: 13-14
If we link the statements in the New Testament, in the Brit Hadashah, with the original Hebrew context, we gain a broader and deeper understanding.
In this case we see the cloud in which Yeshua returns is the seat of His divine presence. It is also called his Shekinah, or His Glory. The word is derived from the Aramaic word shakan, “to rest”.
When we now hear the promise that the Son of Man will come on the clouds of heaven, then we know about the divine sign of His Shekinah and the symbolic meaning throughout biblical history:
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30
Prayer Targets
*Abba, dear Father, open our eyes more and more to understand the Hebrew foundation on which we stand.
*Abba, dear Father, help us live in accordance with the guidelines of the Torah by the power of your indwelling Holy Spirit.
*Abba, dear Father, please open the eyes of our heart and our spirit to hope in the soon return of Yeshua. May we truly understand that He will be coming in a CLOUD of GLORY!
*Abba, dear Father, please gather your remnant believers to come together so that we also will follow the CLOUD by day and the pillar of fire by night even as the children of Israel did when they left Egypt! May we see that day come soon!
*Abba, dear Father, make us ready for that day!