THE
CLOUD
Once
more they returned to Jerusalem, leaving their nets, this time forever,
travelers setting out upon a journey, the stages of which were to be marked by
blood.
In
the same place where He had gone down to the city glorified by men, in the
shade of blossoming branches, He was to rise again after the interval of His
dishonor and His resurrection, in the glory of Heaven. He remained in the midst
of men, for forty days after the resurrection, for as long a time as He had
remained in the desert after His symbolic death by water. Although His body
seemed human, His life was transfigured into the ultimate rerouting of humanity
and He was ready to enter as pure spirit, into the spirit of the Father from
whom He had been separated thirty years before, that He might cast a gleam of
heavenly light upon the shadow-darkened world.
He
did not, as before, lead a life in common with the Disciples, because He was
separated now from the life of living men; but He reappeared to them more than
once to confirm His great promises.
The
last time they saw Him was on the Mount of Olives, where before His death He
had prophesied the ruin of the Temple and of the city and the signs of His
return, and where, in the darkness of night and of anguish, Satan, before his
final defeat, had left Him wet with sweat and blood. It was one of the last
evenings of May and the clouds in that golden hour, like golden celestial
islands in the gold of the setting sun, seemed to rise from the warm earth
towards near-by Heaven, like incense from great fragrant offerings. In the
fields of grain, the birds began to call back the novices to the nests, and the
cool breeze lightly shook the branches and their drooping, un-ripened fruit.
From the distant city, still intact, from the pinnacles, the towers and the
white squares of the Temple rose a smoky cloud of dust.
And
once again the Disciples asked Jesus the question which they had put to Him in
the same place on the evening of the two prophecies. Now that He had come back
as He had promised, what else were they to await?
"Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)
They
may have meant the Kingdom of God, which in their minds, as in the minds of the
Prophets, was one with the Kingdom of Israel, since the divine restoration of
the earth was to begin with Judea.
Christ
answered: "It is not for you to know
the times or the season, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost parts of the earth." (Vs. 7-8)
And
having said this, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while they
beheld, He was taken up from the earth and suddenly a shining cloud as on the
morning of the Transfiguration wrapped Him about and hid Him from their sight.
But they could not look away from the sky and continued to gaze steadfastly up
in their astonishment, when two men in white apparel spoke to them: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Vs. 11)
Then
having prayed in silence, they returned to Jerusalem, glowing with melancholy joy,
thinking of the day just begun: the first day of a task which, after two
thousand years, is not yet accomplished. They were alone now, alone against
that innumerable enemy called the World. But Heaven is not so cut off from the
earth as before the coming of Christ; the mystic ladder of Jacob is no longer a
lonely man's dream, but is set up on the earth, on this earth which we tread,
and above there is an Intercessor who does not forget the ephemeral beings
destined to eternal life who, for a time, were His brothers. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world" (Matt.
28:20) had been one of His last promises and the greatest. He had ascended
into Heaven, but Heaven was no longer merely the barren dome where swift,
tumultuous storm-clouds appear and disappear; where the stars shine out
silently, like the souls of saints.
He
is still with us, just as He promised, the Son of Man, who to be nearer Heaven
ascended mountains, who was light made manifest, who died, raised above the
earth towards the blackness of Heaven, and rose from the dead to ascend into
Heaven in the peacefulness of evening, and who will return again on the clouds
of Heaven. He is still present in the world which He meant to free. He is still
attentive to our words, if they truly come from the depths of our hearts, to
our tears if they are tears of blood in our hearts before being salt drops in
our eyes. He is with us, an invisible, pleasant and beneficial guest, never
more to leave us, because by His wish our earthly life is an anticipation of
the Kingdom of Heaven, and is a part of Heaven from this day on. Christ has
taken to Himself as His eternal possession that rough foster-mother of us all,
that sphere which is but a point in the infinite and yet contains hope for the
infinite; and today He is closer to us than when He ate the bread of our
fields. No divine promise can be blotted out: the May cloud which hid Him from
sight, still hovers near the earth, and every day we raise our weary and mortal
eyes to that same Heaven from which He will descend in the terrible splendor of
His glory.
"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight."
NOTE:This was another demonstration of His claim to be the Messianic King. This was prophecied in Dan 7:13 and claimed by Jesus in Matt 26:63-64 to be true concerning Himself. The high priest demanded His death when he heard this claim. Cf. Matt. 24:30.
"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him."
"But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."
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