Dr Paul Allen

Jesus, the angels, and Paul mention clouds in connection with Jesus’ return (Luke 21:27; Mark 14:62; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:17). As Jesus’ ascension to the Father was marked by clouds that hid him from the sight of the disciples, so his return could be accompanied by literal clouds as well. However, if the clouds are literal, Jesus’ return would be an event in a particular region: if Jesus’ return took place in the city of Jerusalem in Israel, accompanied by clouds, his return could be witnessed only in that city, nowhere else. The explanation that satellite technology makes a worldwide viewing of Jesus’ return is technically correct, but it is inadequate as an explanation for what Jesus, the angels, and Paul could have meant and what his readers could have understood. When Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers that “we who are still alive and are left” will meet Jesus “in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:17 NIV), he does not seem to understand the “clouds” as a meeting point above a part...

People who obey God’s will have often been discriminated against, persecuted, and killed. This history of prejudice, ridicule, and opposition began with Cain killing Abel, upon whom the Lord God had looked with favor (Gen. 4:4–5).  From that time onwards, many of God’s people have experienced reproach and affliction in various ways (see Heb. 11:35–38). This history of opposition continues until today: the execution of Jesus, Steven, James, Peter, Paul, and countless other Christians throughout the ages being only the more explicit examples of prejudice and discrimination. This is also why Jesus returns: when God restores his perfect creatio n, he will vindicate all those who have obeyed his will throughout the ages . It is not “the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars” who will live in God’s new world (Rev. 21:8). It is “those who conquer” (v. 7), that is, the people who followed the revealed will o...

Image via Wikipedia "For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure." ( Job 28:24-25 )   It was only discovered by scientists in modern times that the air actually has weight. This passage in Job, however, written thirty-five or more centuries ago, indicated that the two great terrestrial fluids of air and water forming earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere are both "weighed" by God 's careful "measure" to provide the right worldwide balance of forces for life on earth.   Another remarkable "weighing" act of God is noted in  Job 37:16 . "Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds , the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?"  Clouds are composed of liquid drops of water, not water vapor, and water is heavier than air , so how are they "balanced" in the sky? "For he maketh small the drops of water...