Coming in the Clouds

6 min read

26  “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27  And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”

—Mark 13:26-27

If I can be brutally honest with myself, sometimes I don’t feel like I am fully ready for Jesus to return. I may still feel like there are some idolatries in my life that need to be eliminated, some unholiness that still needs to be worked out, some issues that still need to be resolved.

At the very least, this feeling may mean that I have not surrendered myself fully to the work of the Holy Spirit in terms of making me holy. The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that we need to continually “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). From that passage, Oswald Chambers said that we need to “work out” the salvation that God has “worked in.”

But no matter how hard I might try to “work out” my salvation, I know that I will never become “perfect,” even though Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Obviously, Jesus did not mean this in a literal sense. Still, a life of being a disciples of Jesus can often feel like pursuing perfection but not really making any progress.

Jesus does suggest that “perfection” basically means to follow Him (Matthew 19:21). And as with everything involved in following Jesus as Savior and Lord, “working out” the salvation that God has “worked in” is about the posture of our hearts rather than some measurable degree of holiness.

But how do I measure the posture of my heart when it comes to following Jesus who is worthy of all my heart, soul, strength, and mind?

In this regard, I received a super encouraging word from, of all places, Leviticus 16. It talks about Aaron’s job as high priest on the day of atonement, the day where “Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites” (Leviticus 16:34).

Two goats are brought forward, one for a sin offering, and one as a “scapegoat.” The sin offering is sacrificed “because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been” (16:16). For the scapegoat, Aaron places his hands on its head to “confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins …” (16:21), and then that goat is released into the wilderness.

Aaron and both these goats are foreshadows of Christ—who as our great High Priest in heaven is continually interceding for us because of our sins, and who as our great Scapegoat has taken upon Himself all of our sins and carried them away once and for all, and who as the great Lamb of God has been sacrificed to receive the just judgment for all of our sins once and for all.

In whatever way I look at it, all my sins have been atoned for—past, present, and future—not because of anything I have done, but because of what Christ has done and continues to do on my behalf.

The truth is, whatever I do is never enough. Whatever I do can never repay the debt of sin that Jesus cancelled by going to the cross for me.

So I cannot follow Jesus as if to repay that debt. I can only follow Jesus knowing that He has cancelled mine.

Father, Thank You for sending Your one and only Son, my Lord, Jesus Christ, to the cross to pay the debt of all my sin. Thank You Lord, Jesus, for interceding on my behalf continually. It is by Your sacrifice, by Your intercession, by Your mercy and grace and love, that I call upon Your name and follow You. Help me to grow in becoming more like You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.