Hi,

This question is concerning Revelation study notes Rev 4:6, 7 part 4. The commentary on Act 1:9-11 about Christ received into a cloud and ascending into heaven; was it a literal cloud and sky (heaven) with the Father since no one was yet converted? Also, concerning we all must live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, how does that fit in with those that are not elect being priests and kings unto God; how can they live by those words? Thank you, and no rush on answer. God bless you and your loved ones and hope all is well.

In Christ your brother,

R____

Hi R____,

Thank you also for your questions.

Your first question is:

“… Christ received into a cloud and ascending into heaven; was it a literal cloud and sky (heaven) with the Father since no one was yet converted?”

Yes, it was a literal cloud that received Christ out of the sight of His “yet carnal” disciples.

Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11 Which also said, 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.

Like the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil… the serpent… the flood… [and] the cross of Christ”; these things are one and all literal and physical. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil spiritually typifies the law of Moses, which teaches us the knowledge of good and evil:

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

The serpent typifies Satan:

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The flood of Noah typifies baptism:

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

And the cross typifies our suffering with Christ:

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

In the case of ‘clouds’, they are used as types of God’s faithful elect:

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Christ was ‘in His Father’ while He was on this earth, and His Father was in Him. Likewise Christ is in His “cloud of witnesses”, and we are “in Him”. Since there were not yet any converted people on the earth, and we know what clouds symbolize, we know that just like all the symbols I have listed above, the “clouds” which “received Him out of their sight” symbolize all those in whose lives Christ is being “received out of their sight” to this very day, because no one in whom Christ does not dwell will recognize Christ in those in whom He does dwell:

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Luk 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

Since Christ has informed us that we are Him, therefore no one knows who we are but those in whom He dwells:

Gen 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
Act 13:27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

So those who know Christ only in the flesh receive Him not as a new risen Christ, but these clouds “receive Him out of [the] sight” of those who are not yet converted.

I hope all of this helps you to see that the literal clouds which received Christ out of the sight of His unconverted disciples are types of those very disciples into whom He would enter ten days later, on the day of Pentecost.

Act 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Act 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Your second question was:

“Also, concerning we all must live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, how does that fit in with those that are not elect being priests and kings unto God; how can they live by those words?”

Those who are not converted in this age will “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” in the age known as the lake of fire. The “fire” is the Word of God by which all men of all time will live, “each in his own order”.

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It is “He that walketh righteously” who are the ‘fire’ of ‘the lake of fire’, and it is through them, that all men who are not in that blessed and holy first resurrection will be purified and brought to know Christ and His Father:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

It is through the mercy Christ has shown us that we are given to “die daily, endure… much tribulation, be hated of all men, present our bodies a living sacrifice, and be crucified with Christ” today instead of having to live those words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God, later in “the lake of fire”. The “lake of fire” is “the second death”:

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

It is not called the “second death” because anyone has to die twice. It is second because it is the second group that is being judged and are dying daily, enduring… much tribulation, being hated of all men, presenting their bodies a living sacrifice, and being crucified with Christ”. That is why the lake of fire “is the second death”. It is because the great white throne judgment is the second judgment. The first judgment is the one which is now upon the house of God, and which judges us first:

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The answer is that they will be judged second, at “the second death” and at the “great white throne” second judgment. In that judgment, they will then learn that all that applies to those who are being judged now will then apply to all who are in that second judgment. Every word that has proceeded out of the mouth of God, does not pass away but does accomplish what it is sent to accomplish.

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

This must all be so because this is what our Lord tells us of His words in every generation of mankind:

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

The only way the later members of the body of Christ become “kings and priests” is by becoming a part of the Christ, who is our king and priest. In Him we are kings and priests, and in Him we will rule over the nations. Those who are in the lake of fire will also rule the nations within themselves just as we are doing now.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

These words will be just as true for those in the lake of fire as they are for us now.

I hope all these verses of scripture help you to see that God’s elect are the channel through which all men will be caused to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, so that there truly is but “one event… to all… the righteous and the wicked”.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike