It is misleading though to insert 'return' as though that is reference to the Second Advent. That is a trick common to futurist and unnecessary. Especially since none of these particualrs require His physical presence.
I don't believe I stated (in this thread, anyway) that His second coming or return obviated His physical presence. "Return" implies at least a "second coming" which - as I think we both agree - was "in the clouds."
I think your point would be valid if it were not for Acts 1;11.
I think Acts 1:11 completely affirms what Christ told His disciples and the Sanhedrin:
{9} And after He had said these things, He was lifted up
while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
{10} And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
{11} They also said,
"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11 (NASB)
In other words, He entered heaven "in a cloud." He will return in judgment upon Israel and Jerusalem "in a cloud", exactly as He told His disciples and the Sanhedrin He would. In none of these verses is a bodily presence of Christ demanded by the text. Even Acts 1:9-11 conveys this very OT idea that the Lord - when He comes in judgment upon a nation - comes "on the clouds."
{6} In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
{7} Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry.
{8} Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.
{9} He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet. {10} He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind. {11} He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. {12} From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, Hailstones and coals of fire.
{13} The LORD also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.
Psalm 18:6-13 (NASB)
{2} Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
{3} Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about.
Psalm 97:2-3 (NASB)
{3} He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters;
He makes the clouds His chariot;
He walks upon the wings of the wind;
Psalm 104:3 (NASB)
{13} "Behold,
he goes up like clouds, And his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!"
{14} Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts Lodge within you?
Jeremiah 4:13-14 (NASB)
{3} "For the day is near,
Even the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, A time
of doom for the nations.
Ezekiel 30:3 (NASB)
{13} "I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.
Daniel 7:13 (NASB)
Is it any wonder, then, that when Christ told Caiaphas at His trial that he would see Him "coming on the clouds", the whole Sanhedrin tore their robes and accused Him of blasphemy worthy of death?
Jesus Christ Himself consistently and repeatedly appropriated the apocalyptic language of the OT regarding His return to tell the people exactly who He was. Very few believed Him. Those that didn't learned the hard way.
That's what His "second coming" (or return) was all about: to judge Israel (and Judah) in 70 AD in the same manner the Father had judged Israel (and Judah) in 587 BC, and, in so doing, completely and irrevocably end the Law of Moses and with it the curse for disobedience to it.
As you know, the Old Covenant is gone, fully and irrevocably replaced with Christ's kingdom.
Welcome to the New Jerusalem, brother!
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but - as I know you agree - futurists keep looking for something (Christ's kingdom) that has long been established.
Just wanted to make sure we were still on the same page here.
