THERE IS NO OTHER LIKE HIM

“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on,

he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

Acts 1:9

I have read this verse thousands of times but today it jumped right off the page and into my soul.  Throughout the Scriptures a cloud is the Presence of God.  It was there covering the Tent of Meeting in Exodus 33:9, and 40:34.  It was there on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-9.  And again it is there when Jesus goes back to heaven to be with his Father.

The thing that touched my heart about this is that the Father wasn’t sitting up in heaven waiting for His only Son to return.  God Himself came down, surrounded His Son, and took him home.  What a loving gesture.  It spoke to me about how much God loved His Son and how excited He was to have him return to his home, especially after all he had been through in the mission he was sent to earth to accomplish and finished.

I would sense that this is like the reunion of fathers and mothers of sons and daughters as their children have been away as soldiers in the wars being fought overseas in the world today and are now coming home.  They just don’t stand and wait; they run out to meet and greet one another with tears in their eyes and great gladness in their hearts.  Their embraces are strong and true, like there will never again be a separation ever.

I am convinced that this is how God will receive me when I return home, never again to be separated by time and space.  That is certainly the picture painted by the parable of the prodigal son and the lost sheep.  God is the powerful force behind all creation and everything on this earth.  But He is also a Father who loves His children and will run out to meet us when we come home.  That is the God in whom I believe and have committed my life to.  There is no other like Him.