Coming with the clouds (Dan Shaffer)

A good majority of Christianity believes in the 2nd coming of Christ.
Those who have been following my posts know that I teach Christ is come.
He is already here, within us. Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is within us.
Why would God’s kingdom still be coming if it is already within?
Today, I want us to look carefully at
Revelation 1:7
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.”

The key words for this text on Christ’s return are: “even those that pierced him”
Can this be any clearer that the ones responsible for crucifying Jesus would still be alive to see him return.
Furthermore, since this is written in Revelation we know John is not referring to Jesus appearances after the resurrection. At the time of this writing John is still referring to it as a future event.

Does not this correlate with what Jesus said in Matthew 24:34-35?
“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Heaven and Earth was the Jewish symbol for their Temple.
So here Jesus is being very explicit and specifying that their generation will not pass away until he returns and their Temple is destroyed.
We know from history the Jewish temple was destroyed in 70 AD along with Jerusalem.

So the million dollar question is how, where and when did Jesus return around 70 AD?
This question might be best answered by Josephus, who was a Jewish historian commissioned the Romans, to document the historical accounts leading up to and during the destruction of Jerusalem.

“on the one-and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities . Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking , and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”

This event was independently documented by Tacitus, who was a Roman historian commissioned to also document the war against the Jews and Jerusalem:

“Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world.” (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).

I hope this piques your interest to read and study these historical accounts.
You will be amazed to find the wealth and treasure in the fulfilment of Old and New Testament prophecy that is documented.
There is now tremendous evidence documented by historians and Scholars that show that the Book of Revelation was written between 65 and 68ad.
I’ve only scratched the surface here, there is much, much more.
Dan Shaffer