Some may object that Jesus never came on the clouds of heaven and that this language can apply only to a final return. Yet, the Bible speaks many times of divine beings “coming on the clouds of heaven,” in passages that speak of unusual events that have already occurred. Even though there is no report of anyone seeing God, literally, coming on the clouds, the Bible supports the view that it has taken place even before the first century.
To be specific, when Jesus used these words, God’s people had heard this language used only about national judgments. For example, in Isa. 19.1-4, Isaiah said of the forthcoming destruction of Egypt, “Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt…And the spirit of Egypt shall fall in the midst of it, and I will destroy the counsel thereof;…And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.“ This prophecy was fulfilled in the captivity of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.
Similarly, in Jeremiah 4:13, God used the same type of language to threaten Judah with invasion: “Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. In this way, God spoke of his coming on the clouds in the form of the Babylonian army. The Babylonians fulfilled this passage when they captured Judah and took the Jews away into captivity.
Thus, Jesus’ language in Matthew 24:29, 30 is used just like a number of times in the Bible to speak of a purely physical judgment brought upon a city or nation. When we consider that Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass away till all these things are accomplished,” surely Jesus spoke of the destruction that took place about forty years after he uttered this prophecy.