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All the angels, and the gathered righteous interpretation
On: be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air
Source quotation · Neil L. Andersen Nothing lifts my desire to speak of Christ more than visualizing His return. While we do not know when He will come, the events of His return will be breathtaking! He will come in the clouds of heaven in majesty and glory with all His holy angels--not just a few angels, but all His holy angels. These are not the cherry-cheeked cherubim painted by Raphael found on our Valentine cards. These are the angels of the centuries, the angels sent to shut the mouths of lions, to open prison doors, to announce His long-awaited birth, to comfort Him in Gethsemane, to assure His disciples at His Ascension, and to open the glorious Restoration of the gospel. Can you imagine being caught up to meet Him whether on this side or the other side of the veil? That is His promise to the righteous. This amazing experience will mark our souls forever.
We Talk of Christ · Official Gospel Media English captions for We Talk of Christ, October 2020 general conference. Selected passage at 12:29.410–13:51.880. Caption cue breaks joined; source wording and punctuation retained. This quotation uses the official caption edition.
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Nothing lifts my desire to speak of Christ more than visualizing His return. While we do not know when He will come, the events of His return will be breathtaking! He will come in the clouds of heaven in majesty and glory with all His holy angels--not just a few angels, but all His holy angels. These are not the cherry-cheeked cherubim painted by Raphael found on our Valentine cards. These are the angels of the centuries, the angels sent to shut the mouths of lions, to open prison doors, to announce His long-awaited birth, to comfort Him in Gethsemane, to assure His disciples at His Ascension, and to open the glorious Restoration of the gospel. Can you imagine being caught up to meet Him whether on this side or the other side of the veil? That is His promise to the righteous. This amazing experience will mark our souls forever.
Cyril reads the aging poem as a vision of the end interpretation
On: with the voice of the archangel
Source quotation · Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture XV, §§ 20–21; Edwin Hamilton Gifford’s revised translation (1894) 20. This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and the rest; Therefore remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh;…and remember thy Creator…or ever the evil days come,.…or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened,.…and they that look out of the windows be darkened; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be broken; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way. What shall they see? Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe. And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come? The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow heavy, and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad. And as the interpreters say, the blossoming almond signifies the departure of winter; and our bodies shall then after the winter blossom with a heavenly flower. And the grasshopper shall grow in substance (that means the winged soul clothing itself with the body,) and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad (that is, the transgressors who are like thorns shall be scattered).
21. Thou seest how they all foretell the coming of the Lord. Thou seest how they know the voice of the sparrow. Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lord. And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the rest. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of fire, which is to make trial of men. Then if any man’s works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man’s course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the fire. And the Father shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; for, He says, I will make your sins white as snow, and as wool, which is an emblem of forgiveness of sins, or of sinlessness itself. But the Lord who shall come from heaven on the clouds, is He who ascended on the clouds; for He Himself hath said, And they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Catechetical Lectures · Edwin Hamilton Gifford’s revised English translation, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, volume VII (1894), edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace; CCEL transcription. The Cyril volume’s original division title identifies Gifford, and his preface dated 26 May 1893 explains his revision of R. W. Church’s 1838 translation. Lecture XV, complete sections 1–33 across two research packets, divided at section boundaries. Main prose verified against the hosted text. Footnote callouts, publisher/editor notes, page numbers and HTML formatting removed; whitespace normalized. Section numbers, wording and punctuation retained, including apparent transcription readings. Continuation sections 1–2 and 20–33 retain complete main prose. In section 2 the extraction join “saiththe” is separated as “saith the”; section 27 restores “Galatia” from original printed page 113, NPNF II.7, corroborated by the original scan at Internet Archive niceneandpostnic07unknuoft/page/n192.jpg. Other continuation prose is checked against CCEL, without claiming whole-lecture print collation.
Source reuse and transcription Public-domain historical English translation: 1894 NPNF edition, Gifford revision of Church’s 1838 translation. The division title and signed 1893 preface identify the translation. No modern New Advent wording is substituted; selected text is CCEL’s historical transcription.
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Published revision history 2026-09-11T02:50:38+00:00
20. This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and the rest; Therefore remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh;…and remember thy Creator…or ever the evil days come,.…or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened,.…and they that look out of the windows be darkened; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be broken; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way. What shall they see? Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe. And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come? The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow heavy, and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad. And as the interpreters say, the blossoming almond signifies the departure of winter; and our bodies shall then after the winter blossom with a heavenly flower. And the grasshopper shall grow in substance (that means the winged soul clothing itself with the body,) and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad (that is, the transgressors who are like thorns shall be scattered).
21. Thou seest how they all foretell the coming of the Lord. Thou seest how they know the voice of the sparrow. Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lord. And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the rest. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of fire, which is to make trial of men. Then if any man’s works are of gold, he shall be made brighter; if any man’s course of life be like stubble, and unsubstantial, it shall be burnt up by the fire. And the Father shall sit, having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; for, He says, I will make your sins white as snow, and as wool, which is an emblem of forgiveness of sins, or of sinlessness itself. But the Lord who shall come from heaven on the clouds, is He who ascended on the clouds; for He Himself hath said, And they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Harold Camping in 1992: the last day between 15 and 27 September 1994 interpretation
On: with the trump of God
Linked by Rainbow Watch. Camping ties Christ’s return to the trumpet of the jubilee and quotes the “last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:51–53; this reading holds the trump of God of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, which his sequel Are You Ready? cites.
Source quotation · Harold Camping, 1994? (Vantage Press, 1992), pp. 520, 521, 525, 526 and 531; short excerpt. Or it could identify with the blowing of the trumpet at the beginning of the jubilee year. Obviously it would identify with both of these events if Jesus returns on the Day of Atonement, September 15, which will be the day that begins the 1994 jubilee year.
[…]
If this is true, then His second coming on the Day of Atonement, September 15, 1994, is entirely reasonable. This would be precisely, to the very day, forty jubilee periods after His birth. For all these reasons we wonder if September 15 is the date of His return. However, a day during the Feast of Tabernacles is also a distinct possibility. Let us see why.
[…]
We, therefore, must consider the possibility of Christ’s return on one of the days of the Feast of Tabernacles for the year 1994, which will be the period from September 20 to September 27.
[…]
To summarize our conclusions we can be fairly sure of the following:
1. The last day cannot be earlier than the jubilee day, called the Day of Atonement, which occurs September 15, 1994
2. The last day will probably not take place later than September 27, which is the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles of 1994.
3. The last day could possibly take place any time between September 15 and September 27, 1994.
4. Even though we have abundant evidence that in all likelihood the last day will occur in 1994, we definitely cannot know the day nor the hour of our Savior’s return.
[…]
Now we must face another problem. We have very carefully calculated by the Biblical evidence that the tribulation period of 2300 days ends precisely on the first day of the seventh month, which is sometimes called the Feast of Trumpets. That date in 1994 is September 6. We have also discovered that the last day will take place on a day between September 15 and September 27. Are we becoming confused? How can we reconcile September 6 with a date that may be as long as three weeks later?
[…]
Last Day and return of Christ sometime on or between:
September 15, 1994: Beginning of 1994 Jubilee year,
and
September 27, 1994: Last Day of Feast of Tabernacles
1994? · Harold Camping, 1994? (New York: Vantage Press, first edition, copyright 1992 by Harold Camping; third printing, 1992), ISBN 0-533-10368-1, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 92-90969. Chapter “The Year of Christ’s Return Continues to Unfold,” pp. 520, 521, 525, 526 and 531. Internet Archive lending item 19940000camp; transcribed from page images supplied by the user from their own loan on 5 October 2026. Bold and italics rendered plain; the boxed pull-quote on p. 521 omitted; line-end hyphenation joined; the missing full stop after “September 15, 1994” in item 1 (p. 525) kept as printed; […] marks omissions.
Source reuse and transcription © 1992 Harold Camping. Short quotation (about 370 words of a book of about 550 pages) of the dated September 1994 reckoning, its stated uncertainty and its conclusion, reproduced for historical identification and comment.
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Published revision history 2026-10-21T14:09:01+00:00
Or it could identify with the blowing of the trumpet at the beginning of the jubilee year. Obviously it would identify with both of these events if Jesus returns on the Day of Atonement, September 15, which will be the day that begins the 1994 jubilee year.
[…]
If this is true, then His second coming on the Day of Atonement, September 15, 1994, is entirely reasonable. This would be precisely, to the very day, forty jubilee periods after His birth. For all these reasons we wonder if September 15 is the date of His return. However, a day during the Feast of Tabernacles is also a distinct possibility. Let us see why.
[…]
We, therefore, must consider the possibility of Christ’s return on one of the days of the Feast of Tabernacles for the year 1994, which will be the period from September 20 to September 27.
[…]
To summarize our conclusions we can be fairly sure of the following:
1. The last day cannot be earlier than the jubilee day, called the Day of Atonement, which occurs September 15, 1994
2. The last day will probably not take place later than September 27, which is the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles of 1994.
3. The last day could possibly take place any time between September 15 and September 27, 1994.
4. Even though we have abundant evidence that in all likelihood the last day will occur in 1994, we definitely cannot know the day nor the hour of our Savior’s return.
[…]
Now we must face another problem. We have very carefully calculated by the Biblical evidence that the tribulation period of 2300 days ends precisely on the first day of the seventh month, which is sometimes called the Feast of Trumpets. That date in 1994 is September 6. We have also discovered that the last day will take place on a day between September 15 and September 27. Are we becoming confused? How can we reconcile September 6 with a date that may be as long as three weeks later?
[…]
Last Day and return of Christ sometime on or between:
September 15, 1994: Beginning of 1994 Jubilee year,
and
September 27, 1994: Last Day of Feast of Tabernacles
Harold Camping: the end most likely between 15 and 27 September 1994 interpretation
On: with the trump of God
Source quotation · Harold Camping, Are You Ready? (Vantage Press, 1993), p. xviii (introduction) and pp. 31–32 (chapter 2, “The Jubilee Year”); short excerpt of two sentences and one paragraph. Individual after individual has written to me or talked with me offering further corroboration, further Biblical evidence that validates the conclusion of the extreme likelihood of the end of the world sometime in September of 1994.
[…]
We are reminded of that very pertinent verse recorded in I Thessalonians 4:16 in which God is describing events that will occur at the end of the world.
[…]
We, therefore, are not surprised to discover that the trumpet of the Jubilee was to sound on the day of atonement which was Tishri 10 of the Jewish calendar. As we learned in the book 1994?, all of the Biblical evidence points to the end of the world coming in the seventh month. In all probability it could be on September 15, which is the date for the day of atonement in 1994. In the book 1994? we learned that it also could be sometime during the timing of the feast of tabernacles which follows from September 20 to September 27. As we learned in our study found in 1994?, we dare not decide which exact day it will be, but the evidence shows that in all likelihood it must be from the earliest on September 15, the day of atonement, to no later than September 27, the last day of the feast of tabernacles.
Are You Ready? · Harold Camping, Are You Ready? (New York: Vantage Press, first edition, copyright 1993 by Harold Camping), ISBN 0-533-10932-9, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 93-94226. Introduction p. xviii (one sentence, from “Individual after individual”), chapter 2 “The Jubilee Year” p. 31 (one sentence, from “We are reminded”) and p. 32 (one paragraph, from “We, therefore,” through “the feast of tabernacles.”). Internet Archive lending item areyouready0000camp, reader pages n19 (pp. xviii–xix), 30 (pp. 31–32) and n5 (copyright page); transcribed from the page images. Italics (the book title 1994?) rendered plain; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized; omissions between the three units marked […].
Source reuse and transcription © 1993 Harold Camping. Short quotation (about 220 words of a book of about 400 pages) of the dated claim, its stated uncertainty and the verse it interprets, reproduced for historical identification and comment.
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Published revision history 2026-10-05T15:53:51+00:00
Individual after individual has written to me or talked with me offering further corroboration, further Biblical evidence that validates the conclusion of the extreme likelihood of the end of the world sometime in September of 1994.
[…]
We are reminded of that very pertinent verse recorded in I Thessalonians 4:16 in which God is describing events that will occur at the end of the world.
[…]
We, therefore, are not surprised to discover that the trumpet of the Jubilee was to sound on the day of atonement which was Tishri 10 of the Jewish calendar. As we learned in the book 1994?, all of the Biblical evidence points to the end of the world coming in the seventh month. In all probability it could be on September 15, which is the date for the day of atonement in 1994. In the book 1994? we learned that it also could be sometime during the timing of the feast of tabernacles which follows from September 20 to September 27. As we learned in our study found in 1994?, we dare not decide which exact day it will be, but the evidence shows that in all likelihood it must be from the earliest on September 15, the day of atonement, to no later than September 27, the last day of the feast of tabernacles.
The Assemblies of God’s pretribulation teaching interpretation
On: caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air
Source quotation · Assemblies of God Source quotation
Although God’s people may endure severe trials before the Lord comes, the Church will be raptured before the period called the Great Tribulation.
The Rapture of the Church · Official English institutional HTML
Source reuse and transcription Modern copyrighted source; brief quotation of no more than 25 words. No reusable license established. Separate explanation is original editorial paraphrase.
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Published revision history 2026-09-09T16:47:28+00:00
Source quotation
Although God’s people may endure severe trials before the Lord comes, the Church will be raptured before the period called the Great Tribulation.
The Second Helvetic Confession on Christ’s return interpretation
On: caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air
Source quotation · Second Helvetic Confession Source quotation
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Although it do signify an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place; of which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says, that 'He will go and prepare a place for his' (John xiv. 2). Also the Apostle Peter says, 'The heavens must contain Christ until the time of restoring all things' (Acts iii. 21). And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly waste the Church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and to abolish Antichrist by his coming, and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts xvii. 31). For the dead shall arise, and those that shall be found alive in that day (which is unknown unto all creatures) 'shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye' (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17); that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. ii. 11); but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. xxv. 41). We therefore condemn all those who deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those who think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those who have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments; for the Lord himself has absolutely set it down that 'Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' (Mark ix. 44). Moreover, we condemn the Jewish dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden age in the earth, and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot; for the evangelical truth (Matt. xxiv. and xxv., Luke xxi.), and the apostolic doctrine (in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians ii., and in the Second Epistle to Timothy iii. and iv.) are found to teach far otherwise.
Second Helvetic Confession · Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom III, English appendix to Second Helvetic Confession, historical third-edition translation drawing in part on Harmony of Reformed Confessions (1586; 1643; 1842)
Source reuse and transcription Public-domain historical Schaff edition and early English translation lineage, explicitly identified in the inspected appendix introduction. This replaces the previously unestablished Sacred Texts translation.
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Source quotation
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Although it do signify an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place; of which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says, that 'He will go and prepare a place for his' (John xiv. 2). Also the Apostle Peter says, 'The heavens must contain Christ until the time of restoring all things' (Acts iii. 21). And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly waste the Church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and to abolish Antichrist by his coming, and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts xvii. 31). For the dead shall arise, and those that shall be found alive in that day (which is unknown unto all creatures) 'shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye' (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17); that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. ii. 11); but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. xxv. 41). We therefore condemn all those who deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those who think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those who have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments; for the Lord himself has absolutely set it down that 'Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' (Mark ix. 44). Moreover, we condemn the Jewish dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden age in the earth, and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot; for the evangelical truth (Matt. xxiv. and xxv., Luke xxi.), and the apostolic doctrine (in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians ii., and in the Second Epistle to Timothy iii. and iv.) are found to teach far otherwise.