Some years ago, I heard a ‘mid-Acts’ preacher say that the clouds in 1 Thess 4:17 are actually angels.
1 Thess 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
There is NO reason to SWITCH the natural meaning of ‘clouds’ .... especially when the verse also says we will meet ‘in the air’ (which is where ‘clouds’ are).
The normal meaning of words should always be used, unless it is obviously an illustration. For example, Jesus said He was ‘the door’ (John 10:9).
The preacher who traded clouds for angels oddly supported his theory from the epistle to the Hebrews, which is on the outside of Paul’s 13 epistles, and is thereby really ‘off limits’ for application according to ‘mid-Acts’ doctrine. But he nevertheless used it to prop up his exchange of words:
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
We can look into the sky to understand that a cloud can completely envelop an object. Heb 12:1 specifically defines ‘what kind of cloud’ it was. It was, not a cloud ‘in the air’ (as 1 Thess 4:17 expressed) .... but it was a cloud ‘of witnesses’ that surrounds us. The witnesses are the ‘heroes of faith’ of whom the world was not worthy, many of whose names are listed in the context of the previous chapter, Hebrews 11.
The preacher was later questioned about his word-swap (that clouds in 1 Thess 4:17 are angels) in a private room among a small assembly of conference attendees. After some ‘lively’ evening discussion where he stuck by his foolish claim, the next morning laughable comments were flying.
"What a clear day! There’s not an angel in the sky!"
"I heard tomorrow’s weather forcast. The sky will fill with dark angels, and we expect rain."
"The cafeteria will be serving cloud-food cake after lunch."
He believed without a verse, as he has been taught without a verse, that saints who have been saved during the dispensation of grace will have an angelic escort into heaven. So in his message, he turned clouds into angels.
Clouds are not angels.
