In this summary video we illustrate the “big picture” behind both the ascension and the second coming of Jesus in Acts 1:9-11. That “big picture” is the Kingdom of God. In the context of the Kingdom (Acts 1:6), Jesus ascended in the “glory-cloud” in order to be seated on the “throne of David” (as King of all Israel – Acts 2:29-36). Just as the disciples saw Jesus ascend in order to inaugurate his Kingdom, he was to return “in like manner” – in the glory-cloud – to fully establish his Kingdom. The New Testament writers emphatically place the second coming of Jesus in the clouds of glory to fully establish his Kingdom in the lifetime of his first century disciples (Mathew 16:27-28, Luke 21:20-32). And, Paul placed the reception of that Kingdom by the saints at the removal of the Old Covenant world in AD70. Just as they had seen him go (to receive his Kingdom), so he returned “in like manner” (to consummate his Kingdom) in the first century.
The Institute Of Fulfilled Eschatology