👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾What does a #cloud #represent?”
(Part 4)
Beloved brothers and sisters, today we continue learning about the mystery of the cloud in the Holy Scriptures. The cloud is not only a natural thing it is a sign chosen by God to reveal His covenant, His mercy, and His salvation. In this part, we look at the cloud of Elijah and the cloud of Isaiah.
3. The Cloud of Elijah – The Little Hand that Brought Rain
In the days of King Ahab, Israel was consumed with idolatry. The queen Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, raising up hundreds of false priests in their place. The king, instead of defending the worship of the true God, joined her in spreading corruption. Therefore, God’s servant Elijah, aflame with zeal, prayed that the heavens would be shut. And for three years and six months, no rain fell upon the earth; famine spread over the land, and the people suffered hunger.
When at last the time had come, God commanded Elijah to appear before Ahab. The prophet cried out: “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him!” (1 Kings 18:21). On Mount Carmel, before the priests of Baal and all the people, Elijah called upon the Lord, and fire descended from heaven to consume the sacrifice. The false prophets were silenced, and the God of Israel was glorified.
But the work of Elijah was not yet finished. He ascended Mount Carmel once more, bowed himself down, and prayed with his face between his knees. sent his servant to look toward the sea. The servant returned six times with nothing. But on the seventh time he said: “Behold, a little cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rises from the sea.” (1 Kings 18:44).
Then Elijah proclaimed: “Go, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot before the rain stops you!” And immediately, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and a mighty rain fell, watering the earth and ending the famine (1 Kings 18:45).
Behold the mystery! The cloud was small, no larger than a man’s hand yet from it came a flood of rain that refreshed the land. So too the Holy Virgin Mary: though she appeared as a humble maiden among men, she was chosen to bear the Son of God. Through her, the true rain descended the mercy of Christ, the water of life, the comfort of those who hunger for peace and thirst for righteousness.
St. Ephrem the Syrian, in the hymns of the Church, praised her with these words: “You are the true cloud, O Virgin, from which descended the rain of mercy.”
4. The Cloud of Isaiah – The Swift Cloud Bearing the Lord
Seven centuries before the coming of Christ, the prophet Isaiah foresaw the mystery and declared: “Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt” (Isaiah 19:1). Who is this swift cloud? The Fathers teach with one voice: it is the Holy Virgin Mary.
For when the Lord was born in Bethlehem, Herod sought to kill Him. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and commanded: “Take the young Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt” (Matthew 2:13). Thus was the prophecy fulfilled: the Lord indeed came into Egypt riding upon the cloud of His Mother. Through her, He entered into the land of idols and scattered their images, proving Himself to be the one true God.
Continues 👇🏾