"Behold, I come as a thief"(Revelation 16:15).
God will come like a thief and people are completely unaware. However, won’t everybody see Him if the Lord returns descending on the clouds? What is that really about?
It is not difficult for us to find that there are many prophecies in the Bible about the way of the Lord coming, not just the prophecies of His "descend with the clouds," but also many prophecies like that He will descend secretly. For instance, "Behold, I come as a thief" (Revelation 16:15). "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him" (Matthew 25:6). From these verses, we can see there are two ways in which the Lord will return: One way is to come in secret as a thief, so no one will know, and the other is to appear in public whilst riding upon a cloud that everybody will see Him. Some people say that "as a thief" and "at midnight" mean that no one knows when the Lord will come. Actually, this is just one aspect of the meaning of the Lord coming as a thief; it also means that the Lord becomes the flesh as the Son of man, coming in secret. There are many prophecies about the secret arrival, such as "Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think no" (Luke 12:40) and "For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation" (Luke 17:24-25). These prophecies mention the Son of man, which refers to the incarnation of God. The verse also mentions "But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation." If it were the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord descending on a cloud and appearing publicly, all people must prostrate and worship, then who would dare to resist and condemn Him? Therefore, He wouldn't suffer as much, much less be rejected by this generation again. Moreover, the spiritual body is particularly supernatural and not subject to space and geographical constraints. It can penetrate walls and walk through the closed door. It will not suffer as the flesh. Only when God incarnates to work will He suffer. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He seemed like an ordinary and normal man, so the people at that time didn't treat Him as God. The Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees furiously condemned and opposed the Lord Jesus and finally they colluded with the Roman government to crucify Him. From these we can see that God will return in the flesh as the Son of man and appear to people. This fulfills the prophecies of His coming in secret.
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