(“together with them we will be caught up on clouds to meet the Lord in the air”). From the time of the OT the clouds of the heavens were associated with theophanies (cf. Ex. 16:10; 19:16), and in such texts as Is. 19:1 and the vision of Ezk. 1:4–28 a cloud becomes the celestial vehicle of God. It was probably owing to this influence that the writer of Dn. 7:13f. employed clouds to transport the “one like a son of man” into the presence of God, and from here the clouds passed into the stock of apocalyptic