Revelation 11:7-8
And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
Charlie Brown was famous for the big cloud that stayed over his head no matter where he went. Many people live their lives that way and, no matter where they go, they see the future as a continuation of the storm in their life, ending with their death. For the two witnesses, their lives reflected what the first seven words of verse 7 say. When they had finished their testimony, they died. This would not inspire the pessimist among us but it should. It was not until they had done what the Lord created them to do that they were taken from this earth. There was no cloud over them, just the Lord.
For we who follow Jesus, there is no reason to envision a cloud over us, even though Jesus promised that there would be trials and tribulations. This is simply because, like the two witnesses, there is no cloud, just Jesus over us, now and forevermore. He has called us to be a cloud of witnesses and he will not take us before our testimony is finished. Just as Jesus did not ascend to the Father until he proclaimed, “It is finished”. May we be faithful in our testimony until that day when the Lord says to us, “it is finished”.
O Heavenly Father, you have numbered our days and measured our span. May we never fear that our lives are wasted or that the cloud is our future. In Jesus’ name. Amen.