In like manner, God waited patiently for the apostate Jews to repent. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in AD 33. They had almost 40 years to turn their hearts to God. They heard the Gospel preached as The Twelve and many others continued the ministry of Christ. Cindye Coates

Their generation would live to see the worst tribulation Israel would ever know and experience. Jesus wanted them to be fully informed and prepared. Cindye Coates

No one knew the day or the hour all these things would take place, but they understood it would be within their lifetime. The disciples who were with Jesus that day on the Mount of Olives were young. Jesus was not any older than 33. Peter, James, John and Andrew were younger than Jesus. We don’t think of them as younger men, but they were. Cindye Coates

Once we see that “the first heaven and earth” was depicting the Holy of Holies (heaven) and the Holy Place (earth) in Herod’s Temple that was destroyed – we are then able to see the new heaven and new earth as the new Temple not made by human hands – the new dwelling place of God – in the Body of Christ, the Church! Cindye Coates

Clearly, the Father did not come physically in the clouds. He spiritually rode on the clouds in judgement. Any time God used a nation to destroy and judge another nation in the Old Testament, it is described as God coming down and riding on clouds. Jesus did the same at His coming through Rome’s siege and destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Cindye Coates

When Jesus said He was “coming in the clouds,” the apostate Jewish priesthood accused Him of blasphemy. Why? They knew He was claiming deity! His Parousia (coming) was going to be in the same way God had always come before in the Old Testament. He was making Himself equal to Yahweh. It was Yahweh Who was the great cloud rider in judgement. Cindye Coates

In AD 66, the Roman Army entered Judea on the east side and carried on their conquest westward, being compared to the “lightning flashing from the east to the west,” as Jesus clearly stated. Cindye Coates

In the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus, he wrote how false prophets led followers to believe they would be delivered by entering the inner rooms of the Temple. Josephus writes: “A multitude of men, women, and children, went up; accordingly, but instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans and 6,000 perished miserably in the flames.” Cindye Coates

The Great Tribulation is not in our future – it is in our past! There will never be another Herod’s Temple. There will never be another Emperor Vespasian. There will never be another Great Tribulation. Cindye Coates