I am now passing through the Book of Numbers, and once again the mention of a "Cloud" catches my attention, in this case, representing the Presence of YHWH above the Tent of Meeting.
My mind goes back to several months ago as I was reading through the Gospels, and it seemed the Spirit challenged my understanding of the purpose of the Transfiguration.
First the thought that perhaps Moses and Elijah were present in order to provide credibility for this man, Jesus. All this witnessed by Peter, James and John who would later be willing to die before denying such moments.
Well, Peter not fully there until the "cock crowed", and John though historians revealed his being boiled in oil, yet he would live to witness a similar appearance of the Christ on the Isle of Patmos. The words recorded as, He is coming as a cloud and every eye will see him...".
Jesus, who was acclaimed to be the Son of God, though "very man", perhaps in these early days, himself being so human, that even he needed the reassurance of these two amazing (Moses and Elijah), long passed but still existing representatives of the Most High.
Secondly, the moment a possible prelude to the Ascension, by way of the sudden release of energy, light from his very Being. His clothing perhaps de-atomized, the energy released as light.
"There, Jesus’ face began to shine like the sun and his clothes became miraculously white. As the disciples looked on, Elijah and Moses suddenly appeared in glory and talked with the transfigured Jesus. Peter then offered to make three dwellings, one for Jesus and one for each of the two supernatural guests, but was interrupted by a voice from a bright cloud that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5).
According to most scientific estimates, an average human body contains around 7 octillion atoms (7 x 10^27 atoms).
In my search for possibilities, I am told that "if all the atoms in a human body were suddenly released, they would disperse and form a very faint, nearly invisible "cloud-like" image, primarily because most of an atom is empty space, meaning the individual atoms would be spread out very far apart, even though the total number of atoms remains the same."
Those present at the Ascension perhaps assumed that the resurrected Christ simply ascended on a cloud, up into the Third Heaven until such time as "he would descend in like manner." After all, they had no such knowledge as we, that this tiny globe called Earth sits among billions of galaxies.
Moses and Elijah were likely at that point much more knowledgeable than when they first received a more limited revelation, one relatively primitive in compared to what they perhaps reassuringly conversed of with Jesus on that day.
Yet, when I read through Numbers, I must wonder if the cloud which Moses references is not in fact a similar condensation of the Presence, though less than the human form that was present after the resurrection.
After the resurrection, unlike us, his body could pass through the walls of the rooms where he suddenly appeared, or even then disappear when necessary such as on the Road to Emmaus.
If this is the case, could the Christ, the Presence, the Cloud still be among us, and often felt so powerfully when those full of the Spirit gather in his Name?
You have cleared up a few things about clouds, appearing in a mists, flying high, walking through walls etc.