In like fashion, when the Jesus tradition envisions the Son of man coming on the clouds or foretells the general resurrection, we should, even if this puts us in the disagreeable company of modern fundamentalists, think of the redeemer literally flying upon the clouds and of the redeemed literally coming forth from their graves—and also of all that those events represent: the vindication of Jesus, the triumph of believers, the judgment of the wicked, the fulfillment of prophecy, etc. The literal and the symbolic need not be sundered. - Dale Allison, Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet, p.164