You’ve probably seen the History Channel specials. The ones where a guy with wild hair suggests every miracle in the Old Testament was actually a visit from a neighborhood from the Pleiades. It’s easy to roll your eyes. But honestly, when you sit down and actually read the source material—the Hebrew Tanakh or the Greek New Testament—some of the descriptions are weird. Really weird. We aren't just talking about "angels with wings" here. We are talking about metallic objects, glowing crafts, and "wheels within wheels" that defy the physics of the ancient world.
The discussion around UFOs in the Bible isn't just for fringe theorists anymore. Even mainstream theologians have to grapple with the fact that the prophets were seeing something physical. Whether you think it’s God, an interdimensional being, or a pilot from another galaxy, the visual data remains the same.
The Ezekiel Event: More Than Just a Vision?
If you want to talk about UFOs in the Bible, you have to start with Ezekiel. No way around it. About 2,600 years ago, by the Chebar River, Ezekiel saw what he called a "windstorm" coming out of the north. But this wasn't a thunderstorm. He describes a massive cloud with flashing fire and "brilliant light" around it. In the center of the fire? Something that looked like "glowing metal."
NASA engineer Josef Blumrich famously took Ezekiel’s descriptions and tried to see if they worked from an aerodynamic perspective. His book, The Spaceships of Ezekiel, argues that the "living creatures" Ezekiel saw were actually landing gear systems. Ezekiel mentions "wheels within wheels" that didn't turn when they moved—they just headed in any of the four directions. That sounds a lot like omnidirectional propulsion.
Think about it. If you’re a Bronze Age priest and you see a high-tech drone or a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) craft, you don't have words for "titanium" or "rotors." You use what you know. You say "it sparkled like burnished bronze." You say it moved like "flashes of lightning."
🔗 Read more: How to Pronounce Shein Without Sounding Like a Newbie
The Logistics of the Chariot
The "wheels" had rims full of eyes. Skeptics say these were literally eyes. But proponents of the "ancient astronaut" theory suggest these "eyes" were actually portholes or lights. Ezekiel is very specific about the noise, too. He says it sounded like "the roar of rushing waters." That is a physical description of a massive acoustic event, not just a quiet spiritual epiphany.
Elijah and the Fiery Craft
Then there’s Elijah. He didn’t die—at least not in the traditional "buried in the ground" sense. 2 Kings 2 describes a "chariot of fire" and "horses of fire" appearing and separating Elijah from Elisha. Then, Elijah goes up in a whirlwind.
It’s interesting.
The text doesn't say he floated away on a cloud.
It says a specific vehicle arrived.
The Hebrew word for chariot is merkabah. In later Jewish mysticism, the Merkabah became the focus of intense study regarding the "throne-car" of God. But looking at it through a modern lens, the description of a fiery craft descending to pick up a human being sounds remarkably like a classic abduction or extraction scenario. It’s fast. It’s bright. It leaves the witnesses stunned.
The Cloud That Led the Israelites
Let’s look at the Exodus. The Israelites are wandering the desert, and they are guided by a "pillar of cloud" by day and a "pillar of fire" by night.
That is weird.
Really weird.
Clouds usually move with the wind. This one didn't. It hovered. It moved strategically to lead a million people. When the Egyptians tried to catch them, the "cloud" moved behind the Israelites to block the Egyptian army, emitting light on one side and darkness on the other. It sounds like a structured object with advanced lighting capabilities.
In Exodus 19, when the "Lord" descends on Mount Sinai, the description is terrifyingly mechanical. The mountain smokes like a furnace. The whole mountain trembles. There is a "very loud trumpet blast" that keeps getting louder. If you’ve ever been near a rocket launch or a heavy jet engine, you know that low-frequency vibration that you feel in your chest. That is exactly what the Israelites were describing. They were told not to touch the mountain or they would die—almost like there was a "danger zone" around a high-energy site.
What Most People Get Wrong About Biblical "Angels"
We have this Renaissance-era image of angels: blonde hair, white robes, feathered wings.
✨ Don't miss: Why Use a 3 Month Calendar Printable When Your Phone Already Has One?
Actually?
The Bible rarely describes them that way.
The Seraphim and Cherubim are described as having multiple faces, being covered in eyes, and interacting with "coals of fire." In the Book of Revelation, John sees "stars" falling from the sky that then use "keys" to open "bottomless pits." Stars don't use keys. Stars don't fall to Earth without destroying the planet. Unless, of course, the "star" is a craft and the "key" is a sequence or a physical tool.
Theologian Barry Downing, who wrote The Bible and Flying Saucers, argues that the "glory of the Lord" (the Shekhinah) was actually a physical phenomenon. He suggests that the parting of the Red Sea could have been caused by a high-pressure system from a hovering craft. It’s a wild theory, but it tries to bridge the gap between "pure magic" and "physical reality."
The New Testament: The Star of Bethlehem
Even the birth of Jesus has a potential UFOs in the Bible connection that people debate. The "Star" of Bethlehem didn't behave like a star.
- It moved.
- It stopped.
- It hovered specifically over a house.
Supernovas don't do that. Planets in conjunction don't "stop" over a specific GPS coordinate in a small village. If the magi were following something, it was an object in the lower atmosphere. It was a guided light.
Examining the Counter-Arguments
Look, we have to be fair.
Linguists will tell you that the Bible is full of "apocalyptic imagery." This is a specific genre of literature that uses hyperbole and symbolism to describe spiritual truths. When Ezekiel sees wheels, he might just be trying to describe the omnipresence of God. The "eyes" might symbolize God seeing everything, not lightbulbs.
And then there's the cultural context. Ancient people lived in a world of spirits and gods. They didn't have a concept of "space" or "planets" in the way we do. To them, anything from the sky was divine. It’s possible we are "retrofitting" our modern obsession with aliens onto their ancient religious experiences. This is called presentism—interpreting the past using only modern concepts.
But even with that caveat, the sheer consistency of the "metallic" and "fiery" craft descriptions across different authors over hundreds of years is... unsettling.
✨ Don't miss: Finding Federal Prison Camp Duluth Photos: What You’ll Actually See and Why They Matter
The Transfiguration and the "Bright Cloud"
In the New Testament, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain. Suddenly, his clothes become "dazzling white." Then a "bright cloud" overshadows them. A voice speaks from the cloud.
This happens again and again.
The "cloud" is the source of the voice.
The "cloud" moves.
When Jesus ascends into heaven in the Book of Acts, he is "taken up," and a cloud hides him from their sight. Two men in "white clothing" (there are those "angels" again) suddenly appear and ask the disciples why they are staring at the sky. They basically say, "He'll come back the same way you saw him go."
If we take this literally, he left in a craft and he's returning in one.
Practical Steps for Exploring the Mystery
If you're interested in digging deeper into the intersection of ancient texts and UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), don't just take a TikToker's word for it.
- Compare Translations: Read Ezekiel 1 or Zechariah 5 (the "flying scroll") in different versions like the KJV, NIV, and the original Hebrew (using a tool like Blue Letter Bible). You’ll see how "glowing metal" is translated differently.
- Study "Ancient Astronaut" Critics: Read Michael Heiser. He was a scholar of ancient Semitic languages who took a very skeptical view of the "aliens in the Bible" theory while still acknowledging the high-strangeness of the text. He provides the necessary academic "anchor."
- Check the Context of "Cloud": Look up every instance of the word "cloud" in the Exodus story. You’ll find it behaves more like a physical object than a weather pattern.
- Visit the Sources: Look at the work of Dr. Diana Pasulka, a professor of religious studies who wrote American Cosmic. She explores how modern UFO accounts mirror ancient religious visions.
The reality is that UFOs in the Bible might just be a modern name for an ancient mystery. Whether these were "chariots of the gods" or the literal presence of the Divine, the people who wrote the Bible were clearly trying to describe something that didn't belong in their world. They saw something in the sky that was powerful, structured, and capable of flight. And thousands of years later, we're still looking at the same sky, asking the same questions.