One doesn't have to resort to Greek to figure out what this means. He left. He'll return. One doesn't return "from the ground up". That would be another "taking up/departing".
What is similar about his departing and return is the manner -- in clouds. Matthew 24 paints the clearest picture.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
We use scripture to explain scripture, not man's convoluted logic.
In like manner IS from earth to heaven. It's as plain as it gets. The burning bush was a paradox, but Moses chose to look closer. It was when God saw that Moses turned aside to see, that God spoke to him out of the bush. That's in the plain text. The bush wasn't just yapping at Moses as he walked by. He had to have a desire to see why the bush was not consumed, before one word came out of it.
John the Baptist [whose birth narrative is documented in the NT] was Elijah, if you will receive it, because John wasn't Elijah bodily.
It's a blueprint. Elijah truly comes first to restore all things. Patterns, plans, blueprints come first.
The two men were correcting those who were gazing up. And as far as the son of man returning in the clouds, well there was Elijah (as Elijah) again (in the Transfiguration).
The text is what it is, much more open and obvious than people realize. Shockingly so.
Belshazzar had no clue what the writing meant, and neither did any of his advisors. Daniel was brought in to explain. Daniel's explanation was a history lesson, followed up by its logical conclusion. If only those folks had been in any way observant for all that time. Even today that simple message [of observance] sails right by, causing history to repeat.
Daniel had some amazing powers of insight unlike anyone else in the kingdom, because he was apparently the only one paying attention.
It's like that.