This here is an excellent example of how we know crepuscular rays prove that the Sun is NEARby:

The hole in the wall acts like the holes in the clouds; a real image is formed and travels in the form of a light ray along with darkness rays where it is projected in reverse in the other wall.
The rays are diverging because they are a real image from a LARGE object and will show that at a distance; they are NOT diverging because of perspective i.e. the 'railroad track' illusion.
Amazingly, any size or shape filter can be put over the image and it will show the SAME THING much like a hologram.