Ascension and pentecost12/17/2023 ![]() ![]() For both the Ascension and Pentecost are part of the victory of God and the reconciliation of heaven and earth. This could not have happened if King Jesus had not first ascended to his throne. The Lord Jesus dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere Paul speaks to us of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). (Romans 8:9-11)Because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, Paul can speak of Christ himself dwelling in us, for it is the life of Christ that the Spirit ministers to us: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And so Jesus himself would be not just with them but in them, because the Spirit of God, who is the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Christ. The Father would be sending the Holy Spirit - the Advocate, the Helper, the Comforter - not only to be with them, as he already had been, but to be in them. ![]() He would not leave them on their own, as orphans. Yet, paradoxically, he would also come to them. (John 14:15-18)Jesus would be going away. I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. On the night before he was crucified, Jesus spoke to the disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. In him, humanity is eternally and irrevocably a part of heaven. Jesus, the God-Man, fully human as well as fully divine, ascended to the throne as King of Heaven and Earth. It was necessary in order to bring heaven and earth together. ![]() It is more than appropriate that Ascension and Pentecost occurred just ten days apart. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |