One of the most intriguing passages of the New Testament is the last discourse of Jesus to his disciples found in John 13-17. After spending approximately three years teaching them the nature of the kingdom of God and demonstrating how it works, Jesus is about to leave the earth. The disciples will take his place as human displays of that kingdom. In summary form he tells them what is about to happen and what they should expect. It is breathtaking! We have the distinct advantage of looking back on it and seeing that what he promised is exactly what has happened. Even more breathtaking, we get the same benefits.
Jesus tells them that he is going to the Father and will make it possible for them to go there also (John 14:1-8). He is speaking of more than going to heaven when they die. He is talking about life’s ultimate privilege: living with God as Father. Phillip states that if they could see the Father, it would satisfy them. Is he ever right on?!? We are made for Father. We all long for the affirmation from Father and when we don’t get it, we spend our lives trying to fill the void. Someone recently said that they were tired of trying to manage their adult achievements, which were only scabs of their unhealed father wounds.
Since the universe was created around the Father-Son dynamic, all of creation longs to relate to the Father. The order of life as defined by God has the family being led by father. It is no wonder that the enemy has fought the divine structure of the family and won too many battles by defeating and defacing the image of father. Millions of people ache inside because they have a father-pain. They never had the intimacy for which they were created. An absent father or a dysfunctional father leaves longings that can’t be satisfied anywhere on earth.
Lest we think that having healthy families is the final goal, even good fathers are not perfect and can’t satisfy the full longings of our heart. We need a perfect father. That is what Jesus is telling them. He is going to the Father so that they can live with the Father the same way he does. They will have the same access, the same affirmation, and the same authority to work. This is inconceivable! What in the world could make this happen?
Jesus tells them. When he leaves, he will leave them with the divine assignment of doing the works he has been doing, and he will send them another Comforter just like him but not in flesh. The Comforter will live IN them. He has always been with them, but something new is about to happen.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were made in order to partner with God and do his earthly work. They were to represent him on earth and display his order (kingdom) over all creation. Jesus came as the last Adam to restore the order of God to creation. Jesus made it possible for mankind to again enjoy the conscious fellowship with God the Father, and Jesus re-established the role of mankind as God’s partners on earth in displaying his order in every realm of influence. Jesus mission was not just about getting people ready for death and heaven. It was and is about getting them back in relationship with God the Father so they can get on with the task of subduing the earth with the kingdom of God. This is part of our God-given joy. We find the greatest measure of fulfillment when we are engaged in doing what we are designed to do. People who are not living and working to glorify God by bringing his order to their world are not satisfied. Frenzied and frantic they search in vain for a satisfaction that can only come when they live with the Father and work for his purposes.
Jesus doesn’t leave his disciples with just an assignment. He gives them the authority necessary to accomplish it. He tells them that from that time on they can use his name when they request something from heaven. Of course, many have discounted his promise here because they have prayed prayers that they thought were never answered. It is helpful to note the context here. He always answers requests that relate to supplies needed to accomplish the assigned task. The Epistle of James reminds us that the two reasons we don’t get our prayers answered are: (1) we don’t ask; and (2) we ask for selfish reasons (James 4:2-3). It would be unthinkable for Jesus to assign us the job of carrying on his work without giving us adequate authority. When the answer doesn’t seem to come, we must open our eyes wider to see unexpected answers or we must wait patiently for his timing.
There is more than just the assignment and the authority, however. We have an advocate! He actually gives his own life. That is right! The same Spirit that filled Jesus and empowered him to live, die, and rise from the dead, moves inside the believer individually, and into the corporate body of Christ. He is the divine Helper. He guides. He empowers. He illumines. But, we get to do the work. He helps. He is a gift from the Father. Jesus said earlier that if we earthly fathers were inclined to give good gifts to our children, how much more would the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. He is the Great Gift. But the Father only gives the Spirit to those who believe in Jesus the Christ. Not all humans are indwelt by him. Some boast in being “spiritual” people thinking that spirituality is the goal. It is possible to be aware of other spirits. Only the Christ-believing receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus makes it clear that the Comforter will make Jesus “see-able” to the disciples. He will take all that Jesus is, all that Jesus said, and all that Jesus has done and make it real for the believer. Life with the Holy Spirit will be full of Christ-centered understanding. And of course, we already know that Jesus came to make the Father “see-able”, so as the Spirit reveals Jesus, the Father is revealed too. Actually the believer comes to realize he or she is part of the divine fellowship.
When does this great transfer happen? The Jews celebrated Pentecost fifty days after the Passover Feast. It was a celebration of the harvest. Some Jewish and Christian writers imply that Pentecost was also a celebration of the giving of the Law at Sinai and thus the creation of the nation of Israel as God’s people. This time, however, it would have a new significance. The harvest celebrated would not be barley but the resurrection of the body of Christ. The new nation created would not be Israel, but the church as the corporate body of Christ. It was not a law written on tablets of stone, but the Spirit of the living God coming to live IN the believers.
The Holy Spirit had been active in the Old Testament but to a lesser extent. He would empower some but not all the people of God. He always worked in concert with the Word of God. In creation, the holy Spirit hovered over the void until the Word was spoken and he brought order. He anointed kings priests, and prophets and sometimes others to do specific task. But after Pentecost he would be living in the new temple: the people of Christ. He would again be making the Word real in their lives.
Make no mistake. This was the beginning of a new day. This day had been anticipated for centuries. Admittedly the Jews had expected it to be more nationalistic, ethnic, militaristic, and political. When Peter stood to explain the strange phenomena of that day, he took the words of Joel who had predicted a day when the Spirit would be on all the sons and daughters instead of a selected few. He said the day would be so dramatic that it would be like the Sun turning dark and the moon turning to blood. There was the sound of a rushing wind. It was signifying the presence of God the Spirit (wind and spirit come form the same root word). There were tongues of fire above each person signifying the presence of Holy God on them. They spoke with other tongues of the mighty works of God. This probably was signifying the reversal of the curse of Babel. Now the believers would have a common language that transcends the languages of mankind. It would not always even need to be spoken to be understood. They would simply know because of the discernment of the Spirit and he speaks the language of love.
Jesus had promised it. He said he would baptize with the Spirit and with fire. Now it had begun. He had said that John, the baptizer, was the greatest among the old economy, but that even the least in the new economy would be greater. If John had lived until Pentecost, he would have certainly agreed. A new community was created. It was a new people of God. They had a new power. They would spend several years breaking out of the cocoon of Jewish identification. The new creation was the fulfillment of the ultimate purpose of Israel’s creation. The first participants of the new community were Jewish believers. The remnant from the nation of Israel had been able to hear the voice of Messiah and embrace him. They would now begin to see how everything written in their sacred scriptures was pointing toward him. It would cause much persecution from the majority who could not see it. Especially Paul, the most Jewish of them all, would spend countless hours in synagogues showing how the Old Testament was really about Jesus the Christ. He would suffer a great deal at the hands of unbelieving Jews. The new community would have to find its way of honoring the Old Testament as it related to Christ. It would take time, tears, and lots of love.
When the gospel went to Samaria, the Jerusalem church sent some respected apostles to confirm that what they were embracing was the same as their own Pentecostal experience. When Peter took the gospel to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, there was the common Pentecostal expression. The Holy Spirit was bringing the order of the kingdom to the early church. It would not be a Jewish church and a Samarian church and a Roman church. It would be one body indwelt by one Spirit, preaching one Lord and living in one bond of love.
When Paul commented on what had happened on that Pentecostal day, he said,
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV)
As the church sought to understand and embrace the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s work, we have given many names to various experiences with him. If we allow the Epistles to help us describe what Jesus said in the Gospels and what the disciples experienced in the book of Acts, we could say that at the point of true conversion we are in one Spirit baptized into one body. We will spend the remainder of our time discovering what that means to us and to our purpose. We are never commanded to be baptized in/with/by the Spirit. We are instructed to repent and believe in Jesus as the Christ of the Old Testament and the Lord of all (Acts 2:36-39). We are promised the gift of the Spirit. We are also instructed to walk in the Spirit since we already live in him (Galations 5:16-25). We are told to be filled with the Spirit, as a community committed to praise, thanksgiving and mutual submission (Ephesians 5:18). We are warned not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), nor to grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
When Apple’s iPhone came out, my son encouraged me to get one. He thought it would be an easier way for me to embrace the new technology. Before I got it, I was content with my simple cell phone. It would send and receive calls and that was all I wanted. The day I got the new iPhone, I was glad. He showed me a couple of applications that were pretty cool. But since then – that thing will do amazing things. Almost everyday I find something else available to me. I can check the weather anywhere in the world, a dictionary, games, Bibles and bible software, internet, camera, GPS. I was on a ranch in East Texas and was assigned a hunting stand that I was expected to find in the predawn darkness. The owner was trying to tell me how to get there. Finally he said, “Let me have your phone.” He then showed me how to find a certain tree on his ranch where I was to sit and watch (certainly not kill; I carried a weapon only for self-defense) wild game for the next few hours.
The Holy Spirit is so much more than any one or cluster of our experiences with him. He lives in us to open our eyes to the matchless splendor of Christ and to make the sovereign heavenly Father real to us. He produces his fruit in us and empowers us to act in supernatural gifts that display the order of God’s kingdom. Every day should be a new experience of discovering what he has brought as a gift.
SYNERGY - Better Together: October 01, 2010 click for more > Five Pillars of New Testament Discipleship: : October 15, 2010 click for more > Family Reunion Retreat: December 03, 2010 click for more >
