Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about…the Holy Spirit.
Now Jesus will return to heaven.
Will His departure signal the end of the University of Jesus?
How will the Teacher/student relationship continue when Jesus is no longer physically present with them?
Here the Teacher reminds His students of something He told them earlier. When He spoke of a time when He would temporarily leave them, but quickly return to live with them representatively through the power of the Holy Spirit!
As Jesus promised, they will not be orphans (without the Teacher). He will continue to be with them forever. The Teacher/student relationship will carry on through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
This Gift from heaven, The Promised Holy Spirit, will empower them to follow the Teacher more closely than ever before. For to become more like the perfect Son of God must require Divine Help!
Such radical transformation is only possible because the Teacher will come into their hearts, re-shaping and strengthening them to be more like Him.
While Jesus physical presence with His students was intense, now the Teacher will create a closer connection than ever before through the internal presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Teacher will no longer be with them, but in them!
Soon they will have this Gift of Heaven on the inside. The Holy Spirit will help them change their hearts and lives. They will actually begin in earnest the process of becoming more like their beloved Teacher.
They won’t have long to wait - For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
We just studied yesterday about the new covenant - from Heb 8. We have a more excellent covenant than the first, which was enacted on better promises (Heb 8:6) and evidently had a fault (Heb 8:6 - maybe that the blood of bulls and goats couldn't take away sins - Heb 10:4)
ReplyDeleteBut Heb 8:8-10 mentions a new covenant, not like the old one, in which God would put His laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.
One discussion question was, How does God write His laws on our hminds and hearts?
Of course there is a personal element that we must be in the word (Psalms 119:11) but is there something else?
How is the new covenant different? Besides the better sacrifice and better promises?
Could it be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is how God will help us by writing His laws on our minds and hearts?
Does the Spirit not lead us? (Romans 8:14)
Yet is this something we often think about or give credit to - that God has given us His Spirit to actively help us through our lives?
It is an awesome thing to be considered a child of God - who God has given His Holy Spirit to! What a blessing to be involved with this new covenant!
Now, how are we at recognizing the Spirit's lead?