The Holy Spirit - Part 2

During the times when the disciples were with Jesus, they understood very little of what He said to them even at the point of His resurrection. In Acts 1:6, they asked Jesus before His ascension whether He would restore the kingdom to Israel and led them out of oppression. Throughout the four gospels in the New Testament, you would read that the disciples would pull Jesus aside and asked Him to explain His parables. In the parables of the sower, Jesus said that if they did not understand the parable of the sower, they would not be able to understand all the other parables.

For the disciples, they didn’t understand the nature of the Messiahship and the Kingdom of God. They thought that the Messiah would come as an individual and to lead Israel out of their oppressions. It was said when the Messiah came, He would restore the tabernacle of David and to bring them back to the glorious days of King David. They could not understand a King coming on a donkey. They had trouble when He told them that He would be persecuted, that the religious leaders and the business leaders would kill Him and on the third day, He would rise again. They didn’t understand all that Jesus told them.

It is easy for us to read the four gospels and see that these disciples right up to his death and resurrection, they still didn’t get the message. In fact, when they realized that he was not going to fight like an earthly king would, they scattered. Only two disciples watched Jesus from afar after He was arrested – John and Peter. Even after the resurrection of Jesus, the two disciples on the road to a village called Emmaus failed to recognize Jesus conversing with them on the road. They thought Jesus was the Messiah but when he was crucified and buried, all their hopes were gone with the death of the King. Jesus began to lovingly show them from Moses and all the books of the Prophets how the prophecy has came true and showed them He was the main character in the prophecy.

He arose from His death. He showed himself to the women at the tomb, to the disciples, all in all about 500 people over 40 days before His ascension. With all these, we read in the book of Acts that they still didn’t understand His Messiahship even when He was able to leave them.

Let’s look back at the times when the disciples were with Jesus and then at their transitions. Jesus’ birth was announced. His name was called Emmanuel - God with us. It was only when the two disciples encountered Jesus on the road that they ran back to tell the other disciples at the upper room. It was a process for them to embrace Jesus as a prophet not as a messiah. Their times with Jesus were a learning process. For three and a half years, these twelve men spent days and nights with Jesus whom they were curious about. They saw Him perform incredible things but they didn’t understand. They saw Jesus spoke life for an arm to spring forth, for the blind to see, for the lame to walk and they saw Lazarus, dead and coming out of the grave. They saw demons being casted out. They saw He has power over the spiritual realm beside the physical realm. They saw Jesus calming the strong winds and waves. They even said what manner of man was this in which even the winds and waves obeyed him. They were asking who this God who revealed Himself in Christ was.

They saw Jesus fed the five thousands and still have fragments left over. The disciples saw all these miracles. They heard him spoke to religious leaders with power like nobody has ever spoken to them in that manner before. Yet they did not understand. Now you have to know that they were individual beings. They saw Jesus expressed human emotions and anger. They saw Him talked to the Father. They witnessed all these and yet they did not understand. They witnessed how they drew fishes from the sea upon the word of Jesus when they failed to capture any the night before. In the book of Peter, Peter said that they did not bring them any words cunningly made by people but as witness who were there to testify to Jesus’ powers and they saw His resurrection.

After the Day of the Pentecost, they saw His protection for their life. They saw His provision for them. They have never experienced any man providing for them like Jesus did. But they only came to realization after the Day of the Pentecost. Only one disciple saw Jesus as more than a man and a prophet. That disciple was John and that was why he was Jesus’ favorite disciple. He saw more to Jesus and that may explain why he wrote the book of John and was given the task to write what he was into the book of Revelation.

Now Jesus said to them that He must go otherwise the Holy Spirit, the Comforter could not come. He was not leaving them orphans. The only problem they have was they won’t be able to see Him, hear him breathe, touch him, see him weep, but He would be with them in His spirit.

The question is how did the disciples make transition from a physical, tangible relationship to someone they could not see? This is even more so for us who never seen Jesus like the disciples. In John 13-17, the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus said was saying to them about the things to come. How then did they transit from a seen individual to an intangible person?

In Acts 1:6, after His resurrection, the disciples kept asking Jesus whether He would restore the kingdom to Israel. They still didn’t get it. They had the feeling that Jesus was about to leave and they were asking Him whether this was the time for Him to restore the kingdom to Israel. I like the way Jesus replied to them in Acts 1:7-8. Jesus said that it was not for them to know the times or seasons and only the Father knows the time. But they would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon them and they would be witnesses for Jesus. When we read that (Acts 1:8), we take a lot for granted. We don’t understand the impact of that commandment.

Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem in order to receive power to be witness for Him. A witness is very important. When a witness is put before the jury, the witness would be questioned very thoroughly about what he saw and heard. As a witness, you would have to stand firmly in what you believe in until all the jury was convinced that your story is true. You represent the truth as a standing witness. It is important for you to understand what Jesus meant by being a witness for Him. But the disciples failed to understand that. Somehow when the Holy Spirit came upon them, what they could not see or understand before, they could do it now.

Once you grab this understanding and the importance of being a witness for Jesus through the Holy Spirit, you can go out to the marketplace to share the Gospel. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you don’t go because you have power but because you are the power! You represent Jesus! Take for example, the police. When the police come, you said the authority has arrived. What you are really said is the Power has just pulled up from the car. You recognize the police as representing Power and they execute the Power given to them. In another word, they are the Power.

When you have the Holy Spirit, we represent the authority of Jesus, we are representing Jesus. We have the power and are the power. When you pray in the name of Jesus, you are representing the will, the spirit and the power of Jesus in your prayers and what you ask will be granted. It will change your prayer life forever when you realize who you represent.

As a witness of Christ, you represent Him. You not only represent His image, you represent His will, His spirit, His power and who He is. Hence, it is important that you do not take it for granted your identity as a child of God and your representation. There is power and do not let the devil steal this representation from you.

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David Seragih - About the Author:


A person who does great commandment by loving God and loving people, great commission by doing mission and the cultural mandate by engaging the market place to God. - Sermon Alive
http://www.sermonalive.com