A New Presence

We are in the last week before Ascension. Jesus says, “It is better that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Counsellor (the Helper) to you, and when he comes, he will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”

Jesus’ going away is not an absence of God, but a new presence. This presence is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who is God from all ages. The coming of the Spirit is associated with Jesus’ glorification: his cross and resurrection. In his glorification Jesus gives us his Spirit.

God is present everywhere and always. God is Spirit, that is, God who is mightier the heavens and the universe is within us. God’s seeming absence is in fact a mighty presence: He is present in an atom and He is present in the largest of the galaxies. A silent presence that moves the universe. We live and move and have our being in Him. Without Him we will fall into nothingness.

The work of the Spirit is to remind us of Jesus’ life. From within us He will give us the wisdom and courage to face the world, and to proclaim God’s word.

And the Spirit will convict the world of its unbelief. He will break the unbelief that is within us and that is outside of us. The only way forward is to allow the Spirit to deepen our faith in Jesus. Belief in Jesus is salvation itself. “Sirs, What must I do to be saved? – Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”