Thursday 19 May 2022

Why The Ascension?


 

Hello and welcome to Time For Reflections.

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 14 Verses 15 onwards, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit on His disciples and on all of us.

It's a long bit, so I will not read it all; but I'll read this part.

“I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit who reveals the truth about God. I have told you this whilst I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.”

This is Jesus teaching His disciples way before His Crucifixion and His Resurrection.

After His Resurrection He was seen by a number of His disciples on many occasions, and eventually they saw Him ascend into heaven. A few days later, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and transformed their lives forever.

Let's imagine a totally different scenario.

Let's imagine that Jesus was crucified, He died and was buried, and three days later He was resurrected by His Father and He was seen by His disciples and by many people.

What if He did not rise to heaven? What if He stayed on earth as a resurrected Jesus? What if He made Himself known to the Pharisees, the Sadducees and all the people who did not believe in Him; to the Romans even?

What if He said to them, “Here I am. You killed me, I died and my Father in heaven resurrected me again”.

What do you think would have happened then? What would the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jews and the Romans have made of all this? What would His disciples have made of all this?

They would have been astounded. They would have been shocked. They would have seen Him as a Superman. As somebody really out of this world. Somebody that died and was raised again.

Even assuming they killed Him a second time and God resurrected Him again, what then?

I know this is all just thoughts at the moment; but can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus did not rise to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit?

What if he actually stayed on earth as a resurrected Jesus and says, “there you are, that is proof of who I am.”

People would have submitted to everything He said out of fear if nothing else. As I said, they would have seen Him as a Superman and out of fear they would have accepted all He said. They would have done all He commanded.

Hardly the act of a loving God.

Hardly the act of a loving Father who would hold everyone to ransom.

That is why it was essential that after the Resurrection, having made Himself known to some selected disciples, Jesus had to be raised to heaven.

He promised the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples. Strengthened their faith and from thereon they taught the rest of us about Jesus.

Even Paul who had never met Jesus, and at one stage persecuted the Christians, he came to believe and became one of the greatest missionaries of the early Christian Church.

That is why Jesus had to be raised to heaven after His Resurrection. To enable us to have faith.

Without faith we are nothing. We cannot claim to be Christians unless we believe in what happened. And that is why the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples to help them believe. That is why the Holy Spirit can descend on all of us today if we genuinely ask for His help, and if we genuinely invite Him into our souls.

Thank you very much for listening. God bless.

24 comments:

  1. ...Ascension Day is an important day for the Amish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the important Christian days are Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and the Ascension.

      God bless, Tom.

      Delete
  2. Jesus, declared Himself to be God and then proved
    it by His resurrection, finished His mission on earth..
    He came to die for the world's sins and rise again to
    give everlasting life to all who believe in Him..
    Having finished this mission, He ascended into heaven..!

    So... After His resurrection Jesus repeatedly appeared
    to His disciples over a period of 40 days, and then miraculously ascended into the presence of God...!

    And the Last words Jesus spoke before he ascended
    into heaven.."But ye shall receive power, after that the
    Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
    unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth....!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I enjoyed yesterday's and today's entry. I am smiling at my self. I read the entry yester day then went back and listened. I forget pretty quick, so I did the same today. Good entry and I do enjoy hearing. WE met two folk here in the park, over from the UK and RV'ing over the USA. The TAylors. I figured you knew them. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No ... not the Taylors from 23 Acacia Avenue in Birmingham? I knew them when they lived in Cardiff just before they moved to Glasgow. What a small world. Say "hi" to them for me.

      I'm so glad you liked my posts of yesterday and today.

      God bless you and yours, Jack.

      Delete
  4. What would we do without the Holy Spirit, Victor? He is God living inside of us, guiding us and leading us forward in faith.
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not many people understand this simple truth, Martha.

      God bless always, my friend.

      Delete
  5. Dearest Victor,
    Hard to believe that one week from today it is already Ascension Day!
    Got to be your 9th viewer/listener of the video.
    Yes, people ought to realize that we only can function well with the Holy Spirit inside, guiding our soul home... to eternity that is! No other GPS.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So many people these days do not understand the Holy Spirit, and do not believe. You are right in what you say, Mariette.

      God bless.

      Delete
  6. In spite of those who would second-guess our Father's master plan ... He arose! I don't pretend to fully understand the Trinity, but have come to think of the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost from my youth) as my best friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, He is our best friend, our helper and guide, Mevely. The Holy Spirit can abide within our soul and guide us in life, if we invite Him earnestly and honestly.

      God bless you.

      Delete
  7. Without Christ's Ascension and the Holy Spirit, where would we be?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good question indeed, Susan. God bless always.

      Delete
  8. We'd have sight, not faith, if He'd stayed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A very good point to make, Mimi. Thank you.

      God bless.

      Delete
  9. Hi Victor, yes the Holy Spirit is the only One Who can convince of the truth. The spiritual enemy tries to convince us through the carnal mind but the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts us with the truth through the mind of Christ. God bless you and yours in Jesus.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It is simple, Jesus gave us a way to have faith. Very well spoken, Victor. God bless you always,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Victor, I’m sorry you are have a problem connecting to my blog. I was having the same problem. This is what I have to do to comment on yours and others: when you click on comment to post - click on the drop down menu next to anonymous and select name and URL. Enter your name and URL - click continue - this will take you back to the post to comment. I have to do it everytime, I hope this helps. I love hearing from you. 😊

      Delete
    2. Hi Nells,

      The problem is not with commenting. It is with accessing your Blog altogether.

      This is the message I get when I try to visit you:

      Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead

      Firefox detected a potential security threat and did not continue to nells.wasilewski.blogspot.com. If you visit this site, attackers could try to steal information like your passwords, emails, or credit card details.

      What can you do about it?

      The issue is most likely with the web site, and there is nothing you can do to resolve it. You can notify the web site’s administrator about the problem.

      Somehow, I am not allowed to visit you. I don't know whether your other readers are having the same problem. Perhaps you could ask a friend to visit your Blog and see if they can get through or whether they are blocked too.

      God bless always.


      Delete

I PRAY FOR ALL WHO COMMENT HERE.

God bless you.