As Jesus saw the end of his mission approaching, he promised his followers that the extraordinary power he had demonstrated, the highest and greatest essence of all that is good and perfect, would remain with his followers. In the gospel of John, Jesus states, "I will ask of my Father, and he will send you another comforter, to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it has not seen Him and does not know Him; but you know him because he abides with you and is in you. The comforter, the Holy Spirit whom my Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of everything which I tell you." (John 14:16-17 & 26)
Jesus further elaborates the continuation of his mission when he tells his Apostles, "It is better for you that I should go away, for if I do not go away, the comforter will not come to you, but if I should go, I will send Him to you. But when the spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all the truth, and He will not speak from Himself; but what he hears he will speak; and he will make known to you things which are to come in the future. He will glorify me, because he will take of my own and show it to you. Everything my Father has is mine; this is the reason why I told you that He will take of my own and show it to you." (John 16:12-16) In the final days after the resurrection, Jesus told his followers, "John baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." The very last thing that Jesus tells his Apostles is, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and in Judea also in the province of Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth." After making this final statement, the Bible tells us, "When he had spoken these things, he ascended while they were looking at him; a cloud received him and he was hidden from their sight." (Acts 1:5/8-9)
In the next chapter of Acts, the fulfillment of Jesus's prophesies takes place. "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind and it filled the house where we were sitting, and there appeared to them tongues which were divided like flames of fire; and they rested upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in various languages, according to whatever the Spirit gave them to speak." (Acts 2:2-4) In the immediate chapters following the Pentecost, the Apostles reveal the parameters of the intervention of the Holy Spirit. It is clear that something extraordinary happened during the Pentecost. The Pentecost marked the beginning of a New Covenant, an intradimensional covenant between human beings and the Holy Spirit. In his sermons, Paul identifies this New Covenant as one written, "not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the living heart."
BACK Copyright 2001 - All Rights Reserved - Revelator Harvey Martin