Where is Jesus?

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

Jesus’ humble incarnation, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, was done only once and for a short time. Jesus only lived for thirty-three years, His earthly ministry lasting only for three years. Jesus did not come into the world to stay here with us as he was when he walked with his disciples by the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was limited by his flesh—a limitation he had accepted in order to bring salvation. The body that was prepared for him was a real body – not an apparition as some heretics have claimed – a body that would bear away our sins, be raised from the dead, and then glorified in heaven.

The disciples saw him in the middle of his upward movement from the grave to glory at his resurrection appearances. These appearances were transitional. The time of his earthly ministry was at an end and he would ascend to the Father. The ascension would not be the end of Christ's ministry but would begin a new phase. He would not be with them physically but he would not leave them alone in the world, promising to send the Holy Spirit in his place. The exaltation of Christ was really the ultimate goal so that the next phase of salvation history could commence. The next phase would require the exalted Christ. Being exalted to the highest place possible in heaven at God's right hand, Jesus could begin to administer the Kingdom of God.

Before ascending he sent his disciples out into the world to preach the Gospel. But something had to happen before they went out – they had to wait for some special power. The Divine enterprise could not succeed without Divine Power. This was not a human enterprise and could therefore not be accomplished by human strength alone, even though human beings would be the messengers. Nothing but an outpouring of power could explain the transformation of the disciples. These timid disciples became known thereafter for their bold preaching, even in the very city where their Lord was crucified. Along with their boldness these early evangelists also had a new insight into the purpose of God as the Scriptures came alive to them. A resurrected, exalted Jesus is the only thing that explains the genesis of the Church.

Jesus was leaving the World, but not leaving the Church alone in the World. Another Presence would come alongside them. Jesus promised to send the Spirit—called both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God—to be with them. The Spirit is the Helper who comes alongside believers and dwells in them. When Jesus began his ministry the Spirit came upon him. But now the Spirit would come upon and fill all believers. And He would come to stay, not come and go as in the old days when only special endowments of the Spirit were given to men like the prophets. The limitation of having only one man filled with the Spirit is removed and the Spirit can now operate in every believer, thereby multiplying the work of Jesus in the world.

This indwelling of the Spirit is what marked the first Christians and set them apart from the religious norms of their time. God was doing something new and there would be no going back to the old system. It was the Spirit that could be seen as a powerful presence animating believers, breathing life into them and burning as fire in their hearts. Every time the Spirit filled them to overflowing their tongues were set free and they spoke about the mighty works of God! And they would not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard, even under threat of beating, imprisonment, and death. Most of these early Christians were ordinary people – blue-collar workers who had not been to school – yet they were empowered by an extraordinary Presence. It was noted that these people had been with Jesus. They were acting like Jesus, talking like Jesus. The life of Jesus was continuing in them and they were taking up where Jesus had left off after going to be with the Father. This second phase of salvation history began on the Day of Pentecost. This is the Age of the Spirit.

You can still see the Spirit moving and working in all true believers, giving supernatural confidence and boldness of speech, illuminating untrained minds, and overflowing in joyful acceptance of suffering. Spirit-controlled people are the only ones who can still do the work of Jesus. Jesus does not work through stodgy institutions weighed down by tradition and overburdened with structure. Jesus works through people set free by the Spirit and who live, move and have their being in fellowship with him. Christians are not people merely trying to advance the heady propositions of an ideology but are actively following the Presence of a living Person, doing his will on earth as it is done in heaven.

The Age of the Spirit is also the Age of the Church. Many people don’t care much for the Church. Church brings up some bad memories: doctrinal dogma, denominational splits, fund-raising, committee meetings, and professional clergy. The Spirit-filled Church of the first century somehow became the institutional Church of the twenty-first century. We have the money, the buildings, the professional leadership, and the organizational structures today. But what has happened to that Power that was so evident in the early believers that enabled them to turn the world upside down? What has changed? We know that God has not changed. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. If something has changed, it must be with us.

Where is Jesus? He is in heaven. But the work of Christ continues in the world through his people. If we want to see Christ today, we must see him in believers who are being led and empowered by the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit moves in the Body of Christ and will work today through the members of His Body to make his presence known in the world.