Holy Spirit And Jesus, Before Ascension

Today we discourse on the Holy Spirit and Jesus, before Jesus’ Ascension.

Let’s listen to Jesus giving instructions to His chosen apostles. With curious mind, we note that He does so through the Holy Spirit. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. Acts 1: 1 -2. What does it mean by Jesus, giving instruction through the Holy Spirit?

By any way of interpreting, instructions are rules, regulations, commands, decrees and such like, given to others, to be obeyed. When Jesus gave these instructions, He gave them through the Holy Spirit. Immediately, a question raises its head. How can this be? Is not the Spirit, the unseen Person and Jesus, the seen Person? This boggles the mind, because it should be the opposite way around. Should it not be that the Spirit gave instructions to the apostles through Jesus? Have I got the entire meaning of this phrase, through the Holy Spirit, totally wrong?

You see, I, and many like me, understand its meaning perfectly, if I am allowed to think like this. Jesus gave His chosen helpers their instructions through the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit. But this will not settle with me either, so where am I?

From where I’m sitting, struggling with this question, I look out and there is a lovely cruise liner majestically cruising into the harbour. I hear our Lord, as I struggle, fight and work myself into some kind of spiritual tizzy, about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I’m straightened out good and proper, as these truths about the tourists on board the cruise liner, are brought before me. Will you listen, all like me, who need help in understanding what is before us?

Our Lord tells me that these tourists, these travellers, have come to this new and different port, only because of the captain of the vessel. I’m then informed that these travellers have not one comment to make about the way the captain should or should not handle the vessel, neither do they make value judgments about his speed of getting them there, or any such like comments. They stay on the vessel in luxury and comfort, enjoying all that the vessel has to offer. Many are awake and excited about today, a new and different port, and are even awake to witness the sunrise, as the darkness of the night clears away. Why are such people just happy, thankful and contented to simply sit back, relax and let the captain do his job, without any input from them? I’m asked the question and also given the answer. This is what our Lord clearly and emphatically tells me.

They know that they are ignorant about piloting or driving a cruise liner, so they simply do not even think of telling the captain how to steer the vessel, for example.

They know that they are ignorant about the way, the captain of the cruise liner should choose, and things like that. They have no clue about nautical matters and will never even dream of arguing or challenging the captain on the route or way he has chosen to take.

I needed to hear no more. I was so cut down, so embarrassed and so made to feel small and stupid that I instantly got rid of all my self-made stupidity. Honestly now, I’ve been brought to a striking reality. Who do I think I am, to say to God anything about His affairs and business?

O how gullible and deceived we humans can be. How very pushy and self-exalting we can become, forgetting that we are totally ignorant of His Ways. We must become like those travellers, the tourists on the Liner that takes them to different places.