“A little while, and ye shall
not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father.” (John 16:16).
“A certain man lame from his
mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which
is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;…
And [all the people] knew that it was he which
sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with
wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was
healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch
that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
And when Peter saw it, he
answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look
ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk?
The God of Abraham, and of
Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom
ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was
determined to let Him go.
But ye denied the Holy One
and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
And killed the Prince of
life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
And His name through faith in
His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which
is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
And now, brethren, I wot that
through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
But those things, which God
before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He
hath so fulfilled.” (Acts 3:2,10-18).
The people who saw the miracle
were in shock and trembling. They were convinced that the healing the lame man was real and
must have come from heaven. They were primed for conviction and repentance. And
they knew that the despised followers of Jesus were involved. Their first
thought was to give the glory to the disciples.
But, other than first denying
the men’s applause, Peter’s most important mission was to save the hearts of his
Jewish people. He desired above all things to lead them into repentance and
salvation. This he did after speaking the unvarnished truth to them with
unvarnished mercy. Now Peter could make the appeal.
“Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord;
And He shall send Jesus
Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the
mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.…
Ye are the children of the
prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto
Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Unto you first God, having
raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of
you from his iniquities.” (Acts 3:19-21,25,26). And many believed and
repented, as the next verses inform us—about 5,000 men.
“As they spake unto the
people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came
upon them, being grieved that they
taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
And they laid hands on them,
and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which
heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.” (Acts
4:1-4).
But, how did the multitude come
to believe? Was it by Peter’s expert evangelistic talent? No. As Jesus had come
down in Spirit during the building of Babel, (see Genesis 11:5), the 5,000 conversions happened by Him spiritually coming down from heaven to give the Israelite men repentance and refreshing from His
presence in their heart, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27). “God,
having raised up [glorified (vs. 13)] His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.” (Acts 3:26).
The Father’s sending Jesus to
bless them was not speaking of God sending Jesus during His 3½ year ministry. Neither
was it about a third person of the Godhead interceding for us. It was about the
Man Christ Jesus our only Intercessor and Comforter. “For there is one God, and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim. 2:5), who “ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25). This
event of healing was God sending
Jesus after “having raised up His Son Jesus” (Acts 3:26). This was the
Father sending Jesus weeks after His resurrection and ascension and glorification. Jesus, the
crucified and risen Son, having ascended to sit with His Father on His Father’s
throne, was sent to His people to bless them with conviction, repentance,
forgiveness and reconciliation with His Father, their Father.
“Unto you first” (Acts 3:26).
For the first 3½ years after His crucifixion, Jesus would continue to intercede for the beloved children of His beloved Abraham. The prophecy of Daniel 9 showed
this in the last seven years (one week of prophetic time) of its prophetic period.
“Seventy weeks [490 literal
years] are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” (Dan. 9:24). “He shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week [seven literal years]: and in the midst of the
week [after the first 3½ years] He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation
to cease.” (Dan. 9:27).
The full 490 literal year,
or 70 symbolic week prophecy, would not leave the Jews to their due punishment immediately
after they had “killed the Prince of life” (Acts 3:15), but would offer mercy
on top of mercy by giving another 3½ years of probation. The miracle upon the
lame man took place within that 3½ year probation, shortly after Israel had “denied
the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto [them].” (vs.
14).
“Unto you first.” The Jews
were the first to be offered the privilege of the promised “blessing of Abraham
… that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal. 3:14).
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that
holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). The Jews had first dibs at being
“justified by the faith of Christ” (Gal. 2:16) through the “Spirit of Christ”
(Rom. 8:9), “in turning away every one of [them] from his iniquities.” (Acts
3:26).
Jesus was sent to heal the
lame man by His Spirit, “through faith in His name” (Acts 3:16). Jesus was
there in person, but in the personality of His Spirit. Jesus by His Spirit was
the third person of the heavenly trio; yet, it was truly Jesus, nonetheless. It
was Jesus as the Spirit; that is, as the Spirit of His Father.
“Cumbered with humanity,
Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for
their advantage that He should leave them, go to His Father, and send the Holy
Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the
personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as
present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.” Manuscript Release,
vol. 14, p. 23.3.
“But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit of
God is the Spirit of Christ, without which no man shall see God.
“Unto you first God, having
raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of
you from his iniquities.” (Acts 3:26). Jesus came to the lame man as Peter and
John spoke His name to the disabled beggar.
His spiritual coming was what Jesus had tried
to explain to His disciples in the upper room. “A little while, and ye shall
not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father.” (John 16:16). This statement was not speaking of His disciples losing
sight of Jesus during His crucifixion and burial, which did test them to the
core of their faith. Rather, the context speaks of what would happen after Christ’s
ascension. John 16:16 referred to them seeing Him again after their baptism of
the Spirit, as is plainly seen in its post-ascension context.
“I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself;
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things
to come.
He shall glorify Me: for He
shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.
All things that the Father
hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall shew it
unto you.
A little while, and ye shall
not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father.” (John 16:12-16).
“Now Jesus knew that they
were desirous to ask Him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of
that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little
while, and ye shall see Me?
Verily, verily, I say unto
you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall
be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
And ye now therefore have
sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no
man taketh from you.
And in that day ye shall ask Me
nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My
name, He will give it you.
Hitherto have ye asked
nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
These things have I spoken
unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you
in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
At that day ye shall ask in My
name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
For the Father Himself loveth
you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.
I came forth from the Father,
and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” (John
16:19-28).
His disciples would see Him
again as their Comforter. And would they ever be glad when they could again see
Him that way! Perfectly trustworthy, He was the same Friend who could only be good to them, the same Helper, the same Teacher sent
from God. Everything that they had needed before from Him was increased. And now they
were more surrendered, and thus more open to their Master’s holy influence.
This explains Judas’ earlier question.
“Judas saith unto Him, not
Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto
the world?” (John 14:22). His question came on the tail end of Christ’s first introduction
of the new subject of “the Spirit” to fishermen. “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him;
for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:17). Jesus was with
them, but unable to fully be in them because of their shallow, yet untried
attachment to Him. But, after their big test and humbling, they would receive
Him fully and then He could dwell in them forever.
The whole nation could not
see Jesus as the Comforter because they never received Him into their heart. If
they had surrendered to John the Baptist’s Law of God and to the cross of God’s
Son, their self-will and heart broken, Jesus would have manifested Himself to
the whole nation in the power. However Satan kept that from happening.
“But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13). The nation, almost wholly, had
rejected Him. But to the part who loved the holy, just, and good Law which He
exemplified in love, the same experience of second birth that happened to Jesus
in His incarnation, would happen to them spiritually.
“The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also
that holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke
1:35). The power of the Most High God would come upon them, and therefore they would
be enabled to see “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32). And through looking to the
precious Son, and imitating Him, His Father’s Holy Ghost would live in them.
His Father’s Spirit, would come to them through His beloved Son. The revelation
of truth and wisdom would come through Christ’s intercession for His Father’s
Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of your Father” (Matt. 10:20), a revelation from “My
Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17). Jesus ever lived to make
intercession for them and us. He could rightly claim His Father’s Spirit as His
own, being the only one qualified and worthy to mediate it to all His children
who fear and love His Father. Jesus could call the Holy Spirit Himself because
it came from His Father in heaven, and He was 100% tuned in to His Father’s
influence. His Father’s truth was Jesus’ own truth, to such an extent that He
was the truth.
“Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: …because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
(Rom. 5:1-5).
The disciples could not see
or know the Spirit of truth until Jesus would be sent to them after His ascension.
Through His personal presence He would baptize His disciples in His Father’s
Spirit and turn them into unstoppable apostles and overcomers of the world. It
would be Jesus speaking to them with the voice of authority, and with everything
divinely powerful.
“Now when they had gone
throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed
to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.” (Acts 16:6,7).
“And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
And he fell to the earth, and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And he said, Who art Thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and
astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
(Acts 9:3-6).
No longer weakened and
limited by His human frame, “divested of the personality of humanity and
independent thereof” Manuscript Release, vol. 14, p. 23.3, Jesus would speak for Himself through His own
powerful, trumpet-like, spiritual medium without losing any of His familiar
intent and purposes. His loving authority would still be recognizable, which is
why His disciples loved to be in communion with Him.
“I was in the Spirit on the
Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” (Rev. 1:10).
They were in communion with their same Master from earlier days of personal
ministry. He had not changed; His promise had not changed, “Lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the [age].” (Matt. 28:20). And neither had His demands changed for
them to save the world. “Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you.” (Matt. 28:19,20).
“As they met together after
the ascension they were eager to present their requests to the Father in the
name of Jesus. In solemn awe they bowed in prayer, repeating the assurance, ‘Whatsoever
ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked
nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’ John
16:23, 24. They extended the hand of faith higher and higher with the mighty
argument, ‘It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’ Romans 8:34.
And Pentecost brought them the presence of the Comforter, of whom Christ had
said, He ‘shall be in you.’ And He had further said, ‘It is expedient for you
that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but
if I depart, I will send Him unto you.’ John 14:17; 16:7. Henceforth through
the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of His children.
Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them. The
light, and love, and power of the indwelling Christ shone out through them, so
that men, beholding, ‘marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had
been with Jesus.’ Acts 4:13.
All that Christ was to the disciples, He
desires to be to His children today; for in that last prayer, with the little
band of disciples gathered about Him, He said, ‘Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.’ John 17:20.
Jesus prayed for us, and He asked that we
might be one with Him, even as He is one with the Father. What a union is this!
The Saviour has said of Himself, ‘The Son can do nothing of Himself;’ ‘the
Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.’ John 5:19; 14:10. Then if
Christ is dwelling in our hearts, He will work in us ‘both to will and to do of
His good pleasure.’ Philippians 2:13. We shall work as He worked; we shall
manifest the same spirit. And thus, loving Him and abiding in Him, we shall ‘grow
up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.’ Ephesians 4:15.” Steps to Christ, p. 74,75.
“A little while, and ye shall
not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father.” (John 16:16).
They saw their Lord in His
written word, they could visualize Him in their improved mind’s eye, they saw
Him in the humbled people around them, they saw Him as their hands and words did
the work that He had done. “For if these things be in
you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2Pet. 1:8). Their crisis of separation from their beloved Master behind them in the past, they could never again lose sight of Him.
Because He was at the
apostles’ right hand, they could not be moved. As disciples, He had led them
into the waters of surrender, and now they were sealed in susceptibility to His
Spirit and to His righteousness. They would forever hear His voice and see His
so much loved mannerisms—His warmth and kindness, His staunch loyalty to His
Father’s commandments, His ever enduring patience toward disciples and enemies
alike. They continually saw that He had never met a soul who He didn’t love and
seek to win back to eternal life with Him and His Father.
“Grace and peace be
multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according
as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”
(2Pet. 1:2,3).
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