Today, I enjoyed tremendously (meaning: I was really, quite filled with joy) reading about the Lord Jesus’ resurrection and what that means for us as those people who believe into Him. I’m almost done reading the book of John (I’m not reading the Bible in order, just studying it in-depth at my own pace) – one more chapter left! It is amazing.

When Jesus resurrected, He returned to His disciples and brought them,

Five Blessings:

1) His presence

2) His peace

3)His sending

4)the Holy Spirit

5) His authority, with which they could represent Him

I like it when things are broken down. Simple. Beautiful.

You really can see all that from the verses – He came back to His disciples, as promised (His presence). He said, “Peace be to you” (His peace). He said, “…as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (His sending) And, He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (the Holy Spirit). He then showed the disciples just one example of how His disciples could represent Him, by them being able to forgive others’ sins because they are sent as ones representing God, now that the Spirit had been breathed into them.What grace that we are freely given #1-4, and what an honor to be given #5 (for which #1-4 are a mighty good help).

And what of #4, the Spirit?

In the Gospels at this transition, you can see Jesus’ visible presence followed by His invisible presence, upon His resurrection. His goal was that the disciples would learn how to live by His invisible presence (the Spirit) to live by faith and not by sight (Jesus blessed those who believed without seeing).

His invisible presence is:

more available, more prevailing, more precious, more rich, more real than His visible presence because it is always with us. When the disciples received the Holy Spirit that was breathed into them on that day, they received an infinite and always-available supply of pure life that they could always draw upon for comfort, leading, and assurance.

How dear and comforting it is to us today, that we have the Holy Spirit within us, so close to us, and as the supply to meet everyone’s particular need.