GroshLink

A brief framing quote on the work of the Jesus the Christ and Holy Spirit, writen by John Stott and passed along to me by my friend Miller.

"Suppose Jesus was still in Jerusalem.  Every boat and plane would be crowded with pilgrims....You have come to see Jesus, but you will never see Him.

It was to avoid just such a frustration that Jesus went away and sent the Holy Spirit to take his place.  For what the Holy Spirit does is to universalize the presence of Jesus and to make him accessible to everybody everywhere.

The apostles second disadvantage was that while Jesus was with them on earth, his presence was not only local but also external.  He was unable to enter their personality or change them from within, gettting at the source of their thoughts motives and desires.

But later he would be able to, Jesus said, "For he dwells with you, and will be in you" (Jn14:17).  Thus the Holy Spirit internalizes the presence of Jesus so that Christ dwells by his Spirit in our hearts and transforms us into his likeness.  It is therefore greatly to our advantage that Jesus went away, for in his place the Holy Spirit came.  And the Holy Spirit has made the presence of Jesus no longer local but universal, no longer external, but internal.  The Spirit both universalizes and internalizes the presence of Jesus Christ." -- "Through the Bible Through the Year", page 236.