John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:3 To whom also He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many irrefutable proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.
[Part 2 of 2] From the time He breathed Himself as the Spirit into the disciples on the day of His resurrection, the resurrected Christ dwelt in them. His appearing spoken of in Acts 1:3 does not mean that He ever left the disciples. It simply means that He made His presence visible to them, training them to realize and enjoy continually His invisible presence. The disciples had become accustomed to the visible presence of Christ. For three and a half years He had been with them visibly in the flesh. They saw Him, touched Him, and ate with Him. One of them even reclined on His bosom (John 13:23). Suddenly His visible presence was taken away. Then the Lord came back to the disciples to breathe Himself into them. From that time onward the Lord's presence with the disciples became invisible. It was no longer a physical presence but a spiritual presence. Although the Lord's spiritual presence is invisible, it is more real and vital than His visible presence. The Lord's visible presence involved the elements of space and time. But with His invisible presence there is neither the element of space nor the element of time. His invisible presence is everywhere. Wherever we are, the Lord's invisible presence is with us. Actually, His invisible presence is not merely with us--it is within us. When the Lord was with the disciples in the flesh, His presence with them was outward and visible. But after He breathed Himself into them as the life-giving Spirit, His presence became inward and invisible.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Acts, pp. 23-24. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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