Unity Beyond Ascension

Jesus was leaving his disciples again.

Christ spent 40 days reassuring his disciples that he will never leave them or forsake them.

Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God throughout these 40 days.

The disciples were to wait for what he promised them before he died.

This was the Advocate who would act in his place, the Holy Spirit.

When will the “Kingdom of Israel” be restored?

The disciples knew of all the miracles that Jesus performed.

The disciples know of the authority in which Jesus acted, as the Son of God, the Messiah.

But, the Kingdom they knew was a physical place, with physical buildings, and existed for a specific time.

That Kingdom had ended by God’s intervention

After he sent many prophets and judges to warn them of their unfaithfulness.

It was no eternal kingdom, and it would not be returning.

We feel the pain and sorrow of lives cut short.

Sometimes, with the pain of death, whole kingdom fall.

There is no “Great Kingdom” of Earth that has or will last forever.

The disciples loved their heritage, their sons and daughters, their nation, and their capital city.

Who could blame them for wanting their nation to be restored?

Who doesn’t desire for all that they love to remain with them forever?

After the Resurrection, Jesus was the same one who was declared the Son of the Father before his death.

The difference was that the Resurrected Christ returned to life through the Father’s affirmation of who Jesus said he was.

During these 40 days, Jesus spoke about the prophecies that were fulfilled through him and about the Kingdom of Heaven.

God inaugurated the Kingdom of God through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection

The Kingdom of God will only be made complete when the Father chooses.

Chronos – times; manifest solely within corporeal (material/bodily) reality

Kairos – seasons; associated with completeness of all things (corporeal or eternal)

Christ is the only one through whom the Kingdom of God can be made kairos complete.

All things are made complete through:

God’s Presence (Perfectly Faithful, Holy Love)

God’s Leading (Bold in Truthfulness and Gracious in Judgment)

God’s Empowerment (Spiritual Gifts, Fruit for Salvation, and Eternal Inheritance over Creation)

Christ assures us of God’s continual presence and power through the Holy Spirit.

We are unified as citizens of the Kingdom of God through the Holy Spirit of Christ.

Christ’s prayer for all his disciples was that they would remain unified in God.

Those who believe show through their unity in Christ, so that the world might see the love of the Father for the Son, the Son to his disciples, and his disciples for the world.

We all are being unified in God’s Holy, Eternal Love.

Christ desires for those who love him, to be with him in eternity.

He gets what he wants because of the Father’s love for him.

It is a Holy, Loving desire.

It is the Holy, Loving desire of God that makes all complete.

May we be made complete and draw others to completion in him.