Jesus returns spiritually to his early disciples, after his death, his resurrection, and his ascension, making it the most remarkable event in the history of the church. Jesus had been speaking to his disciples and when he had finished his instructions, “while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). As they “looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel” (Acts 1:10). These two men had a profound message for the disciples and for the followers of Jesus in every age. They said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). The two men predicted that Jesus would return to them the same way he was taken from them. The Father took him up and the Father would send him back. Jesus returns spiritually to bring his power into the life of every believer.

Jesus returns spiritually the same way he ascended, by the Father

The context of the ascension of Jesus and his predicted returned (Jesus returns spiritually) is extremely important in grasping the meaning of this angelic announcement to the disciples. The background to their statements begins with a reference back to the earthly life of Jesus. In reality, the entire book of the Acts of the Apostles continues from what “all that Jesus began both to do and teach” during his earthly ministry (Acts 1:1).

As Jesus began his earthly ministry, he entered into a synagogue at Nazareth. He was given the book of the prophet Isaiah to read. He found the following passage,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18,19).

He calmly said, “this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21).

It was the acceptable time. Jesus began preaching the kingdom of God had come. This proclamation of the kingdom of God was the essence of both the ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:43) and the ministry of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 28:31).

It was a strange message in the light of the understanding of the time, in deed, in the light of man’s understanding of every generation. Jesus proclaimed that the

kingdom of God cometh not with observation . . . for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20,21).

The kingdom of God could not be seen with the eyes of man. Man could see the results of it but could not see or produce the power to perform as kingdom saints.

Jesus returns spiritually has as its focus what God does for man

The essence of the message of Jesus and the apostles in the Acts of the Apostles was centered upon what God does for man. The message that was prevalent in the time of Jesus, however, was focused upon what man does for God. The people of God, before the preaching of Jesus, were consumed with the teaching of the Pharisees. They who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous” (Luke 18:9) preached a message of self-effort as the way to God. Jesus, however, preached a message of God’s effort to man, the kingdom of God is within you.

Jesus simply stated, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33). He said of his own life and his own ministry,

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (John 14:10).

Again, he said, “. . . the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father . . .” (John 6:57).

Jesus did not live his life in an attempt to do what the Father wanted him to do. The Father actually lived in and through Jesus. The Father did his own will in and through the Son (John 6:38).

For example, Luke recorded,

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen (Acts 1:1,2).

Jesus did not give commandments to the apostles by his own effort or being. It was not Jesus in himself that was giving the commandments. It was the Father through his Spirit by the mouth of Jesus speaking the words of the commandments to the apostles.The same would be true after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Jesus returns spiritually to become the essence of life for his disciples.

Jesus returns spiritually to become the power source of those who believe

Just as the Father had sent the Son and the Son lived by the Father, the Acts of the Apostles documents the history of the early believers not only being sent by the Son but the believers living by the Son as well (John 6:57). In the key verse of the Acts of the Apostles both aspects of being sent by the Son and the power to live through the Son is stated:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

They were being told that they would go into all the world and through what power they would live as they were going.

The context of this statement of Jesus reveals not only the issue of the early believers but the issue of life for every generation of believers. The context speaks of the resurrection of the Jesus, and “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Both the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the message of the kingdom of God address the same issue of how man is to experience life.

When this issue is understood, it is not so surprising that it is also the issue of the Garden of Eden (Genesis. 3:1-5), the issue of the Children of Israel going into their promised land (Deut. 1:22-46), and the issue of every generation of believers (Gal. 5:16-26). The issue for man has always been and will always be where and how he attempts to live his life.

The fact that man has always struggled to understand how he was and is to experience life is illustrated in the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God and that the early believers would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They, in turn, asked Jesus,

Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6).

Being physical creatures, they just automatic assumed that the kingdom of God would be a physical kingdom.

Because man experiences his life in this earthly realm, in his earthly body, he continually wavers in his perception that the life of God is only by the Spirit of God in the invisible kingdom of God. Man constantly struggles to understand Jesus’ statement that the believer is in the world but not of the world:

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world . . . I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:11,15,16).

Man faces conflict continually when he does not understand the real issue of life:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).

Failing to grasp the message of Jesus, man consistently attempts to set up an earthly kingdom by his own fleshly means. He keeps forgetting that life is only of the kingdom of God and by the Spirit of God. The promise of the Father, as proclaimed by the Son, was that the Spirit of God would come into man’s life and overwhelm him to take him where he would not and could not go himself (Acts 1:4,5). After his dead, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus returns spiritually to become the quicken power of life for the believer (Rom. 8:11).

Jesus not only taught this mystery of life he experienced this mystery. As Luke wrote, Jesus “showed himself alive after his passion” (Acts 1:3). The mystery of being “alive after his passion” was what Jesus meant when He said,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (John 12:24,25).

The kingdom of God and life in the Spirit only occur as the kingdom of man and the works of the flesh are continually falling into the ground, continually dying off.

The very beginning of the Acts of the Apostles illustrates this principles when Luke recorded “he [Jesus] was taken up” and “he [Jesus] through the Holy Ghost had given commandments” (Acts 1:2). He did not ascend nor speak in his own power. The Father raised him and the Holy Spirit empowered him. This is the mystery of being “alive after his passion.”

Jesus returns spiritually had been the promised of the Father

This is also the mystery of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Concerning this baptism, Jesus said it was “the promise of the Father, which . . . ye have heard of me” (Acts 1:4). It is in John’s gospel that the record is given where Jesus told his disciples of the “promise of the Father.”

The record began with Jesus stating

Little children, yet a little while I am with you . . . Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards (John 13:33,36).

Peter responded, “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake” (13:37). Little did Peter realize that he was not talking about the kingdom of God but actually referring to his own kingdom (what he would do for God) and his fleshly deeds (what he would do in the power of his own might).

At this point of time, Peter did not understand the kingdom of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Jesus returns spiritually). He was still struggling to do a great deed for God by his own power. It would be yet for another day until Peter would “stretch forth [his] hands, and another [would] gird [him], and carry [him] whither [he] wouldest not” (John 21:18).

Peter would eventually get where he wanted to go, but he would do so only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus returns spiritually and would gird Peter and take him where he could not and would not go in himself. He would become baptized by the Holy Spirit. His life would be empowered not by his efforts but by the Spirit of God (Jesus returns spiritually).

Before this empowerment could occur in Peter, however, Jesus had to first go and make it possible for Peter to come and also take up his residence in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to Peter, after Peter was told that he would deny Jesus three times,

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions [literal meaning, “a staying, i.e. residence”]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again [Jesus returns spiritually], and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (John 14:2,3).

The his death, resurrection, ascension, and then Jesus returns spiritually back into Peter’s life by the Holy Spirit would eventually enable Peter to be taken to the place where he could live in the Spirit of God.

Abiding in Christ because Jesus returns spiritually is how all believes should live

Near the end of this lengthy discourse of Jesus, he revealed the exact place where Peter would be taken and the consequences of abiding (same word translated mansion in John 14:2 is translated abide in John 15:1-10) in the place prepared for him. Jesus said,

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you (John 15:16).

Experiencing the kingdom of God because Jesus returns spiritually is the secret and mystery of life.

Jesus told His disciples that he had chosen them and ordained them. With ordained meaning “to place (. . . in a passive and horizontal posture), Jesus is stating that he will take them to a place that is totally passive and horizontal as opposed to upright and active. He is revealing the secret, Jesus returns spiritually, to experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and to live in the kingdom of God.

In addition to being in a passive and horizontal posture, the disciples will also go somewhere. With go meaning “to lead under, i.e. withdraw or retire (as if sinking out of sight),” Jesus is again revealing how the disciples would experience the power of living in the life of the Spirit experiencing the kingdom of God. Jesus will take the disciples down to a passive, horizontal posture that will cause them to sink entirely out of sight.

When the disciples are taken to their “passion” (the dying off of their fleshly effort), they will then experience the resurrected life of Christ, Jesus returns spiritually to them. The disciples will not be seen but Christ will be manifested in their lives. The entire history of the Acts of the Apostles is the story of Jesus being manifested in and through the apostles.

Jesus taking the disciples down (just as the Father took Jesus down) by the Holy Spirit that he might become prominent in their lives is what it means to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he must go and prepare a place for the disciples. Then, he said to them, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). He added, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18). Finally, He said, “. . . we [the Father and the Son] will come unto [you], and make our abode with [you]” (John 14:23). With abode of John 14:23 and mansions of John 14:2 being translated from the exact same original Greek word, Jesus is revealing in this lengthy discourse the secret and mystery of the kingdom of God: Jesus is to be manifested in the lives of the believers by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Jesus returns spiritually to the believers.

Jesus returns spiritually by the same means he ascended into the heavenly realm

After Jesus commanded the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, “. . . he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). As they saw him ascending into heaven and a cloud eventually prohibiting them from seeing him, they still continued to gaze intently into heaven. Even though Jesus had told them earlier that what they were now witnessing would occur (John 6:62), they, as all men probably would, seemed to be dazed and astounded by what was occurring.

Two men standing “by them in white apparel” said unto them,

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

Jesus had been taken from them into heaven by the heavenly Father. Jesus would come back to them being sent by the heavenly Father from heaven (1 Pet. 1:12).

Just a few short days after the apostles saw Jesus ascending into heaven, they were gathered together in an upper room.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost . . .” (Acts 4:2-4).

Jesus had returned to them, and now, through the baptism of Holy Spirit, he would be the presence and source of life within them. Jesus returns spiritually to become the essence of their All in all. As he said, “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19).

On the first Feast of Pentecost after the death of Jesus on the cross, Christ would become the spiritual manifestation of their lives. He had returned to them the same way as he had been taken from them. The Father had taken him up and the Father had sent him down