“Betwixt and Between”
Sometimes I get to thinking about things for which there seem to be no definitive answers. I won’t go into all of them lest someone accuse me of some untoward theological aberration, but I will venture to put this one before you today: What did Jesus and the disciples do between His resurrection and His ascension? Ever thought about that? It seems that it was a sort of “betwixt and between” kind of time for the disciples. They had heard the prayer of Jesus in John 17:18 that “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” With all that was pending on that evening they must have had cold chills as they thought about that! Yikes!
And there they were, Jesus was alive and with them from time to time still talking about that sort of thing and, had I been one of the disciples, I might have asked, “Could you clarify to whom we are being sent and when will the sending take place and what are Your expectations of us?” We have no record of anyone asking any questions except in Acts 1:6 someone asked if He was now “. . . restoring the kingdom to Israel?” That, obviously, was not the right question!
You see my point? What was going in this “betwixt and between” time? I mean, I can think of a lot of questions I would have for anyone who was buried for three days and was then raised from the dead – wouldn’t you? We know that Jesus appeared to a lot of people before His ascension, but He mainly focused on preparing His disciples for their future. He taught them, encouraged them, challenged them, empowered them, and promised them, again, (John 13-17) the Holy Spirit. His intermittent appearances seemed designed to further prepare them for His absence. That’s really about all we know for sure. Some of speculated throughout history but the Bible is pretty unclear on this particular time.
That being said, we live in something of a “betwixt and between” time ourselves. The King has overcome, and His Kingdom has come in the form of His church – His Body. Our task is no greater than that of the disciples and no less important to His purposes. And the same Holy Spirit that filled them, empowered them, and cleansed them is available to us in the same measure . . . yes, in the same measure! They were not “super saints,” they were real people just like your next-door neighbor or the person who sits next to you in church. Real people . . . Holy Spirit filled people . . . people pursuing “peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). I think I will join them!
In pursuit and on the journey . . .
Pastor J K
Sometimes I get to thinking about things for which there seem to be no definitive answers. I won’t go into all of them lest someone accuse me of some untoward theological aberration, but I will venture to put this one before you today: What did Jesus and the disciples do between His resurrection and His ascension? Ever thought about that? It seems that it was a sort of “betwixt and between” kind of time for the disciples. They had heard the prayer of Jesus in John 17:18 that “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” With all that was pending on that evening they must have had cold chills as they thought about that! Yikes!
And there they were, Jesus was alive and with them from time to time still talking about that sort of thing and, had I been one of the disciples, I might have asked, “Could you clarify to whom we are being sent and when will the sending take place and what are Your expectations of us?” We have no record of anyone asking any questions except in Acts 1:6 someone asked if He was now “. . . restoring the kingdom to Israel?” That, obviously, was not the right question!
You see my point? What was going in this “betwixt and between” time? I mean, I can think of a lot of questions I would have for anyone who was buried for three days and was then raised from the dead – wouldn’t you? We know that Jesus appeared to a lot of people before His ascension, but He mainly focused on preparing His disciples for their future. He taught them, encouraged them, challenged them, empowered them, and promised them, again, (John 13-17) the Holy Spirit. His intermittent appearances seemed designed to further prepare them for His absence. That’s really about all we know for sure. Some of speculated throughout history but the Bible is pretty unclear on this particular time.
That being said, we live in something of a “betwixt and between” time ourselves. The King has overcome, and His Kingdom has come in the form of His church – His Body. Our task is no greater than that of the disciples and no less important to His purposes. And the same Holy Spirit that filled them, empowered them, and cleansed them is available to us in the same measure . . . yes, in the same measure! They were not “super saints,” they were real people just like your next-door neighbor or the person who sits next to you in church. Real people . . . Holy Spirit filled people . . . people pursuing “peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). I think I will join them!
In pursuit and on the journey . . .
Pastor J K
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