Jesus said: “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. . . . . . because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer . . . “. (John 16:7-10).
He said this surprising thing “where you can see me no longer”. He said that he would send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was better for them than his physical presence!
Can you grasp how incredible that is?
The truth that many people miss is that no one can see Christ in bodily form and live.
But instead, Jesus told them he would send what could not be seen: the Holy Spirit. That gift enables the multiplication of the works of Christ by his followers in the world. Those works will be seen.
Many people are obsessed with the idea that Jesus will come and they will physically see Jesus. They will be disappointed. We already have what is for our good that he went away!
He will not come back to rule physically from an earthly Jerusalem. If you believe that you have believed a lie.
The New Testament tells us that when the Son of Man comes he comes hidden in the clouds of God’s splendour and glory! (e.g., Mat 24:30, 26:64)
His coming is often called a ‘Parousia’ (1 Thes 2:19,3:13, 4:15). In Jesus’ day parousia meant ‘visit’, typically of the visit of a king who leaves his palace and visits a city but then returns to his home.
His coming will not be physically ‘seen’ but understood. He could never be seen by human, physical eyes in His exalted, glorious, state, “whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Tim 6:16).
The NT says when he comes it will be in judgment and the fulfilment of all that is written (Luke 21:22), not to be gazed at. See also judgment passages in 1 Thes 1:10, 2:15-16.
The Holy Spirit is with them from the Day of Pentecost until He comes again and beyond to this our day—the experience we have now!
See Acts 1:9. “And after He had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight.” He was hidden from their eyes by a cloud (Grk. nephelē). Just as he was hidden from their eyes as he went into heaven, so when he comes He will be hidden to human eyes by the clouds of glory (Mat 24:30).
Since then, Jesus has never been physically seen by human eyes. nor will he ever.
Do you see? Do you understand? Many stumble over this, thinking that because he would not be seen by human eyes, then he has not yet come.
Paul wrote: we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour. (Titus 2:11f.) The blessed hope of Paul was the appearing of his glory, not his physical presence.
That appearance of his glory has already come and been seen by the first generation of believers according to Mathew 10:23, 16:27-28, 24:30-34, as I have written in my many posts on my blog.
Let’s rejoice that he has come to dwell by his Spirit among his people, His ekklesia, and to empower us to be his witnesses as he did with the first apostles!
Ian Thomson 