The Baptism in the Holy Spirit (5): The first Ascension of Christ (2)

The Promise of the Spirit in the New Covenant has 2 aspects, as exemplified by Jesus: (1) The Spirit WITHIN, at the New Birth. (2) The Spirit UPON, at the Baptism in the Spirit. The apostles received the Spirit in 2 stages. (1) In the evening of His resurrection day they received the Spirit WITHIN (John 20:22). (2) Then 50 days later they received the Baptism in the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), when He came UPON them. Acts 2:33 says Christ only gave His Spirit (within and upon) after His Ascension. But if it was 40 days after His resurrection, how could He give them the Spirit on the resurrection evening? The solution is there were 2 Ascensions: (1) His 1st Ascension on the resurrection morning (John 20), and (2) His 2nd Ascension 40 days later (Acts 1). *The 4 Purposes for His 1st Ascension: *1. To fulfil the Feast of FIRST FRUITS, He had to ascend to Heaven and present Himself to God as the First Fruits from the dead, on the day of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). *2. To appear before God’s throne to receive ALL AUTHORITY (Daniel 7:13-14). During the 40 days, in Matthew 28:18-19, He claimed He had already received this authority, so He must have ascended at the start of the 40 days. This is confirmed by Ephesians 1:19-22 which connects together His resurrection, ascension and receiving all authority as the result of a single working of God's mighty power. Also Philippians 2:9-11. The authority He received included the authority to receive and pour out the Holy Spirit. *3. To present His BLOOD in the heavenly Holy of Holies, as the final and full satisfaction for our sin, and for the New Covenant to come into full operation, including the Promise of the Spirit (Hebrews 9:11-15). Although He died and rose again, He had to accomplish the final consummation of His atoning work in Heaven, by taking His Blood into God's throne room and sprinkling it there, where it speaks for our forgiveness and grace (Hebrews 12:24). He had to do this before giving the New Covenant Gift of the Spirit to us. He is given not on our merits, but on the basis of His completed atonement, which was not consummated until His Blood was sprinkled in Heaven. So the giving of the Spirit testifies the Blood has availed for us, to cleanse us from sin and purchase the blessing of the Spirit (1John 5:6). So the Spirit could not be given before the Blood was presented in Heaven at His 1st Ascension (Acts 2:33). Having purchased our redemption, He ascended and presented His Blood in Heaven, for acceptance by the Father as the seal of His completed work. Only then could He receive the Spirit to pour out on all who believe. *4. To receive the Promise of the Spirit from the Father on our behalf, in order to pour Him out within and upon His people. This required Him to ascend to Heaven (Acts 2:33) and be glorified with all authority, power and glory (John 7:39), which must have happened on the resurrection morning (John 20:22). So He first ascended to Heaven, before returning to earth for 40 days. That is why He was able to impart the indwelling Spirit to His apostles that evening (John 20:22). The Purpose of this 1st Ascension was to officially inaugurate the New Covenant in Heaven, by presenting His Blood there, making it fully operational, as confirmed by His words to Mary, as He was about to ascend. He revealed He was ascending, and that the purpose of His Ascension was to complete the establishment of our New Covenant relationship with God. John 20:17: “Do not touch Me for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to MY BRETHREN and say to them: ‘I AM ASCENDING to My Father and YOUR Father, and to My God and YOUR God." The reason He did not allow Mary to touch Him was that He was ascending to offer Himself to God as the First Fruits. So it was not appropriate for her to touch Him. This holy offering included many saints who were raised with Him (Matthew 27:52-53). So, at His 1st Ascension, (1) He offered Himself to God as the First Fruits, the Head of the new creation of humanity, and (2) presented His Blood (which purchased and guaranteed every blessing of salvation and the Spirit for us) as the basis of the New Covenant, He was accepted by God on our behalf as our representative Man. (3) He then received all authority from God, including the right to pour out His Spirit upon all who believe. (4) Therefore, at this time, He also received the Spirit from the Father on our behalf, along with all the blessings in the New Covenant. Therefore, He now has the authority to pour out His Spirit on all those in Christ, who submit to His Headship. That is why, that evening, He was able to impart the Spirit into His disciples (John 20:22). Then He started to PREPARE them to receive the Spirit UPON (Luke 24:49), which they did 50 days later. We have a PURPOSE, for Christ has commissioned and sent us on a MISSION to be His WITNESSES (Luke 24:47), so we need His SPIRIT UPON, to EMPOWER us to fulfil this MINISTRY (Acts 1:4-8).