Why Jesus Went Away

These words must have sounded both strange and sad for the followers of Jesus. They felt really lost when he was not around with them. How on earth were they going to get on without him? And anyway, where was he going? Jesus answered that question and explained why he was going away.

After his crucifixion and his resurrection Jesus went back to heaven from where he had come to be our Saviour. (Acts 1: 9 - 11) From heaven Jesus then sent the Holy Spirit to be the helper, the guide and the friend of all who put their trust in Jesus for their salvation. Indeed, without the help of the Holy Spirit, we would not even want to trust in Jesus. Once we are trusting in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts to help us day by day to follow Christ. The Spirit is the third person in the Trinity so we should be humbly grateful to God to have this great Helper in our hearts; as Jesus said, "Another like himself." So now that Jesus has gone to heaven we have the Holy Spirit with us, whoever we are or wherever we are, if we are Christians.

And what is Jesus doing now? He is preparing a place for us in heaven and one day he will come to take us there.

Prayer

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who has come to be with us and in us to lead us onwards to heaven. Amen.