Established in history, not in myth

Occasionally someone comes along with the idea that the Bible is only a religious document without historical veracity. They say that the Old Testament is largely myth and the New Testament is about the “idea” of Christ, not about a real person or real events.

For me, this is interesting, but totally without value. If Christ is not real, and if He did not die for my sin, I’ve no assurance of forgiveness. If Christ did not actually rise from the dead, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, my faith is useless and my experience meaningless.

Instead, I’m firmly convinced of the reality of Jesus. I believe His Word, and have also experienced what He said would happen. He said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin. This happened to me. He also said that if we confess our sin and receive Him as Lord and Savior, we will experience a relationship with God, removal of guilt, victory over sin, and the assurance of eternal life. All that happened to me. Those who talk about the Bible as myth do not share stories of a real relationship with a real God. How could they if He is just an idea?

Today, I am reading about another promise related to my Christian experience. This one concerns the Holy Spirit. When Jesus talked to the disciples, He said that out of the heart of believers would flow living water and then John explains . . . 

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

At that time, the disciples did not know the Holy Spirit’s presence or power. Only after Jesus ascended to heaven would the Holy Spirit come. He told them later to be on the lookout . . . 

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

This power was the power of the Spirit, unknown to them prior but as soon as Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit came into the world and is available to all who believe. This would be a real experience, not a mere notion. In fact, the Word of God is clear that the Spirit lives in everyone who knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9–11)

This incredible reality was also part of Jesus’ prayer before the crucifixion. He prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Jesus made it clear that eternal life is about knowing God. Christianity is about a personal relationship made possible by the power of God and the Spirit of God who lives in all who believe.

In the very beginning, after Jesus died and rose and went to heaven, the disciples had to wait until the day of Pentecost until the Lord was glorified — an historical event. Then, as soon as that happened, the Spirit was given in that room where the believers gathered. Their experience was an historical event also.

As the Bible says, this experience marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It is not repeated in the lives of believers now because the Spirit is already in this world. As said, He came as soon as Jesus was glorified in His ascension and has been here ever since.

Daily, I need to remember and embrace the Spirit as a fact of my new life in Christ. I need to always maintain an attitude of relying on Him who is my life link to the living God. I can be filled with the Spirit or filled with myself at any given moment, but it is the filling of the Spirit that gives me the ability to live as I ought. It is also evidence of the ascended Christ. This Christ, who came into my life, changes me by the power of His Spirit. I need no other “events” because I already have all that I need to live a godly life of obedience.

A personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit also describes eternal life and explains to me why my mind is seldom on the past or even thinking about the future. The presence of the Holy Spirit pushes aside human thoughts of time and turns life into a glorious NOW. Just as Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.”

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Lord, knowing You is life eternal. Wow. I am continually amazed by what You have done and are doing in my life and the lives of Your people. All of these things are real, historical events. We do not exist in a nebulous and mythical idea of ‘the Christ’ but in the reality of changed lives because we have a personal relationship with a very real God. Thank You, thank You, thank You.