Resurrection (6) - Power of the Spirit

The resurrection empowered Jesus to ascend into heaven and pour out the Holy Spirit on his people on earth.

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear (Acts 2:33-33).

If Jesus had not been raised, the Spirit would not have come.
The coming of the Holy Sprit changes everything. In Old Testament times, the activity of the Holy Spirit was intermittent. He move through a few people and was not active. Following the resurrection of Jesus, he is active in every believer in a much deeper way.

The full implication of the coming of the Spirit is hard to grasp. The church often lives as if the Holy Spirit is still only sporadically active on earth, much like in pre-resurrection times.

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would have the eyes of their hearts enlightened to understand what it meant.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead (Eph 1:18-20).

The resurrection was accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who have received the Holy Spirit have the same power working in them as the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That changes everything.