I'm sure you have often noticed that any new leader such as a new president, or a new pope, or a new teacher, brings about changes from those who have gone before.
At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles in the Holy Bible we find Jesus preparing His followers for the change when He would leave them.
For forty days after His death (verse 3.) He appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that He was alive. They saw Him, and He talked with them about the Kingdom of God... “He gave them this order:
'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift My Father promised … the Holy Spirit.” (verses 3-5)
But the Apostles were eager for Jesus to set up His Kingdom in Israel. Jesus told them that the time for that had not come yet. (verses 6-7.) Jesus must first go back to Heaven for a while. (Luke 19:12-27. Acts 3:20-21.)
Jesus said to them, “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for Me... to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus' appointed successor, the Holy Spirit, would not change anything Jesus had taught. (John 16:7,12-15.) He would give Jesus' followers wisdom and power to preach Jesus' message. (Matthew 28:19-20.)
From this you can see how wrong it is for anyone to believe or to teach that some visible person is Jesus' successor on earth today. But Jesus' true appointed Successor, the Holy Spirit, would not come until Jesus had returned to Heaven. (John 16:7.)
Jesus' own work on earth was now finished for the time being, so, “He was taken up to Heaven as they watched Him and a cloud hid Him from their sight.”
Then, “two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said... ‘This Jesus, who was taken from you into Heaven will come back in the same way that you saw Him going into Heaven.'” (verses 9-11.)
These words keep the true Christian from being fooled by the lie that Jesus' real presence is supposed to be in the world today. (Matthew 24:4- 5, 23-27) Jesus' real presence is in Heaven today. (John 6:62-63. John 7:34.) When He comes again it is to be in the same way He was seen to go into Heaven — and that has not happened yet! (verse 11. & Matthew 24:27.)
Are you a true Christian today who has, in faith, asked Jesus Christ in Heaven to forgive your sins and make you His true follower? If you are then you have the Successor of Jesus living within your life to make and keep you a true Christian. (Acts 2:38. Romans 8:9.) You will also be looking forward to Jesus appearing the second time. (Hebrews 9:28.) He is coming to take His true followers to be with Him forever. (1stThessalonians 4:16-18. Titus 2:11-14.)
Read Acts of the Apostles chapter 1, verses 1-11.
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