“But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
It was John the Apostle who wrote, “But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He POWER to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (Jn.1:12) Why did the Holy Spirit give to John these very important, and life-changing words, for those of his day, and our present time? It was in order to give all an understanding of God’s ways. The First thing the Lord gives us is a vision of Himself, that is, an understanding of the truth of Himself, so that faith can be rightly placed, and firmly established. So, when John writes of receiving HIM, he speaks of Christ alone. Already in this gospel, John has laid out before the inquiring individual just WHO Christ is. He writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn. 1:1) He goes on to make sure that we grasp that Christ made all things. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians, would declare and confirm the same truth, that “…by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” (1:16) Why is this concept, and truth, so essential to grasp? It is because without a true knowledge of who Christ is, faith is wrongly placed, for it is placed in something that is less than who and what He is. If one is to believe God to give the “power” to become a child, or son, of God, then he must believe that the Creator is able and willing, even committed to give such power to repent and believe, receiving from Christ this monumental, and all-encompassing entity the Scriptures calls “salvation.”
The second thing that John brings us to see and grasp is that this Creator, Almighty and sovereign as He is, has caused and does cause the light of the knowledge of Christ to shine upon mankind. John speaks of John the Baptist being one who would bear witness to the light. In other words, he would speak and declare that the Light, Christ as the eternal Light, first of all exists. But then he goes further to say that this Light has come down to men, to reveal to them the true knowledge of the Eternal God. John calls Christ the “true Light,” (v. 1:9) that one who has come into the world to reveal the truth of Himself to men, that they might believe Him unto, and for, salvation. It is to this One who “…was in the world,” the world being made by Him, and that man could never know unless He revealed Himself, that John points the seeking heart, to discover this marvelous and wondrous reality. This One who is able as Creator, and Redeemer, to give power to believe and to be saved, is He who WILL gives power to become a child of God, a new creation in Christ, a saved soul from sin and death, now being in a position and relationship with God, that will glorify God.
All through Scripture, and in particular in the Gospels, and also very specifically revealed in the epistles, we discover that all becomes possible by the power of God, that intervention of God, by which He reveals Himself to the heart and soul of the believer. The prayers of Paul for the Ephesian believers are not only for the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” to give a vision or true perception of Christ, but also to strengthen the heart by the Spirit to believe God for the promise. All becomes possible for the one who has a vision of Christ, trusting in His power.
Dear Father, Fill us with power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.