John the Baptist had misgivings about Jesus being the Christ. He expected One (the Christ), who would deal with the Romans, with Herod, and with the Jewish leaders. However, Jesus showed no signs that He would take on these unwelcome powers. John accused Herod, the king of adultery, and he ended up in prison. From prison, John sent messengers to Jesus asking:

A Church is to be a window of heaven where Christ, the light of the world, lightens the members so they shine for the glory of God, the Creator. One of the first things God has made and sent into the world was light, both physical and spiritual.

Preparing the way for Christ did not end with John the Baptist, but it merely opened the way for men and women, young and old to open their hearts and make their hearts fit for Christ to take up residence. Man must remove the debris from his heart before the Holy Spirit can partner with a man and help him lead a clean and holy life. It is for that reason, even after Christ has been here, and His Spirit is standing by to inhabit the human spirit, God continues to send prophets, apostle, teachers an example to prepare human beings for salvation. And it is up to man to work out his salvation and not to Christ (Luke 11:49; Philippians 2:12). The Apostle, whom Jesus chose directly (Act 9:15-16), commanded his Roman Christians to stop sinning that jeopardized their salvation:

The Holy Spirit is more concerned about a person’s soul than the person him/herself. The reason is that the Holy Spirit is more outside the human heart than He is inside the heart. Men treat the Holy Spirit as if He were a guest or a physician needed for certain ailments or problems, rather than as a present resident. It was Jesus, the Lord’s wish and the Lord’s promise, to “live-in” with his disciples and not be on a “stand-by” when He is needed:

God and man interacted in a direct relationship. However, sin did not dare to face God! And therefore, the Israelites begged Moses to be the go-between them and God. Moses set up the Levites as the mediators, and the Church followed this tradition with the clergy as the “go-between” God and man. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit took over the role of the mediator. The Holy Spirit became directly available to every person.

God, the Spirit, partnered with the Virgin Mary to bring Jesus into the world! God partnered with Zechariah and Elizabeth to bring John (Elijah) into the world to prepare the way for Christ.

The Book of Revelation is no mystery nor is it a human product of imagination! The Book of Revelation is an accurate covert account of the struggle between the forces of good and evil. Both sides, good and evil, need men and women to fight for them. And what is the fight all about? It is about “God’s Image and God’s Likeness” called “man.” It was about Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jesus, Peter, and down to you and to me. Both sides want human loyalty and human devotion. Revelation unveils, to us, how the conflict between good and evil will end, with Christ the Lamb as the victor and with Satan as the doomed one forever. Revelation is a projected blueprint of the final stage of human history and the world. Revelation is the harvest of the world! And man has and man continues to reap what he/she has sown. The ending of the Book of Revelation is the beginning for every believer. Without the projected intentions of God and the Lamb in The Book of Revelation, the salvation of man and the world is incomplete. To accomplish God’s redemptive purpose, man must partner with the Spirit of God.

The Book of Revelation contained a timely message for a dispersed and persecuted people in captivity. It was to Jesus that God revealed His secret, and in a covert language, through an angel, to his servant John Zebedee. John, himself, was in the Spirit when he received the news that the Risen and Glorified Christ was getting ready to return to earth and set things right for the people of God. In what shape and form would the King of the universe reign on earth? Would the spirits of the dead, who are in heaven, assume human bodies like their King did on His first visit to earth? Revelation agrees with the Gospels that Christ, on His return, would be visible to the people on earth (Matthew 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26-27; 14:62; Revelation 1:7).

Suffering, that results from being followers of Christ, is full proof that the Holy Spirit is present in the believer’s life. Peter remembered the words of his Lord, Jesus the Christ, and so did John Zebedee, James the brother of Jesus, Saul called Paul, and Luke the companion of Paul. The Holy Spirit would be with them in their trials:

In Peter’s view, who and what were the people who would partner with the Spirit of God in the new Israel? Peter, like Paul, had never lost hope that Israel would be delivered from foreign domination and re-emerge as a new godly people. Very similar to the Babylonian captivity, God was using the Gentiles to awaken and to chastise the Jews for their role in God’s everlasting promise. Paul echoed this hope in his letter to the Romans and so did Peter in his writings from Babylon (Rome).