No Distance in God
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. John 1:32-33
One of the stumbling blocks for many Christians in understanding that the fullness of the Godhead is resident within us as spirit-filled believers is the fact that they spatialize, for lack of a better word, the Godhead. In the minds of most believers is an image of the Father and the Son out somewhere in what they call heaven with the Holy Ghost as the only representative of the Godhead here on earth. The problem comes down to a misunderstanding of what actually transpired on the day of Pentecost as those patient and dedicated 120 waited in obedience to the direction of the resurrected Jesus. Let us look at another scripture, again from John’s gospel, to see the source of the problem:
Nevertheless I tell you of a truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you. John 16:7
From this scripture, specifically the word “send,” Christians have formed the mental image of Jesus delivering the Holy Ghost to the church from a distance as we would send a package via FedEx. If this had been the case and the Holy Ghost is a separate entity, how was the prophetic word in John 1:32-33 fulfilled? In a passage of scripture that totally negates the rapture doctrine and the teaching that there will one day be a physical “second coming” of Jesus, he tells the disciples about the upcoming day of Pentecost:
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more: but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me and I in you. John 14:18-20
The fact of the matter is that the three aspects of the Godhead are inseparable though distinct in function. This becomes clearer when we take a closer look at the Greek word pempo that was translated in the scripture above as “send.” Pempo means to dispatch from the subjective point of departure, to transmit, bestow or wield. It is the exact same word that in Revelation 14:18 is translated thrust in (Thrust in thy sharp sickle….). What actually happened on the day of Pentecost was that Jesus in spirit form transmitted, bestowed, wielded and thrust himself into those 120 saints thereby making their bodies his body for the continuance of his ministry. The Holy Ghost is not some third rate manifestation of the Godhead sent from afar to hold our hands while we wait for the return of the real thing. The church has for too long maligned the Holy Ghost by not appreciating the fact that he is the means by which we are joined in holy union to the Son who contains within him the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And the body referred to by Paul is not the physical body of Jesus, which served its purpose and the world will see no more, but our physical body.