“Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Cor 5:5)
“Christianity inserts a new option for dealing with time, one based on the pouring out of the Spirit, the coming of the kingdom of God, and the resurrection. Jesus and the early church taught that the future has invaded the present and determines how life in the present is lived. Christians live in the presence of the future.” (Snodgrass, Who God Says You Are: A Christian Understanding of Identity)
“The gift of the Spirit is the crowning evidence that God’s end-time promises are being fulfilled. For Paul, neither his own experience of the Spirit nor his perception of that experience makes sense apart from the perspective of the fulfilled promise and salvation as already but not yet. From his Jewish heritage he well understood that the Spirit was part of the promise for the future.” (Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God)
Questions: What was the largest deposit you’ve ever laid down? Did you have any intention to withdraw it? Unlike human beings at times, God is fully committed to his promises. The sending of his Spirit demonstrates his commitment to bring the future back to us today.
Let’s pray: “Thank you Jesus for sending us your Spirit. Father God, we know you are committed to having us experience the new creation now and in the age to come. Amen!”
Celebrate with the song “Won’t Stop Now” (click here) by Elevation Worship
-ES