Then said Jesus, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” – Luke 23:34

   As Jesus was being crucified He cried out to His Father, “Forgive them; for they know not what they are doing.” They didn’t know that they were crucifying the Son of God, God manifest in human flesh (I Timothy 3:16) the One in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) the Creator of the Universe (Colossians 1:16).
    While it was God’s plan for Jesus’ death to redeem us from our sins and purchase our entrance into Heaven, it was also God’s plan to impart to us the Holy Spirit of His Son, so that we could partake of the relationship that the Son shares with His Father.

God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father – Galatians 4:6.

For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father – Ephesians 2:18.

   Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples after His resurrection as the seal of their salvation, (John 20:22) then on Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them to empower them for their ministries fulfilling the Prophecy in Joel 2:28,29 –

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
will I pour out My Spirit.

   From that point on those who received this anointing were led by the Spirit of God in an intimacy that had been previously unknown.

   When Jesus walked on earth as man, He was the vessel through which God, by His Spirit in His Son, flowed to the people, touching, healing, and restoring - which God did by Him in the midst of you -Acts 2:22

God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself - II Corinthians 5:19.
The Father is in Me – John 10:38.
I and My Father are One – John 10:30.

    When this passionate union of God and man encountered the cold, “religious” leaders of His day, the pride that they harbored in their imagined status with God was abruptly shattered. Then instead of desiring and seeking this relationship for themselves, their jealousy drove them to have the Son of God crucified.

    Many of us today have also rejected God’s attempts to woo us with a deeper intimacy with Him through His Holy Spirit. Isn’t it good to know that He has already forgiven us, because like all those religious leaders and the others at the foot of the cross, we don’t really know what we are doing.

   Isn’t it about time that we lay aside all our religious defenses and be willing to let His wonderful Spirit have full control of our lives? Maybe we need to begin to pray and ask the Lord to give us the wisdom to really know what we are doing when we reject His advances for a deeper union with our souls.

Don’t quench the Spirit – I Thessalonians 5:19.

Copyright 2010 by H. D. Shively