Luke 24:49 (ESV)
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Our current world is highly powered by four superpowers that build upon each other to speed us into a high tech progressive living. This whole fact is an overwhelming phenomena for me in the past decade as things accelerate rapidly. Although these superpowers exist longer than we realise but in the last decade, they have surfaced and progressed at an unprecedented rate. The demands of the world push the whole humanity towards reshaping our society according to the domination of these superpowers – mobile technology, the cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT). The digital era has completely changed our lifestyle. More so now with the current global affairs.
People are thrilled with the connections we can do now across the globe reaching the masses with just one touch on our mobile phone. We find power being connected. The cloud enables us to organize and set up infrastructure within our operation system, stores and delivers cleverly a capacity we never could do in the past generation. We find power in being well organized. The AI is a whole new world that infuses insights and performs incredible tasks in the discovery of different operating systems of the world, seemingly increasing the academics, sciences and economic advancements. We find power being intelligent. I still wonder why does man revel in being this sort if it is termed “artificial”. The Internet of Things brings altogether in connecting the entire digital world. We find power in such an exquisite and sophisticated platform of integration.
Who wants to be left behind this clever innovation? The world is inevitably powered by these influences. Is there anything more powerful? People talk about how much “power”, speed and capacity a device runs. Our daily vocabulary also changes. Everyone and everything needs to be more powerful. Following Jesus on the ancient path promises us the power on high. Nothing can be more
powerful than this force. Before the ascension of Jesus Christ, his parting words to his disciples was a firm promise. The promise from the Father, “…you are clothed with power from on high.”
Jesus charged them to “Behold…” To look deep, and take hold of it. With his going away, Father sends his promised Holy Spirit which gives them power. John 14:16 affirms he is our Comforter who will abide with us. In Acts 1:8, it declares, “… you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
Jesus charged them and that charge is still valid for us if we call ourselves his disciples. We are to “stay in the city” – to establish ourselves in the community and take our post, and tap into that power on high. This power is dynamin or dunamis in Greek referring to the miraculous strength and ability. From this word it branches out to two more specifics – dynamo meaning to generate electrical power and dynamite meaning explosive. God has charged us with the ability to generate explosive power. This is who we are! This is our capacity!
The Promise projects the perpetual plan planted in God’s people and propelled with his permanent Power. We are Powered by The Promise.
© Pr Selina Khoo Lim, Gateway City Church, Penang. 30 April 2020.