Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

There are times in our spiritual journey where I think we experience what Stephen Verney would describe as “an evolutionary leap in the spirit.”

Isaiah was a prophet of old who spoke of Jesus and how God would be with us.

It seems that God was reasonably distant to most people, somewhere out there, and communicating through specially chosen individuals.

Then Jesus was born and God was with us.

There were those whose hearts were open to receive him, and who made the evolutionary leap from a distant God to God with us. Others were still blinded by the old understanding of God, they couldn’t see that God had fulfilled his promise spoken through Isaiah.

“Immanuel” meaning “God with us.”

These followers of Jesus knew God in a whole new way. It was an evolutionary leap forward in the spirit for them and for anyone who received him. God wasn’t distant. He was now with them.

Then Jesus dies, doubt begins to set in for a few days as they forget all that he has spoken to them about.

And then, all of a sudden, he is risen. But things are not the same. “Don’t cling to me” says Jesus. As if to say, “Don’t cling to what you’ve known, what is now old thinking of simply God with you. I’m going somewhere which will change everything. I’m going somewhere which will mean I will fulfil my promise to you, that the Father and I will come and make our home in you, because I will live in you and through you.”

Jesus ascends to be with his Father, and the followers have to wait a while. They wait patiently, and then suddenly, their evolutionary leap in the spirit is made. The leap from God with us to Christ in us is accomplished.

And this leap changes everything. This evolutionary leap in the spirit is there for all of us to make. We are at a time when the Father wants to reveal his Son in us.

We know he delights to reveal his Son in us. This revealing isn’t just a one off revealing, but he delights daily to reveal his Son in those whose hearts are open to the flow of Life.

He still delights to say “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” That’s amazing! He delights not only to reveal his Son in us to us. He delights to reveal his Son in us to others.

As our hearts are open to him, to the flow of Life that Jesus Himself is, others can see him revealed through us. This is the purpose of the Father. And we can help to fulfil that purpose.

Eat the Bread, drink the Living Water. Be open to the Father revealing his Son in you today.