Table of Contents

On Pentecost, the Church of God steps onto the world stage as the Catholic World Church.

Originally, the Church was universal or catholic--the meaning is the same. It was so during early days of life in Eden and in the days of Noah , even during the time that Terah, the father of Father Abraham, wandered in the area Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, that is the modern land of Iraq.

However, since the call of Abraham, the universal Church was narrowed down to one people and nation and, eventually, enclosed within the national borders of Israel. From this point on, the church was no longer universal or catholic but became a volkskerk, a national church in the strictest sense of the word. She retained that status until the day of Pentecost, when she laid down the trappings of a national church and once again morphed back into the original universal Church, catholic in its higher Scriptural import.

This development flowed out of Christ's Ascension into Heaven. From the Ascension on, the Head of the Church no longer has His seat in the earthly Jerusalem on Mount Zion, but in the Jerusalem that is above, from where He rules His Church for all peoples and nations alike. The Apostle Paul especially has abundant praise over this mystery in his touching epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and Rome.

Thus the Ascension and Pentecost belong together in one single unity. He ascended into Heaven in order to pour out the Holy Spirit. It is because of that unity that this bundle offers you meditations on both of these aspects of salvation history together. These meditations first take you into the heavenly Jerusalem, into the Tabernacle made by God without human participation. From that point, they descend with you back to the Church on earth, but now together with the Comforter, that is the Holy Spirit.

Abraham Kuyper
May 1, 1888
Introduction by Kuyper
I. THE ASCENSION
1. Lift Them Up, You Ancient Doors! (Psalm 24:9)
2. You Ascended on High (Psalm 68:18)
3. Who Has Ascended into Heaven (Hebrew 4:14)

4. Ascended Higher than All the Heavens (Ephesians 4:10)

5. Ascend to Where He Was Before (John 6:61-61)

6. With Gifts for the Consolation of His People (Psalm 68:18)

7. Above, Where Christ Is (Colossians 3:1)

8. With the Lord Forever (II Thessalonians 4:17-18)

II. PENTECOST

9. No One is Near to Restore My Spirit (Lamentations 1:16)

10. The Other Comforter (John 14:16)
11. The Living God among You (Joshua 3:10)

12. The High Festival of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28)

13. Who Set His Holy Spirit among Them (Jeremiah 5:12-13)

14. The Temple of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:20-21)

15. This Is what Was Spoken by the Prophet Joel (Acts 2:16-17)

16. Tongues of Fire (Acts 2:3)
17. Too Much Wine (Acts 2:13)
18. The Comforter (John 14:16)
19. The Anchor of the Soul (Hebrews 6:19)
20. Clothed and Power from on High (Luke 24:19)
21. Receive the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:16)

22. Love in Our Hearts Poured out by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5)

23. The Spirit Gives Life (John 6:5)
24. The Lion Has Roared (Amos 3:8)
25. You Are the Branches (John 15:5)
26. Love through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5)