John 20:21-22 NIV
[21] Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” [22] And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit…”

Was this instruction only for Jesus’  twelve disciples, eleven at that stage because Judas was no more? Was this a unique calling on these men to become the message they were to take to the world?

Any other messenger who is given a message, simply passes on what they were told to deliver and continues to live, unchanged by what they had to say, good or bad. Not so with those who follow Jesus.

Jesus came to earth from the Father as both messenger and message. He had a message to deliver from God…

Mark 1:14-15 NIV
[14] “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. [15] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

… And a message to model in His own life and death.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21] “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

As time went on, those whom He had called to follow Jesus became
aware that He was far more than just another man with a message. He was more than a prophet with a word from God. Others who interacted with Him saw a man with unusual wisdom and power but still only a man…

Matthew 16:13-14 NIV
[13] “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” [14] They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

…but spokesman Peter saw someone who was far greater than a mere man, a human who somehow resembled and acted like God. He was bold enough to give Jesus His proper identity, the Son of God, without fully grasping what he was saying.

Peter’s insufficient understanding led him to protest when Jesus spoke of His sacrificial death.

Matthew 16:21-23 NIV
[21] “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. [22] Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” [23] Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

What a comedown! From a sublime moment of revelation to an ignominious rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan!” Peter still had to walk a long road before he fully understood who and what this “Son of God” was. Only the Holy Spirit, by His powerful anointing and indwelling presence, could complete that revelation.

Spokesman Peter, again, on the day of Pentecost, declared that this “Son of God” whom he once only vaguely knew, was indeed God’s Messiah, both Suffering Servant and Conquering King.

Acts 2:32-33, 36 NIV
[32] “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. [33] Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear…
[36] “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

To Peter and his fellow disciples, their message was to be far more than who Jesus was in His earthly life, powerful ministry, humiliating death, and triumphant resurrection. These facts of history became the very means by which His life became their lives from the moment they were invaded by the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Jesus promised another like Himself, to represent His own presence within them.

John 14:16-18 NIV
[16″And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— [17] the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. [18] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The impossible imperative to become the message is made possible by Jesus’ presence in us, doing the transforming work. This change happens when a person sees it at work in another and brought about through the Holy Spirit within.

So, John writes,

1 John 1:1-4 NIV
[1] “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. [2] The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. [3] We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. [4] We write this to make our joy complete.”

1 John 5:11-12 NIV
[11]”And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

On the strength, then, of His Spirit within, Jesus sent His disciples out, together with all who believed their message after them, from then until now, to be the embodiment of Himself and His message to a world of rebels.

John 20:21-22 NIV
[21] “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” [22] And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

1 John 2:5-6, 20, 24-25 NIV
[5]” But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: [6] Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did….
[20] But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth….
[24] As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. [25] And this is what he promised us—eternal life.”

Transformed lives are the witness to the real Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NIV
[2]” You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. [3] You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Christ’s church on earth, made up of millions of individuals, saved by grace, and in the process of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus, whose role is to put God’s glory on display, is the messenger and the message.

1 Peter 2:9 NIV
[9]”But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Wherever it happens, whatever the cost, the instruction is to us as well,

“As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

“So send I you to labour unrewarded,
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing,
So send I you to toil for Me alone.

So send I you to bind the bruised and broken,
O’er wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake,
To bear the burdens of a world a-weary,
So send I you to suffer for My sake.

So send I you to loneliness and longing,
With heart a-hungering for the loved and known,
Forsaking kin and kindred, friend and dear one,
So send I you to know My love alone.

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labour long, and love where men revile you,
So send I you to lose you life in Mine.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, though it be blood to spend and spare not,
So send I you to taste of Calvary.”

Author: Margaret Clarkson 1915 -?
Source: https://God‘s word is truth.wordpress.com…

In 1963, Clarkson published the second part of her hymn which tells of victory through God’s grace.

“So send I you – by grace made strong to triumph.
O’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death, and sin,
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer.,
So send I you, my victory to win.

So send I you – to take to souls in bondage
The word of truth that sets the captive free,
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death’s fetters,
So send I you, to bring the lost to me.

So send I you – my strength to know in weakness,
My joy in grief, my perfect peace in pain,
To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence,
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.

So send I you – to bear My cross with patience,
And then one day with joy to lay it down,
To hear My voice, “Well done, My faithful servant,
Come, share My throne, My kingdom, and My crown!”