Introduction by Abraham Kuyper

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