“Christ’s work culminated in the resurrection and ascension; the resurrection of humanity from the dead and the judgement lie in the future. Between the former and the latter lies an empty space of waiting. It is in this gap, this empty space, that preaching sends forth its voice. For this reason the Spirit is poured out: ‘But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses… to the end of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). There is no empty space here, no gap – that only exists for those who regard preaching as a word of man about a divine act long ago. Preaching means taking one’s place in the midst of the mighty series of events that binds the beginning of creation in prehistory with the resurrection of the dead in eternity, to take God’s Word, the source and spring of life, and speak it forth to men who cannot free themselves from the hold of the enemy. Where the Word is, there is God, involved in his duel with Satan that has been going on since prehistory and will come to an end when man is freed. The unity and the unbroken connection of the series of events that the Bible describes lies in preaching as a present event. There is no other ‘unity of the Bible.'”

– Gustaf Wingren, “The Living Word” (45-46)