With so much emphasis placed on Jesus in Christianity, it is logical to wonder if he communicates with us today. The simple answer is yes, but probably not in the way you think.
This image is typical of paintings depicting Jesus sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. Whether it bears any resemblance to reality is another thing. But we do have some clues from Scripture.
After Jesus’s resurrection he appeared to the Apostles, even though the room they were in was locked. Apparently, he was now able to move through walls as a spirit, but also to still appear as a physical body, “And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’” [Luke 24:38–39]
And when he ascended to heaven we read, “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” [Mark 16:19]
Also, when Stephen was martyred in the book of Acts, “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ ” [Acts 7:55–56]
So, the painting may be more accurate than we first assume. While God is our heavenly Father and loves us as his children, it is still hard to picture the creator of the universe as a person that looks like us. But, we were created in his image, so who knows?
But if God, and now Jesus, are in heaven and we’re stuck on earth, then how can we communicate with them? One way is through prayer. Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we have access to God through prayer in Jesus’s name. We can talk to God, but don’t expect him to talk back! At least not audibly.
Some people claim to hear God or Jesus talking to them, but they are delusional. There is no reason they couldn’t talk back – they just usually don’t. Neither do they leave written messages on the coffee table for us to read! Answers to our prayers normally come through circumstances, people we meet, insights, etc. In other words, indirectly.
There are three parts to the Godhead; God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. From the time Jesus ascended to heaven and until he returns on the Day of Judgement, the current or second means of communication with God is through the Holy Spirit, whom we receive as our guide and Comforter at the time of our salvation, through repentance and baptism.
The third way, and the way Jesus communicates with us today, is through the Bible.
The Word
While Jesus was on earth as a man, he taught the twelve disciples everything they needed to know about how to be what would become Christians. After his ascension and until the end of the first century, these disciples, now called Apostles (along with Paul), started churches and wrote letters to them on how they should be run and to handle the many issues that cropped up.
Along with these letters, called Epistles, there were the four Gospels and the books of Acts and Revelation. Together, they make up the New Testament in the Bible. They are recorded for us as the Word of God and is how Jesus speaks to us today.
Everything Jesus considered vital for us to know as a Christian, he divinely inspired the authors to write down in the New Testament. So, to answer the original question in this post, Jesus interacts with us today through reading the Word. His time of direct interaction was a mere three or so years of ministry.
Christ was only here for a very short time, but what he did during that time forever changed how Man interacts with God. He restored our relationship with God to what it was before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. But only to those people who choose to believe he was, and is, the son of the living God.