21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
John 20:21-23
Original Entry Date 4/18/2016:
This morning I was reading the intro to John in my Spiritual Warfare Bible.
The intro highlights the Work of the Holy Spirit and where it is evident in the Gospel of John.
One, being when the Risen Jesus appeared to His disciples and He breathed on them, declaring, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
This was the imparting of the Comforter, the Helper, the Spirit of Truth.
The fact that Jesus breathed on the Disciples grasped my interest so I did a deep study search of the word “breath.”
First I found the Breath of Life that God breathed in to man Genesis 2:7. After that, quite a few verses were of God’s breath bringing destruction on man. (2 Sam 22:16, Job 4:9, Isaiah 40:7, etc.)
I prayed and asked God what that was all about, such polar opposites. He spoke to me that it was sin that brought this destruction until Jesus came, bringing the restoration of mankind back to God, by His very own breath.
other readings you might enjoy:
