Did the Disciples Receive the Spirit in John 20:22?
One of the things that hinders many of God's children from growing in Christ Jesus is
the fact that their doctrines often render them "unreasonable". The usual course of action among those who will not receive the truth is that they are first persuaded to believe
something that is wrong, and then must invent theories to justify those wrong beliefs. Once this happens, persuading them to change course becomes a very difficult task. Men do not like to admit they have been wrong. Only the humble and noble will ever be able to do so.
A wrong idea held by many Spirit-baptized children, is that the disciples received the holy
Ghost in John 20:22 : "And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and
saith unto them, Receive ye the holy Ghost". Certainly if this one verse alone
was in the Bible, this may be a possibility - but when one looks at the verse in context
with the verses around it, and then "rightly divides" it among other biblical truths, the
"reasonable" person will find it to be IMPOSSIBLE.
We shall look at the "minor" (though not minor in truth) points first:
Not withstanding these two important points, they would not be the chief reason of the
impossibility of the disciples receiving the Spirit immediately after Jesus' raising from the
dead, but prior to Pentecost. The most important reason that the Spirit was not given to
anyone prior to Pentecost, was that the sacrifice of Jesus had not been made
yet. Once we understand the sacrifice of Christ, we will understand why: 1)
NOBODY had the holy Ghost prior to Pentecost 2) NOBODY has the
Spirit of God until they receive the baptism of the holy Ghost, with the evidence of
speaking in other tongues!
When men teach that the Spirit came prior to Pentecost, they are teaching that the
SACRIFICE of Jesus was not necessary to receive it! Because animal sacrifice is no
longer practiced by most of humanity, there are certain aspects of such sacrifices which
are virtually lost to our understanding. Consider, for example, the very meaning of the
word "sacrifice". To most people now, "to sacrifice" means "to kill". But in the Bible, "to
sacrifice" never meant simply "to kill". The killing of the animal was only a part of the
preparation for the sacrifice. It was not the sacrifice itself. "To sacrifice" meant to offer
to God the animal that has been chosen, slain, and prepared for sacrifice.
This is an extremely important point, for even if an Old Testament worshipper chose
the appropriate animal according to the Law, brought it at the appointed time to the
place specified by God, presented it to the priest anointed with the holy oil and killed it
before him, and followed every other precept required by the Law, there would still be
no sacrifice unless and until the slaughtered animal was offered to God. The offering of
the animal on the altar was the sacrifice. Everything that preceded that act, including
the slaying of the animal, was only part of the preparation for the sacrifice. This
principle holds true with the sacrifice of Christ. His death at Calvary was not itself the
sacrifice. The crucifixion was the last, gruesome bit of preparation for his sacrifice,
which took place after he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he
offered himself to God for the sins of the world. Sacrifices for sin were never ordained
by God to be made on crosses, but on God's altar.
On the Old Covenant's Day of Atonement, Israel's high priest entered with the blood
of goats and calves into the temple built by men's hands to make an atoning sacrifice for
the nation (Lev.16), but "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us", "neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in" (Heb.9:24,12).
If Jesus had ascended into heaven before his death, he would have had nothing to
offer to God for the sins of the world. The sacrificial Lamb had to first be slain and
then offered to God for sin. It was necessary that Jesus, as high priest, have something
to offer to God for man's sin when he presented himself to God (Heb.8:3).
If the story of Jesus had ended with the crucifixion, no atonement for sin would have
been accomplished. Only the Father's acceptance of Jesus' sacrificial death accomplished
that. Jesus' death was made effective for the forgiveness of sin only after he arose from
the dead and ascended into heaven to offer himself to God as a slain Lamb. Paul made
this observation in his letter to the congregation at Corinth: "If Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain...and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in
your sins (1Cor.15:14, 17). Why is our faith in Christ vain if Christ is not
risen from the dead? Because the offering for sin was not made on the cross. Jesus
had to be resurrected and ascend into heaven to offer himself to God for the sins of the
entire world, for who but Jesus was worthy to approach the Father's altar in heaven to
present his slain body to the Father for the sins of the world. We should always bear in
mind that Jesus did not ascend into heaven because his atoning work was finished. He
ascended as our high priest to finish his atoning work. There, in the holiest place of
heaven, Jesus "appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb.9:26).
It was this sacrifice of Christ, not simply his wonderful earthly life or his horrible death,
which purchased our redemption - which can only be accomplished when the one being
redeemed receives the Spirit! That is why NOBODY received the Spirit in the story in
John 20:22 - because Jesus had offered nothing to God at that point, although it would
not be many days later that he would do so.
God's plan of redemption in Christ includes an oft-overlooked, yet essential, element.
This is the Witness, or testimony, which God gave to man as proof that the sacrifice of
Christ took place and was accepted. For those seeking the truth, God has provided
something which can be used as a clear sign showing the way, something which bears
irrefutable record to the fact that the offering of Jesus' body, "as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot" was accepted by the Father as propitiation
for our sins and that He "hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ"
(Acts 2:36).
What is God's Witness? The Bible tells us. In 1John 5:6, we read, "It is the
Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth." In verse 10, John calls
the Spirit "the record that God gave of his Son", and he states that
anyone who refuses to receive the Spirit is calling God a liar, because he is rejecting the
Witness which God gave. Jesus had told his disciples, "When the Comforter is
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify [bear witness] of me"
(Jn.15:26).
Man needed a Witness that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted by the Father because the event
took place in heaven, where no man could see. The disciples, obediently waiting in
Jerusalem, learned that Jesus had made his sacrifice and that it had been accepted only
when the Father sent His Witness of it on Pentecost morning, "And they were
all filled with the holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance" (Acts 2:4).
Speaking in tongues, said Paul, is the sign that God gave to men to help them find the
way of life (1Cor.14: 21-22). With so many religions claiming to be the true way of God,
the Father knew He would have to give us something concrete by which to judge men's
claims. Thank God, we do not have to decide for ourselves who has God's Spirit and
who does not. The Spirit gives its own witness when it washes a soul from sin, just as
he bore witness through the tongues of those humble disciples in Acts 2:4. Referring to
this divinely inspired utterance, Paul reminded the believers in Rome, "Ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, `Abba, Father'. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom.8:15-16).
Another sobering thought to which understanding when the sacrifice of Christ occurred
leads us to, is that since "conversion" occurs when the Spirit of God is received
(Rom.8:9), the disciples were converted, or born again, on the day of Pentecost when
they received the holy Ghost. It was IMPOSSIBLE for them to receive it before then!
The Spirit wasn't available to indwell them before Jesus ascended (Jn.14:17) because the
sacrifice hadn't taken place. More than once, Jesus spoke to his disciples of the
conversion, or new birth, which they would experience when the holy Spirit came
(Mt.18:1-3; Lk.21:31-32; Jn.16:20-22). Unfortunately, many teach that one is converted,
or born again, before he receives the baptism of the holy Ghost. But there is no
scriptural support for that notion. Take Paul, for a prime example. How many among
us, even ministers, thoughtlessly speak of Paul's "conversion" on the road to Damascus,
as if that is what the Bible says. But the Scriptures clearly state that Paul received the
Spirit three days later in Damascus, and that only then were his sins washed away (Acts
9:8-9, 17; 22:11-16).
So the question we must return to you, the reader who must always be reasonable, is:
"when did the sacrifice of Christ occur?" The answer to the "reasonable" must be, "when
Jesus ascended to heaven and offered his body in the true tabernacle":
"Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted [first], and having received
of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost [second], he hath shed forth this, which ye
now see and hear [the disciples receiving the Spirit and speaking in tongues]" (Acts
2:33)..
How reasonable are you?
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