"The Breath of God"
Jn. 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
...(Jesus) breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’...(Jn. 20:22)
Intro:
Jesus breathed on the disciples. He exhaled, sighed, or blew upon them. He expelled His breath in their direction, on, or over them. There is a meaning behind His blowing on them. This is a kind of parabolic deed - an earthly action intended to convey a larger, heavenly message. He wasn’t just breathing; He was breathing on them to create an effect. Both what Jesus does, and what He says, equates this act of breathing on the disciples with the breath of God - the creative breath, the life-giving breath, the spirit-empowering breath of God.
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word ruach could be translated ‘spirit,’ ‘breath,’ or ‘wind,’ depending on the context. The same is true with the New Testament Greek word pneuma.
This is at the conclusion of His earthly ministry, after the resurrection and before the ascension, and here Jesus breathed on the apostles to reveal His identity as divine, and as a foreshadowing of the Spirit they were to receive on the day of Pentecost.
Jesus conveys this message; His followers need His Spirit to do His work.
Power for Life
When Jesus breathed on them and commanded them to receive the Holy Spirit He was reminding them of the creative life-force emanating from the being of God. God’s breath is what brought Adam to life in the garden. Gen. 2:7. the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (soul, KJV) In a way Jesus was reenacting that scene from Gen. 2. He was teaching them about the life He gives. This demonstration may have also brought to mind the imagery of Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones. "This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: ‘I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’" 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’" 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army. 11 Then He said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’" (Ez. 37:5-14)
It is the Holy Spirit who gives life. Just as physical breath is essential to physical life, the Holy Spirit (God’s breath) is necessary to spiritual life. We are never truly alive until we are quickened by the power of the Spirit of God. At best, without Him, we are like the church of Sardis, having ... a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev. 3:1) All we have is religion if we have not been born of the Spirit. In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." (Jn. 3:3-6)
Jesus reveals the Spirit of God as the Source of life - both physical and spiritual. In giving us the Spirit He is giving us the power to live.
Power for Ministry
Breathing on the disciples, Jesus was ‘saying’ the Spirit of God is the breath of God. He is telling us the Spirit gives life. He is teaching us the Spirit empowers. He is calling us, and equipping us for similar acts of service that He performed. He is inducting them (and us) into the same form of ministry in which He Himself was involved. Jesus was imparting to them the same power for ministry on which He relied. It was never His intention to leave us ill-equipped and unprepared for the task to which He calls us. It was not His plan that we have less resources than He, while expecting us to perform the same ministries. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (Jn. 14:11-20)
The message here is the same as in Zech. 4:6, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. In John 7 it is water rather than wind, but still there is a clear invitation to receive the Spirit of God from the Son of God. (Jn. 7:37-39) So insistent was Jesus that His disciples receive the Holy Spirit He told them not to begin the mission until they had been clothed with His fiery power. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. (Lk. 24:49) Here, at the end of John, Jesus links the Spirit to the ministry of reconciliation.
Power of God
Jesus did another thing by this gesture and by these words. To the observant hearer, and reader, He revealed His identity as God. He breathed on them: just as the Father had done in creation, just as the Spirit had done in Ezekiel’s vision. His breath on them infused them with life. (It was a God-thing.)
In Elijah’s day the Lord was not in the wind. The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Ki. 19:11-13)
In Acts the Holy Spirit was introduced by the sound of a violent wind. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (A 2:1-4)
The sound of a mighty rushing wind on the Day of Pentecost was to stir up in their minds an association of the ruach the wind, or breath, of God in the Old Testament.
My point is that there was a historical, Biblical, framework already in place in the mind-set of the culture that was receptive to the suggestion of the Holy Spirit as the Source of life, and anointing, and power for supernatural ministry. The foundational truth that the Spirit of God emanated from the presence of God was built-in to the understanding of the people to whom Jesus appeared. It was understood that no one but God could impart the Spirit of God. So if Jesus is giving the Holy Spirit to His followers He must be Divine. By commanding the apostles to receive the Spirit as He breathed on them Jesus was identifying Himself as God.
Close:
The Spirit of God is the breath of God. And God’s Spirit brings us to life. He empowers us for the works of ministry. And He points us to Jesus as the Son of God.
As those who continue the ministry of the resurrected Savior, we need the power of te Holy Spirit to perform His will. We need His power to make us come to life. We need His power to propel us into Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered ministry. And we still need the power of the Holy Spirit to confirm our message of the deity of Jesus. "Let Him breathe on me Let Him breathe on me Let the breath of God now breathe on me."
