Pastor John,
You state in your book “Spiritual Light” that the disciples did not receive the holy spirit until Pentecost as you state they were not converted or born again while they walked with Jesus prior to the cross. You state that the holy spirit could not come to earth until Jesus was glorified. My question is how is that John 20:22 says that Jesus breathed on his disciples and they received the holy spirit after Jesus’ resurrection before Pentecost and before his glorification as he had not yet ascended to the Father?
Joe H
============
Hi Joe.
Thank you for the question. I am impressed that you understand what I was saying in my Spiritual Light book. By that, I know that you have been sincere in your search for the truth. No one can understand me unless Jesus grants them understanding, and if he grants you understanding, he is inviting you into his counsel.
As for John 20:22, you have made a mistake that all of us have made at some point in our Bible reading, the mistake of assuming the Bible says what we are thinking instead of seeing what is actually there. If you will notice, John 20:22 does not say that the disciples received the Spirit; it only says that Jesus told them to receive it. Here is what is really there:
Also notice, please, that in this scene, Jesus said three things to them. He breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Spirit. He also told them he was sending them to preach just as the Father had sent him, and that if they forgave a sin, then those sins were forgiven. None of those things happened at that moment. They could not happen, because the Spirit was not yet given. The disciples received the Spirit, and so started preaching and forgiving sins on the day of Pentecost. In God’s kingdom, Joe, there is no such thing as a non-pentecostal preacher because the true gospel can only be preached through the power of the holy Ghost (1Pet. 1:12).
- Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.”
- And after he said this, he breathed out and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.
- If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; whose you retain are retained.”
There is no questioning the fact that in John 20, Jesus was not yet glorified, for he still had his old, fleshly body. The glorified body of Jesus, which he received from the Father after his ascension, is described by John in Revelation 1. Understanding that, one can agree with me (and John) that the disciples could not possibly have received the Spirit in John 20, for John wrote (Jn. 7:37-39) “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
I love this kind of correspondence Joe. Please stay in touch. Thank you again for the question. I hope this helps bring us closer together in the light of Christ. Believers’ fellowship in his light glorifies the Father and the Son more than anything else on earth.
Pastor John