The New Life

.... During the days when Jesus walked the earth, we know that the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:39). But after He arose, He breathed on the apostles and told them "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). This, however, was not the same as their being baptized in the Holy Spirit, which would follow 47 days later (Acts 1:3-5). So on this occasion, in what sense did they receive Him?

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.... Remember that Jesus had just been crucified, buried, and rasied from the dead, and He had just shown the apostles how His sufferings and glory fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy (Luke 24:44-45). Because they were now witnesses of these things, the complete, Scriptural criteria for salvation was fulfilled in their lives for the very first time (1 Corinthians 15:1-6; Romans 1:16). And it was in this special, initial sense that they received the Holy Spirit:

.... "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

(Ephesians 1:13)

.... Through the death of Christ we have died to this world; and through His resurrection we may each obtain a fresh, new start in life:

.... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

.... This clean, new life is something we have all longed for in our humblest moments, and which God has now granted to us through His Son. In God’s eyes, on the day we believe, we become more pure than on the day we were born:

.... "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

(Ezekiel 36:26)

.... God grants us a clean slate because He wants to write something better on the new slate than was formerly written on the old:

.... "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

(Jeremiah 31:33)

.... And in our new lives, the Holy Spirit becomes our guide, to help in working this change:

.... "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

(Ezekiel 36:27)

.... Our new heart is that clean, new slate on which the Holy Spirit writes a living reflection of the life of Jesus Himself (2 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, as others see His handiwork written in our hearts, they will recognize something of Jesus’ own character shining though us. Thus the Scriptures have called us ‘a living epistle of Christ’, to be read and known by all men (2 Corinthians 3:3).

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.... It was in this sense of ministry, directly to themselves and for their own benefit, that the apostles received the Holy Spirit on that occasion, and 47 days later they would be empowered in a broader way that would allow them to be witnesses to others.

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Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 9