Daily Devotions
John
John 20:19-31 "CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT"
Day 344 – John 20
CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The breathing of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples was an important symbolic act. Just as the seventy elders were specially anointed by God to assist Moses in his work, so the Disciples must consciously experience what it meant to be anointed to do the work that Jesus was going to entrust them.
We have another example of what it means to be anointed by the Spirit written in the Book of Ezekiel. We read,
“And He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet,
and I will speak to you.’ Then the Spirit entered me
when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I
heard Him who spoke to me.”
Ezekiel 2:1-2
From that day on, the prophet Ezekiel began to experience what it meant to be touched and anointed by the Spirit of God. Let us read further what he experienced concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life.
“Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a
great thunderous voice: ‘Blessed is the glory of the Lord
from His place!'”
Ezekiel 2:12
There was a greater sense of consciousness of the mighty ministry of the Spirit of God in Ezekiel. Through the Divine ministry of the Spirit of God, the prophet became far more spiritually sensitive to things in the spiritual realm. He could now “hear” and “see” things
that were previously not perceptible.
In a similar way the Disciples needed to be anointed by the Spirit of God. They would need all the help they could get to learn from their mistakes. They would need enlightenment as well. They would need to become familiar with the role of the Spirit of God as the Teacher who would take over where Jesus left off!
FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD
The opening words of the Book of Acts provide an important clue in our search for understanding of what Jesus did when He breathed upon them the Holy Spirit. Luke wrote,
” The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all
that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day
in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy
Spirit had given commandments to the Apostles whom
He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive
after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen
by them during forty day and speaking of the things
pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”
Acts 1:1-3
Luke noted that Jesus gave careful instruction “through the Holy Spirit” but this was not in reference to the Advent of the Holy Spirit, which would take place shortly after. Luke carefully recorded what Jesus said to His Disciples,
“And being assembled together with them, He
commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but
to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which’ He said,
‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now.”
Acts 1:4-5
Jesus went on further to explain how the Spirit of God would endue them with the necessary power for ministry.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me …”
Acts 1:8
Obviously, the breathing of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples by Jesus was not the same as the Outpouring of the Spirit with power recorded in Acts 2.
The Apostle John in his first general letter wrote about the special work of anointing that the Spirit of God would do in the life of a believer. Let us take time to ponder over what John wrote on this matter.
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and
you know all things.But the anointing which you have received from Him
abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach
you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning
all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has
taught you, you will abide in Him.”
1 John 2:20, 27
The symbolic act Jesus performed, in the breathing of the Holy Spirit upon His Disciples may well be compared with this text in 1 John. When compared further with what we read in Ezekiel 2, then we have an even better idea as to what Jesus did.
Even as He spoke, the Spirit of God gave the Disciples the kind of enlightenment they badly needed! The Spirit of God would perform many functions. He would in time to come, empower the Disciples so that they could perform mighty miracles! But prior to His advent, His ministry appeared to be that of enabling the Disciples in such a way that they would fathom what Jesus was seeking to teach them! How they needed the Spirit!