The Breathe of God

John 20:19-31 What Happens When God Breathes on You?

Joh 20:19-22 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Two Sunday’s ago was Easter and we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. We talked about the women that came to the tomb to anoint Jesus and saw the angels, they hurried and told the others and Peter came running to the tomb to find it empty. We talked about the two fellows on the road to Emmaus and how they didn’t recognize Jesus at first after they had spent the day with him.

Later that evening and Jesus had appeared to several people! Mary Magdalene, the other women at the tomb, Peter in Jerusalem, and the Emmaus travelers.

Now we find Jesus making his first appearance to ten of the disciples, Thomas was not present. The disciples were locked away in a room and they were no doubt, struggling with the reports of the sightings of Jesus, the now believed risen Savior.

Picture their state of mind…they are gathered or hiding in this locked room because they are still fearing the angry Jewish brethren that have crucified their Jesus and they believe that they would like to do the same thing to his followers. They have heard some reports of Jesus being alive but they have not seen him and so they are filled with doubt and confusion.

They are struggling with the question of what do we do now? We are leaderless, we have no direction, we have wasted the last three years of our lives, we have left our families and friends and we have alienated our Jewish priests and we are men without a country. We have giving everything to this man Jesus and now we have nothing.

But, that all changes in an instant!

Jesus appears! Suddenly, he is among them, not entering through the door because it was locked, but he just appears.

The disciples are frightened and he immediately gives them Peace, Peace be with you! This is a standard Hebrew greeting but these words were coming from the man that they saw crucified just a few days ago. He shows them his hands to verify to them that he is indeed the man that was their Lord and Savior.

And now the important part, the part that brings Jesus to us in our lives. Verse 21 and 22: “Peace be with you, as the father has sent me, so I send you.” When he said this, he breathed on them, receive the Holy Spirit”.

How powerful are these words and this action. He breathes on them and gave them the Holy Spirit.

That changed everything! Jesus breathed on them and he took away all their doubts, all their fears, all their confusion, all their loss hopes and lack of direction.

Three words, I send you and one breath that is all it took.

I send you………………….. Breathe!

These verses are so powerful for the steps of salvation.

When the disciples saw Jesus, what does it say: They rejoiced! They accepted him, they believed in him.

Then He breathed on them and gave them their direction.

What is in the breathe of Jesus like? We read in the scripture from the very beginning that God breathed into Adam to create life.

(Gen 2:7 GNB)

Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.

We see the power of God’s breathe through the prophet Ezekiel

(Eze 37:1-10 GNB)

I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones. He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?" I replied, "Sovereign LORD, only you can answer that!"