The evening of the Resurrection was remarkable. The disciples had gathered together behind locked doors wondering what was going to happen next. Then suddenly Jesus was with them. He didn’t knock on the locked door, He simply appeared in their midst. He was real. The Resurrection was real. He was standing there with them just a few days after experiencing His own brutal death on the cross. His wounds were healed but scarred. His body whole. Jesus stretched out His arms and showed them all the scarred wounds on His hands and feet. John writes that they were overjoyed to see the Lord with their own eyes. Then John records the moment Jesus “breathed” on them in John 20:21- 22, when Jesus said, “’Just as the Father has sent me, I’m now sending you.’ Then, taking a deep breath, he blew on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (TPT)
The word used here for “breath” does not appear anywhere else in the New Testament but it is the same word used by the Old Testament translators in the creation poem when God “breathed” life into Adam.
He is the breath of all life and the divine breath of new life.
This is the sacred moment when we see Jesus breathing new creation life into His new brothers in the same way God the Father created life in the beginning.
He filled His brothers with new life that would empower them to go out into all the world to tell others, to pray for others and to invite others to partake of this new life in Christ with them.
He filled them with the Breath of Life – God’s very life within them.
Friend, have you been depending on yourself to fulfill God’s mission in your life? You can’t do it, but God can. He wants to.
Maybe today you need to be reminded that you are a new creation in Christ and that you have new life in Him empowered by Him.
He is with you, in you and working through you as you surrender your life to Him.
Today, my prayer for you is that you would fully receive the quickening Breath of Life that will empower you to be who He has re-created you to be in Christ Jesus.
He is the Savior of the world, you are empowered by Him to share this incredible news with all who will listen!