Our key Scripture for this series is found in 2 Corinthians 13:14: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.“
Chronology
Apostle Paul wrote that all believers receive the Holy Spirit when they are reborn. And this truth is no doubt based on the promise Jesus made when He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,” (John 14:16 )
So, when did the disciples get saved? Let’s read John 20:19, 22 which takes place after Jesus rose from the dead: 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you…” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
We can’t be certain when all of the Apostles personally received Jesus as their Savior but they would have done so before Jesus imparted the Holy Spirit into them.
After the ascension of Jesus, “Then they [the Apostles] returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.” (Acts 1:12) In Jerusalem there were about 120 believers as well as the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:14-15)
Summary
1. Paul wrote about the universal imparting of the Holy Spirit into every believer in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.
2. After Jesus rose from the dead, He entered a locked room where the Apostles had gathered. Jesus breathed the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit into the Apostles. (John 20:19-22)
3. After the Apostles received the Holy Spirit in them, then Jesus ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:9).Â
4. Next, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem (Acts 1:12) to wait for Christ’s promise.Â
5. The promise was for power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them (Acts 1:8).Â
We see that Jesus was quite busy during the time after His resurrection and when He ascended into Heaven. All of His activity was in preparation for establishing His Church and empowering believers to go into all the world and make disciples in every nation. This assignment is still being fulfilled through missionaries and laypeople.
Tomorrow we will look at the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit and what that means for us.
Photo credit: neil cummings on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA
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https://rockexcavationservice.org/2019/10/06/jesus-the-pioneer/