Day 5

Scripture to Read: John 20:21–23

God had John record what happened next in John 20:21–23, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.’” Jesus reassured the disciples again by repeating, “Peace be with you.” But then, Jesus shared part of the great commission by telling the disciples that just as the Father had sent Him, Jesus was now sending them into the world to proclaim the Good News of salvation through Christ alone. Then Jesus breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew He could not send them out to do His work without empowering them with the same Holy Spirit Who resurrected Him from the grave. The Greek word used for “breathed” in John 20:22 is the same word used in Hebrew in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Jesus breathed new life into the disciples through His Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit who lives in us today. We have power beyond comprehension living in us, but too many Christians live as if they are powerless due to their lack of time in God’s Word and their lack of fellowship with their Heavenly Father through Christ. Our Lord has sent us; therefore, we must fulfill His call.

Challenge & Application

• Who has God given us to be able to fulfill His call and commands upon our lives and how do we know this is true? • What must we do to accomplish all that God has commanded us to do for His will to be done?

Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!

Devotionals from this week

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Day 1

Anytime we examine the Word of God, we must always look up the cross references and other Scriptures that tie into the Scriptures we’re studying. There are four resurrection accounts recorded in the four Gospels (Matthew 28:1–8, Mark 16:1–8, Luke 24:1–10 & John 20:1–10). Each one gives a little different picture of what happened when our Lord...

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Day 2

When Peter and John ran to the tomb, Mary followed them because she wanted to know who had taken the body of Jesus. Be sure to read John 20:11–18. As Mary stood outside the tomb, she continued to weep, still thinking that the body of Jesus had been stolen. As she looked into the tomb, two angels had appeared and asked Mary (in John 20:13),’“W...

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Day 3

Before getting too deep into the next set of Scriptures, note that Jesus, when He talked with Mary, called His disciples “my brethren” in John 20:17. This was the first time Jesus referred to His disciples as family. Jesus had called them friends and servants before His crucifixion, but now He called them brethren. When we surrendered to Chri...

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Day 4

After Mary went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, we read in John 20:19, “So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be with you.’”The disciples were in a locked room a...

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Day 5

God had John record what happened next in John 20:21–23, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of ...

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Day 6

Jesus also gave the disciples authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins in John 20:23. This authority has been given to every born-again believer. God commissioned His church to proclaim forgiveness to the repentant believer so that each believer realizes the fullness of His forgiveness through Christ (Colossians 1:13–14, Colossians 2:13–...

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Day 7

God had John then record this in John 20:30–31, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Jesus did many other miracles...

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