Baptism in the Holy SpiritSample

The baptism in the Holy Spirit

Jesus announces that the Holy Spirit will come upon the disciples.

It says in Acts 1:6-8: ‘Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”’.

When you use the word “shall”, you are speaking of something that is still to come, a promise. Jesus says here that the ‘power’ of the Holy Spirit will come ‘upon’ them. Not ‘in’ them, but ‘upon’ them.

In John, we read what Jesus says right before His crucifixion:

‘A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.’ (John 14:19)

It suggests that the disciples didn’t live yet in this moment. They were however breathing, their hearts were beating, so physically they were alive. So Jesus means something different here. They hadn’t yet received the ‘life’ that God has for us, and that now has been made available through Jesus’ death and resurrection. But the disciples received the promise that they ‘shall’ receive this.

Later, right after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus breathed on the disciples. Let’s take a look at what happened there and what that means.

John 20:22

And when He [Jesus] had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”’

Then Jesus says to the disciples (Acts 1:2-5) that they can’t leave Jerusalem, because they will receive the promise of the Father. ‘For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’

But wait a minute. Didn’t they already have the Holy Spirit? For Jesus breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’!

It’s like when God breathed the ‘breath of life’ into Adam’s nostrils and he became a living being (Genesis 2:7). Jesus breathed on the disciples and they were made into living beings. So the moment that we read about in John 20:22, is the moment that they came to new life, where they were born ‘again’!

So from this we can see that the Holy Spirit ‘in you’ is a completely different event than the Holy Spirit ‘upon’ you.