John 20:21-22

 (John 20:21-22)

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:

After Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to his disciples. For 40 days until his ascension, the Lord was invisible to anyone but a few who followed him of his resurrection.

In Romans 10:9, ``That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 』When God raised Jesus back to life, how good would it be to show that image to everyone? Then everyone would believe in the resurrection, but the Lord did not show it. The Lord is the one who will say, "God wants all men to be saved." God wants all people to be saved, so why not show everyone the image of the resurrection, not the image of being crucified? But he didn't show it. The Lord showed Himself during His life only to those who followed from start to finish.

 

Today, many modern churches preach only that, "God wants everyone to be saved." The Bible says, "The king brings both the evil and the good to his son's wedding feast." The king invites all the evil and the good, without discrimination, but he says, "Those who are not in robes, bind their hands and feet and throw them into the darkness outside." The king said, "There will be mourning and lice." If the invited person does not wear a robe, both the evil and the good are thrown into darkness. Many modern churches do not speak this very well. Jesus was not seen by anyone.

 

So, there is a word we know. The rich man died, and a beggar (Nasaro) died in that town, and the beggar's whole body was wounded. But the beggar died and went to Abraham's bosom, and the rich man said he went to Hades. The rich man had five brothers, so the rich man said to Abraham, "And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." Then Abraham said, "he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

 

The power of the resurrection is amazing, but it is a saying that "man does not repent through the resurrection." There is only one repentance, the cross. It is repentance to realize that he is the one who has no choice but to die on the cross, and that the dead Jesus not only died for me, but that the dead body on the cross is "me". In the Bible, there is a scene of saving Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, who died. However, there is no saying, "He returned to Jesus" even though he saved Lazarus. Therefore, even though Jesus shows the resurrection, humans do not repent.

 

Repentance does not come by power. It does not mean that you repent because the gift of the Holy Spirit appears. Jesus was resurrected and showed his disciples his hands and sides. As the Lord said, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." The Lord sends us. And he said, "Exhaling towards them," this is like making Adam out of dirt and then breathing life into his nose. Until now, the Holy Spirit does not dwell on them, and there is no life in them from heaven. It means that the body and soul are alive, but the spirit is dead. Jesus exhales to bring heavenly life into them. He allowed the resurrection breath to enter. He said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

 

Receiving the Holy Spirit comes twice. First, in Acts 1:8, 『But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost. part of the earth. 』At this time, the witness is the witness of the resurrection. These words were spoken just before the ascension. “If the Holy Spirit comes upon you” is the word that the Holy Spirit comes upon “you”. Then you receive the ability. When preaching the Gospel, the Holy Spirit comes upon those who preach the Gospel.

 

However, after Jesus' resurrection, at the beginning of the 40th, he exhaled into them, showing his hands and side. He said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." This Spirit is the Spirit that is in us. The Holy Spirit above the head means the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit inside means the Spirit of salvation. The reason Jesus said, "It is good for you that I go away" is because the Lord dwells in them before Pentecost. When he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," Jesus said, "If anyone's sins are forgiven, they will be forgiven; if anyone leaves them as they are, they will remain as they are." It's a surprising saying, "It doesn't depend on the other party, but on the one who dwells in the Holy Spirit."

 

The saints must forgive those who will forgive. Forgiveness is very difficult. In particular, we think only of retaliation, "It cannot be in the life of the flesh to forgive those who have done failures, pains and wounds in our lives." This is what Satan is aiming for. Because if we don't forgive, we are put to judge. In the end, it means "to go up to the place where you want to be like God." That's what Satan said to Eve, and this is the thought that tempted her to have a desire to be like God: "If you eat the fruit of the tree that knows good and evil, you become like God." It was tempted by the serpent (Satan).

 

If you do not forgive others, Satan makes them like God. It contains a terrifying strategy of Satan. So, Satan wants to retaliate. Satan tries to overthrow the saints. What the Lord sends us is, in the end, sending us to forgive. In Matthew 6, the Lord's Prayer said, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us." It says, "Please forgive our debts as if you forgave our debts." When “debt” was translated into Korean, it was translated as “sin”.

 

Jesus gave one more illustration of sin in another place, and one is about forgiving the debt of ten thousand talents. Eventually, he forgave ten thousand talent debt, but the man does not forgive several denarions, so the king negates the man’s ten thousand talent debt relief. In order for us to be forgiven of our sins from God, the Lord gives us someone we must forgive. The king ordered, "Keep him in jail before he pays his ten thousand talents." So, there are two metaphors for forgiveness. Paying off debts and forgiving debts. That means if we don't forgive their debts, we'll be in jail.