John 20:21-23

Again, the Lord Jesus sweetly speaks “Peace” to His ragamuffin band of trembling disciples – peace, not blame; peace, not faultfinding; peace, not rebuke. His Words of calm repose must have been as music to their ears – soothing their anxious thoughts and trembling hearts. Interestingly, peace was in full keeping throughout the entire time our Lord walked upon this dusty earth – ushering His presence in with the announcement of “Peace on earth” by the angelic hosts at His birth, peace and rest of soul continually preached by Him for three years and now He leaves His legacy of peace rather than riches to the eleven after His crucifixion. We may safely conclude that peace was intended by Jesus to be the key-note to the Christian ministry. Indeed, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Next we see Jesus commissioning His guys as His ambassadors to go forth just as He went forth from the Father. Their real work was about to commence. He wanted to dismiss the delusion that ease and reward had now arrived – that would come later. We would do well to dismiss the same delusion. Their work as going forth in His Name to witness in the saving of mankind’s souls would not be accomplished on a bed of down or on a pathway of rose petals – neither was His (to say the least). They were to be on a mission to preach His Truth, in His Name equipped with His all-achieving power – it was the ultimate and highest calling. They were to proclaim in Christ’s Name the forgiveness of sins to a lost world. This was the Apostle Paul’s passion as he burned with jealousy for the souls of men. All believers are to serve Christ as His ambassadors. We find in 2 Corinthians:

14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:14-21 (NIV)

Lastly, our Lord breathes on His guys the precious Holy Spirit to ordain the great work in which He intended them to do. This action was remarkably and symbolically emblematic. In

Genesis we discover God breathing the breath of life into man formed from the dust of the ground:

7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Gen 2:7 (NIV)

Just as there was no life in man until God breathed it into him, it would appear that Jesus taught His guys by this action that spiritual life comes to the believer through the Holy Spirit being planted – breathed – into their hearts in the moment of their faith in Christ. The breath of the mighty Savior gave life to His ministers to begin a new world. The Spirit is the gift of Christ – buying and paying for It for us with His blood. Whom Christ sends forth He clothes with His Spirit and furnishes with all needful powers. Wind is also pre-eminently the emblem used of the Spirit in Scripture. We would do well to remember every true believer has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit – albeit some of us shrink His presence by our poor choices. He is our deposit guaranteeing us of what is to come. Paul tells us:

9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8:9-11 (NIV)

21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Cor 1:21-22 (NIV)

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. Eph 1:13-14 (NIV)

Believers are the vessels God chooses to use to reveal to the lost world those things which have been conclusively determined by Him through His Word – through His foreordained plans - by the Spirits power – the Spirit of knowledge and understanding – specifically, the true purposes of Christ’s coming, the necessity of His death and of His resurrection. The disciples were to go on where Jesus left off. Every subsequent generation of believers is to do likewise. Will those who come behind us find us faithful?