"RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST."

"RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST."
The Lord was now risen. His mighty work was accomplished. He was now alive from the dead to die no more. He had laid down His life for God's glory and for our redemption, and had taken it again in resurrection. God had shown Him the path of life, and He was soon going into His presence, where there is fullness of joy; to His right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore.
But first, the Lord shows Himself to His own. Mary Magdalene has the joy of hearing His blessed voice once more, causing her to dry up all her tears, and changing her lamentations into divine rejoicing (John 16:20-22).
It was the first day of the week. The Sabbath (an high day just then with the Jews) He had spent in the grave. Now He comes forth to inaugurate a new order of things on the ground of His precious and perfect sacrifice. The old order was now judicially done with; God no longer owned it. Judaism was an empty house. The Lord finds His own gathered together (John 20:19-23). They feared the Jews, and so assembled, as it were, in secret. Contrast with this their boldness in the presence of the enemy after the descent of the Holy Ghost. But the Spirit had not yet come, hence we observe only the weakness and timidity of poor human nature. The doors were shut. The Lord came and "stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." Precious words from the lips of the risen Jesus! Glorious proof that all the work was done! "He Came and preached peace." He had drunk the cup of wrath for them (and for us), little though they understood it at the time. He had stood in the breach, and met and endured in His most holy person all that was due from a righteous God against sin. All this being past, every question having been righteously settled, He is able to speak "peace" to His own.
And not only so, but He showed them His hands and His side. The memorials of Calvary were not effaced, nor will they ever be. The adoring disciples could see with their very eyes something of what the Blessed One had passed through in deepest love to their souls. His incarnation was not sufficient to make peace. Death must be endured, His blood must be shed. He has made peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).
"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." This is not needless repetition; He was giving them a commission now. His Father had sent Him into the world for His glory, and to bear witness to the truth. His work was done, and He was about to resume His place at the Father's right hand. But He never leaves Himself without a witness; therefore the disciples must take His place in this scene. Mark carefully their place and ours. Taken out of the world, heavenly persons because associated with Christ, sent into the world to bear witness for Him. Such is our place and business here: would that all our hearts realised it more! In connection with the commission, then, the Lord says, "Peace be unto you." Amid all the disturbances and trials of this hostile scene, we are privileged to enjoy, not only peace with God as to our sins, but the peace of Christ filling our hearts (John 14:27; Colossians 3:15)
"And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." What is this! Clearly not yet the gift of the Spirit as a divine person to abide with them: for He said to the same disciples some days later, "Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence," "ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"; and He told them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to "wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:1-26). The Spirit came from heaven in fulfilment of this on the day of Pentecost; not before. To understand these words of the Lord in John 20:1-31 it is necessary to refer to Genesis 2:7. There we have the Lord God first forming the man's body of the dust of the ground, then breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. Here then, we have the Lord breathing His own risen life by the Holy Ghost into His disciples. They were converted men before, beyond all question; now they partake of the great blessing peculiar to Christianity, the risen life of the victorious Son of God. Let it be distinctly understood that all the saved from the very beginning of time have had divine life in their souls communicated to them by the Holy Spirit, but it could not be said of saints before the cross that they were partakers with a risen Christ. This is "life more abundantly," as the Lord speaks in John 10:10. The possession of this places us in Him beyond death and judgement. It is a life that Satan cannot touch, and that we cannot forfeit. It is heavenly in its character, and eternal in its nature. Heaven is its proper and suited sphere.
The difference between the Spirit as life and His personal indwelling may be seen in Romans 8:1-11 we have Him presented as characterising our life and relationship to God, instilling Himself into all our thoughts and feelings; in Romans 8:12-27 He is spoken of as a distinct person dwelling within us, bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, groaning within us, and leading us out in prayer according to God.
The words of the Lord in John 20:23 should be carefully weighed. "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." This is supposed by some to mean priestly absolution. Need I say that there is no such thing in Christianity? A priestly class now is a denial of the work of Christ. All believers are equally priests unto God (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6). The Lord's words refer to reception and discipline in the assembly, and should be compared with Matthew 16:18-19; Matthew 18:18; Matthew 18:20.
When the assembled saints receive a person, whether out of the world, or for restoration after exclusion, they "remit" his sins; and when one is put away, as the wicked Corinthian, they "retain" his sins. But this is administrative for the earth, and must be distinguished from the eternal forgiveness of the soul.