He Breathed On Them

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:21-23

He breathed on man once and life began in the man; He breathed on man the second time and life in the Spirit began. There is a remarkable similarity between the first life giving breath and the second. One life breathed in and then Adam chose to go his own way bringing death. Born once and fallen, from then on all of Adam's progeny were born fallen. Our Lord Jesus became the way to life once more by bringing the second birth, and to live all must be born again. And then our Lord breathed on man again and the Spirit of God came into those who believe in Him. And I can no more explain this than Nicodemus could back in his day.

It is the power of God in us and this new life comes by the breathing of our Lord into you and me. Rebirth in the Spirit and of the Spirit, the breath of life from God and from our Lord Jesus, and I have taken on something in this writing which I cannot teach or explain or even guess at. It is His word and work, and it is His word at work in us. To the unbeliever that is Christian mumbo-jumbo. To those who believe, we have no explanation for this great work of God save to give the glory to Him.

Faith cannot explain the mechanism or the method, but faith believes in the One who worked His will in us.

Bucky