very Good Jesus is talking about the Born again experience which did not happen until His death and resurrection . In John 20:22 we see the Spirit breathed on them BY the Lord Himself . It is also clear that Nicademous did not understand what Jesus was saying But after John 20:22 something happened after they were in the presence of the risen Lord.Then they were told to wait . The empowering was not done to be born again, it was for power to do the works of God as Acts shows.
Not really. Remember that Jesus gave the Holy Ghost in Matthew 10th chapter which included Judas Iscariot whom was not a believer.
Matthew 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.[SUP]2 [/SUP]Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;[SUP]3 [/SUP]Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;[SUP]4 [/SUP]Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.[SUP]5 [/SUP]These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:[SUP]6 [/SUP]But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.[SUP]7 [/SUP]And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.....[SUP]18 [/SUP]And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.[SUP]19 [/SUP]But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.[SUP]20 [/SUP]For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
So the power and the Holy Spirit was given to these 12 disciples even though Judas was never a believer.
John 6:
[SUP]64 [/SUP]But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.[SUP]65 [/SUP]And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.[SUP]66 [/SUP]From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.[SUP]67 [/SUP]Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?[SUP]68 [/SUP]Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.[SUP]69 [/SUP]And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.[SUP]70[/SUP]
Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?[SUP]71 [/SUP]He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
So what happened in John 20:28 was the same as the event in Matthew 10th chapter which was a temporary filling of the Holy Ghost. That means they were not saved yet in John 20:28 nor in Matthew 10 chapter until Jesus was no longer present with them and had been glorified by His ascension to the Father.
John 7:[SUP]38 [/SUP]He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
[SUP]39 [/SUP](But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
John 14:1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.[SUP]2 [/SUP]In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.....[SUP]16 [/SUP]And
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;[SUP]17 [/SUP]Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you............[SUP]23 [/SUP]Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and
we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
[SUP]25[/SUP]These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.[SUP]26 [/SUP]But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
So the promise of the permanent indwelling Holy Ghost aka our seal of adoption, would only be given when Jesus had ascended to the Father, being of the Firstfruits to be in Heaven in bringing us to God.
So the disciples were not saved until Pentecost when they had received power from on high as born again.
John 1:[SUP]12 [/SUP]But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:[SUP]13[/SUP]
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.
Pentecost was when the church was born with Christ as the Head from Heaven. So do not confuse the 2 temporary fillings of the Holy Ghost to when the actual promise of salvation would come when He had ascended into Heaven. After salvation in being born again of the Spirit, there is no receiving Jesus Christ again. There is no sign for a saved believer to seek after in receiving the Holy Spirit as if that is a separate event from salvation, because Romans 8:9 says they are none of His until they are born again of the Spirit.
Romans 8:[SUP]9 [/SUP]But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
John 3:[SUP]5 [/SUP]Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God....[SUP]13 [/SUP]And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.[SUP]14 [/SUP]And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
[SUP]15 [/SUP]That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Acts 2 has Jews being water baptized before they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8 had Samaritans believing in the things that Philip preached about, but they were not saved until they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit. Was the delay because of all the supernatural stuff that was going on there and with Simon whose heart was still not right with God? All we know is that God eventually sent the promise even though they had already been baptized in Jesus's name.
Acts 10 has the Gentiles receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit before water baptism and that was right after hearing the words of Peter when believing in Him brought the remission of sins.
So we go back to Jesus when He talked about when a person is born again.
John 3:[SUP]6 [/SUP]That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[SUP]7 [/SUP]Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.[SUP]8 [/SUP]The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Ephesians 1:[SUP]11 [/SUP]In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:[SUP]12 [/SUP]That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.[SUP]13 [/SUP]In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,[SUP]14 [/SUP]Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.[SUP]15 [/SUP]Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Acts 8 has the Samaritans coming out from under the supernatural terror reign of Simon the sorcerer and I believe they had their sights on Philip as Simon did, because they thought Philip was ding all those things until the other 2 disciples came; but still again, that mentality was there because Simon thought he could buy that power in giving the Holy Ghost. So obviously, Simon's sight had to be lifted higher to the Lord his God just as the people needed that too. God wanted to save everyone there, including Simon, but He had to lift their sights away from Philip & away from the disciples to Himself as God is the One sending the Holy Spirit as promised for all those that believe.
Acts 19 is about disciples of John the Baptist's when Paul then told them about Jesus Christ and then they got baptized in His name and then they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit. They were not believers in Jesus Christ until Paul told them that was the One John the Baptist was preaching about.
So there is no separate receiving of the Holy Ghost apart from salvation. Believers receives the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ; they were not to seek Him by a sign because signs are for unbelievers; not for believers to know they had received the Holy Ghost because then that would not be receiving the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ but by a sign.
Hebrews 11:1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.[SUP]2 [/SUP]For by it the elders obtained a good report.....[SUP]6 [/SUP]But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Galatians 3:[SUP]14 [/SUP]That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.....[SUP]26 [/SUP]For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.