John 10:28-30 English Standard Version

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

Shortly after Easter this verse of the day appeared. Two things are important here. The first is that Jesus Christ had given us eternal life which starts shortly after accepting Him into our hearts. I say shortly thereafter because we must accept that having this eternal life is a matter of living it. Newborns must breathe and are helpless to choose for themselves how to live this new life.

The second is that nothing we do can undo this gift of life eternal. We cannot give this gift back to God.

Fifty days on a calendar marked the period between Passover and Pentecost. Did the apostle have the Holy Spirit in them before Pentecost?

John 20:22 English Standard Version (ESV) And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

This was Resurrection Sunday evening, after sundown, and by Jewish tradition the beginning of Monday. This is not important to any specific intent other than to say that they received the Holy Spirit shortly after His resurrection.

Acts 1:6-8 English Standard Version

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The disciples met with Jesus again shortly after that evening. At this time the Holy Spirit was abiding in them but had not as yet moved with power. Note closely what they ask Jesus. “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Acts 2:1-4 English Standard Version

¹ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

If a vessel is filled with water, there is no longer any room for air. This is the essence of being filled with the Holy Spirit, there is no room for self. The power of the Holy Spirit overwhelms the presence of self and takes over. These men did not know the language they spoke. They were not learned men.

There are fifty days from Passover to Pentecost. Pentecost is the first of three great festivals. It is the feast of weeks. This is what the International Standard bible Encyclopedia has to say about Pentecost.

“The requirements of the three great festivals were then well understood at this time, and their authority was founded in the Mosaic Law and unquestioned. The festival and its ritual were minutely described in this Law. Every male in Israel was on that day required to appear before the Lord at the sanctuary.”

This is a sign of God’s perfect timing in which the power of the Holy Spirit was not demonstrated until this great gathering of faithful Jews that were gathered before the Lord. What was different for all these men was to experience that the sanctuary of the Lord now abides in men. That had to be demonstrated in a way that was undeniable. Every man had to see for themselves the power of the Lord as He appeared before them.

This was something that had never happened before in all their experiences.