Numbers - and the Birth of the Church

Joh 20:22 MKJV
(22) And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

I spoke on this verse recently, and I am still stuck on it. Again, this is not Pentecost, which could be considered the birth of the Church. But it is SO SIMILAR! Let's take a closer look.

We know that Jesus was seen by His followers for 40 days after His resurrection. The number is significant. Also, we know that when Jesus breathed on His disciples, Thomas was not there. Where was Thomas? Why didn't Jesus wait on Thomas? After all, He already knew He was going to come back and visit in a few days.

Joh 20:26-29 MKJV
(26) And after eight days the disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you!
(27) Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here and behold My hands; and reach your hand here and thrust it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.
(28) And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!
(29) Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.

Thomas had already said, publicly, that unless he put his finger into the nail prints and his hand into His side, He would not believe. (John 20:25)

After 8 days? 40 days... 8 days... I know there is more to this subject that I haven't researched, but this is a blog so I'll keep this as brief as I can.

What if... when Jesus breathed upon His disciples, we saw the 'conception' of the church? How many weeks from conception to birth? Forty! Again, 8 days later, Jesus sees Thomas and Thomas believes. What happens 8 weeks from conception? The eyes form! This is taken from a child-birth website:

Week 8: The eyes are formed and covered by a fold of skin, though the eyelid will not open yet.

I could certainly convince you, given the time, that although all of the disciples were given eyes to see, they truly did NOT see until the church was born - on Pentecost! None of us truly see without the Holy Spirit!

This is a signature of the Holy Spirit.