ACTS 1.6-8: 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.” (ESV)
A few days ago I posted Part 2 – The Power of the Holy Spirit. I took this posting down, because I believe what I wrote was poorly thought out and haphazard. Particularly, I did not factor in what Jesus said to His disciples in the Upper Room discourse about the coming of the Holy Spirit. What I wrote was not fully informed.
In John 14.17 Jesus said to His disciples regarding the Holy Spirit, “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (ESV). And in John 16.7 during this same meeting with His disciples, Jesus said to them about the Holy Spirit, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (ESV)
The next time Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John is in John 20.22, when Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” There is scholarly debate about what exactly happened at that moment. Some hold the position that this is a figurative foretelling of what will happen in the future coming of the Holy Spirit. Others say that the disciples did receive the Holy Spirit at that time.
In either case, the work and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples began in accordance with what Jesus told them in verse 8 above. If they had previously received the Holy Spirit in accordance with John 20.22, the Holy Spirit was not as of yet working in their lives in power. This active, ongoing power of the Holy Spirit began on the Day of Pentecost.