With Dale Ratzlaff
John 14:25-31
These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, “I go away, and I will come to you.” If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.
The presence of the Holy Spirit is the second application to the phrase, “I will come to you” as mentioned in the last lesson. Jesus did come to them in person after the resurrection. Now, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to them.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…”
In the way this promise is worded we see the underpinnings of how the Trinity works together.
The Gospels were written many years after the resurrection. I, along with many others, have asked, “How did the Gospel writers know the very words Jesus spoke when they wrote their version of the Christ event? Liberal scholars will say that years later the disciples could not have had Jesus’ words and they just made up the conversations. Perhaps some of our readers have had the same questions. I have found only two answers: one is that these gospels, specifically John, speak with such profound insights that someone writing 30 or more years later could not have had if they had not been eye-witnesses. The second is that which is mentioned in our passage:
These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Here, I believe, is the evidence we can have to believe what we read in the Gospels. I found the following quotation to be one that generates faith.
“Will remind you of everything that I myself said to you.” The fulfillment is exhibited in the marvelous record of the four Gospels, most notably in that of John which contains the extended discourses of Jesus. It is humanly impossible to reproduce with fidelity even human words spoken during a period of over three years, when all the words are understood perfectly at the moment they were heard. It is vastly more impossible to reproduce with exactness the many words of Jesus which the disciples failed to grasp at the time they heard them. The promise of Jesus assures the eleven on this vital point. By means of an immediate illumination, the Spirit will enable them to recall every utterance of Jesus in its true meaning. He will remind the disciples and in addition he will teach them what is contained in all of which they are thus reminded. Here is the answer to all the questioning in regard to the four Gospels. This answer covers also the form of these Gospels, the verbal variations in reporting the words of Jesus, the translation of what Jesus said from Aramaic into Greek. The Spirit is back of it all. The final ἐγώ “what I myself said to you” should not be dropped ( R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary on the New Testament, John, p. 1014,1015).
The promise of the Holy Spirit to bring remembrance of Christ’s words also applies to us. I believe that when we memorize Scripture, days or years or even decades later the Holy Spirit can bring to our remembrance the very words needed for the circumstances we are facing.
When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say (Lk. 12:11-12).
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
The peace that Jesus leaves His disciples, and us, is “His peace.” It is not only something we can experience when our faith is matured; it is not only a feeling of confidence and serenity when facing danger but something that Christ gives to all His disciples now. Both “leave” and “give” are in the present tense. Jesus is continually leaving and giving us His peace. This is objective peace, given regardless of circumstance, that is to grow into subjective peace. First, we have peace with God; then, we have the peace of God. The way this sentence is constructed in Greek indicates that Jesus is not primarily comparing His peace with the peace of the world. Rather, He is comparing the method of giving. Jesus gives real peace. We can trust the Giver; we can trust His words. The world gives only empty words. Consider how many peace treaties are broken. Jesus invites us to enjoy the peace which we see in Him. Roman peace was won by the brutal sword. The Jews expected their messiah to bring peace by winning a mighty war against Rome. Instead, true peace was won by an innocent man who suffered a cruel and unjust death by the Romans, Jews, and even us, and He gives—continually gives—that peace to us.
Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, “I go away, and I will come to you.”
Jesus has just told the disciples that He would continually give them “His peace”—objective peace regardless of circumstances. Now He commands (imperative mood) them to not let their heart be troubled or fearful.
Jesus repeats—only in different words—what He has said earlier, “I go away, and I will come to you.” It appears the disciples were slow to grasp what Jesus was saying. He had to repeat certain concepts over and over again. How often we, too, fail at first read to understand what God is saying in Scripture. I am thankful that the patience Jesus showed toward His slow-to-learn disciples is also given to us, and it gives me hope as I re-read the promises of our Lord.
If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
“If you loved Me” is a conditional sentence implying a negative answer. In other words, Jesus is showing the disciples their failure to trust Him, to love Him, and to understand Him. Looking at this statement from the point of Jesus, what a joy it must have been for Him to visualize what it would be like after the torture of the cross to go back to the side of His Father having completed the sacrifice for sin that opened the gates of salvation for a lost world! If only the disciples could understand what was to take place in the near future, they too would have rejoiced.
I am reminded of seeing aged parents, and others as well, who have lost the quality of life and are suffering, wanting to go to be “with the Lord.” Those of us who witness these people can understand their desire to leave this life for a better place. While we miss their physical presence, we can, at a time of sorrow, also rejoice on their behalf.
The statement, “the Father is greater than I,” has been a key text for those who do not believe in the Trinity. How can Jesus be God in the fullest sense when God the Father is “greater” than Jesus? The answer is twofold. First, Jesus is speaking from the position of incarnation—God in the flesh as a man. Second, one must not form theology from an isolated text. As some of our readers may have questions regarding the Trinity, here are some verses in John that show Jesus’ full divinity.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:1,14).
For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (Jn. 5:18).
I and the Father are one (Jn. 10:30).
Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn. 20:28).
The full deity of Jesus and the Trinity are doctrines that form the structure of Christian theology. If Jesus were not divine, then His sacrifice would be no more valuable than the death of a common man.
Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.
This is the second time Jesus has stated this truth.
From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. (Jn. 13:19).
Here we have another fact that lends credence to the authority of scripture and Christianity. No one else has predicted their death and resurrection and has actually been raised from the dead. Here is evidence, not only for the disciples to believe but for us as well. This prediction of Jesus, not only came true in His death and resurrection, but it engendered faith in the Apostles after they saw the Risen Christ.
I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.
Time is short now, Jesus is on the verge of His passion. Like the final boarding call at the gate leading up the ramp to a departing airplane, the time has come for the few, important, final words. Jesus senses the evil approach of the devil and what the devil will do when he inspires not only Judas, but the High Priest of the Jews, the ruler of the Romans, and the mocking crowd.
So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar” (Jn. 19:15).
Jesus knows the final outcome. The devil has no ground of accusation against the Lamb of God. “He has nothing in Me,” is another solid rock upon which Christian faith is grounded. It becomes a central theme of the proclamation of the gospel.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH (1 Pet. 2:22).
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. (1 Jn. 3:5).
One may wonder why, if Jesus was absolutely sinless, did he submit to the coming crucifixion. He could have dealt with Satan then as He did in Matthew 4:10.
Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”
The answer is twofold: first, Jesus went through all that Satan could bring against Him as a demonstration of His love for the Father. Second, Jesus makes it clear that He had rendered perfect obedience to the father.
I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.
These two themes—love and obedience to the Father’s commandments which are also Christ’s commandments—are presented over and over again in the Gospel of John and John’s letters to the church.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another (Jn. 13:34).
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (Jn. 15:12).
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us (1 Jn. 3:23)
And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also (1 Jn. 4:21).
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it (2 Jn. 1:6).
Jesus yielded Himself to all that Satan could bring against Him for two reasons: first, it was in harmony with the Father’s will to offer His son for the salvation of the world.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).
Second, Jesus yielded himself up to the tortures of the cross not only out of obedience to His father, but because He wanted the world to know His love for the Father and the unity both had together in making salvation possible for all who believe.
Application
- The fact that the Holy Spirit can teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance is the best evidence to believe in the truth of the Gospels, especially John which has the extended discourses of Jesus.
- The fact that the Holy Spirit can teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance is also something of great encouragement to all Christians at all times. John 14:6 is a text worth remembering—and the Holy Spirit will help us do just that.
- As Jesus left and gave peace to His disciples, He has done the same for us. This “peace” is His peace, and it comes with the authority of His word. This peace is continually given, accept it now by faith not feeling. The reality comes first, the emotion comes later.
- Jesus’ word to the disciples, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” was said in the context of His “going away.” They did not comprehend the full significance of what Jesus was doing until after the resurrection and even forty days later when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. In the same way, we may face circumstances that we do not understand and wonder what is taking place. It is during these times Jesus says to us as well, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Someday we will understand.
- When loved ones die, we sorrow that we have lost the joy of their fellowship. However, looking at these events from the eternal perspective, we can rejoice in the midst of our sorrow knowing, as Paul did, that to die is gain (Phi. 1:21). “And knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:6-9).
- There are many deceivers out to distort our faith. As the full deity of Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, we should know well the verses which show this truth.
In this short lesson, we have yet another strong evidence for faith; that Jesus predicted His death and the way He would die, and that He would rise from the dead. This is a unique claim in that all these things actually took place. Here is evidence of His divinity, His power, His truthfulness, and the fulfillment of His mission. “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (Jn, 20:31).
The words of Jesus in the passage for this lesson were carefully chosen and filtered with respect to importance. When Jesus said the ruler of this world had nothing in Him, He gives us another foundational pillar of the Christian faith, the sinlessness of Christ.
The closing words of this chapter associate commandments and love. To love is to keep “His commandments.” To keep “His commandments” is to love.
Prayer
Father, thank you that the Holy Spirit can bring to my mind what I have read and memorized from Scriptures at just the right time. Thank you that in times of sorrow at the death of a loved one, we can trust they are with you and that you will “bring them with you” when you come again. Even so Come, Lord Jesus.
In Jesus name.
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