seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
This is another set of very difficult verses. Let me set the scene so I can get a handle on what's going on.Jesus is either at the place where He shared His last supper before the arrest and execution, or He's walking with His eleven Apostles on the way to the Garden to pray. Judas Iscariot was on the way to report to the Pharisees. The other eleven, think Jesus sent Judas to pick up supplies or something. They don't have a clue why Judas left. Jesus knows that Judas will end his mission when he turns Jesus over to the Roman Guard. That's the mission assigned to Judas.
I'm not sure if Jesus is lingering in the upper room, to allow Judas time to hunt down the Pharisees and do the deed, or if He's walking slowly and teaching to the crowd as He goes. My guess is.... a little of both occurred. The women would be cleaning up so they could follow when He left. He would have known that too, unlike those other men, who didn't count the women in anything. I'd like to think Jesus was talking while they put the upper room in order before leaving.
Now on to the subject, the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth. Since my baptism, about sixty years ago, I've been a Christian. At first, since everyone I met was through the church or in my neighborhood, I thought everyone everywhere was a Christian. I didn't know about Muslims, Buddhists, or even Jews. The Muslims and Buddhists were not in my circle, so I didn't know they existed. I thought all the Jews became Christians or Pagans. I only had the King James Version of the Bible, and the sweet, sweet Sunday School lessons, so I wasn't learning anything. I was stuck in newbie land for about another ten or fifteen years, until I started teaching Sunday School myself. I learned during the lesson prep. But I only learned what the Sunday School leader book taught. I was still stuck with the flowery King James. So, I was really very ignorant, although I had been taught.
When I got my first readable Bible.... the NIV.... the doors opened, the lights came on... and I could learn. The Spirit of Truth was finally teaching, not just supporting me.
I think Jesus told the eleven [in these verses], "It'll all make sense soon."
I know Jesus told everyone that He was about to leave. We've been reading it all the way through the three synoptic gospels and now John's telling us again. Jesus made it quite clear; His Mission required Him to teach them and then leave them to spread the Word. Jesus didn't need the eleven. He could have gotten to the Cross without them. Heck, He could have run Rome out and taken the throne David and Solomon sat on. Everyone loved Him. He would have been a kind and gracious King. That was not His Mission.
The Spirit would take over and help the Apostles spread the Word.
Jesus said "It'll all makes sense soon."
