John 14-16: When Your World Explodes
Jesus knew, the night before his death, that the disciples' world was about to be blown to pieces. He would be arrested, tried, and crucified. They'd committed themselves to Jesus and he would be gone. In this powerful message, Jesus prepared the disciples to live in peace and spiritual power when the world around them was falling apart.
We will take the next three weeks delving into this passage.
12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.
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Devotional: The Jesus Life
When we read John 16:13, where Jesus promises that the Spirit will declare to his disciples "what is to come" we tend to assume that he is promising to give us details of the end times. Certainly, the New Testament, which the Spirit would reveal, as promised in this passage, would reveal much of the story of how God will consummate the world in glory, but that is likely not what Jesus is promising in verse 13. The meaning there seems to be broader.
Verse 16 will go on to explain that in "a little while and you will no longer see me; again a little while and you will see me." The Spirit would be the return presence of Jesus Christ in this world, working through believers and through the church he would establish. He would be the presence of Jesus Christ in the church.
What was it the Spirit said that "is to come?" There was a whole new system of living coming into the disciples' lives after Pentecost. The Spirit would (according to verse 14) "take from what is mine and declare it to you." The things of Christ, the ways of Christ, the life of Christ - the Spirit would declare that to the church and through us into the world. Look at what Paul said in Ephesians 3:3-6, when he described the life of Christ that was to come.
The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above. 4 By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. 5 This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Ephesians 3:3-6
After Pentecost, things would be completely different, a new way of the Spirit. At this point, they had no idea what "was to come" and couldn't have understood or accepted it if Jesus had tried to explain it. But, as time went on, the Spirit would explain and work out this new life of Christ in the lives of the Apostles, just as is promised here.
The new life of Jesus, worked in us by the Holy Spirit, would produce a full understanding of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from any works of the law. It would involve a full understanding that the Gospel is for all nations – that God is now working through the church, not a nation to gather a redeemed people. It would help us experience firsthand the reality of “Christ in you, our hope of glory”
Thank you, Father, for the life of Christ which your Spirit enables in me.
Think and Pray:
Are you living the "Jesus Life" that was promised here?
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