John 14:15-3115If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. (John 14:15‑31)
HAVING carried the thoughts of the disciples beyond the present into the near future the Lord proceeds to disclose the second great event that would mark the coming days. Not only was the Lord going to the Father, but the Holy Spirit was coming from the Father.
Thus the Lord prepares the disciples for the momentous changes about to take place. The Son will return to the Father to take His place as a Man in the glory; the Holy Spirit will come to take up His abode in believers as a divine Person on earth. These two stupendous events would introduce Christianity and bring the Church into being, sustain the Church on her journey through this world, preserve her from the evil of the world, maintain her in testimony for Christ, and at last present the Church to Christ in glory.
Here, however, the Lord does not disclose the great doctrine of the Church and its formation, nor indeed of the testimony the Church would bear through the Spirit. The time for such unfoldings had hardly come. It is rather the deep spiritual experiences, that believers will enjoy through the coming of the Spirit, that is before the Lord. This was fitting for such a moment. The thought of losing One so dear to them—whose presence they had enjoyed—filled their hearts with sorrow. Hence it is the Lord speaks of the coming of another Comforter, One who would not only remove the sense of loneliness, but lead their hearts into a deeper and more intimate acquaintance with their Master than they had known in the days when He dwelt amongst them on earth. It is these secret experiences enjoyed by the Spirit, that will prepare the disciples to be witnesses for Christ in the power of the Spirit. May we not say that our testimony to Christ is often so feeble because we so little enjoy this personal intimacy with Christ into which the Spirit alone can lead? We attempt to take up service without living in the secret place of communion with the Father and the Son by the Spirit. It is the unfolding of these secret experiences that gives such preciousness to this portion. of the last discourse. It is an inside scene in which the believer is brought into the company of divine Persons in order that in due time he may bear testimony to Christ in the outside world from which Christ has gone.
(V. 15). It is not a little striking the way the Lord introduces the great theme of the coming of the Holy Spirit. He says, “If ye love Me keep My commandments.” In the course of the Gospel of John we have heard again and again of the Lord’s love to the disciples, now for the first time we hear of the disciples’ love to the Lord. The gift of the Spirit is thus connected with a company of people who love and obey the Lord. For such a company the Lord delights to pray to the Father to give the Comforter. Moreover do not these words indicate that the experiences enjoyed in the power of the Spirit can only be known by one who is living a life of love and obedience to the Lord?
In the preceding verses the Lord has spoken of faith and prayer (12-14); now He speaks of love and obedience. Thus we gather the Lord intimates that the deep spiritual experiences into which the Comforter leads are opened to those who are marked by faith which believes in the Lord, dependence which prays in His name, love which cleaves to the Lord, and obedience which delights to keep His commandments. These are the great moral characteristics which prepare the soul to profit by the presence of the Spirit. It is not enough to have the Spirit abiding with us, there must be in heart and life a state suited to the Spirit.
(V. 16). In the commencement of the Gospel the Baptist has told us that the Lord would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Later, in connection with the Lords visit to Jerusalem, we are plainly told that, under the figure of the living water, He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive; and moreover that this great gift was not then given because Christ was not yet glorified. Now the time has come when the Lord is about to be glorified, and this becomes the fitting moment for the Lord Himself to disclose to His disciples the great truth of the coming to earth of this divine Person.
Very blessedly, and with perfect suitability to the moment, to Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter. However great and varied the functions of the Spirit, to comfort is one that the disciples specially needed at the moment. There is however a deeper significance in the title “Comforter” that may be easily overlooked, for, in our modern usage of the word it mainly implies one who sympathizes with us in our sorrows; in its primary use it means one that “stands by to strengthen, support, and encourage.” Thus in the Comforter the disciples would have One who would stand by them to strengthen them in their weakness, and comfort them in their sorrow.
Moreover the Lord speaks of the Comforter as another Comforter, thus comparing the One who was coming with Himself, for had He not been with them supporting, encouraging and comforting them? Further the Lord not only compares, but contrasts the Comforter with Himself. The Lord had only dwelt with them a few brief years, whereas the Comforter who was coming would abide with them forever. Many an Old Testament Scripture had spoken of the Holy Spirit coming upon certain men and for a time controlling them for some special purpose, but that a divine Person should come to abide forever was something entirely new.
(V. 17). A further contrast between Christ and this coming Person is that while Christ is the Truth, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as the Spirit of truth. In Christ we see the truth set forth objectively. By the Spirit of truth we have wrought in us a true apprehension of all that is set forth in Christ.
In further contrast with the Lord, the Spirit is One whom the world cannot receive or know, because “it seeth Him not.” Christ had become incarnate and could be seen of man, and was thus presented to be received of man. The Holy Spirit would not become incarnate, and is not presented as an object that can be seen visibly or known intellectually. To the world He is not a divine Person but, at best, only a poetic and vague influence. To the disciples He will be no mere influence, but a Person who abides with them, in contrast to Christ who was leaving them; and would be in them, in contrast to Christ who was with them but not in them.
(Vv. 18-20). In these verses the Lord passes from speaking of the Person of the Holy Spirit, to unfolding the normal effects of His presence in the believer. The departure of the Lord to be with the Father, and the coming of the Spirit would not mean that they had lost one divine Person and gained another. One has truly said, “The promise is not of a substitution which excludes, but of a means which secures His presence.” Thus the Lord can say to His disciples, “I will not leave you orphans: I will come to you.” It has been said, “When Christ was here on earth, the Father was not far off, ‘I am not alone because the Father is with Me,’ and if the Comforter is here, Christ is not far distant.”
If the 18th verse tells us that the coming of the Spirit will bring Christ very near to us, the following two verses unfold the response in the believer to the Christ who comes. The Lord expresses these apprehensions of the believer in the three definite statements “Ye see Me,” “Ye shall live,” and “Ye shall know.” The Holy Spirit does not come to speak of Himself, or occupy us with Himself, nor form a cult of the Spirit, but to lead the soul to Christ. In a little while the world would see Christ no more, but when He had passed out of the sight of men, He would, in the power of the Spirit still be the object of faith for the believer. To the world Christ would become only an historical figure of one who had lived a beautiful life and died a martyr’s death; to the believer He would be still a living Person, the conscious sense of whose presence they would be able to realize and enjoy by the power of the Spirit. Moreover in seeing Him believers would live. The men of the world live because the world exists with its pleasures, and politics, and social round. When these things fail the life of the worldling ceases to have any interest. The Christian lives because Christ lives, and even as Christ, the object of our life, forever lives, so the believer’s life is an eternal life.
Moreover by the Spirit the believer knows that Christ is in the Father, that believers are in Christ and that Christ is in believers. We know that Christ has a supreme place in the Father’s affections; that we have a place in the heart of Christ, and that Christ has a place in our hearts. The world can neither “see” nor “live” nor “know.” It is blind to the glories of Christ; it is dead in trespasses and sins; it is ignorant of God; but, in the power of the Spirit, there will be a company of people upon earth who “see,” and “live,” and “know.” They have Christ in the glory as the object of their souls; a life that finds its joy and delight in Christ, and the knowledge of the place they have in His heart.
(V. 21-24). Verses 18 to 20 have presented to us the normal effect of the coming of the Spirit. The verses that follow present the spiritual qualifications that would enable the individual believer to enter into, and enjoy, the privileges that are open to us in the power of the Spirit. Though alas there has been a grave departure from these normal conditions, by professing Christendom, it is blessed to see that what should be true of the whole can still be enjoyed by the individual. Thus it is important to notice that at this point the Lord’s teaching becomes intensely individual. Hitherto the Lord has used the words “you” and “ye” (18-20); now He changes to the use of such words as “he” and “a man” (21-24);
Love and obedience are the great qualifications for entrance into these deeper experiences. Already the Lord has said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” now He says, “He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he is it that loveth Me.” It has been truly said that the former presented love as the spring of obedience. the latter obedience as the proof of love. Every expression of the Father’s mind was a commandment to Christ, and in the same way every expression of the mind of Christ is a command to the one that loves Him. The one that loves Christ shall be loved of the Father and of Christ. Such an one would be made conscious in a special way of the love of divine Persons. To, such the Lord would manifest Himself.
At this point Judas (not Iscariot) breaks in with his question, “Lord how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?” Judas, with Jewish thoughts, and Jewish hopes in his mind, is utterly puzzled by these communications. Not realizing the change that was coming, and still clinging to the idea of a visible kingdom about to be established, he cannot understand how this can be if the Lord does not manifest Himself to the world. His brethren, according to the flesh, had a similar thought when they said “Show Thyself to the world” (John 7:44For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. (John 7:4)). And still, through the same ignorance of the calling of the church and the character of the day in which we live, there are many true Christians who, in a variety of ways, still say to the Lord, “Show Thyself to the world.” Such would fain make Christ a leader of philanthropic works, and the center of great movements for the betterment of the world. They seek to bring Christ back to the world, not seeing that the Spirit of God has come to lead believers out of the world to Christ in heaven.
At first sight the Lord’s answer seems hardly to meet the question put by Judas. The time had not come for the full unfolding of the heavenly character of Christianity. Nevertheless the Lord’s answer corrects the wrong thought in the mind of the disciples. Judas was thinking of a visible display before the world, the Lord is speaking of a manifestation to an individual—Judas speaks of the world; the Lord speaks of “a man.” The world had rejected the Lord, and the Lord had done with the world as such. Now it would be a question of individuals being drawn out of the world by the attractive power of One to whom their hearts are linked in love and affection. In His answer the Lord enlarges upon this truth. Not only will the one that loves the Lord keep His commandments, as already stated, but such an one will keep the Lord’s “words.” This is more than His commandments. His commandments express His mind as to the details of our path. His “word,” as the following verse tells us, is not simply His own word but the Father’s which sent Him, and speaks of all that He came to make known of the Father’s heart, and the Father’s counsels for heaven and the world to come. His “commandments” throw needed light on our path; His “words” light up the glorious future by revealing the counsels of the Father’s heart. To cherish His words, therefore, makes room for the Father; so now the Lord can say, “We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
(V. 25, 26). The two opening words of these verses introduce a fresh stage in this part of the Lord’s discourse. He has set before us the normal experiences that believers would enjoy by the Spirit (18-20) then the experience open to each individual believer (21-24); now the Lord speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit more especially in connection with the Eleven. For the first time the Comforter is definitely said to be “the Holy Spirit.” He is spoken of as a Divine Person who will be sent by the Father in the name of Christ. Coming in the name of Christ tells us that He comes to represent the interests of Christ during the absence of Christ. He is not here to exalt believers, to make them great in this scene, nor advance their worldly interests. His sole business in a world that has rejected Christ, is to attract to Christ, to gather out a people for Christ, to exalt Christ. In the course of these last communications we shall find that the Spirit takes a threefold way to maintain the interests of Christ. First, in this chapter, by drawing out our affections for Christ: second, in chapter 15 by opening our lips in testimony to Christ: third, in chapter 16, by supporting us in the presence of the opposition of the world, by unfolding to us the Father’s counsels for the world to come.
Here the great work of the Spirit is to engage us with Christ Himself. There are two ways in which He awakens our affections for Christ. First the Lord tells the Eleven, “He shall teach you all things.” The “all things” of verse 26 are in contrast to “these things” of verse 25. The Lord had spoken of certain things, but there were things belonging to the glory of Christ, which were beyond the apprehension of the Eleven at that moment. The Lord was limited in His communications by the limited spiritual capacity of the disciples. With the coming of the Spirit there would be an enlarged spiritual comprehension, which would make it possible for the Spirit to communicate “all things” connected with Christ in the glory. Secondly, the Lord can say, the Spirit will bring “all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” He will not only reveal the new things concerning Christ in His new place—things that carry us far into eternal glory—but He will recall the gracious communications made by Christ in His sojourn on earth. All that is of Christ, past present and future, is infinitely precious. Nothing that is of Christ shall be lost. How important that those who by their words and writings were going to instruct others, should have the Lord’s words recalled to them by a Divine Person. In reporting these words to us they are not left to their own imperfect, and failing, memories. Their report of His words will have all the absolute perfection of One who recalls them without any admixture of human frailty.
(V. 27-31). With the preceding verses the Lord has closed this gracious ministry that sets His people in relation with Divine Persons. This ministry of comfort and consolation—this communion with Divine Persons—prepares the disciples for the departure of the One they love. Thus it is that in these closing verses the Lord can speak more freely of the coming parting.
If, however, He was going away He would leave His peace with His disciples. In outward circumstances He was the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. On every hand He had to meet the contradiction of sinners, but walking in communion with the Father, and in subjection to the Father’s will, He ever enjoyed peace of heart. This same peace would be the portion of the believer, if enjoying this communion with Divine Persons, and so under the control of the Spirit that the believer’s will is refused. Surrounded by a world of unrest the believer’s heart would be garrisoned by the peace of Christ. It would be a peace shared with Christ, for in giving His disciples peace, He gives not as the world which parts with what it gives.
Moreover if the Lord was going away, it would be but for a time, for He was coming again. In the meantime, unselfish love would rejoice in that His path of suffering was over, and that He was going to the Father. He plainly forewarns them of His departure so that when it took place their faith might not be shaken.
Hereafter He would not talk much with them; for the ruler of this world was coming. This would mean that the last great conflict would be entered, which would annul the power of Satan. The triumph over Satan was assured, for in Christ the devil had nothing. His death would not be the result of Satan’s power, but the outcome of Christ’s love to the Father. His perfect obedience to the Father’s commandment, even obeying unto death, is the everlasting proof of His love to the Father.
With these words, that breathe of His love and obedience to the Father, the Lord brings this portion of His discourses to an end by saying, “Arise let us go hence.” In love to the Father the Lord goes hence to do the Father’s bidding, but He associates His disciples with Himself. There will come a time when, as the Lord has already said, “Whither I go ye cannot follow Me now,” but there are a few more steps they can take with Him, even though on their part they be halting steps. Thus together they pass from the upper room into the outer world.
The New Promise.
Long years have passed—the ages roll away—
The shadows lengthen; darker grows the night;
And still we wait to pass into the light,
When we shall hear our Lord, and Master, say,
“Arise my love my fair one, come away.”
Yet loving us, He longs that we should know,
Some foretaste of His presence here below,
While waiting for the coming of the day:
So thus He speaks, seeking our hearts to win,
‘If any man will bid Me enter in—
If loving Me, he would with Me have part—
Let him My words obey, so shall it be,
My presence shall bring sunlight to his heart,
And I will sup with him, and he with Me.’