John 14:16-26 MKJV
The Comforter
And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, (17) the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. (18) I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. (19) Yet a little while and the world does not see Me any more. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. (20) At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (21) He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him. (22) Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? (23) Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (24) He who does not love Me does not keep My Words, and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. (25) I have spoken these things to you, being present with you. (26) But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and our Teacher who is both with us and in us and teaches us all things - especially how to love God, love others and fulfill the commands of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit has three main operations in the live of the born-again Christian:
1. The washing of sanctification. ( 1 Corinthians 6:10,11)
2. Instruction in “all things” (John 14:26, 1 John 2:20,27) and especially in remembrance of Christ and His commandments (John 14:16-26) and in revealing to us what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).
3. Pouring the love of God into our hearts so that we are filled with hope (Romans 5:1-5) and strengthened in the inner man so that we can know the love of Christ and be matured in Him as persons. (Ephesians 3:14-21).
That is why Jesus says “I will love him and reveal myself to him.” concerning obedient Christians who love the Lord. The Christian walk, for an obedient faith-filled believer should be a process of feeling loved by Jesus and coming to know Him in ever deeper ways - yet this was not my experience for many years. Suspicious of subjectivism and emotion and wary of religious claims and seeing the Holy Spirit as one who “convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment” I had a stern view of God. Two bible passages opened my eyes to a more wonderful truth. They were 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 about the things God has prepared for those who love Him, and Paul prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21. These passages convinced me that the path to maturity as a saint is to accept God’s love and God’s truth through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (see also Romans 5:1-5). [I have not got time to explain that in this devotional but please read these passages or the Life In Christ series on the Eternity DBS website.]
“the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him.”” The ministry of the Holy Spirit is invisible to the world and to those who depend exclusively on its methods in religion. Even fine minds cannot find God by dint of academic ability alone. He must be revealed. The Spirit does not dwell with the pride of the world but rather with the meek, humble and obedient disciples. “But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.”
The difference between those who Christ is revealed to - and those who He is not revealed to is obedience, the obedience of faith and love. “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words, and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.”
God is responsive to us. If we love His Son and keep His commandments He will love us and come to us and dwell with us. There is a consistent, abiding love of God that rests upon the lives of those with a holy life. There is a sense of dwelling with God about their person. They are not “hither and yon” in their obedience but have a deep steady walk with God and are rewarded by a profound and personal sense of His love and of His residence with them and in them.
Earlier I mentioned the passage about the Spirit convicting of “sin, righteousness and judgment” a frequently heard and often mis-applied passage in Christian circles. The Spirit convicts “the world” of such things! (John 16:8) Not the obedient believer. Rather the Holy Spirit pours the love of God out into our hearts (Romans 5:1-5) that we may be strengthened in the inner man, know the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God! (Ephesians 3:14-21) The Father and the Son come into our lives to love us and dwell with us! And they do so via the Holy Spirit! Thus the primary spiritual experience of the Christian should not be guilt - it should be overwhelming love!
We are intimately and organically connected with Christ! “Because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” We die with Christ, and rise with Christ, and live with Christ, and have ascended with Christ and we even are seated with Him in heavenly realms. (Romans 6:1-11, Ephesians 2:6,7) As we saw yesterday with the “bottle in the ocean” analogy, we are in Christ and Christ is in us, and Christ is in the Father. We are awash with God and with His love. His life is our life, and because He lives - we shall also live.
The fact that ordinary humans such as you and I can be connected so closely to the mystery of the Godhead and the love of Christ is truly astonishing. I am in awe of the fact that God has chosen to love me so deeply and undeservedly. It is sheer grace!
Blessings in Jesus,
John Edmiston
