Spirit of Truth

After Thomas asked in verse 6 “how can we know the way?” and Jesus made it clear that He, Himself is the ONLY way, He then began to try to make them see His deity. Verse 7: “if you had known Me (2^nd class condition—but you didn’t), you would have known My Father..”

They had seen only His humanity these three years, and though they believed He was the Messiah, the Son of God, they just didn’t have the capacity to understand that He also IS God. Not half and half, but all and all. They knew Him as Master and Lord. They loved His compassion and His power and His authority; they had seen the miracles, and even participated in some, but their minds were limited to the physical, visible being before them. The all-powerful, all-encompassing spirit that is God the Father was beyond their mentality. It would take growth in grace through the Holy Spirit’s enablement for them to grasp Who this Savior really was.

Jesus assured them that they would soon realize they had known God the Father, and had actually seen Him. Philip pressed the issue: “show Him to us.” Jesus’ answer: “I am here before you, Philip.” My words are the Father’s words. My works are the Father’s works. You have heard the words and seen the works, and you know they are real. Not only that, but you who believe in Me will do these same divine works, and in greater quantities, because I am going to the Father

As long as Jesus remained in His earthly body, the power was localized in Him. He would now return to the Father, and by so doing would be commissioning His Church and sending them out to perform His works on a global scale, through the multiplication of grace in spirit-led believers.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15

“if you love Me” (3rd class condition—maybe you’ll love Me, or maybe you won’t.) (!) What?? A born-again believer who does not love Jesus? Yes. We cannot love whom we do not know, and some who have believed in Jesus for salvation just don’t follow through with learning about Him, living day to day for Him, making His word the priority of their lives. Love gives. Love cherishes. Love keeps—His commandments. It means to guard, preserve and practice His principles of life.

There are a lot of “ifs” in the Christian life. We are not clones, or robots. Submitting to God’s will, learning to know and love our Lord, are conscious decisions on the part of the individual believer. The world judges us by what they think they know about Jesus’ teachings. We who believe in Him and are fashioning our lives to conform to Him are operating on these divine assets He introduced, privately, to the eleven. The world doesn’t know Jesus. We who are learning to know Him have a way of life the world can never comprehend. It is an intimate brotherhood of love.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still 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 have said to you. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. John 14:16-31

First order of business for the ascended Christ: ask the Father to give the believers another Helper, to be with us forever. And He did. These details were already decreed, as indicated by Jesus’ explanation of Who this Helper would be and how He would help. He is identified as the Spirit of truth. He would be known only to born-again believers, because the world cannot perceive or receive Him. He is God the Holy Spirit. He is our contact with Jesus and the Father. He lives with us and in us. Jesus didn’t explain all the details of the baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to these men at this time, because they obviously were already suffering from information overload, and it had only just begun. It was sufficient at this time to assure them the Comforter was coming, and that after He came, they would understand.

This is another new operating asset for the Church age. In Old Testament times, and during Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit could and would temporarily empower the believers for certain works, under the authority of Jesus. Now, when Jesus is physically gone from us, the Holy Spirit permanently indwells every believer from the moment of salvation, to energize, inform and make intercession for us as we live and work. The world no longer sees Jesus. We believers see Him in each other, but especially in His Word. He continues to live, in His Church, through His written Word and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Because of the Holy Spirit’s help, we can see that the Father and Son are one, and we are in union with His eternal essence. This is the basis of our Christian dynamics—God’s grace provision in saving us, teaching us, and bringing us to maturity in the faith. Believers’ positive volition to Bible doctrine is the determining factor in spiritual growth and is the key to loving Jesus. That is our means of learning the techniques of the Christian Way of Life. Believers who ignore Bible doctrine really don’t come to know Him much better than unbelievers.  Those believers are “flying by the seat of their pants” and judging their own spirituality by “feelings,” therefore they have no foundation for loving Him. Those who do know and love Him will have close communion with Him, because they are equipped to perceive His word and His will. The Father has decreed this close fellowship with those who obey the Son (v.21).

Jude was curious about the mechanics of the believers being able to see Jesus, while the world would not. In verse 23, there’s that 3^rd class condition “if” again: “if a man loves me (and maybe he won’t, but if he does), he WILL guard My Word. It is a given. Loving Jesus = guarding, observing, practicing His Word, thereby growing in grace and being in fellowship with Him and the the Father. Very simple. If you don’t love Me, you won’t keep My word. This is evidence of our fellowship, or lack of fellowship with God. Well, the world certainly does not know or love Jesus, or have any reverence for His Word, and they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling/helping, therefore they cannot perceive Jesus. They make false assumptions based on some superficial readings of His message to the Jews, but they do not and cannot know Him. Faith comes first. Then understanding. Then love.

Jesus had to teach them about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and leadership while He was still with them, because His time was short. They didn’t grasp the information at that time, but He assured them that they would later. The Holy Spirit would bring these things to their remembrance after He became part of their lives, on the day of Pentecost. Jesus knew they were totally befuddled now, but later on, when they needed it, the stored knowledge would become clear. That was the Helper’s job. Jesus’ going to the Father was to their advantage, because the Father’s spiritual power would be more far-reaching than Jesus could be in His humanity.

He had told them beforehand, so they would understand when it happened, and believe in His deity. Now Satan was coming on the scene, and the showdown was about to begin. Jesus had nothing to fear from him, because Satan has no power over God the Son. It was just one more item to deal with at that time.

Everything Jesus did was  in direct obedience to the Father. Things were about to change drastically. He was preparing the eleven as best those bewildered humans could be prepared, before the fact.

“OK, guys, let’s move on, now.”

Rise, let us go from here.