John 14:15-31--Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-31
English Standard Version

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 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.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 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.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 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. 24 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.

​25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 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. 27 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. 28 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. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

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Jesus has just made some serious identity statements, issued some serious admonishment, and also made some serious promises/prophecies about what is in the future for Himself, the disciples and the Church as a whole.  Jesus is now going to focus on the fact that they are going to be left alone in the world, and He knows that is not good for them.

Jesus starts off making an identity statement about them though.  Only those who obey His commandments truly love Him and only those who truly love Him and obey His commandments really belong to Him.  This is something Jesus will repeat over and over again and it will be a key theme of chapter 15 when we get there when Jesus talks about abiding in Him.

Jesus says that He is going to ask the Father, and the Father will send another Helper (Paraclete--which is an Advocate or Counselor like a defense attorney in court who is supposed to do everything he can to help his client and also argue his client's case before the judge and protect him from unwarranted attacks from the prosecution).  Jesus identifies this "Helper" that He is sending as the Holy Spirit later, but He starts off by calling Him "The Spirit of Truth"--the same "Truth" that He's been talking about that the world cannot receive.  Jesus just said that He is that Truth that the world cannot receive though, so is it fair to call the Holy Spirit "The Spirit of Christ?"  Yes!  It's absolutely okay to call the Holy Spirit that, as that's a name that Paul uses in some of his epistles to refer to the Holy Spirit.  We'll also see the Holy Spirit called The Spirit of God and some of the other names already mentioned like Counselor and Helper.  Jesus said that like Himself, the world will not accept the Holy Spirit because the world does not know Him--just like the world did not accept Jesus because they did not know Him.  But Jesus says something interesting here--the disciples do at that time know the Holy Spirit because He dwells with them (this is the same word that Jesus is going to use in the next chapter to talk about those who "abide" in Him).  Even before Pentecost, Jesus seems to say that the Holy Spirit dwells within the Eleven, even if it just a sojourning type situation which this word can imply.  We usually think of the Holy Spirit not coming upon the disciples until Pentecost, but this text seems to say that the Holy Spirit was both an "already" and a "not yet" kind of promise.  This is probably going to explain one of the so-called discrepancies later in the Gospel of John when Jesus will breath on them and tell them to receive the Holy Spirit, but people think that somehow contradicts the story of Pentecost--it does not because they already had the Holy Spirit at this time in some way and we've seen Jesus send them out in the power of the Holy Spirit when He sent out the 72, and we will see Him tell them to receive the Holy Spirit towards the end of the book of Joh, but we will see the Holy Spirit come upon the Church in a new and fresh way at Pentecost with a sign that none of the Jews could dismiss (remember the Jews always were asking to see a "sign," so we will see "sign gifts" there that are specifically meant to witness to these people who needed to see a "sign" at that time).

Jesus then comes back to a promise He has already made.  He will not abandon His children as orphans, but He will come back for them.  Because He lives (speaking in the present tense about the Resurrection that is about to come for Him), He says that we too will one day have that same kind of eternal life.  In that day we will truly understand the relationship between the Father and the Son that has been such a mystery to us to this point and it will be like the relationship between the Son and the Church--we will be in Him and He will be in us (I believe through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ).  What does it mean for Christ to be in us and us to be in Christ?  Jesus has already answered that before and will spend a lot of time on it in chapter 15, but I think He knows the disciples are thinking that question so He circles back around to what He's said before. "21 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.”

We now hear from one of the disciples that we almost never hear from.  Judas (not Iscariot) also known as Thaddeus, Judas son of James, or Lebbaeus Thaddaeus.  His name means "Jehovah Leads."  He asks a very good question.  "How is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?"  Apparently Thaddeus had somehow missed that Jesus spoke the same words and did the same signs and wonders and taught the same parables to them as He did to those who didn't believe and what was revealed to some was concealed from others.  Jesus doesn't quite answer this question here and now, but we know the answer from other things that Jesus has said--it is the Holy Spirit who leads us in all truth and does the work of letting us recall the Word of God, the teachings of Christ, and interprets the Bible for us (since He is the author if the Scriptures) and gives us correct orthodoxy and orthopraxy--it is the orthopraxy that Jesus will once again focus in on here as the sign that we belong to Him.  Only if the branch is connected to the Vine will it be able to produce fruit--this will be the imagery that Jesus will use in chapter 15 where Jesus will say "I am the Vine, you are the branches."  The Holy Spirit is like the life-giving sap that flows from the root to the branches and keeps the branches alive and causes them to bear fruit.  We'll get to that more tomorrow though.

​"23 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. 24 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."  This seems a strange answer to the question that Thaddeus asked.  I would have been confused by this answer and thought, "Did He not hear me?  Did I miss something?  Did anyone else understand, or is just me?"  However, it seems clear that this time Jesus had a clear message He was trying to deliver to them with a single theme and He was not going to get sidetracked by this question--it was a good question, but not the thing that He needed to talk about at this time as His time was so limited as Judas and the guards were probably already on their way.

In fact we see that the next thing that Jesus says seems to indicate this exact thing--He is not going to have the time to tell them all the things that He wants to say to them.  Jesus says that He has taken the time to say these things to them while He is still with them, but that when the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the name of Christ, it would be the Holy Spirit who would teach them all things and bring to remembrance the things that Jesus had said that had been hidden from them at this time as it wasn't the right time for them to understand these things.   Jesus would do some of the work of explaining things to them after His Resurrection and we'll see that specifically during the 50 days that He is with them after the Resurrection, specifically as He reveals Himself to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Jesus then switches topics slightly and says that He wants them to be at peace and He is giving His Peace to them.  It is not peace as the world knows it--the absence of war, but instead a peace that they can experience in all places at all times, even in the midst of the storm because we know we are safe and secure in the protection of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Peace is one of the spiritual gifts that Holy Spirit gives to us and we see this peace in action as we look at Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  Jesus is concerned for them that what is about to happen is going to cause them to be in fear and He wants to make sure that He's told them that they do not need to be afraid because they belong to Him and He's going to make sure they are taken care of and protected--that's not going to stop them from being afraid and scattering though.

Jesus then returns to the conversation about Him going away--related to the sending of the Holy Spirit and their need to have His peace while He is away.  He says that if they truly understood that He was returning to His place in heaven at the right hand of the Father, they could be excited and happy for Him, but instead they are sad because they are focused on themselves and what they are losing.  Jesus says that the Father is greater than the Son and that He is saying this to the disciples so that one day they will understand--again, it seems like this something He knows that the Holy Spirit will have to help them out with later and that they will believe the truth that was spoken because they will believe in the one who spoke those words because He is the Truth.

Then Jesus lays it out for them when He says, "30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here."  The time is short and Jesus needs to get into position for the next act.  He knows where Judas Iscariot is going to lead the guards to and He needs to be there for them to meet Him in the right place at the right time--the hour for which He came into the world which is now at hand--the hour that over and over again in John we have been told had not yet come, but now it has finally come.  It is time for the Son of Man to be lifted up and be glorified on the cross so that the whole world may have the opportunity to see Him and call on Him for salvation, yet we know that only those that that Father has called and chosen and given to the Son are the ones who will respond in faith and will believe in Him unto eternal life.