An Exposition of John
Chapter 16
By
Robert Govett.
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John 16: 1-3. ‘These things have I spoken unto you, in order that ye may not
be stumbled. They shall put you out of
the synagogue, yea, the hour cometh that every one
that slayeth you will think that he is offering
service to God. And these things will they do, because they
have not recognised either the Father or Me.’
The
Saviour, in wisdom and goodness made known the course of constant refusal which
the disciples, specially as embodied in the church,
would have continually to suffer. They
and we take the place of witnesses to Christ.
We in a certain sense take up the place of witness to the Father and
Son, which Jesus Himself occupied while on earth, As He was rejected, so are
the apostles and we. We are witnesses of
a rejected Christ to a world of evil, which refuses the Holy Spirit and His
testimony. We are witnesses of the
Spirit of truth against Satan and His spirits of error, which rule the
world. Hence the world dislikes,
despises, hates, persecutes. Every one that will walk as Christ did, and
in His Spirit, will suffer persecution.
Be not stumbled, then, believer! Do not argue, as if when you are hated the
world must be right in its hatred, and you erroneous,
or unfaithful in your testimony. So Peter warns us (1 Peter 1: 7; 4: 12).
The
Saviour is unfolding the outlines of the new dispensation in which we now find
ourselves - the economy of the Holy Ghost - the time of God’s testimony, and of
the ill-treatment of His witnesses; making manifest the wickedness of the
world, and of its Prince. It would be
the witness of God upheld by the Spirit of God, yet refused and hated.
The
disciples’ expectation of
Danger of stumbling, then, was before
the disciples. They
fell in that night of the Saviour’s betrayal. They did not recover till after the
resurrection. There was danger also in
the period after that, when persecution for the truth should be upon them
in all its fierceness, and a state of things around them unlike wholly to what
they had anticipated out of the Law and the Prophets: Israel, their nation,
utterly and with loathing refusing Christ; the great men and rulers scorning
their ignorance, and opposing them with force even unto death. There was danger lest they should say, first
in their hearts, then with their lips, ‘We have been
deceived. The wand of a mighty enchanter
has been upon us, and we were under a delusion, which now is scattered. We return back sorrowfully to our place under
Moses again. We thought Jesus to be the
Messiah: we think so no longer!’
A
world of falsehood, led on by Satan, hates and persecutes God’s worshippers and
witnesses of the truth. It was gracious,
then, of our Lord to let them know that
God’s professed people would refuse them, and seek their death. Israel,
in putting out the truth and its
witnesses, rather excommunicated themselves than the disciples of Jesus. They became ‘the Synagogue of Satan,’ and vainly professed they were Jews. Persecution
of the truth now proves the persecutor to be one of the children of
the Wicked One. Christ the
Sufferer has consecrated the path of
suffering for those that are His.
The
words, ‘the hour,’ tell of a
special season, which shall yet in its fulness come. Gentiles
shall arrive at such an idea through false teaching yet to go forth. ‘Every one’ shall
so think; not Jews alone. It is very
remarkable that the slaying of ‘heretics’ was
called at one time, ‘Auto da fe – ‘an act of faith!’ How great the blindness, to imagine God
pleased by the murder of His beloved sons!
They
were to be prepared to be refused by their follow-countrymen, as no longer of
the religion of their fathers. Though
circumcised, keeping the Law, and abhorring idols, they would yet be put
outside the synagogue-worship of Jehovah by
Thus
Jesus speaks, as the Prophet of the Church.
And it was fulfilled. The first
clap of this thunderstorm burst when the blind man was thrust out, because he
pronounced Jesus to be a prophet; and when they
agreed among themselves to put out any who owned Jesus to be the Christ. The real secret of this enmity was the
humbling character of the Gospel. That
told of Jews and Gentiles being on one and the same level before God, both
alike condemned, and unable to deliver themselves from destruction. They were enraged at this announcement. ‘They, God’s ancient
people, no better than ignorant idolatrous Gentiles! They who observed Moses so anxiously - they
unjustified and condemned!’ Thus it is still. Those who stand by the
powers of man, his goodness, and his improveableness
by instruction, refuse Christ and grace.
They refuse the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The world listens to them, but God refuses
them.
Had
But
God would show to the world what fallen man under his best circumstances
is. And we may be thankful for
This
enmity would proceed even to the infliction of death. They would fancy themselves justified in
slaying those who were, as they said, leading them to serve another God. Vainly did apostles testify that they
believed in, and taught the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. They
would not believe!
The
same thing, too, would and did occur with the Gentiles. They could tolerate the worshippers of other
gods than their own national ones. But
these Christians were unlike all the world, in
principles and life. They would own no God but their own; and pronounced all
other men blind, unclean, and lost. The
Romans denounced Christians as enemies of the gods; foes of the Caesars whom
they refused to worship, rebels against the laws, and
enemies of men. For
they testified of a God of judgment, who had already condemned the world, and
was about to destroy the guilty.
To those who cling to the world, as man’s appropriate and only lawful
sphere, the views which Christ gives of the state and destiny of the earth, its
present rule by Satan, and its utter destruction by fire, are hateful.
Jews
and Gentiles would think it a service done to God to cut off such enemies of
God and man from the earth. The light of Christ being refused, blindness settles on the man;
blindness greater than ever before. Thus was it with Saul. He, the man of Law, honest and able,
persecuted to the death these dissenters from the nation’s faith. He scourged them in the synagogue, he
condemned them to death. He was sincere. He thought he ought to put down by force
these teachers of another God. He
believed that Moses taught him to do so.
Till he saw himself guilty, lost, unable to stand before the condemning
Law, this was his attitude. It was the
spirit and the conduct of one who refused the new name of God, and the
testimony to man’s lost state.
3. ‘These things will they do unto you, because they have not
known, the Father or Me.’
God
had now fully revealed Himself in the Son.
The Son made known the Father as His Sender, by words of grace, and by
deeds of power. But
None
is a Christian, but he who owns Jesus as the Son of God. It is only under this new discovery of the Godhead,
that grace and peace for the sinner are found.
None
can own Jesus truly as the Christ, who confesses Him not as the Son; that He is a partaker in the new name and
honours of the Godhead.
Do
we suffer on behalf of Christ and God?
How consoling the thought! Glory
shall one day spring out of this to us!
But how little do the persecuting ungodly see the woes coming on them,
as the consequence of this wickedness!
As the world knew not the Son of God when He came, so neither does it
know the sons of God now. We are
persecuted, because we belong to Christ.
And those who
with Christ suffer, with Him shall reign.
The
Saviour does not, through all
this farewell discourse, console the apostles with promises of the
world’s conversion. It is not – ‘You
may suffer at the first outburst of the good news, but your successors in the
ministry shall behold the world led to Christ’s feet. You may suffer, but you pave the way for
their triumph.’ No! All through the dispensation this evil heart of unbelief is to reign. All through Satan is
the Lord and God of the world. It is
only after resurrection, in the new day
when
Here
Jesus sets Himself on a level with the Father.
To know Him is to own the Father.
To refuse Him is to refuse God.
Under this trial Christians were not to be upheld by power without, as
it was under the Law. Under the Law
power was lodged on the side of truth.
Jehovah would preserve the lives of the obedient. Whatever the force of the enemy, a greater
force would be on their side, delivering them.
We see some marvellous specimens of this in the deliverance of Daniel
and his friends, when the nation was reduced to be subjects and slaves of a
Gentile power. Patience, because of
inward support by the Spirit of truth, is our position. Patience; because thus the
Christ Himself, the Way, the Truth, and Life, lived. And faith; because we see the Saviour exalted by God,
and the time of His victory and [Millennial*] Kingdom coming.
[*
Note. The
4.
‘But these things have I spoken unto you, that when the
hour shall have come, ye may remember that I told you. But these things I told you not from the
beginning, because I was with you.’
Our
confidence increases in a guide who can predict to us all that we shall see, and all that will befall us in a country we have never
travelled. In the days of strife and
suffering which apostles had to endure speedily thereafter, this prophetic word
of Christ sustained them. The Gospel shines out in all its fulness to
sufferers for Christ. He Who has predicted the fight on the road has, however,
promised also the victory at the close.
But
how could our Lord say that He had not told them of this before? Had He not forewarned them of sufferings? Had He not even spoken of the Spirit’s
inspiration, to be granted to those in
peril of their lives because of the truth? (Matt. 10.). He had.
But He had never placed
5. ‘But now am I going
to Him that sent Me, and none of you is asking Me –
“Whither goest Thou?”
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your
heart.’
Here
is Jesus’ formal leave-taking. The time
of His abiding with them in the flesh ceased that night. Jesus, come forth from
heaven to earth as sent by the Father, was now returning to Him. He sets before them, therefore, as the
Prophet of the Church, the trials and the consolations attendant on this new
arrangement of God.
But
why were they not more eagerly pressing with enquiries concerning Jesus’
departure, its manner, and its object?
He
was there to instruct them, had they but pressed Him with their intelligent
enquiries.
But
had not Peter asked, ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’ (13: 36). Yes. But it was with so little of intelligence,
that he thought he could go with the Saviour all through the path He was
treading. And Thomas afterward could
say, ‘We know not whither
Thou goest.’
They
were thinking only of their loss, not of
Christ’s glory; of the point He
was to leave, not of that at which He was to arrive. The Coming One is named ‘the Comforter’ in the view of this hour of sorrow.
But
the Saviour now steps in with His gracious interpretation of their
silence. It was the stunning felt by
sorrow, which shuts the heart and lips.
Jesus was their joy and defence. ‘The Bridegroom was with them.’ But the day
was come, that the Bridegroom should be taken from them. Now is the time of sorrow.
7. ‘But I tell you the
truth. It is good for you that I am
going away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart I will send Him unto you.’
The
‘I’ is emphatic.
As they were silent in their sorrow, Jesus would Himself, without their
asking, inform them in the matter. He
would disclose to them the arrangements of God’s grace, which would raise, even
out of the Saviour’s departure, a blessing to them. The loss was great; but the supply of that
loss in the coming of the Spirit, the Comforter, on the foundation supplied by
the Saviour’s atonement, and its acceptance with God, would be an advance on
any blessing enjoyed then in consequence of our Lord’s presence with them.
By the Saviour’s abiding with them in
the flesh, no redemption would be gained. He must atone, and after atoning go up, and
send the Spirit, as the result of His work completed. The curse of Law and of sin must be removed,
and the Son of Man raised from the dead must pour His Spirit upon His members.
While
the disciples were but a little flock, and confined to
It
was better, therefore, for them that the Saviour should depart. He could not depart without the completion of
His work of grace, in His atoning death and resurrection. Not till then could they draw near to God as
their Father. It is most observable, that not till
after His resurrection does our Lord call His disciples ‘brethren.’ But
His sacrifice over, and Himself raised, this is the first word He puts into the
mouths of His messengers. ‘Then said Jesus unto them,
“Be not afraid, go tell My brethren that they go into
The
Comforter could not descend till Jesus had gone up. Why not?
Because the gulf between God and sinners was not, filled up, save by the
atonement which Jesus made at His leaving the earth. The demands of God’s justice and Law must first
be satisfied, ere the blessings of grace are free to visit the guilty; and the
Holy Ghost is able to dwell with the sons of men. But now that God is glorified in the work of
our Lord completed, the Holy Ghost could come to dwell with the Lord’s
people. The Comforter-Spirit is
come. He can and does work everywhere,
and in the days of the Church’s youth when inspired men (‘prophets’) were found in every church, there was One who could
be consulted in every case of difficulty on the spot - the Infallible [Holy] Spirit of
God. ‘No holy
spirit’ was given upon earth, till the glorification of Christ as the
Righteous Son of the Father. But now
that God is glorified in man as never by any other being, the [Holy] Spirit is able
to be present, and to dwell in individuals, and in the Church as Christ’s body,
as never before.
Ten
days after the Son’s ascent, the Spirit came down, and abides with the
8-11. ‘And when He is come, He shall convict the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin,
because they believe not on Me.
Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged.’
The
effects of the [Holy] Spirit’s coming in two fields of action is
sketched out for us. His work is partly
on the world; partly on the church. His
work upon the world resembles that
which our Lord wrought as the Evangelist when He went from place to place,
testifying of the sins of
His
object is to gather men out of the world (or Satan’s Kingdom) into the Church
(or God’s assembly), which is waiting
for the
1. His first great topic is ‘Sin.’ Many now think, and are saying, that the
great thing for the preacher to insist on is the Love of God. ‘Let him dwell on
the greatness of the goodness shown to men in
sending Christ, the blessedness of the Christian now, and His glory
hereafter.’ But that is not God’s wisdom. That is not the
Spirit’s usual way. To tell most men of God’s goodness, and of
the present blessings, and future ones of redemption, is like telling a man who
feels in health of the benefits of a bitter medicine. He
feels no need of it, and prefers the sweets of the world and the flesh to all
the spiritual benefits of the Gospel.
This
witness was to be to
The
world thinks that unbelief is a mere trifle; perhaps some even defend it as ‘honest and wise.’
They will find one day that ’tis enmity against God, and hatred of His
truth.
But
the Spirit’s plan is to begin with witnessing to man’s sinfulness, and acts of sin. He
testifies of God’s demands, and of man’s disobedience, and of the consequences
of God’s broken Law. Here is enough to
awake the sinner from his dream of happiness in transgression. An eternity of fire lies before him. How will he escape it?
But
the sinfulness of men to whom the Gospel news has come, and who have not
accepted it, is far greater than the sin of those who have merely sinned
against the light of nature, or the demands of Law. The condemnation of the
hearers of the Gospel who have not accepted it, is the
first theme of the Holy Spirit. He has
come as the Witness to God’s mercy in sending the Son, by whose sacrifice of
Himself in death are [has] put away those trespasses of man, which else must
have stood against them to cast them into hell.
Now
to hear of this great salvation and to slight it, is
sin enough to condemn to hell. For a
mail to have heard but once of Christ and pardon, and yet not to seize on it
instantly, is condemnation. It is bad
enough to transgress Law, and to stand out against the claims of God’s
justice. But to despise mercy so great
to one in such guilty and perilous circumstances, is
the chief condemnation. The refusal of
Christ to the end is a sin which will cover with heaviest wrath. Has not Jesus been slain for sin? Has He not risen, because sin is put
away? Have not proofs amply sufficient
been granted? And if it be the truth,
why do you not believe it? Is there any
greater offence than to treat God’s embassy of truth and grace as a lie?
2. But the [Holy] Spirit speaks also of righteousness, as the result of Christ’s finished
work. This topic comes in graciously
between the two others:‑‘SIN’ and ‘JUDGMENT.’ Here is the grace of God. The usual course of things is ‘sin’ and ‘judgment.’ Sin once entered, there is no righteousness; it is
lost. And justice has only to step in to seize the offender, and to sentence him;
when execution at once begins. Yon young man has embezzled money as a clerk at
a bank. His theft is detected. The police are sent for, and he is
imprisoned. He comes forth before the
bar as arraigned of crime. His counsel
will do his utmost to stave off the proofs of his sin. But if those be sufficient to convict, the
penalty must follow. Here - in the Gospel of God’s grace - righteousness steps in
between sin and judgment. It is because
of this that justice and her steps of terror are bidden to pause awhile.
Righteousness has come after sin. After the transgression of
Adam, and the unnumbered offences of his sons, one Son of Man has entered our
world who never transgressed, who always obeyed; and up to His last hour,
though tried by fire, His course was the love of righteousness, the hatred of
iniquity. It is by this title, ‘THE RIGHTEOUS ONE,’ that our
Lord stands distinguished from all other men.
So the Holy Ghost witnesses (Acts 3: 14; 7: 52; 22: 14; 1 Pet. 3: 18; 1 John 2: 1). ‘Ye denied the Holy
One, and the Righteous.’
The
Spirit would first convince the world of Christ’s own righteousness as the
Perfect One, in opposition to the charge of sin brought against Him in His
putting to death as an impostor. ‘Certainly this was a
Righteous Man.’
The personal
righteousness of Christ is established by His resurrection and ascent to God’s
throne. But this personal righteousness
of Christ would not alone and in itself bring us any salvation. God needs a righteousness
for the unrighteous, else how can He pronounce any sinner justified? His wrath is revealed against all
unrighteousness. That this life of
obedience, and its merit are transferable to us, constitutes the Gospel. Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel, because
in it the righteousness of God is revealed (Rom. 1: 17). How can a sinner become righteous before
God? How can he pass out of the world of
the unpardoned and un-renewed, and be received as of the
This
righteousness is (1) from Jehovah (Is. 54: 17); (2) In Jehovah (45: 23). (3) Jehovah
Himself (Jer.
23: 6). Law’s requirement of
righteousness from the men of
The
Old Testament prophets were instructed to testify that of all the sons of men
not one was righteous. But they told also of God’s providing a
righteousness for the guilty,
a righteousness which should be salvation, a righteousness which should be in the Lord Himself, who should
be our Righteousness. The Justice of God
is the destruction of the sinner. The
righteousness of God is the salvation of the believer (Is. 45: 24, 25; 46: 13;
51: 5-8; 54: 17; Jer. 33: 6).
Jesus’
departure, then, out of the tomb, and visible ascent to heaven were the proofs
of His righteousness.
A
day is appointed for judging and sentencing all the unrighteous. The Gospel speaks of the world’s prince as
condemned. Then let us not love the
world! How blind are they who serve a
prince condemned of God to everlasting fire!
His aider and abettors will in the coming day partake
his doom.
Peter’s
sermon at Pentecost was a carrying out of these three points. (1) A discovery to
The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, come down to dissipate the shades, and scatter the errors of
Judaism, is to teach, as one of three prominent doctrines to be enforced on the
world, the existence, wickedness, and doom of the devil. In our day, philosophic Christians are
pooh-poohing this truth. From whose
spirit, reader, must that teaching come, if the teaching about him and God’s
judgment on him be from the Holy Spirit?
Mind,
the Gospel to the world is not – ‘You are a very good sort of people, and only want a little
instruction and improvement;’ but,
‘You are ever living in sin, as a continuous state, until you
turn to Christ!’ Is it not, ‘Now go
and do your best, and if something is wanting at the last, Christ will make it
up.’ It is, ‘Guilty sinner, nothing will save you
but a righteousness not your own; a perfect righteousness, which is found in
Christ alone!’ It is not, ‘God is
love, and you have only to look on His love to be drawn to it.’ It is,
‘You have to do with a God of judgment, with One who will render to each what
he deserves, and to the devil and his servants torment in fire, day and night
for ever and ever!’
The
last subject of the Spirit’s testimony is JUDGMENT. This must follow, as the consequence of
impenitence, and of righteousness refused.
God is just, and He must one day carry out His laws, and execute their
threats against the guilty. And justice
will take effect upon the world, and upon him who rules it. An usurper has
seized on God’s earth, and uses power against Him. He used it against Christ unrighteously to
slay the Righteous One. This cannot be
passed over by God. If just and true, He
must cast down the usurper from his place of power and mischief. Iniquity shall not always triumph, as the
consequence of God’s patience. The Most High has promised that His Son
shall reign over all. It is fitting
that He should. To the Son of Man
Scripture has assigned empire over all.
This was assured to Jesus as the consolation when He was on His way to
His sufferings, as we have seen (12: 27-32). By justice, then, put forth in power, Satan
as the Accuser shall be cast down out of heaven, and out of the earth into the
pit (Rev. 12.). His
iniquities are known, and increasing: he never will repent.
The
sentence began in the Garden of Eden was Confirmed in the Serpent lifted up
under the curse in the wilderness; and again confirmed by our Lord’s words, in
view of Satan’s chief work of evil in pressing on the death of the Saviour. The Holy Ghost then testifies, not of the
prevailing of mercy, to convert the
whole world into the Church, but of the final blows of justice, judging the
world and its lord. Christ must take the nations out of the hand of Satan. The kingdom must be His who has earned it. Up to the close of our dispensation, not
Christ, but the devil is the Ruler of the world.
God’s
testimony is, that while grace is active now, justice
is going to take its terrible
turn. Of this Jesus gave warning (Is. 61). The Sermon at
Pentecost, which introduces the Gospel, bore witness, too, of the enemies of
Christ being made His footstool.
Satan’s
incurableness is brought out by Christ’s mission. Satan tempted the Son of God to worship him! and when that availed not, he roused men, Jew and Gentile, to
persecute the Lord Jesus unto death. He
has sinned evidently beyond forgiveness, and it will be to God’s glory to put him out of the world by force. Jesus anticipated that, as a necessary
consequence of the voice from heaven (12: 28). While he is abroad on the earth, the world’s
accepted usurper, Christ cannot reign,
Reigning is the putting forth of power, rendering to each according to His
deserts. Christ is not reigning now. His idea of reigning is not as it is generally put, ‘ruling
in the hearts of His people,’
but putting His foes under His feet (Luke 19.).
‘My foes, slay them before Me!’
What
the world [now]
is, is known by the character of its favourite
ruler. It hates the light; its deeds are
evil. It persecutes the sons of
God. It cannot accept the Spirit of
God. Its feelings are opposed to the
Christian’s. The world’s time of joy was
the disciples’ time of grief. 0 then, Christian! chosen out of the world by Christ, come out of it!
We
must ask the Holy Spirit to convince of
these things. For
they are sentiments not natural to man.
Specially about judgment at hand. For the smooth flow of the world in England
for so long, and the teachings of science falsely so called, have made men
believe that God will not, or cannot, put forth judgment on His own world.
These
topics, then, let us seek to enforce on the world. It is disbelieving them all, it is ignorant
of all. Let us press them on its
attention. Those who are God’s elect will thus be won. Following where the Spirit leads, we shall
best prevail.
12. ‘I have still many
things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He
will lead you into all the truth. For He shall not speak from Himself, but
whatever ye shall hear, He shall speak, and He shall relate to you the things
that are coming.’
They
had not too high thoughts of Christ; they saw but little of the necessity and glory of His Person, and His work,
and of the consequences it would introduce, in setting Moses and the old
dispensation utterly aside. Jesus knew
how much the disciples could bear, and taught them as they were able to bear
it. The carrying out of this was to be
the work of the Holy Ghost, after Jesus’ visible work on earth was past. On the
footing of resurrection come in, and the Holy Spirit come down, they would be
made Christians in understanding, and in practice.
The
coming of the [Holy] Spirit
is the great event to which Jesus bade His disciples look onward. They
were not to begin their testimony till He who could
inspire them with perfect knowledge and accuracy, and could carry on His
invisible work with power, should have been sent down from on high. As the Spirit of truth He maintains and
pushes on the truth of God, and holds in cheek the spirits of Antichrist and of
error.
How
opposite God and the world must be! The
devil, the lord and god of this world; the Holy Spirit leading out of it! To
seek the favour of the world is to be ‘the enemy of
God.’ Unless we see this close union of the world
and the devil, we shall not discern the
beauty and force of God’s rite of immersion, appointed to those who believe in
Christ. That tells of our leaving the
world and its Prince by death and burial, to belong to Christ the risen. Those who would escape the woes coming, on
the world must come out of the world.
Satan
is already judged and condemned. But he
is not yet arrested. It is the time of
mercy, and therefore even he is at large.
But execution is about to be done on him. He
shall find the sceptre over the nations wrested from his hand, and given to
Christ. Happy days! when the world shall serve the
Lord! Do you, reader, belong to the
world? The [Holy] Spirit would reprove you. Not, ‘Go on: it is all right!’ But, ‘turn or
perish!’ All you pursue is dross. Leave the
vessel you are on! It is about to sink.
Step on board the life-boat!
Parts
of the truth had been told the disciples previously, but the whole was now to
be made known. They heard, but
understood not much of what our Lord said.
The full comprehension at that moment, of the truth, had been a burthen
both to understanding and heart.
The
spirit of the world speaks of man’s glory, the great things of what he has done, and will do. They who are of the world speak of it, and
the worldly listen. But this is a token
of a false spirit.
The
13th verse is a test of new teachers, and new doctrine. ‘What is their spirit? What doctrines
do they teach? Do they agree with Scripture?’ The [Holy] Spirit is a guide - He leads and instructs - He is
a Person therefore. He leads across a
barren and dangerous land, full of pits and robbers. The Holy Spirit joyfully takes a subordinate
place to the Son, as the Son also does to the Father. Jealousy and pride have no place there.
‘Into all the truth.’ Not truths
about creation; but about Christ, His person, and work. The Holy Ghost calls off now the members of
Christ from the study of creation to that of redemption. As our studies are, so
will our hearts be. If earthly things
engage us, our hearts will become earthly. The Holy Spirit therefore, is come down to
lift up our hearts and studies heavenward.
But in the fulness of the words – ‘all the truth’ - it was true of the
apostles only: although in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament we have
the entire wind of God in its great outlines.
‘For He shall not speak from Himself.’ The
Holy Spirit has no special aims of His own.
He would come to carry out the plans of the Father and the Son.
‘Whatsoever He shall
hear.’ This may remind us of David’s life. He rescues Keilah
from the Philistines. The news of
David’s victory comes to Saul. David
feared the plotting of Saul. He enquires
of the Lord, ‘Will
he come down?’ ‘Will the men of Kellah deliver me
up?’ God answered, ‘He will come down, and the men of Kellah will deliver thee.’ Thus again
David, in peril of life, having a friend at Saul’s court, led him to declare
what transpired in his interview with his father, and was thus enabled to
escape.
‘But whatever He
shall hear, that shall He speak.’
This
supposes that there would be constant communications between earth and
heaven. The Holy Spirit searches all
things, yea, the deep things of God. He is aware of the counsels of the Father and
the Son, and would make them known to God’s beloved ones on earth. So David arranged that tidings of the
usurping son should be sent to him out of the city of
‘He shall speak.’ The
Holy Spirit does not speak now. We have His writings. But
He was not promised as a writing Spirit, but as a speaking one. This
shows how we are fallen. We are worse
off than
Beforetime,
the Holy Ghost spoke by the mouth of His inspired ones; and foretold the future
by prophets (Acts
11: 28; 16: 6, 7; 20: 23; 21: 4).
The
Holy Ghost should ‘relate to them the things that are to come to pass.’ It refers to
word of mouth. And the prophets did stand up of old, and
say, ‘Thus saith
the Holy Ghost.’ ‘In every city (says Paul) the Holy Ghost warns me of troubles and bonds.’ While, then,
some point to the Apocalypse as the fulfilment of this word, I, while thanking
the Father for this His gift to Christ, and through Him to us, do not find that
this writing
at all absorbs the promise of the Holy Spirit’s speaking.
Has
the Holy Spirit heard nothing since John’s day?
Are there not ten thousand points about which we would gladly ask of
God, and receive an inspired reply? ‘Is this brother to enter the ministry of the word? Ought the believers of
The
Holy Spirit is a prophetic Spirit. Despise not prophecy. It is God’s lamp kindled to enable you to
move in the dark, while in default of it
many fall into Satan’s pits. The [Holy] Spirit is sent
to warn us of the troublous times close
at hand that we may escape them. For
God’s witnesses to the word of prophecy will, in general, be preserved out of
the dark days to come oven as Enoch, who foretold the Lord’s coming in wrath,
was not left to the times of the Flood, but caught away before them.
14, 15. ‘He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine, and relate it unto you. All that the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I unto you, that He taketh of what is
Mine, and relateth it to you.’
The Son and the Holy Spirit do not seek to exalt
themselves or to set up an independent line of acting. The devil, on the
contrary, exalts himself; and dared to ask of the
Saviour the worship due to God alone. The false prophets spoke lies to glorify themselves, and to please the
people, out of their own heart; and not what they had heard from God (Jer. 23: 6; Is. 21: 10).
The
[Holy] Spirit
is a person. He hears, He leads, He
teaches. He knows all, and so is omniscient.
‘Take of mine.’ Little did the Jews understand how the coming
of the Son of God had made void the whole scheme of Moses to them who
believe! It needed the [Holy] Spirit of God
to tell us what the Law meant by its feasts, fasts, sacrifices, priests, and so
on. ‘The body (or substance)
is Christ.’
Jesus
came not to glorify Himself, but the Father.
The [Holy]
Spirit came to glorify the Father and the Son.
The fund whereon the Holy Spirit would draw, is
the glory of Christ. So apostles preached Christ. This is the test
of true ministry. Does it exalt
Christ? That which does so exalt Him, is
of the Holy Ghost. That is not of the Spirit that overlooks Christ. This is the [Holy] Spirit’s wide field –
Jesus’ Person and Work. He presents to
the believer what Christ is in Himself, and to us. Twice is the [Holy] Spirit’s speaking mentioned; thrice His relating or
reporting things: what Christ has done, what He is doing, what He is about to do. Nay,
the Father and the Son are so closely allied, the Father has so made His Son heir of all, that the Holy Ghost in taking up
the glory of the Son, testifies,
too, of the glory of the Father. Thus we have brought before our notice the
entire unity there is of affection, counsel, and possession in the Father, Son,
and [Holy]
Spirit. How impious were these sayings,
if spoken by any, save one possessed of
Godhead!
We
are admitted, then, in the prophetic word to the counsels of God. It is a great thing with the world to know
the plans of a court. How great an
honour would it be counted, were we to be admitted to the Cabinet-council of
Her Majesty Queen Victoria! But we know,
or may know, by the words of God’s
prophecies, of events coming to pass
so vast, so enduring, and so telling upon us and our interests, that the
secrets of the British Government are as nothing in the balance.
And
the more we know of the Father and the Son by the [Holy] Spirit, the more shall we be led to sever ourselves
from the world; for prophecy teaches
both the present wickedness, and the future awful doom that is coming on the
world.
It
seems that this 16th
verse should be looked at in view of the
previous promise of the Spirits descent. By virtue of that, after Jesus’ ascent, the disciples behold Christ by faith as on
high. And so do we
now. Of this mysterious and deep saying, there are several applications. Jesus is now the ascended High Priest, gone
into the Holiest with His own blood, as the result of His death. The
joy is not complete until He comes out again; although faith beholds
Him accepted on High, as the consequence of His resurrection. This, as Jesus
said, was to be one point of the [Holy] Spirit’s testification.
The
omission of the last clause of this verse by some of the manuscripts seems to
be due to its difficulty. ‘How could the departure of
Christ to be with the Father be the cause of their seeing Him?’ But, rightly regarded, the meaning is good. ‘My going away to
the Father, is, as I have told you, the reason of the Spirit’s
being sent. And the coming of the
Spirit will be to you the enlightening of faith’s eye, concerning the place and cause of My absence.’
During
Jesus’ death, burial, and descent into
Hades, faith and hope were gone, and the flesh saw not the Saviour. But with the
resurrection, and the descent of the
[Holy] Spirit,
faith, hope, and love revived; and these graces created by the Holy Ghost,
mount up to the Presence of Christ on high.
Here
again, the doctrine of the Trinity is manifestly supposed. The Father glorifies the Son. He has made Him heir of all. The Son came at the Father’s desire to unfold
the Father’s mind, and to execute His plan, revealing the Father as He alone
can do. The Son of God is now speaking
before Pentecost, and He tells us, that the [Holy] Spirit should descend to testify to His church
respecting Himself. Accordingly it was so, and is so. The testimony of the world is to the goodness
and greatness of fallen man, and the great things he is going to do. The Holy Ghost, on the other hand, mars by
the prophetic word, the glory of all man’s present and future doings; and
establishes the Lordship and coming
glory of the Kingdom of the Son.
Here are three Persons with
their movements on behalf of God, and His redeemed of mankind.
16. ‘A little while, and
ye behold Me not, and again a little while and ye
shall see Me, because I am going to the Father.’
These
words the disciples found to be difficult; and in spite of all the light thrown
on them by the Saviour’s and the [Holy] Spirit’s words and works since, they are difficult
still. They seem to have two especial
fulfilments.
1.
To the apostles in that day. Jesus was to be put to death unseen by most
of them; He was to be buried [as a disembodied
soul in the underworld of Hades] unseen
by them all. But on the third day He
rises, and presents Himself to them. The
second ‘little
while’ would then he the ten days
intervening between Jesus’ ascent and the Holy Spirit’s descent, which was in
one view of it (so close is the connection, so entire the resemblance of
perfections between the Son and the Spirit), the return of Christ. This would be the spiritual beholding of
Christ by His elect; not by the world.
Hence we must not confound it with the Saviour’s return to take His
people to Himself; and much less, with His coming visibly in person in the
clouds to take the kingdom over heaven
and earth.
Jesus’
ascent to the Father while yet the disciples see Him, is a proof of this. The view that apostles and we have of Christ
while in heaven with the Father, can only be a spiritual sight produced by the
Holy Spirit. And this work of the Holy
Ghost is the result of Christ’s ascent to the Father. For had He not ascended,
the [Holy]
Spirit had not descended. But His
descent is the result of the Saviour’s ascent, and thus the Holy Ghost becomes
the Witness of the Saviour’s glory
above; and moves upon our spirits to give us faith’s view of His Presence and
Intercession there on our behalf.
2.
We may regard these words as applying to the Church. Jesus is away; and,
reckoned by God’s timepiece, His absence has been less than two
days. For with Him a thousand years are but as one
day. Soon we shall see our
Lord in person, and, risen ourselves, behold the Risen
One, our Head.
In
verses 17 and 18 we have a statement of the apostles’ perplexity
arising out of these mysterious words. For, as the Saviour said at the first to Nicodemus, the words of
one born of the Spirit are mysterious, as the sounds and movements of the wind. Better to confess our ignorance than to
pretend to knowledge. ‘For God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble.’
19, 20. ‘Jesus knew that they
were wishing to ask Him, and He said to them – “Are ye enquiring among
yourselves because I said, ‘A little while and ye behold Me
not, and again a little, and ye shall see Me?’ Verily, Verily, I say unto you
that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”’
Jesus’
omniscience is discovered here. He was
aware of their ignorance of His meaning, and of their desire to ask, kept back
by their fears. He at once, then,
answers thereto, and they perceive that He was aware of their desire; and they
express their assurance (v. 30) that
Jesus knew all, and needed not to be directly appealed to, as men in general
do. This
attributes to Him one of the perfections of God.
He
gives, then, somewhat of an explanation of the difficulty. 1.
This refers primarily to the twelve, and to the time of sorrow introduced by
the Saviour’s death and burial. It is
literally testified (Luke 23: 27)
that apostles did weep. The world
rejoiced also. The foes of Christ
exulted in His death. All but the
disciples were glad. This shows the
different, yea, opposite hearts of the world and the church. Our joys and our griefs show what we
are. The world, then, is the foe of
Christ, as truly as is the devil. His
joy and theirs are the same. They
rejoice over every trouble and defeat, real or imagined, of the
But a change would soon
come. The third day the disciples beheld
the Saviour delivered from the tomb. They rejoiced therefore. This is testified by the same Evangelist (Luke 24: 41, 52; John 20:
20). Their grief would turn to joy. Great as was the grief of death, great was
the joy of the victory over it.
The
words, then, take a wider sweep, as applying to the church at large. The
time of the Saviour’s absence is the time of the world’s joy, of the Church’s
sorrow. But those who sorrow for
Christ’s absence, during which time the world rejoices that it is left alone to
follow its own ways, will find that, in
the coming day, joy shall take the place of grief. It is, however, more definite still. It is not merely that in the church that
awaits Christ joy shall thrust out grief; but it is also true that the very
subject of grief becomes at length the subject of joy. Death, specially as
smiting Christ, had in it something lamentable and terrible. While death rules over the sons of men, what
room can there be for true joy? But how
far better for us that Christ should die,
and by resurrection turn the
disciples’ grief to gladness! How far more glorious to Christ Himself His
coping with death! Out of His
humiliation there has sprung His victory for us.
21, 22. ‘The woman when she
is bringing forth hath grief, because her hour is come but when she hath borne
the child she remembereth no more the trouble,
because of the joy that a man is born into the world. And ye, therefore, now, indeed, have
grief; but I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice, and your joy none taketh from you.’
Christ’s
death under Law and its curse, as the result of Adam’s and
[*
Note. The words: “He led captivity captive” (Eph.
4: 8), does not teach that when Christ ascended from the underworld of
Hades, He then took all the godly dead from there into Heaven with
Him! If this was true, then Peter, at
the time of Pentecost, must have been mistaken when he said – 10 days after our
Lord’s ascension after His 40-day post Resurrection ministry upon
this earth – that “David is NOT ascended to Heaven:”
(Acts 2: 34, N. I. V.).
The powers which could not restrain the Lord in the underworld
of the dead, where those of His enemies, and not those of His
friends. See Judges 5: 12,
where the first mention of the words are used - “Awake,
awake, Debbora; awake, awake, utter a song: asise, Barac, and lead thy captivity captive…”
(Judges 5: 12, LXX).
When
our Lord’s ‘soul’ left ‘Hades’
- the place of the souls of the dead (Matt. 16: 18;
Luke 16: 23, 26 31; Rev. 6: 9-11, etc.) – and was reunited to His ‘Body,’ lying motionless in Joseph’s tomb, no other
disembodied soul was resurrected from that place at that time.]
In
the figure before us - (1) the disciples are the mother,
(2) Jesus is the child; then, the source of sorrow; presently after, the source of eternal joy.
The pregnancy of the woman
answers to the hopes of the kingdom of God, conceived by the
disciples out of the promises of the Most High given in Moses and the
Prophets. But, because of sin’s
going before, those glories must be preceded
by the atonement of Christ through death; or, in the words of the
Garden, the bruising of the heel of the Woman’s seed must go before the bruising of the Serpent’s head. These hopes grew stronger and fuller as the hour of their fulfilling approached. But the hour of trouble was then come, and it would still increase in sorrow up to the
resurrection. Jesus’ death and
burial was to them the loss of the hopes
of the kingdom, as well as the loss of His person (Luke xxiv.)
While
the day of Jesus’ resurrection was in some sense the fulfilment of the
Saviour’s words concerning the joy [yet] to come, it was not the completion of them, for
which we have yet to look. This is proved by three considerations - (1) The child was snatched away from the mother’s eyes. There was the Saviour’s going to the
Father. (2) The joy of the apostles was
not full; the time of it not come. ’Twas to be the time of witness to Christ, and of conflict and
trouble for Him. (3) In that day
no questions are to be asked. But the apostles on meeting Christ after
resurrection did ask (Acts 1.)
That
day was the hour of the grief of Jesus, and of their grief. There was sorrow; but it was the grief over
birth, not over death. Jesus’ death,
followed so closely by resurrection, was rather a birth - a birth out of the
tomb. This time of trouble was
necessary. Without it the joy could not
come. Until Christ by resurrection had
put away sin and death, the joy of reconciliation with God, and eternal life
could not come. Our joy is heavenly,
over sin put away, and the sting of death drawn.
But the grief was only an ‘hour’ - the time of sorrow was brief, the joy unending. The world’s joy is brief, its
end is sorrow and death. The brief
sorrow of birth draws after it the abiding joy over the new and abiding
acquisition. In this view, Jesus risen is the ‘man born into the world.’ On His resurrection all joy to His people turns.
Great was the joy of the disciples at beholding Jesus restored to them
out of the tomb, no more to enter it. But their joy was in some sort of brief
duration, because of the Saviour’s departure again from them. That was not the birth ‘into the habitable earth the
second time,’ of which Paul in Hebrews 1: 6 speaks. The basis of that is laid. But until
the kingdom is come, the Father has not a second time introduced the Son
(See marg.) For then the time of mercy to the world
is over, and judgment takes its terrible course over the lost. Jesus
is to be shown to the world, as its Heir and Head. The
brief scenes of the forty days of resurrection were not our Lord’s
manifestation. It was as if the babe
had been only shown a moment to the mother, and then borne away!
Jesus
was not presented to ‘the world.’ Then the sorrow of those who have grieved
over Christ’s absence, will become joy. That of course, supposes,
that they have not taken part with the
world, or partaken of its joys. Else
they are regarded as of the world, and so awaiting the judgments threatened
thereto.
The
Saviour and the disciples answer to the travailing woman. It was then the Saviour’s ‘hour’ of trial, anticipated from the first, and gradually
drawing nearer, till at length it was clear, that His death at the hands of
foes drew on. This was sorrow to both
the Saviour and the disciples. Yet that
death was necessary, else there would be no victory over our chief foe. Christ’s death was to be followed by His
resurrection, which was His second birth.
To this Psalm
2. alludes, ‘Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.’ To this second
birth out of death and the tomb, John 3: 5 alludes, as to a birth which may take
place at any time in a man’s life, and after a mother’s death, however tall and
old a man may be. To this also the
Saviour’s word concerning John Baptist refers.
‘Among the
born
of women there hath not
arisen a greater than John the Baptist; but the least in the kingdom of the
heavens is greater than he’ (Matt. 11: 11). John’s
ordinary birth introduced him to the
*
Or, its equivalent, the change of the living believer from mortality to
immortality.
Of
this birth out of the tomb like our Lord’s, the immersion commanded to the
believer is the visible emblem (
The
crisis of death ended, the Saviour’s resurrection come, great
was the joy of the disciples. The death,
then, was really the occasion of the joy.
Without the death there would be no salvation, no rising into the life
of eternity.
The
new birth of the believer now in baptism admits him in spirit into a new
world. But there must be a new birth of
the body as well as of the spirit, to introduce him fully into the eternal world of glory, and of joy.
Jesus’
new birth out of the tomb introduced Him into a new world. But He was not shown to that world. He was
behold, and only for awhile briefly, and at intervals by the disciples. His
manifestation, as the result of that birth, to the world, has yet to come. The angels, at His first entry into the
world, or ‘habitable
earth,’ sang praises. But when He is the second time brought in by
the Father, all the angels shall worship Him (Heb, 1: 6). Also - and
that in connection with the [coming] kingdom - Jesus is to be anointed with the oil of joy
beyond His companions. The [millennial] kingdom,
then, is the time of this manifestation, wherein the sorrows of this little
while will be swallowed up in the exceeding joy of the victory over death. When the mortal is swallowed up of
immortality, and the corruptible by incorruption, then is brought to pass the saying, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ Then
comes the chorus of triumph – ‘0 death, where is thy sting?
0 Hades, where is thy victory?’
The
passage in Hebrews just noticed puts together in one place Jesus and His
beloved ones as partaking of the joy of the kingdom, while the pre-eminent
place is given to Him. In John’s other
writing - the Apocalypse - we see the connection with the previous passages,
and with
22, 24. ‘And ye now,
therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy none taketh from you.’
This
is the application of the figure. It has
two aspects. (1) It may be said to refer to the sorrow then of Jesus’
disciples at His apprehended
death. That was to be removed by His
manifesting Himself to His apostles after His resurrection. The sorrow was necessary, a part of God’s
counsel and prediction. Before the
bruising of the serpent’s head must come the bruising of the heel of the
Woman’s Seed.
(2)
But Jesus would manifest Himself to them.
That would be their time of joy. ‘Your heart shall rejoice.’ A manifest
reference is here to Isaiah
66: 5, 6, 14.
They
would then be in circumstances so far superior, as not to need to ask the
Saviour questions. This refers back to
the acknowledged ignorance of the disciples, in relation to the question which
they wished to ask our Lord.
But
the sorrow in its fulness applies now. ’Tis the time of Sorrow. Great
are our hopes, and strong the assurance of the kingdom and glory to come! But the birth of the Great Ruler of the
nations has not yet taken place. It is to be in resurrection. And it is to be the joint manifestation of
Jesus and His companions to the world. Then the sorrows of the way thither will
be forgotten - swallowed up in victory!
23, ‘And in that
day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will
give it you. Up till now ye have asked
nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, that
your joy may be fulfilled.’
What
is ‘that day?’ (1) Not the forty days of
the Saviour’s resurrection and appearance among them. For in that day they did ask (Acts 1: 6) and receive no direct reply to their difficulty. (2) Not the time of the [Holy] Spirit’s
Pentecostal descent, the continuance of which makes the present dispensation of
grace. For in this day (and even in
apostolic times) questions arose, difficult to be solved even by apostles. Remark the great question discussed in Acts 15. (3) That day refers to the
future period, so well known to the
prophets of the Old Testament - the millennial day - the day of reward, of the Saviour’s
advent, of resurrection,
and glory - the Old Testament prophets giving its
aspect towards
Our
understanding of prophetic Scripture turns much on our perception of the two
great days - (1) ‘This day’ of grace and mercy,
but of trial and suffering; because evil is abroad, and in power. (2) ‘That day,’ the coming one of justice and reward to
be introduced by the Lord Jesus at His coming; for blessing to His obedient ones;
for destruction to Satan and His agents. Thus it falls in
naturally with the preceding context.
Christ
is the Son of Jerusalem, born into the world anew in resurrection, through His
suffering unto death. But His manifestation as the Risen One has been put off, because that would
at once cut short mercy to the world, and end the gathering of the
Church. We wait, therefore, patiently in
this day of work and trouble, looking for ‘that day,’ a new
one, of rest.*
* Take some
passages illustrative of this. (1) In
the Old Testament, Isa. 2: 11, 17; 24: 21; 25.,26: 1;
Zech. 14.
(2)
In the New Testament, Matt. 7: 21, 22; 26: 29; Luke
21: 34; 2 Tim. 1: 12, 18; 4: 8.
There
will be no need then to ask ought. (1)
For the difficulties of understanding God’s counsels, and doctrines, and providences, will then be
cleared up.
(2)
And the difficulties of the way, the perils, conflicts, discouragements, which
require us to ask counsel and aid, will be over then.
The
Saviour solemnly inaugurates by His own authority the new manner and access to
God by prayer. (1) The address is to be made God, as the Father. This
could not be, while men were under Law.
And they were under Law, till the Son came. Those under Law have God as Master, and they are slaves; toiling to deliver themselves from
their just deserts. The two forms of
worship under Moses were - (1) At the presentation of first-fruits, which,
supposed Jehovah, the God of Sinai, to be addressed, and His people to be
settled in their earthly heritage; while the Lord was stationed on the earth,
and in the tabernacle: (Deut. 26: 1-10). (2) The second (found in the same chapter)
was a prayer to be uttered before the Lord at the third year’s tithing. It rested upon the assumption and the
assertion of the entire and perfect obedience of the offerer. It was a prayer for a
blessing on
(1)
But with our Lord's teaching as the Son, comes the new name of God as ‘Father’ - ‘Father in heaven;’ and the Saviour in His early ministry taught His
disciples to address God as their Father, even as He Himself did. (2) But now is added the asking God on
the merits, and as in the person of, the Son. ‘In My name.’ This
is the great advance! We ourselves
and our merits are out of sight. Here is the blessed contrast between the Law
and the Gospel, as shown in the worship of Deuteronomy 26. Here (3) the sphere of prayer is
enlarged. It includes all we need. ‘In everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving.’ (4) There is also the assurance
of the answer of blessing. The 24th verse notices that this was a novelty. It did not come to light till the death and
resurrection of Christ; His merits being the ground of the new approach to
God. Here is the warranty for applying
the word.
God
designs that His people should rejoice, and that their joy should be
complete. Their peace is complete, for
it is in Christ. So should their joy be.
25. ‘These things have I
spoken unto you in proverbs; but the hour cometh when I shall no longer speak
to you in proverbs, but shall openly relate to you concerning the Father.’
The
expression ‘these
things’ probably refers to the
Saviour’s last discourse. And this was
made up of figures and dark sayings, as the washing of feet, the parable of the
vine, and of the child’s birth.
The
descent of the Holy Spirit introduced a day of new intelligence for the
disciples. And then the mystery of the
Trinity was clearly unfolded to the disciples, even as the Lord Jesus Himself discovered it to them on
the eve of His departure on high (Matt. 28: 19). Hence the
period is called, ‘the hour.’ It is but a brief one. The discovery of the Father was not made till
after the sacrifice of the Son, as the Father’s gift; and till His
resurrection; wherein He was declared the Son of God with power. Out of this resurrection, and ascent of the
Son, the Holy Ghost came down, and He is to believers the witness of the Father
and the Son. The chief subject of the
Son’s revelation is the Father. This is
the root of all the peculiarities of our dispensation.
The
Saviour was aware how imperfectly the disciples understood His words. They were too deep to be understood, till the
[Holy] Spirit
should have communicated the necessary light.
But another day was coming, in which these measured and guarded
utterances would be removed. All,
indeed, which has been granted hitherto to either apostle or disciple
has not perfectly fulfilled this word.
The Father will fully be known only in the Father’s home with Christ in
glory. But there was a great discovery
of the Father and the Son at the [Holy] Spirit’s descent, as John’s Epistle shows.
26. ‘In that day ye shall
ask in My name, and I say not unto you that I will ask the Father on your
behalf; for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and
believed that I came out from God.’
This
day here spoken of must be found now, for it is the hour of trial, and of
prayer in the Saviour’s name, while He is away.
The ‘day’ of trial of verse 26 takes up and
expounds the ‘hour’ of verse
25.
It
introduces a new view. The Saviour’s
intercession was good. But towards those
who believe in and love the Son, the Father feels a father’s affection. We have need to keep
close to Scripture here. In our day
there is a strong and increasing current setting in, which teaches that God is
the Father of all men, and that Christ has by His Incarnation united Himself
with all men. There is (1) a studious keeping in the
background of the Justice of God as the
Judge of all; and of the impossibility of any coming to God with acceptance, save through the atoning blood of Christ. There (2) is a hiding, or denial of the need
of entire change of nature by
the Holy Spirit, without which man is only under condemnation and wrath; the
child of the Wicked One, and not of God.
There is also (3) a marked refusal of God’s
electing love, which proves how deeply rooted is the enmity of man against God;
so profoundly ingrained, that unless regenerated, never does man turn to God.
‘The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have
loved Me, and believed.’ This
is spoken of as the aspect of God, not towards all men, but towards
believers. It will be instructive to
compare this with what our Lord says about God’s love to the world (John 3: 14-17). Here we have
the Son of Man lifted up, because God (not
it is said ‘the
Father’) so loved the world that He gave His Son. ‘God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn it, but to save.’ ‘If God were your Father,’ said Jesus, to the unbelieving Jews, ‘Ye would love Me’ (8: 42). But, indeed, as
the seed of the Serpent, they had both seen and hated both Him and His Father (15: 24, 25; 7: 7-19). The devil, as
the prince of the world, is a being after the world’s heart.
These words, then, are true of God’s elect, and believing ones only. Faith in the Son of God, and love to Him are
the grounds of this love of the Father, produced by Himself in the first
instance, as the resulting of His electing love. Herein these loved ones are the contrast to
the world, which refuses to believe the [Holy] Spirit, and the testimony borne by the Holy Ghost
to the Son. The world loves darkness,
and prefers it to the light of the Son of God, whom it hates. Here is the secret of the refusal of the
Gospel by so many. To very many
Christians it seems as if the world’s refusal of Christ were accidental;
due to this or that mistake on the world’s part, and capable of being removed,
by the removal of this or that defect found in the preachers of the
Gospel. Now here this is seen to be not
so. Were men perfect as angels to preach
the Gospel, and with renewed evidence of miracle, the world would but take up
anew its attitude of fierce hatred, and would persecute unto death.
‘The Father Himself
loveth you.’ Blessed words!
He so loves His Son, that He loves all who accept Ifini,
and who credit His testimony about His Son.
Nay, He has deigned to make us members of His Son, and loves us as He
loves Christ. His love towards the world
is a love of compassion felt in despite of its known
hatefulness and ungodliness. But this
love of believers is a love of delight, felt toward
them, in so far as their ways and sentiments are lovely in God’s eyes. The heart of the Father is toward believers
in His Son. He chose them before the world
began, while they were yet in their sins, and still members of Adam. But the Son’s atonement being now accepted,
the Father’s heart of love is open toward them.
He and we are of one sentiment concerning the Son. Contrast the world’s feeling (Luke 19: 14), ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
‘The Father Himself loveth you.’ It is an
abiding love; for we are sons in Christ the Son. And such as are God’s
constant love and favour toward Christ, such are His love and favour
toward them. ‘But how if they sin
wilfully?’ What happens, when children of earth sin against
the parents of their flesh? There are
two effects. (1).
First on the disobedient child. While
he does not cease to be a child because of his disobedience, yet he loses all confidence, and
communion, in coming to his father. He
rather stays away, for his soul is ill at ease before his offended parent. (2). There is an effect on the father. He
loves his son still, but he is displeased.
He must show his love now in
another way, by the rod.
Jesus
intercedes with God for transgressors (Is.
53: 12). But for sons He intercedes as the ‘Advocate with the Father’ (1 John 2). God is
perfectly reconciled to them, as believers in His Son. The work of Christ has brought in everlasting
peace for them. They do not now need
Christ, as
We have next the ground of this love. ‘Because ye have loved Me.’
The Father
loves the Son beyond all measure. He
loves also those who love Christ His Son The world disbelieves and hates. It is a relief and joy to look on those who
believe in and love His Son. The Lord
increase our love to His Son !
‘And believed that I
came out from God.’ It was of Himself alone, that
this was and is true. Of John Baptist it
is said, that He was a man sent by God; but not that he ‘came out from God.’ John came to
bear witness to Him that was in the beginning with God. But Jesus bore witness to Himself, as the Son
who was from eternity with the Father.
And the Father bore witness to Him as His Beloved Son; while the [Holy] Spirit was sent
down to bear additional testimony. None, then, is loved by the Father, who
refuses the witness to the Trinity of the Godhead. He who denies the reality and eternity of the
relation of the Father and the Son is of the world, an unbeliever; blinded by
the spirit of the Antichrist, which denies the Father and the Son.
No
love of Christ is true or accepted by the Father, which does not rest on His
oneness of nature with the Father, and His mission by Him.
‘I came out from God.’ Thus
Jesus testifies to His prior existence in the Godhead. He left His original place of joy, glory, and
power, to appear on the earth. ‘Life was manifested, and we
saw it, and bear witness, and declare to you the Eternal Life which was with
the Father [here His
Eternal Sonship and glory are testified], and was manifested unto us.’ Here we have the Saviour’s incarnation and life on
earth.
28. ‘I came out from the
Father, and came into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to
the Father.’
Jesus traces very briefly
His history as a descent from the Father on high to earth; and then to return,
therefore, to heaven. ‘Again.’ This marks the
contrary, or return-action to the former one.
Jesus returns to God, as the counterpart of His coming forth from God.
29, 30. ‘His disciples said
unto Him, “Lo, now speakest Thou plainly and speakest
no proverb. Now we know that Thou
knowest all things, and needest not that any should ask Thee; herein we believe
that Thou camest out from God.’
The
few words of the 28th
verse threw such light on the whole
course of the Saviour, that the disciples thought that
all was now explained. He was the Son
before He took flesh. After death He
went back to the Father. The descent
from the Father to the earth was met in its due time by an ascent from earth,
which took Him back to the Father. Thus
His pre-existence, His original place of abode, His point of departure before
His incarnation, were made known. And
now He was about to depart from earth, and His journey would take Him back to
the place of His original and eternal sojourn.
Twice
we have emphasis laid on ‘now,’ and for
the third time we have ‘hereby.’ This later discovery of the Saviour’s
knowledge is a new ground for their faith and confession. They see a glimpse of the reason for the
Saviour’s departure and ascent to the Father, in the testimony of His descent
from the Father.
The
apostles then understood hereby that Jesus was giving a reply to the difficulty
which they had experienced in regard to His words concerning the ‘little whiles.’ They could
not understand them. How could He be the Messiah of the prophets, the Son of
David, the Hope of Israel, reigning over earth at Jerusalem, if He were going
away, and they knew not whither?
Hereby
they learned that Jesus was also ‘Son of God,’ and that before He became ‘Son of David.’ He was going
back to His Father in heaven to sit with Him on His throne before He appears on earth as the Son of David, the Ruler of God’s
earthly people
They
saw that Jesus read their thoughts, and knew their desire (v. 17-19) to ask Him, without any one of their number
expressing this desire. Hence they
gather His knowledge of all things. He
who can read the thoughts is One who can know all
things. They see in this a power greater
than man’s; a proof of His original abode with God,
and partaking of His nature and attributes.
31-33. ‘Jesus answered them, “Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh,
yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered each to his own, and shall leave Me
alone; yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you that in Me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have
persecution, but be of good courage, I have overcome the world.’
There
is considerable difference of opinion as to whether we should read the
Saviour’s words in ver.
31 affirmatively or as a question.
1.
Some regard the words as being primarily those of joy on our Lord’s part, that at
length they had understood, and now openly confessed their faith in His nature
and mission, which so long and earnestly He had been labouring to impress on
them. ‘On them
He insists,’ say these expositors, ‘with much
feeling in His prayer to His Father in the next chapter.’ ‘Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast
given Me are of Thee.
For I have given them the words which Thou gavest Me,
and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and have believed that Thou didst send Me.’
2.
Or should we read them as a question? as given by our
translators. It would seem most likely
that the words are so to be taken. They
do not deny the apostles’
faith; they show only the shallowness of intelligence and power of faith, which
would require the [Holy]
Spirit’s descent and abiding, as the Saviour had declared. For the words of the apostles read somewhat
like a denial of Jesus’ testimony about their ignorance, and their inability to
comprehend then the depth of His
proverbs.
The
difference introduced by the two modes of viewing the matter is not great. The truth lies in accepting both sides - the
reality of the apostles’ faith on the one hand; and the apparent destruction of
it, in the severe test to be applied to it during the devil’s hour and power of
darkness, on the other hand.
The
apostles did now believe, and openly
testify their acceptance of the essential points so oft enforced on
A
period, a brief one, of scattering, was at hand; as foretold by Zechariah. ‘I will
smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.’ The centre to which the disciples were
accustomed to gather was to be taken away.
Hence they would be broken into parts, and turn again to the homes of
earth to which they looked at first.
‘They would leave the Son alone.’ This is
described for us in chapter
18.
But the Father would still be with Him.
The
stress of the storm falling on Christ, they would all leave Him, in order to
get shelter for themselves - in spite of their faith in His Divine nature just
testified.
It
is part of God’s counsel that the superiority of the Son of God above the sons
of men should appear. He can stand, where they are swept away as dry leaves.
The
Saviour’s strength came not from men, or from the firmness of friends in His
cause; but from His Father. He would be
with Him, depart who might!
So
Paul could say, ‘At
my first answer none stood by me, but all forsook me.’ Let us not reckon on friends as assured
helps, lest they fail us.
This word is said in designed contrast to the Gnostic idea - that ‘Jesus’ was only the man born in
time; indebted for His knowledge and power to ‘the Christ,’ the great Spirit that descended on Him
after baptism (the water), who left Him before the cross; or, as John elsewhere
expresses it, before “the blood.’” Thus,
the Holy Ghost gives us a different side of the truth to that displayed in the
three first Gospels. There we have the
awful results of the sin of the world, as affecting Christ when made sin for
the world. Here we have the Son of God
still steadfast, in the sublime faith which carried Him victorious through the
storm. It is far from ‘the man Jesus’ left by ‘the
Christ.’ The Son of God
understood and was in sympathy with His Father’s will, all through the
hurricane of woo, which arose as the consequence of sin laid on Him.
‘But how, then, could Jesus
describe Himself as deserted?
“My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me?”’
Of
the fulness of the explanation we shall not here below, perhaps, be satisfied
but a word or two may be dropped, which shall help faith in both sides of the
truth.
Most
people suppose that there can only be one style of feeling; and such refuse, often with scorn, the testimony
to opposite states of feeling in the same mind: while yet occurrences often
produce them. A companion of Prince
Henry (afterwards Henry V.) was brought up before an English judge for some
misdemeanour, which made him liable to penalty of the law. The Prince was so displeased at the judge, who
determined to punish the law-breaker, that he struck
the official in open court. The judge
ordered the Prince to be carried away to prison; and he was imprisoned. Now what would be the feelings of the King his
father? Partly of sorrow; partly of joy. He would grieve at the misconduct of his son
in striking the judge; he would be pleased in some measure, at his fondness for
his friends; he would be pleased also, with his submission to the judge’s
decision.
So,
while God as the Righteous Judge must officially turn away His face from Jesus as made sin, and enduring its
penalty, He could only personally love His Son for the love
He showed, in enduring the woe deserved by others.
‘Peace’ belongs
to the Christian always, considered as in Christ, and thus assured of present
support and final redemption. ‘Peace,’ as opposed to the grief, dismay, and tumult of
feeling which awoke in the breasts of the disciples, when they found the
Saviour condemned and slain; and when they forgot His words concerning His
going to the Father.
The
Saviour’s last words were designed to lift the disciples above the stormy waves
about to assail them. As He was Son of God, these waves would swallow up
neither Him nor them. Let us hold fast
this amidst our minor trials! Whatever the storm outside, there is ever
shelter in Christ. If He be all-knowing
and possessed of all power, then, in spite of threatening foes, we shall
prevail; for we are in Him.
There
are, therefore, two aspects of the Christian. (1) As in the world, and (2)
as in Christ. (1) As a sojourner
in a world opposed to God and His Christ, trouble is his lot. The world is the assembly of the seed of the
serpent; and the devil rules them. Hence,
out of this abiding opposition of nature and temper springs persecution. It is an abiding state, lasting as long as the
disciples of the Son of God abide here below. It ceases only when this dispensation does;
when at length the multitude, which none can number, are assembled before the
throne, and ‘the
Great Tribulation’ belonging to the
men of faith is over. But this trouble
is to each believer a thing outside, and in the flesh. It is but brief. Our peace within need not be destroyed by the
tumult without. Let us take courage! The filial victory is ours. Our Leader has conquered the world, and overcome
the desire for its prizes; overcome the fear of its terrors. How mighty the
faith, which on its way to the scenes of the judgment-hall and
It
is not promised, that a day will come, when ‘the world’ having
become swallowed up in ‘the Church,’
there shall be no more persecution. That
time comes only with Christ’s return and the first resurrection (Isa. 25). . ‘The world’ and ‘the Church’ will
ever be two, while this dispensation lasts.
How
much better is it to have trouble in the world, but peace with God than peace
with the world, and war with God! Love
of the brethren, and hatred from the world, are two characteristics of a
Christian. None can overcome the world
in its two great forces, but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ.
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