Perhaps my title is a little too broad because I don’t
intend to do a full exegesis of every verse in these chapters but I do want to
address some things that I see misused all the time by well meaning Christians.
I believe the Bible means what it says and says what God means. At the same
time I believe we have to be studious and careful about how we interpret the
Bible.
Chapters
14-16 occur right after the meal Jesus had with His disciples in the Upper Room
and probably as He and the eleven (Judas being dismissed) are on their way to
Gethsemane. Jesus tells His disciples
that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (14:6) and He tells them that He
will be leaving but that “another Comforter” (another just like Him, of the
same kind), the Holy Spirit, is coming (14:16). He says the “world” cannot
receive this Comforter but that his disciples will be indwelt by this Comforter
(14:17) and He gives them a commandment to love one another (vs.21-24). Now so
far everything that He has promised these disciples is a promise to every
Christian and there are plenty of other New Testament texts to support this.
See 1 Corinthians 6:19
Now notice 14:25,26 which reads, “These things
have I spoken unto you, being yet
present with you. But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.”
·
Jesus
is present with them….the 11
·
The
Holy Spirit will teach THEM all things
·
The
Holy Spirit will bring to THEIR remembrance “all things” and “whatsoever I have
said unto YOU” …the 11.
Here then, we have a couple of verses that stand out from all that come before
them and which apply specifically to the 11, because it is they who will remember things that our
Lord said unto THEM. Now every Christian knows that sometimes we forget things
and sometimes they can pop back into our memories. I find this happens many
times while I am preaching. BUT that’s NOT what our Lord is talking about here.
He is preparing the 11 for the task they will have in spreading the Gospel and
especially as it regards the writing of New Testament truth!
Now let’s move on. Our Lord gives his audience some more words of
comfort and encouragement which, though directly applicable to the 11 can be of
great comfort to you and me as well. Then Jesus goes into His dissertation on
the Vine and the Branches (Ch.15) and more words of encouragement, instruction,
and inspiration. These can be applied to you and me as well. But then we come to verses 26 and 27 which
read:
“But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
And ye also shall bear
witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”
Again Jesus speaks of the coming Comforter,
Who we know to be the Holy Ghost and we notice a few things:
·
The Comforter is sent by the Father and the
Son
·
The Comforter is the Spirit of Truth
·
The Comforter testifies of Jesus Christ
·
The Disciples will bear witness, because “ye have been with me from the beginning”!
When we get to the Book of Acts we find the Apostles searching out a
replacement for Judas and one of the requirements is as found in these verses, “Wherefore
of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went
in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day
that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of
his resurrection.” (Acts 1:21,22)
So, let’s look at this again, keeping in mind what we already know from
John 14:25,26. The Comforter is sent by the Father and the Son, who is the
Spirit of Truth and He will testify, not of Himself, but of Jesus. The
disciples will bear witness because they and they alone, had been with Jesus
from the beginning!
Brothers and sisters, you and I
were NOT with Jesus from the beginning. We did not walk with him for over three
years; we did not hear everything He said. In fact, later John says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the
which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” (John
21:25)
But we’re not done yet! Look at Chapter
16:4,5 which says, “But these things have I told you,
that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And
these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But
now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest
thou? ” Notice in the verses just prior, that Jesus tells them of coming
persecution that they will endure. These are things they were Not told from the beginning because He
was with them, but now He’s going away so they must be prepared. And now we
come to the last of the misused and misunderstood verses in John 16:12-14:
“I have yet many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will
shew you things to come. He shall
glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. ” As we did
before let’s look at some things here:
·
There
is more that Jesus wants them to know but they are not able to bear them
presently.
·
When
the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit) comes He will guide you (the 11) into all
truth (by this is meant spiritual truth)
·
The
Spirit will speak what He hears and show them (the 11) things to come.
·
He
will glorify, not Himself, but Jesus Christ.
Let’s review. So far we know that the Holy Spirit would be
given to all Christians but that the 11 would be given specific truth, as
Apostles of Jesus Christ. They would be shown all truth and all the things that
Jesus had said would be brought to their remembrance because they had heard Him
say them. Not only so but THEY were to “bear witness” of the truth which was
revealed unto them because they had been with Jesus from the beginning. Not
only so, but there were things the Lord yet wanted to teach them but, because they
were not yet ready, that would be left to the Holy Spirit and He would show
them “things to come”.
Now surely someone will have complete disregard for everything I have
written to this point and he or she will want to argue and say, “I have the
Holy Spirit and He teaches me truth” to which I will replay “Amen! I am so glad
to hear that! The Holy Spirit teaches me as well and many times He helps me to
remember things I have forgotten! In fact, sometimes verses just pop into my
head that I had lost in the far reaches of my brain.” But that, my friend, has
NOTHING to do with what Jesus Christ is giving His Apostles in these verses!
These Things Are For Our Benefit
Friends, let’s just be honest here, okay? I didn’t walk with Jesus for
over three years and neither did you! I didn’t sit at Jesus feet and hear Him
give His dissertations and neither did you. The eleven did! The Bible teaches
there were only 12 Apostles (Revelation 21:14; Luke 22:28). Matthias, whom the
Apostles chose while they were waiting at Pentecost, is NOT included. The
Apostle Paul is and it was to him
the great mysteries of the Church were given. See 1 Corinthians 15:9) We have a
New Testament and our New Testament is the direct results of these verses that
I have shared with you through John 14-16.
These Apostles were trained by our Lord and taught by the Holy Spirit.
They were guided into ALL spiritual truth regarding things of the past, things
of the present, and things of the future. So when you read these verses apply
what you can to yourself but don’t apply what belongs only to them. There are
great riches of spiritual truth contained in these chapters but we must “rightly
divide” them.
May God’s blessing rest upon you
as you humble yourself to God’s authority.
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