Words of Comfort
Study No Twenty-four Chapter 14:15-31
When Judas left the room Jesus tells the remaining 11 he will be leaving them shortly. Therefore they should love one another.
The disciples are troubled.
For several reasons:
a. One of them would soon betray Him
b. Jesus has just said he was leaving them shortly
c. They may be troubled and disappointed that the kingdom of God is not taking power as they assumed it might.
Verse 15: If you love me (show it by) keep(ing) my commandments. Not by mere statements, words or other expression and not by simply showing grief that I am leaving.
The express commandments of Jesus:
1Jo 3:23 ¶ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
In this chapter Jesus speaks words of comfort to the Eleven.
I. Heaven is your everlasting rest, 14:2-3.
II. Christ himself is the way, :4-11.
III. You will have great power when you pray, :12-14.
IV. I will not leave you orphans, :15-17.
The comforter will come to you.
Christ will ask the Father
The Father will send the Counsellor
He will be with us forever. (v16)
Without Christ and without the promised comforter, we would be orphans.
“I will come to you”. How? In person … and in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit. (called the Spirit of Truth)
He lives with you and shall be in you. This is (at that time) a new thing. Jesus us speaking of Pentecost. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit took place at Pentecost and has since that time occurs at the moment a person receives Christ as Saviour. When the Holy Spirit came upon them on Pentecost it was referred to as a baptism:
Acts 1:5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Since the scripture states in Ephesians 4.5 that there is only ONE baptism, then this, not water baptism, is it. It is this baptism of the Holy Spirit that has baptized us INTO Christ. (1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body——whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free——and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.) This invisible baptism is the REAL baptism of which water baptism is the symbol or picture.
The “indwelling” gives us His
1. PRESENCE as we have already seen in this study, but also His
2. POWER Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Christ emphasizes His departing. The world will see me no more 14:19.
But you will see me. He is referring to the post resurrection sightings.
When the disciples would see Him alive that would be their confidence in knowing their eternal life was guaranteed as promised.
At that day … the day you see Me after my resurrection; you will know that I am in the Father, plus two other special doctrines will be assured. We are in Him. He is in us.
V21 Some interesting observations about the interactions of love
1. If we ‘have His commandments and obey them’ it is a given that we love Jesus.
2. All who love Jesus are loved by the Father.
3. Jesus will love them as well
4. Jesus will reveal Himself to them.
Judas’ question: How is it that you will reveal yourself to us without revealing yourself to the world?
This is Jesus’ answer.
1. If you love Jesus you will ‘keep’ His word
2. My Father will love him
3. We will come to him and make our home ‘with’ him.
He who does not love me, does not keep my word. (my word, by the way, is the Father’s word.)
A paraphrase
V25 –“ I have taught you … for the past 3 and half years … I am now giving you my final words before my departure. But don’t worry about having to remember every single word. The Holy Spirit, when he comes will teach you all things and even remind you of the things I taught you while I was with you.”
“Everything that I have just been telling you is designed to give you peace for your troubled minds. In addition, the peace from God surpasses the world’s peace in every way.” (v26)
Ro 5:1 ¶ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Ro 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Eph 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
“So, don’t let your hearts be troubled.”
“I told you I am leaving. And I told you I am coming back. If you really cared about me … you would be happy for me that I am going back to the Father.” (v 28)
John 14:28 ¶ "You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Compare this verse with verse 9 and John 10:30 "I and My Father are one." In what way is the Father greater than Jesus?
“At any rate, I have told you this in advance. As hard as it may be to hear some of this, it is better to be forewarned. It will make a difference for you when the time actually comes.” (v 29)
“So, now … so that the world will know that I love the Father and that I do everything my Father commands me, let’s get on with it.” (v 31)
When Judas left the room Jesus tells the remaining 11 he will be leaving them shortly. Therefore they should love one another.
The disciples are troubled.
For several reasons:
a. One of them would soon betray Him
b. Jesus has just said he was leaving them shortly
c. They may be troubled and disappointed that the kingdom of God is not taking power as they assumed it might.
Verse 15: If you love me (show it by) keep(ing) my commandments. Not by mere statements, words or other expression and not by simply showing grief that I am leaving.
The express commandments of Jesus:
1Jo 3:23 ¶ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
In this chapter Jesus speaks words of comfort to the Eleven.
I. Heaven is your everlasting rest, 14:2-3.
II. Christ himself is the way, :4-11.
III. You will have great power when you pray, :12-14.
IV. I will not leave you orphans, :15-17.
The comforter will come to you.
Christ will ask the Father
The Father will send the Counsellor
He will be with us forever. (v16)
Without Christ and without the promised comforter, we would be orphans.
“I will come to you”. How? In person … and in the person of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit. (called the Spirit of Truth)
He lives with you and shall be in you. This is (at that time) a new thing. Jesus us speaking of Pentecost. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit took place at Pentecost and has since that time occurs at the moment a person receives Christ as Saviour. When the Holy Spirit came upon them on Pentecost it was referred to as a baptism:
Acts 1:5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Since the scripture states in Ephesians 4.5 that there is only ONE baptism, then this, not water baptism, is it. It is this baptism of the Holy Spirit that has baptized us INTO Christ. (1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body——whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free——and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.) This invisible baptism is the REAL baptism of which water baptism is the symbol or picture.
The “indwelling” gives us His
1. PRESENCE as we have already seen in this study, but also His
2. POWER Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Christ emphasizes His departing. The world will see me no more 14:19.
But you will see me. He is referring to the post resurrection sightings.
When the disciples would see Him alive that would be their confidence in knowing their eternal life was guaranteed as promised.
At that day … the day you see Me after my resurrection; you will know that I am in the Father, plus two other special doctrines will be assured. We are in Him. He is in us.
V21 Some interesting observations about the interactions of love
1. If we ‘have His commandments and obey them’ it is a given that we love Jesus.
2. All who love Jesus are loved by the Father.
3. Jesus will love them as well
4. Jesus will reveal Himself to them.
Judas’ question: How is it that you will reveal yourself to us without revealing yourself to the world?
This is Jesus’ answer.
1. If you love Jesus you will ‘keep’ His word
2. My Father will love him
3. We will come to him and make our home ‘with’ him.
He who does not love me, does not keep my word. (my word, by the way, is the Father’s word.)
A paraphrase
V25 –“ I have taught you … for the past 3 and half years … I am now giving you my final words before my departure. But don’t worry about having to remember every single word. The Holy Spirit, when he comes will teach you all things and even remind you of the things I taught you while I was with you.”
“Everything that I have just been telling you is designed to give you peace for your troubled minds. In addition, the peace from God surpasses the world’s peace in every way.” (v26)
Ro 5:1 ¶ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Ro 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Eph 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
“So, don’t let your hearts be troubled.”
“I told you I am leaving. And I told you I am coming back. If you really cared about me … you would be happy for me that I am going back to the Father.” (v 28)
John 14:28 ¶ "You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Compare this verse with verse 9 and John 10:30 "I and My Father are one." In what way is the Father greater than Jesus?
“At any rate, I have told you this in advance. As hard as it may be to hear some of this, it is better to be forewarned. It will make a difference for you when the time actually comes.” (v 29)
“So, now … so that the world will know that I love the Father and that I do everything my Father commands me, let’s get on with it.” (v 31)