John 14:16-17


John 14:16-17
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

The Lord is preparing His disciples for His crucifixion as well as His ascension.  Jesus knows that things are going to be very different for the disciples in the days and years ahead.  His death and resurrection will be followed by His leaving of the earth and their presence for a very long time.  They will face persecution as the follow the commands of Jesus.  They will be responsible to spread the Gospel to all nations.  However, Jesus wants to assure them that they will not be alone.  Jesus provides all that is necessary for His followers to accomplish the mission He gives.  As we seek to follow the commands and mission of Christ, we can be assured that we are not alone in this process.

THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Once again, in this passage we see a clear reference to the Trinity.  Jesus asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit.  All three persons of the Godhead appear in this one verse.  The obedience and ability to stand in the face of coming persecution would be made possible through the promise of the Holy Spirit.  We are not capable of living the Christian life on our own strength.  It takes the forgiveness of our sins through faith in Christ and the power over sins through dependence on the Holy Spirit to be able to live for the glory of the Father.  The Spirit is the source of all truth and leads us in truth.  The way we can be assured of the difference between right and wrong is the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit is only for believers because the world does not accept either the Son or the Spirit.  They do not believe in Him or know Him, so they are not indwelt by Him.  However, believer do know the Spirit because the Spirit lives within every believer.  It is a great comfort to know that the Holy Spirit is always with us.  Even though Jesus would be leaving His disciples physically, He would always be present through the Spirit.  There is never a trial or temptation that we face alone.  The Spirit is always with us.  The world will not understand us or even accept us because of the Spirit’s presence in our lives.  Since they reject Him, they will reject us because He is within us.  No matter how the world rejects us, we are in good company.

APPLICATION:  Trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Rest in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  No matter what we might face today or any day, we can be assured that He is with us and will be with us forever.  Know that all the Spirit says is true and understand that the world will react negatively to the Spirit’s revelation.  Our obedience to the Spirit will very likely result in objections from the world.

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