Jesus Promises Another Helper John 14:19-24
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
Indwelling of the Father and the Son
“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
Tonight, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Tomorrow, Pontius Pilate will ask Jesus a key question: What is truth? Sometimes we find ourselves embroiled in situations where rumors are flying like snowflakes in Canada. If you don’t like the story you’re hearing right now, wait a bit. Someone else will come along with a contradictory rumor very shortly. And the more stories are passed around, the wilder and less truthful they become. Rather than correcting this problem, social media can magnify it beyond all imagination.
When I was a child, we had a game called “Telephone.” A group of children would sit in a circle on the floor. Next, one child would whisper a short phrase to the person on their right, and that person would turn and whisper the phrase to the person on their right, and so on around the circle. By the time the message had gone around the circle, the message the final person received bore little or no resemblance to the original message!
Jesus wants us to know that when we believe in Him, he will send the Holy Spirit to guide us, and the Holy Spirit is faithful and true. We don’t have to feel like spiritual orphans, for the Holy Spirit will guide us and encourage us.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
Jesus knows that tonight is all the time he has left to teach his disciples everything he has not already taught them. One key teaching is the concept of loving God. One Christian speaker once said, “I hate it when someone says they’re going to tell me something “in love.” If the statement you’re about to make is loving, I will know it. And if the statement you’re about to make is NOT loving, I will also know that as well.”
“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” You can’t fool God; He knows your heart better than you do. When we love God, we will obey Him. That obedience allows our Heavenly Father to express His love for us. Rebellion blocks God from blessing us because when we rebel, we are telling God that we don’t need Him and that we can run our lives better than He can. When we love and obey God, God will be with us forever.
“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” It all comes back to obedience vs. rebellion. That night in the Upper Room, there were eleven disciples willing to obey Jesus while one, Judas Iscariot, refused. When Jesus washed Judas’ feet, he was giving Judas one last chance to repent and refuse to betray Jesus. Really, the religious leaders and Romans could easily have picked up Jesus at any point; after all, Jerusalem wasn’t that enormous a town. But Judas persisted in rebellion, refusing to keep Jesus’ words or to acknowledge them as orders coming directly from the Heavenly Father.
Who doesn’t need divine insights or help? As I am writing this, a sister group is being convulsed by a combination of miscommunication, tale-bearing, and confusion about where the truth lies. We all need the Holy Spirit, for otherwise we can easily jump to wrong conclusions and falsely accuse innocent people. And we need the Holy Spirit as our Helper so we will make correct choices and fulfill God’s calling on our lives. May God help us, so we will always look to Him for information and not to tale-bearers!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to remain obedient to You and to trust the Holy Spirit. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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