“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15)
As we stated in the previous study, Jesus reassures us that the Holy Spirit, the Helper , the Spirit of truth, whom I shall send to you from the Father, He will abide in us and strengthen us and empower us to Preach the word! (see THE GOSPEL: World's Hatred to be Expected, but Don't Stumble!) He will also guide us into all truth, and He will tell us things to come. The Apostle Paul explains how the Holy Spirit helps us, the same way He helped him: And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ( I Corinthians 2:1-5)
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God... But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (I Corinthians 2-6-13)
Therefore, we can have great confidence that if we are saved, we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and He will take of Christ's and declare it to us! “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? (John 16:16-19)
"Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:20-24)
What a beautiful example of pure joy! Those of us who've given birth to children, the pain and suffering of the process is the closest we'll ever come to death without dying; but the joy of hearing that child cry for the first time and making sure that they are ok is indescribable and makes the process worth it, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Jesus warned the disciples, and us who are saved, so many times that we will suffer in this life for various reasons, even for our faith. ...knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” ... But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (II Peter 3:3-4, 8) Jesus is coming back, and He promised, "I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you!"
Jesus also said to the disciples, "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." We who are saved now have the benefit of the New Testament and history, but the disciples did not at that time. They were used to living in a religious system where the people went to the priests, and ...the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; (Hebrews 9:6-7)
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12) What liberty and freedom we have in Christ Jesus! He was explaining to the disciples, and to us that no longer is there anything separating us from God, not even our sin. We have a direct line of communication with God now, through One Person, Christ Jesus. We don't have to make a trek to a specific place, or make confessions to a priest, or even make a sacrifice to God; but For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Then, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you." Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (I John 5:14)
“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” (John 16:25-28)
His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:29-33)
Jesus reiterated to them one last time that when His hour came to be crucified, the disciples were going to desert Him; but He is not alone, because the Father is with Him, and the same is true for us who are saved. These things He has spoken to us, that in Him we may have peace. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world, and so will we who are saved! AMEN
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