“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27.
The Spirit is sent by both the Father and the Son. Above it is the Son who sends Him, “…the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father”.
It is the Father who sends Him in John 14:16, “…I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever…”
This latter phrase, “…that He may abide with you forever” is yet another confirmation that eternal life begins at salvation and will not be revoked.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14.
The Lord tells us that the Helper, “…will testify of Me” indicating that the Spirit “…will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…” John 16:8, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As for the disciples they too are to witness because they were with Jesus from the beginning, and are the most reliable and knowledgeable witnesses.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them [His disciples], saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” Matthew 28:18-20.
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.” John 16:1-4.
“…that you should not be made to stumble”, Jesus warned them of the persecution which was to come upon them in the future. They needed to be prepared for such things and to persevere.
This warning was also necessary to prepare them for the trauma when the Lord is arrested and crucified that they should not stumble in their faith.
After the supper was over and they went out, Jesus gave the disciples yet another warning of things to come.
“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble’” Matthew 26:30-33.
“In that hour [of His arrest] Jesus said to the multitudes, ‘Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” Matthew 26:55-56.
“But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you” John 16:4.
Many of us have had horrible things happen to us in our own churches. Many have lost family members because of our faith, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, many reputations have been disparaged, and many have been discriminated against because of our faith in Jesus.
But the Lord warns us, “…that you should not be made to stumble.” The disciples were not alone, nor the martyrs of old, we shall all feel the sting of rejection in some way or another, at some time.
I like what Winston Churchill once said: “You have enemies? Good. That means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Churchill may or may not have been a Christian, but when it comes to courage, we can be in the company of giants.
“…because they have not known the Father nor Me.” It seems impossible that the leader of a synagogue, or a Pharisee, priest, member of the Sanhedrin, monk, pastor, teacher, or televangelist, would not know the Father or God the Son. But history is littered with the dead wood of godless men who did not know Father or Son.
Surely they had read the Bible. Probably most had, but without effect, because they had never received Christ of whom it is said, He is, the Savior of the world.
“…without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22b.
But then the question, how could they read with no effect? The reason is that it is the Spirit of God who opens up the meaning of Scripture. Without His work in our hearts very little is to be grasped.
“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. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-16.
For those who are truly searching for God, the Spirit will open up enough for them to understand and receive Christ as their savior; if not through Scripture, He will bring someone to that person who can explain salvation to them in a way that they will understand.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a.
“…yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” John 16:2b.
A young man named Saul, later known as the Apostle Paul, was among the chief persecutors of the early Christians.
“As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” Acts 8:3.
“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” Acts 26:9-11.
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.
“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…” Ephesians 3:8.
The Apostle Paul’s actions confirm Jesus’ words to a Pharisee who had invited Him to dinner.
During dinner a sinful woman came in and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with fragrant oil. The Lord turned to the Pharisee and asked him a question, after which He made this statement.
“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:47.
The Apostle Paul realized the murderous depth of the sin that was forgiven him and loved much for he was forgiven much, resulting in which he, “…labored more abundantly than them all.”
This is why the grievousness of sin must be taught and preached; folks need to know just how offensive sin is to God and how much all of us have been forgiven.
Those forgiven much will love the Savior all the more and serve Him with a whole heart.
“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” John 16:5-6.
It is clear that the disciples did not know where the Lord was going, or how He was going to get there, but they sorrowed at the thought of His departure.
In spite of this, the Lord had told the disciples on numerous occasions that He was to be crucified, and resurrected.
Even the Pharisees knew that Jesus had said that He would rise again because they asked for a guard to be stationed at Jesus’ tomb for that reason.
It is human nature for the mind to reject things that go against a person’s beliefs.
The Jews looked for a Messiah to defeat the Romans and set up His eternal kingdom, the disciples too expected Him to set up a kingdom in which they participated, and the Pharisees looked for a Messiah who would embrace them and tell them what a wonderful job they were doing. No one heard Him.
No one heard Him when He said to His disciples.
“You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Matthew 26:2.
The Helper, John 15:26-16:6 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-27-13, updated on 3-2-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.