Wednnesday in the Word...John 14:25-31...and Canada bound!!!

I am Canada bound for a few days.  I have the opportunity to attend a men's conference in New Brunswick, Canada at the New Brunswick Bible Institute.  The speaker will be one of my favorite, Rev. Crawford Loritts.  So I am trying to clear my desk today to be able to soak in all I can.

It will also give me an opportunity to visit this school that has been so much a part of the church I am serving.  The founding pastor graduated from NBBI and later returned to teach there.  Many interns and assistant pastors came from the school to serve the church over the years.  Some of those who have grown up in this church have gone on to get their Bible education from there.  Much of practices and theology of Machias Valley Baptist Church has been shaped by this school.  

I'm also thankful for a 3 hour drive with an elder of the church.  The times away from the meetings are so beneficial and I am realizing to a greater degree how important it is for me to foster mentor/discipleship relationships with the elders I will work with.  The extra time is necessary for this to happen and so I welcome the snowy ride north and into foreign territory.  

Today's Wednesday in the Word covers John chapter 14 and verses 25 through 31.  We will finish out this chapter and they read as such,...

v.25, 26 - "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to you remembrance all that I said to you."

Jesus is continuing and concluding His words to His disciples around the Passover Meal.  Judas has departed to initiate the betrayal proceedings.  Jesus has addressed Thomas, Philip, and Judas (not Iscariot) with words of instruction and comfort.  Jesus has told Thomas that He is the way and the truth and the life.  Jesus has told Philip that if he has seen Himself then he has seen the Father and a Helper is coming to them.  Jesus has told Judas (not Iscariot) of the place of obedience to His words to be evidence of ones love for Himself and the Father.

Jesus is going to conclude before leaving this upper room with some repeats.  The first repeat is that He is going to be leaving them soon, there will be a time when He is not abiding with them.  But, the second repeat is, they will not be alone.  The Holy Spirit described as the Helper will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name.  We see the Trinity here and the intertwine of all three with a common focus.  

What did the disciples need?  They need more teaching and they need to be reminded of what they have heard.  The Holy Spirit will pick up from Jesus' departure until He comes again, a kind of "hand off" of these disciples and future disciples to come.  The Holy Spirit will teach and remind.  These are two wonderful gifts we have been given.  The Bible is the book of our lifetime to learn from and when needed, the Holy Spirit will aid us to remember what we have been taught. 

I am so thankful when this has happened to me.  Verses, passages, and biblical events have come flooding in when needed and I do not want to take any credit for it and really I can't.  Even the teaching of the Bible is aided by the Holy Spirit so a recall of it aided by the same Holy Spirit first came from Him teaching me.  The Holy Spirit is all about and all over each of us understanding God's Word, applying God's Word, and supernaturally, by His ability and not our own, to recall what is precisely needed from God's Word at the appropriate time.  A great example of this happening is when Peter and John are before the Sanhedrin arrested for speaking of a risen Jesus and healing a lame man.  Acts chapter 4 and verse 8 says,

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people,..."

Who steps in?  The Holy Spirit brought forth these words of the Scriptures through the lips of Peter.  What is the response of the hearers?  Do they attribute what they are hearing as beyond the ability of the speakers?  Acts chapter 4 and verse 13 says,

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit did what Jesus said He would do and the disciples were witnesses of this true prophecy of Jesus.

v.27 - "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

Jesus is going to give them something that the world cannot.  In the face of trouble and fearful times, Jesus gives His disciples a peace that supersedes trouble and fear.  This "Jesus given" peace will be on display for the world to see as Stephen calmly keeps his eyes on heaven when being stoned.  It is a peace that Christians carried into the arenas of Rome being sport for the hungry lions.  This peace will stand up to any trouble or fear.  Jesus calls it, "My peace," so it is not our own or under our power but His and with the assurance of His presence even to the end of the age.

v.28, 29 - "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.'  If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe."

Jesus repeats for His disciples again that He is going to leave but that He is going to return.  The response of the disciples should have been rejoicing.  Why?  Because Jesus told them He was going to be with His Father.  What better place would there to be?  The Father is greater than Jesus at this time because the Father was in heaven and Jesus was here on earth.  The Father was greater in position because the heavens are above the earth.  Because Jesus and us who believe in the risen Savior have the opportunity to be face to face with the Father someday, it should bring rejoicing from us and not sorrow.  

Even in the giving of this information again about Jesus going and coming again, He focuses on why He is giving this information.  This act is given to them so that they would believe.  He loved them so much and He loves us so much that He would fulfill the plan of the Father and endure a cross so they and we could believe.  These disciples receive this information prior to it happening and what rings in my ears is Romans chapter 5 and verses 8 and 9, which read,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

God does a lot of things ahead of time.  God sent His Son.  Why?  So that you might believe just like His disciples around this table in the upper room.  God gave us His Son Jesus so we could be justified.  How? By the shedding of His sinless blood, saving us from the justified wrath of God upon us by taking our place, i.e. through Him.  

v.30, 31 - "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.  Get up, let us go from here."

Jesus keeps this important fact before His disciples.  He will be away from them.  He will not speak much more to them.  There is going to be a hand over in the near future.  It is going to look like the ruler of this world, Satan, has won but Jesus lets His disciples know that Satan has nothing on Him or in Him.  It looks like the cross is a defeat but it is actually the greatest sign of Jesus' love for God.  The cross is part of the plan of the Father and they, the disciples, will need to view it differently than what it looks.  This is why we call it "Good Friday" rather than something like "Bloody Friday" or "Bad Friday."  Why is it good?  It is good because Jesus tells us the victory is in His obedience to the Father.  Satan is the ruler of the world but Jesus is the Lord and Creator of heaven and earth.  Jesus outranks him.  We, as disciples, are to focus on Jesus' obedience to determine victory rather than the lack of sight and hearing of Jesus for a little while.  The One who obeys says He is coming back soon, rising again, and then coming back again in the future, the second coming.  In the mean time, a Helper, the Holy Spirit, is given to us along with the peace of Jesus to walk through troubling and fearful times.  Will you hold onto what Jesus' says and here we are back to God's word in the Garden or will you listen to the ruler of this world, Satan, and how he has a better plan?  Adam and Eve listened to Satan over God.  Who will you listen to?  This is the question of all time.

"Heavenly Father, I am amazed at how You prepare Your children.  May we not neglect what You have given to us and give all credit and glory where it is due, to You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam