2020-08-14
Good Morning Dear Ones,
JN 16: 5-18 opens when late at night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ is about to go back to the Father, and His disciples are feeling sleepy and sad. Verse 7-8 is where He tells the disciples, “It is better that I return to Him Who sent me. If I do not go, the Counselor won’t come to you.” If the disciples were confused by this, Christ further explained, “The reason I must go is that the Counselor will explain to those of the world they are wrong about sin, what is right, and God’s judgment.” Their lack of faith in Christ is why they are wrong about sin. They are wrong about what is in line with the Father, because Christ must leave, and the disciples won’t see Him anymore. They are wrong about judgment, because the ruler of this world [the evil one] has already been judged. When the Counselor comes, He will lead you into truth and will not speak on His own authority but will convey only what the Father tells Him. He will speak truthfully about the future, give Christ glory because Christ has all that the Father does, and Christ will convey through the Holy Spirit what He wants to tell you. For a while, you won’t see Me, but then, you will. To a considerable degree the disciples were left confused about Christ’s assertions. They discussed it among themselves but still didn’t understand.
We must understand that they didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet, so acceptance and better understanding of God’s supernatural qualities wasn’t yet possible. The seeds of their faith had been planted but had not yet had time to grow. Today, we know that living the crucified life means living according to Christ’s teaching. Yet still there are many people who either haven’t been exposed to the ramifications of what that means or who haven’t come to understand what faith in Christ means. We, as believers in Christ, have been asked to demonstrate mostly by example and sometimes by word of mouth what is involved in living as Christ teaches us to live. Without the example we and other believers in Christ set, few people will understand the concept of being “dead to sin and alive in Christ” [RO 6: 11]. Being “alive in Christ” is living in fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Let me reiterate the definition of faith, from HE 11: 1. It is “to be sure of the things we hope for and certain of the things we cannot see.” Of course, in this context, it means things which align with the Father’s will. A good example is believing that God will one day put an end to evil, something we learn about in DN 9: 27. Another is believing that Jesus Christ will return to earth for the second time, as we learn in ZECH 14: 4. Faith is necessary, as the Father purposely kept the exact time and date to Himself when this will happen. It is the Father’s will that we have faith [MT 24: 36].
Most of us have read, in MT 26: 36-46, the rich and emotional description of Christ’s last night with His disciples on the Mount of Olives (on the opposite side of the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem). If you haven’t read it, please do. Christ’s human-like plea to the Father in LK 22: 42-stirs us to tears. “Father, if You will take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will but Your will be done.” All of this and His arrest, crucifixion, ascension, and resurrection were still to come when Christ was having the conversation with His disciples outlined in the beginning of this devotion.
While Christ knew of all these events, He also knew it was not time to tell his disciples about them. Christ persevered in keeping the big picture in mind. Just as the Father had decided, Christ knows what the Father’s goals and righteous motives are, and He doesn’t lose sight of them [HE 12: 2]. Prior to the Pentecost [the coming and receiving of the Holy Spirit -AC 2: 1-4] Christ knew what would eventually happen [IS 64: 4; 1 COR 2: 9-10]. If we are to learn the Father’s will [and thus, the will of Christ and the Holy Spirit, His other personalities], it is that we can find solace when we place His will over our own.
PRAYER: O Dearest Father, we humans are born with the capacity to do both evil and good. That describes both our imperfection and our potential. As believers in Jesus Christ, we desire that in Your great work to gradually civilize mankind, that many will come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is so that as many people as possible can gain eternal life with Him, Who was charged with the work of creation in accordance with Your will. This fact demands that potential believers come to know You through us and to become familiar with the “crucified life,” as outlined according to Your will in the Scriptures. They are Your “love letter” to Your human creation. We can’t always understand things that are supernatural, but we can see the wisdom of Your ways. We must learn to subordinate our will to Yours, because Yours is the only way we can gain eternal life with You and please You. We wish we could see and hear Jesus just as the people who believed in Him did when He served His earthly incarnation. Since we can’t, we understand how important it is to have the Holy Spirit inhabiting our souls. It is only through Him that we can know Your will and have the self-discipline to study and understand Your word. With the Holy Spirit, we are able to make difficult choices, investigate possible ways to discover abilities we didn’t know we had, and discover even the most subtle of our sins. We confess these and all our sins to You. We are Your children and love You. We offer You praise and thanks, and send up this prayer to You, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I have been commanded to write about how the Holy Spirit works through us to conform with the Father’s will. This “Overview” section of “The Spirit Speaks” series of messages may seem like it’s off- topic. However, if we understand better our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we can have a greater appreciation for each of His gifts to us (as listed in GA 5: 22-23). So, all this introductory material is designed to provide a smooth liaison with intended discussions of each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ahead. This especially applies to prophecy, i.e. things or events that are to happen at some time in the future. The time these happen are the Father’s decisions. An example is MT 24: 36 mentioned above. The disciples were asking Jesus when He will come for a second time. His answer was, “No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son: The Father alone knows.” Now, it may sound like I’m writing about the members of the Trinity as if they were separate individuals. But that is not true at all. They are three personalities of the same divine Being, God. This leaves us with the question of how can one personality know and the other two not? Once again, the supernatural, unknowable by humans enters the picture. We are being asked to have faith! Perhaps, the answer to that question will be given to us when we gain eternal life, but surely not now. Faith and patience, as we await things, are absolutely necessary. And that’s just as the Father’s will directs. We should offer Him praise and thanks forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved.
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