John 31 The Holy Spirit And The World
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WORLD
#31
John 16:5-15
“5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
The Holy Spirit In John
As Jesus prepares His disciples for His departure, in the critical conversation detailed in John 13-17, He covers many topics. Central to this discussion and this preparation is an idea He keeps coming back to: when I leave, you will not be alone, and there is a Helper, a Comforter, an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will be with you.
Jesus does not leave His disciples alone in this dangerous, cruel, and violent world. “16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17). “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
The Spirit has been central not only in these defining lessons, but the Spirit has been central to the entire message of the Gospel of John. The Spirit has been an ever-present wind blowing across, through, and between these words and pages from the beginning. Jesus' offer has been on the table from the beginning,
“37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) [John 7:37-39].
When Jesus is glorified (a beautiful yet paradoxical way of envisioning martyrdom), the Spirit will be given to His disciples. “18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me” (John 21:18-19).
This is described in dramatic fashion in John 20:21-23: “21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
From beginning to end, the Spirit has been present and active. From the Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism (John 1:32-33), through His discussion with Nicodemus (John 3:5-8), His promises of living water (John 4:10-11; 7:37-39), and His assurances of comfort and truth before His crucifixion (John 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13), up even until the resurrected Jesus actually breathes the Spirit upon His disciples (John 20:21-22), God has been promising to give His life-giving Spirit (John 6:63) "without measure" (John 3:34).
So, What Will The Holy Spirit Do?
We know it's a comfort and a blessing and an assurance, to be sure, but what will the Spirit actually do? I don't want to be the one found trying to describe things I can't fully grasp. I can't control or predict the wind, and I'm under no illusion that I can contain, control, or predict the moving of the Spirit (John 3:8). I can only see and hear where it has gone. And I'm okay with that. I'm comforted by that. What I do know is He is alive and well. He moves and transforms and gives life.
I love reading the words of Jesus regarding the impact the Spirit will make on the world. Consider these words carefully once again:
“7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:7-11).
I simply cannot imagine. I can't imagine saying there is something advantageous about Jesus going away. If I were standing in the presence of the Lord Jesus and was told it would be good for Him to leave so something else could come, I'm just not sure I would believe it. What could be better? What could fill that gap? Perhaps here, we should all rethink how much value we place on the Holy Spirit. It's easy for us to kind of forget about Him.
To relegate Him to the back of our minds and only scarcely mention His presence and power with hushed tones, fearful we might accidentally give Him too much credit for something. Unlike us, Jesus isn't afraid to credit the Spirit with convicting the whole world.
Convicting the World
We're told the Spirit will convict the world on three great accounts: sin, righteousness, and judgment. This means the world will be put on trial for the way it has responded to Jesus and His followers, and the Spirit is our advocate. He will defend us and prosecute the world. Jesus and His followers will be proven innocent; the world will be found guilty.
Guilty of sin because the world has not believed in Jesus. In all Johannine literature, that seems to be the primary way the word "sin" is used. There is not so much to talk about moral failures or misgivings, but the sin of rejecting Jesus.
"Except you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). The primary sin leading to all other sins is disbelief in Jesus.
Of righteousness (justice, which may be a better translation here), because Jesus goes to be with the Father, and we no longer see Him. Jesus is going to be found guilty at His trial and executed. The world so often sees justice in the execution of a criminal. The world sees Jesus die on the cross and thinks, "Justice has been served." But what they don't see is his glorification and exaltation to the Father. True justice is seen in the absence of Jesus because He has been vindicated by the Father. The world has so often missed true justice, and the Spirit will convict it for such.
Finally, of judgment "because the ruler of this world has been judged." That expression "ruler of this world" has now been repeated three times (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). One might think the "ruler" of the world is God, but that's not how John describes it. Things are changing.
Through the death and resurrection, vindication, exaltation, and glorification of Jesus, through the kingdom of God and the coming of the Spirit, Satan has been weighed, measured, and found wanting. The ruler of this world has been judged by the true Judge.
In the presence of the Spirit, we rejoice that God has vindicated us through Jesus and found the world guilty. As a Spirit-filled community of believers, we can live with confidence God is on our side. The world may hate us, persecute us, or even kill us, but through the Spirit, the world and its forces of darkness will not prevail. They have been cast down. Victory is ours.
Grief Will Be Turned Into Joy
John 16:16-22
“16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
A Little While
During the farewell discourse, Jesus gives His disciples a riddle.
“16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” (John 16:16). This should sound familiar to us. Jesus has said similar things in John 7:33; 14:19, and now again in John 16:16.
It should be obvious to you and the disciples what the first part means. In a little while, Jesus is going away because He is going to be crucified. He is going to die. He will be taken away. And this will happen quickly. The hour has come (John 12:23, 27; 13:1; 16:21; 17:1).
What does it mean in "a little while" they will see Him again? The disciples have no clue how to solve the riddle. They don't understand what He means when He says "a little while" or "I go to the Father" (John 16:10, 17-18).
We covered the idea of people misunderstanding Jesus earlier, but this is part of that same phenomenon. While the disciples do not ask for clarification, Jesus can clearly see they are not getting this. At all. Again. So he gives them an illustration.
Grief Turned into Joy
I saw my deceased wife give birth to three of our four children. I've never seen such pain before. As beautiful as people say the moment is, it's also quite terrifying. It is absolutely one of the most dangerous things a woman can ever do. There is so much pain and so many potential complications. I was excited to meet each new baby and I thought and prayed a lot about what she would be going through.
All the babes were large and healthy. Their births were difficult, but as difficult as those moments were on my wife, that was not what she thought about when she held the babes in her hands. As they grew we went to the park, laughed, played games, wrestled, and fought crime. They were exhausting and fun and crazy, and we loved them with all of our hearts. The anguish and pain of childbirth quickly transformed into a deep and indescribable joy and love.
So it is with the death and resurrection of Jesus. There will be pain. There will be grief. Jesus will suffer. The disciples will be heartbroken. There will be confusion, turmoil, and despair, but the race comes to an end. There is a finish line. Joy follows grief. The resurrection of Jesus vaporized their grief, and they were left with a joy no one will ever take away (John 16:22).
The anguish of childbirth results in a new life. The grief of crucifixion results in a new life – not just the new resurrection life of Jesus, but eternal life for each of His followers. The story of life does not end with death. Rather, in Jesus, the story of death ends with life. The story of grief ends with joy. With reunion. With life.