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CHAPTER
17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
ONE
WITH THE FATHER
ONE
WITH THE FATHER
Not
exactly titles of our Lord in this chapter, more like
descriptive realities. We have already seen in an earlier
chapter that Jesus said, ‘I and the Father are one.’
We now look at some of what He said to His disciples
just prior to His arrest and crucifixion. He told them
He was going away, that He was going to His Father’s
house, and that He would prepare a place for them also,
that they could eventually follow. When they asked Him
how they would know the way He told them, ‘I am the
way.’ He then said,
“No-one
comes to the Father except through me. If you really
knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now
on, you do know him and have seen him.”
(John
chapter 14, verses 6-7).
The
disciples were still somewhat baffled. How could they
know the Father? How could they have seen Him? One of
the disciples put their confusion into words:
Philip
said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough
for us.”
(verse
8).
They
knew they had not seen anyone of a divine nature other
than Jesus. How could Jesus now claim that they had
indeed seen the Father? Listen to this gentle, yet awesome,
response from the Lord:
Jesus
answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have
been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen
me has seen the Father.”
(verse
9).
Over
the years various scholars have stated that Jesus never
claimed to be divine; if Jesus never claimed divinity
for Himself, then He never claimed anything! And, how
close is the relationship between Father and Son?
“The
words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is
the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe
me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father
is in me------”
(verses
10-11).
Most
certainly, Jesus is ‘one with the Father’.
ONE
WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Remember
those prophetic verses in the ninth chapter of Isaiah
which foretold of the birth of Christ. A list of titles
due to Him was given; one of these titles was Wonderful
Counsellor (or Wonderful, Counsellor, KJV). We who are
redeemed by the blood of our precious Saviour, cannot
doubt the truth of either translation---He is undoubtedly
a Wonderful Counsellor; He is infinitely Wonderful;
He is a gracious, all-wise Counsellor.
Counsellor,
a title given for Jesus in the Old Testament. But now
we see Jesus referring to the Holy Spirit in the same
way:
“If
you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor
to be with you for ever---the Spirit of truth.”
(verses
15-17).
Note,
He would send ‘another Counsellor’, meaning they must
have already had one---Jesus was their first Counsellor.
The Counsellor is also the Spirit of truth, and we have
seen earlier that Jesus said He was the truth (‘I am
the way and the truth and the life.’).
After
3 years of teaching and counselling His disciples, Jesus
was on the eve of leaving them to return to His Father
in heaven. He knew that if left on their own with only
their memories of the last 3 years to console them,
then, we would probably have no record that Jesus ever
lived, and there would certainly be no such thing as
the New Testament or the Church; there would be no salvation.
In no way would He leave them on their own---Jesus never
leaves His people on their own! (In these passages from
John’s Gospel, the KJV uses the term ‘Comforter’ instead
of ‘Counsellor.’ I am not a language scholar, but, as
a Christian, I do know that both terms are correct---the
Holy Spirit, who is with us in hardship or in ease,
who lights up God’s written word, and who glorifies
Jesus to the heart and mind of the believer is indeed
the ‘Comforter’).
Jesus
said to His disciples:
“I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you-------All
this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything
I have said to you.”
(verses
18, 25-26).
“When
the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father,
he will testify about me------Unless I go away, the
Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you.”
(John
chapter 15, verse 26; chapter 16, verse 7).
Godhead
connections abound in these chapters of John; the Father
will send the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit; Jesus will
send the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit. The Counsellor,
the Holy Spirit will not only testify about Jesus, but:
“He
will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and
making it known to you.”
(John
chapter 16, verse 14).
And
just what does belong to Jesus?
“All
that belongs to the Father is mine.”
(verse
15).
Now
we have read of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit
to His disciples, but what about the rest of us? Concerning
the sending of the Holy Spirit, He said:
“The
world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him
nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you
and will be in you.”
(John
chapter 14, verse 17).
The
‘world’ means unbelievers. Unbelievers do not have the
Holy Spirit, they do not have Jesus. But, listen to
this:
“On
that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and
you are in me, and I am in you.”
(John
chapter 14, verse 20).
On
the day that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, the disciples
will know that not only have they received the Spirit,
but also the Father and the Son! However, the promise
is not only for those disciples:
“Whoever
has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves
me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and
I too will love him and show myself to him.”
(verse
21).
And
just to confirm this:
Then
Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do
you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my
teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come
to him and make our home with him.”
(verse
22-23).
Magnificent
promise! Anyone who loves Jesus will have the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit coming to live in him, to ‘make
our home with him’. This is what is meant by being ‘born
again’, ‘born of the Spirit’ or ‘born from above’ as
Jesus explained to Nicodemus in the 3rd chapter of John:
‘I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of
God unless he is born again.’
Imagine
a good man, a wise teacher claiming that he would come
from heaven, along with Almighty God and the Holy Spirit,
to make his home in his followers. Would he still be
good and wise? How many others besides Jesus have made
such a claim? Name one other, any other, in the history
of the universe on whose lips it would not sound ludicrous,
demented, deluded, or just plain evil. Why do even unbelievers
still accept such claims from the mouth of Jesus without
placing Him in the above categories? The wonderful thing
about it, is that when you do love and obey Christ,
you know the reason it sounds fine on His lips---it
is just so true! All true Christians have Jesus in them.
The Bible calls all believers ‘saints’:
----the
mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has
chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious
riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory
(Colossians
chapter 1, verses 26-27).
Certain
sects, believing themselves to be Christian, deny the
Trinity saying it is a word never found in Scripture.
True, the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible,
but the fact of it does. For those with eyes to see,
the reality of the Trinity is implicit. Remember in
an earlier chapter we read of Jesus as the Word---‘The
Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ To be ‘with’
God shows distinct persons; to be God (the Word was
God) shows the same essence of divinity.
The
Bible tells us over and over there is only one God.
So, let’s say the Father is the one true God. If the
Trinity is not real then Jesus and the Holy Spirit are
lesser gods; but the Scriptures will not allow for lesser
gods, they are only idols with no life in them. Also,
if the Holy Spirit is a lesser god, we then have a lesser
Jesus, since the Holy Spirit testifies to, and glorifies,
Jesus. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of
Christ---Jesus cannot be bigger than His Spirit. Jesus
reveals the Father, hence a lesser Jesus, a lesser Father.
Once more, the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of God---small
spirit, small god. Look at the connections; if you lessen
one member of the Godhead, you reduce them all.
Of
Jesus it is said:
He
is the image of the invisible God------For by him all
things were created------He is before all things, and
in him all things hold together------For God was pleased
to have all his fullness dwell in him.
(Colossians
chapter 1, verses 15-17, 19).
Those
who have a small Jesus have a small Father, who is no
God at all---you cannot have a small God who is also
the God of the Bible.
Moreover,
the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement
to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as they
honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does
not honour the Father, who sent him.
(John
chapter 5, verses 22-23).
The
Son must be honoured as the Father is honoured. If Jesus
is not your God, He is not your Saviour!
Oh,
wondrous Name, by prophets heard,
Long
years before His birth;
They
saw His coming from afar,
The
Prince of Peace on earth.
The
Wonderful! The Counsellor! The Great and Mighty Lord!
The
everlasting Prince of Peace! The King, the Son of God!
(J.
L. Sterling)
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