THE COMFORTER!

John 16:5-15

   5 "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 6"But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

   Jesus again puts an end to any idea we might have about any hierarchy in God, here in this text. (v.15a).

   The Son made Himself a servant and made Himself as such humbler - but without in any way being it - as God. He had all rights, all the time (John 11:42), and was the Lord even as a baby. (Luke 2:11).

   That the Father sends the Son, and the Spirit is sent by the Son, indicates no Master-servant relationship, where the one must go on the others command, but they are all standing "on the point" (Luke 22:15), to accomplish their act.
   It is just one thing that "coerces" God, and that is love, His love, as it also coerces whoever has fellowship with His Spirit. (2 Cor. 5:14).
   Your salvation is in other words very much at heart for God.
   Look at all that God has done, everything so that you should be saved. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases," etc. (Psalm 103).

   It is a bad tendency in connection with Christianity to be far more taken up with the doings "we shall do for Him," than the doings He has done for us, and the result, both in the individuals life and in the congregation becomes thereafter. But what is not coerced by His love - which you get to see into - is without benefit! (1 Cor. 13).

   We read about the disciples, that they were sorrowful because Jesus had told that He should leave them - be yanked away by suffering, peoples injustice and death. And then, they were thinking: We will be left alone here. How often haven't we too thought - because of our infidelity - that we are left alone?
   But the Spirit will come, He says, my Spirit in my place. - You will no longer see me bodily, with your bodily eyes, but I am closer to you than ever - in your heart! And not in the same way, as with a person you love, and in a way carries in your heart, but He settles in his believers heart.
   If you believe this word of His, then you also know that you are not alone.

   And He shall guide you, by this Spirit of His (v.13), to the whole truth. What a promise!

   When you are going to the Word of God, and you sit down reading it, do not ever think that you shall "crack nuts." It is in reality, not possible. You cannot extort God one single secret. It is on the contrary a dangerous project to try, and a toilsome way to read the Bible, and the only thing you in any case achieve is a self-produced "light" in the intellect, which makes you a plague and a torment to some, and an idol to others. You will certainly not become any instrument of blessing in Gods hand.
   No, sit down on His promise! - Whether I seem to get anything special today or not, I have that promise over my reading (hearing), yes over my whole life, that you shall guide me to the whole truth, and keep me in it.

   Jesus was, and still is today, a plague and a torment to some, but by quite other reasons. One get troubled by having Him near by, and one somehow finds Him difficult to deal with. If one shall have peace and quiet, then He must off.

   Therefore they came out against Him - the Prince of peace Himself, the only one on earth that truly has peace, and is peace, and the only one that gives true peace - with sword and sticks.
   Jesus gives us the solution on this in the text here: "The ruler of this world has been judged." (v.11).
   The Spirits testimony in their heart, whose father is the devil (us all in the starting point!), the children of the lie, who do not know the Truth, is accordingly judgement.
   We are seeing it quite widespread in todays preaching and Christian activity, that one enters "Gods Kingdom" without knowing anything about this judgement, i.e. without the Spirit’s testimony. There is actually no need for the cross!

   We have a fine description of this, the Spirits activity in Acts 2:37: "When they (the people) heard this, they were pierced to the heart."

   Do you know anything about this piercing? It is surely not a thing that happens only once in a believers heart. By the apostles testimony they became aware of their sin, and thereby their judgement. Because whoever has sinned shall die - the Jew knew that. It was well known!
   With these we are seeing the blessed reaction - they are accepting the judgement - the one that have its cause in the preaching of the Word - in their heart, and asks: "Brethren, what shall we do?" As Jews - the people of the Law - they most certainly could not understand that it had to do with anything else, than what they should do. And so the apostle gets opportunity to point at the Way, the new covenant in His blood: "Repent," which in this case will say - "don't think like that" (See Is. 55:7-9), and further, the way of grace alone, is preached - "- and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (v.38).

   What sin was it that the Spirit convinced them of? One would not got very far by talking about sin against the outer commandment in the Law, towards "righteous" Jews, but the Spirit points by Peters preaching directly on their sin: "You have not believed in Him whom God has sent. You have thereby made God a liar, and rejected His way and will - and you who will be righteous towards Him!”
   This is completely accordant with Jesus‘ testimony about The Spirits act in our text. (v.9).

   And so, a third testimony about the Spirits act that has freed many a soul out of law-bondage: "- and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me." (v.10).
   What a strange righteousness! I was certainly thinking, that it had to be talk about righteousness in me - in my life. Because, if I shall be saved by righteousness, then it have to be found in me!
   But here I read about a righteousness that does not have anything with me to do! Another mans righteousness! Can that be possible?
   I read the very same in Rom. 5:19: "So through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."
   Wasn‘t it mentioned something about it already with the prophet Jeremiah too? Certainly, here it is: "...And this is His name by which He will be called, 'The LORD our righteousness." (Jer. 23,6).
   You ask: Is it obtainable for me, such as I am, to be saved? And so you hear this word that God is carrying the name - our righteousness!

   I ask again: Is it possible?
   Yes, if you shall believe the Word, and not your thought, reason and feeling, it is exactly what it is. "Because I go to the Father" (v.10), that is our righteousness towards God. That means, that our righteousness towards God is Gods righteousness, something that accordingly implies that we have - in this - Gods righteousness before God.
   Therefore last part of 2 Cor. 5:21 can also be translated like this (and it is too i.a. in Danish transl.),: "...so that we in Him shall be Gods righteousness."

   This is Gods gift unto you, human being! You should really have reason to go from this reading now, with thanks in heart and mind, if you are holding the Word up against all your own, and all accusations from the evil spirits.

E.K.

Holy Bible, New American Standard Version
Translator: E.K.