25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
Can you imagine spending three years listening to Jesus teach and then trying to recall just the most important details? If you have ever taken notes in a class or during a sermon and then went back to try to understand the main point but couldn’t read your own handwriting, then you are in good company. Maybe you could read it, but it just didn’t make sense. The Gospels were not the notes of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John while Jesus taught them. Mark was not even in the inner circle of the disciples. Luke was a Greek and didn’t even know Jesus in the flesh though he may have been one of the Greeks who wanted to see him in John 12:20-22 (just speculation). The earliest estimates believe Mathew was the first Gospel and it was written in AD 41. That is eight years after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Now, try to imagine going back eight years or more and trying to piece together the major points of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth.
I’ve been told that in those days, a Rabbi would speak as they walked along with his disciples following him. They were required to memorize everything he said. Try taking notes and walk too! Regardless of what they were supposed to be able to do, God wasn’t going to entrust the words of Christ to the memories of fallen people. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. He is going to help the disciples. He isn’t just going to help them just remember, but he will lead them in telling us the things Jesus said which are of the greatest importance. This should be obvious because three years of Jesus’ teaching certainly isn’t completely recoded in the Gospels.
What is even more important is that there is one Apostle, Judas, who is now missing. Was Jesus’ disciple, Matthias present at all the teaching? No, and as matter of fact, neither was Matthew. Several times, Jesus took Peter, John, and James aside such as on the mountain of transfiguration. Even more striking is the testimony of Paul, the Apostle chosen by Jesus himself. “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:11-12 ESV). This just points out that the Holy Spirit does so much more than helping the disciples remember what Jesus taught but he also teaches and reveals God’s word through Jesus Christ to the writers of the New Testament.
Some even say that the Holy Spirit continues to teach us new revelations. To that I say, revelations from God have ceased! Let me explain from Scripture. You see, Hebrews 1:1-2 says, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (ESV). Long ago, the prophets spoke the very words of God especially when they said, "Thus says the Lord." Then there was nothing for about 400 years. Then Jesus came and said in John 12:49, "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak" (ESV). The book of Revelation is Jesus' last verbal and visual revelations. Now, the Bible is finished. There is nothing to add. And that's what I mean by saying revelations have ceased. There is no more revelation from God about how we must be saved. There is no more revelation concerning the sinfulness of people and our need for a Savior. There is no more to say about Jesus' return and eternity. It is all in the Bible. We don't need new prophets or Popes or anyone else to add to the Bible. Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6, and Revelation 22:18 all warn us not to add to God's Word. Yes, we need people who can preach the Word, encourage, and rebuke. But no one or no thing must add to the Word.
27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
The world has its expectations of what peace means. The United Nations has an inscription on one of its walls from Isaiah 2:4, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” This is the concept of the world’s peace. No more war. Unfortunately, they didn’t include the first half of the verse, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and …” There can be no peace until our God returns and brings his judgment upon the earth to rebuke and enable no more war.
What Jesus gives us is peace with God, first and foremost. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1 ESV). Whatever the world does, it can never give us peace with God. All religions promise something beyond this world and sometimes peace in our souls only if we are good at doing what they say. Other religions’ peace can never be truly achieved because you will never know for sure that you have done enough. Jesus’ peace with God is based on Jesus’ promise and his work on the cross. It has nothing to do with how much we work at it.
The peace that we have through Jesus Christ is beyond understanding. When circumstances say we should not have peace, we can still have Jesus’ peace. We are told in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NIV). This peace does have a condition. That condition is to pray, and those prayers are to include thanksgiving.
In the same way that we have a condition on the peace that comes from prayer, we also need do something to experience the peace of Christ. We already have his peace with God, but we don’t always experience it because we let our hearts continue to be troubled. This also applies to the peace that passes understanding. We can pray and still be anxious because we are letting our hearts stay troubled. We are not making a choice to not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
When a loved one says he is going away for a good reason, for his benefit, it suddenly becomes all about us. We are going to be lonely. We are going to have to do things without him. How will I manage when you are gone? We may rejoice but it is usually a grudging rejoicing. If we really love this person, we should have an unrestrained joy for his great fortune.
When we see a loved one at the point of death, we should rejoice if he knows the Lord because he will be going to be with Jesus and the Father. We often see people who have a terminal illness and are rip roaring and ready to go to be with Jesus. Among their family members we also find some who just know that God is going to heal them. They are insisting that they go to this specialist or know of a miracle treatment that will save them. This happens because they are not sure of their own salvation or the promises of God. It happens out of sheer selfishness; they don’t want to be away from this person. We should carefully consider why we act this way.
Someone could look at Jesus’ statement that the Father is greater than him and conclude that Jesus is a lesser being than the Father. However, to do that is to take this out of context. The greater context is that Jesus has expressed the way the Trinity has worked together. The Father sends Jesus and in Hebrew thought, the one sending is greater than the one sent. This greaterness is in the authority structure of the Trinity, not in the power or wisdom or any other attributes of God since all members of the Trinity have the attributes of God.
29 “And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”
Jesus has explained all this including several announcements of his pending death, burial, and resurrection. Yet, his disciples have never gained a meaningful understanding of any of it. Yet he is so considerate of their feelings that he tries to help them understand. They didn’t believe when he was arrested, they didn’t believe when he was crucified, and they didn’t believe when he was resurrected until he appeared directly to them. They still didn’t get it just before his ascension when they wanted to know if he would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). The great thing is that Jesus didn’t give up and eventually, they did believe. It’s the same with many of us. Jesus is patient and knows exactly when and where to save us.
30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”
Jesus’ short talk spans three chapters in John’s Gospel. What is coming is some of Jesus’ most important teaching as well as his prayer for all believers down through history. But this is only a short time compared to his previous three years of ministry. There isn’t much time and the ruler of this world, Satan, is coming to make his last-ditch attempt to prevent Jesus from completing his mission. So Jesus is going to talk quickly and as some preachers say, we need to listen quicker.
Jesus has now lived for about thirty-three years on earth and has never sinned. The devil can’t accuse him of any violations of God’s law. Plain and simple, Jesus has obeyed all that the Father has had him do up to this point. If Satan could mess him up at this last time, then it would be game over for Jesus and our salvation would have been lost. But Jesus’ love for the Father is going to be stronger than Satan’s desire to destroy Jesus. It is now time for Jesus to make sure the final confrontation with Satan occurs at the time provided. So, he leaves the upper room to take the journey to Gethsemane and all that follows.
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