John 16:5 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus, hold Your horses!  We’ve been doing nothing but asking You where You’re going?  How can You possibly say that and not be wrong?

• Remember, Peter asked and all You said was Peter, you can’t come right now.
• Remember, Thomas asked and all You did was say You’re the Way!
• Remember, Philip asked You just to show us the Father and that he’d try to find his own way there!
• They asked!

(Oh…..is this a case where the Bible is wrong???  Is it our gotcha on the Word of God?)

Nope.  Jesus prefaces this all by saying Now.  Right now, the disciples are in a state of total confusion, He brings them in a circle back to engage in the discussion of His going away to ensure they’re getting it.

The disciples With Christ in the Upper Room are so completely confused and disoriented, so thoroughly grief-stricken and fearful of their own futures that they’re losing sight of the big picture.

So now, Jesus reels them in to address their concerns in light of the big picture of salvation and ongoing ministry.  He acknowledges that they are sad. 

He reminds them that He is the Way and it’s actually for their benefit (though they don’t understand why) that He’s going away.  He reminds them of this Counselor and that Jesus will send Him.

God has a way of turning grief into good.  Jesus is preparing to march toward the bad-good part of Good Friday.  Bad for Jesus.  Good for us as long as we circle back to remember the bigger picture that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Dwelling in grief

Put it On for Lent: Hope for tomorrow

For further thought:

• In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”  How has God had a longstanding pattern of bringing good from grief?
• Have you ever experienced grief?  Are there any ways you’ve seen God turn it for good?
• Looking at your own personal grief again now, in light of today’s passage, look again for ways God has or wants to turn your grief to good.

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

Jesus hasn’t really done a bait and switch in verse 4.  He’s just clarified what following is…and what following means.

Jesus has known that He’s not a popular guy with the religious hoity-toities of His day.  He has spoken of this to the disciples, but they didn’t understand.  It didn’t fit with what they were expecting!

Here’s why it wasn’t a bait and switch:

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Today’s passage With Christ in the Upper Room must have sent the disciples reeling.

They’re going to be kicked out of the synagogue.  That’s where they’ve always worshiped!

They’re going to be killed, and be victims in honor killings!  To the disciples, marching to their own deaths probably wasn’t what they had in mind when they began following this Rabbi!  And yet now, it’s being proclaimed as the litmus test of truly following.  Dying to self.  Laying down one’s life for friends.  This is not what they likely had in mind.

Jesus didn’t tell them at first because He was with them!  He was protecting them.  But now, as His final preparation, He’s giving them advance warning so they will not fall away from the faith.  They will view it as prophecy fulfilled instead of nothing but shock value.  Remembering this will keep them from going astray when persecution comes.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Expectations that demand being top shelf instead of God’s priorities being there

Put it On for Lent: Humbling denying yourself and picking up your cross for Christ

For further thought:

• Put yourself in the sandals of the disciples for a moment.  They’re confused.  They don’t understand.  They’re worried.  There’s all this talk of death and persecution.  And still lingering in the background is the recurring idea that Jesus is with them now but is going away.
• What might be some of the questions rolling around your mind?
• Reread this:  “in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”
• We see honor killings all the time in the Islamic world, defending the honor of their god or prophet.  What does this Scripture say about them?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 15:26 “When the Counselor 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. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

We often see court cases presented on TV.  Fictional ones and real ones.  The purpose of testimony by witnesses is to make the case, either for the defense or the prosecution.

In this case, it’s both defense and prosecution.  The Holy Spirit is testifying on behalf of Jesus as a prosecuting attorney and we’re all guilty!  But He’s also testifying as the defense, His presence shows our sentence has been commuted.

The Holy Spirit is looking for a guilty judgment: guilty of sin, guilty of rebellion, and guilty of belonging to Christ. 

Huh? How does all that fit together?

Returning to the 22^nd devotional in our Lenten Devotional Series, With Christ in the Upper Room,

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

The Gospel of Jesus Christ–that’s what we are testifying about.  But what good is a Gospel?  Why would it be Good News except that we’ve got a sin problem…and a rebellion problem?  And why would that be Good News if we remained guilty?

There’s only one way to escape eternal judgment and that’s by having sufficient evidence in the Holy Spirit.  His presence proves that we belong to Christ as His Gospel testifies.  His presence is evidence that declared us both guilty of sin and forgiven by Christ.  This is what we proclaim as Jesus’ witnesses.  We are guilty…and…forgiven!  That’s every Christian’s testimony!

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Feeling like we don’t need a Savior

Put it On for Lent: Willingness to testify

For further thought:

• If you were to win on Wheel of Fortune, wouldn’t you be thrilled to relive that moment over and over in the retelling of the story?  Why not the joy of retelling your being saved by Christ? Isn’t that more valuable than vacations to Aruba?
• Is there enough evidence in your Christian life to convict you of belonging to Christ?
• What types of things hold you back from testifying to what Jesus has done in your life?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.'”

Jesus is offering some final instructions to the disciples who are With Christ in the Upper Room.  He has spoken to them about the full extent of His love as reflecting the great measure of the Father’s love for us.  Now He turns again to the topic of showing the full extent of His love, not in words only, but in actions.

At this point, Jesus knows the Cross is ahead.  He’s spoken of it before, but the disciples still don’t understand.  To them, He’s still the Messianic figure from Palm Sunday, cheered by the crowds, beloved by the little guy.  He’s a people’s Messiah!  The One they’ve been waiting for.  And they’ve been His disciples and groupies.

Now, however, He’s starting to say some things that are really troubling.  Opposition.  Persecution.  Hate.

Where is all this hate coming from?

Re-read this passage.  The word hate appears 7 times!  The world hates Him and the world hates them.  He’s going to be persecuted.  They are going to be persecuted.  Things are about to become really serious really fast.  This isn’t quite what they’d signed up for.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent:  Thinking we can avoid being hated by accommodation with the world.

Put it On for Lent: Acting like chosen people–chosen for salvation, chosen to suffer

For further thought:

• Has anyone ever said they hate you or accused you of hate…and really meant it?  How did that make you feel?
• What is the best way of dealing with opposition that Jesus outlines for us?  From where do we get our encouragement?
• Can we ever resolve religious conflicts?  Why or why not?  What would have to happen to resolve a religious conflict?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit– fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

With Christ in the Upper Room, the disciples are being shown the full extent of the love of Christ.  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”  That’s a greater measure of love, for sure!

• Love is mentioned 9 times in this short passage.
• Commands are mentioned 5 times.
• Obedience is mentioned directly or indirectly 3 times.
• Friendship is presented 3 times as well.
• Joy is mentioned twice and so is fruit.

What connects them all is abiding in the love of Christ, in His greater love! 

The word abiding is translated as remaining in the NIV but irrespective of translation, the key to abiding/remaining in His love is obedience to His commands.

Re-read today’s passage, pondering every line.  It is full of important ideas.  Most of all, however, Jesus is showing them the full extent of His love, His greater love.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: an intellectual Christianity full of doctrine and rules but suspiciously lacking in love for others.

Put it On for Lent: Greater love

For further thought:

• What types of things cause us to become disconnected from the love of Christ?
• What would laying one’s life down for his friends look like in your life and mine?  What does it mean in practice?
• If your life lacks joy (as distinct from happiness which is more surface and environmental), what types of things can you do to have complete joy?
• Have you ever met someone who claimed to be Christian…who always spouted doctrine, but whose spirit had an element of meanness?  Someone, perhaps, who demeaned or defamed other people or called them names?  Read 1 John 2: 3 We know that we have come to know [Christ] if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.  What does Jesus command in today’s passage?
• How does it make you feel to know you were chosen by God?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Yesterday, Jesus said “Come now; let us leave.”  While there is some uncertainty where they went immediately as they left, we now enter into a second thematic section of the Upper Room Discourse, even if they aren’t in the Upper Room per se.

This second section focuses on the testimony, the fruit if you will, of the life of a genuine Christ-follower.  Jesus gives us the image of a vine bearing fruit and stresses the importance of abiding.

Previously we saw we show the world that we are disciples by loving one another. 

This is action-based. 

We choose to love others and love God.

Now we show ourselves and others that we are disciples by bearing fruit for Christ. 

This is abiding-based. 

All we do is abide.

A branch doesn’t have to work at doing all the fruiting, it happens as the vine does its work in a branch fully connected.  The branch simply bears the fruit the vine produces.  If you cut a branch off a tree, it will not produce apples awaiting the yard waste hauler.  But if a branch stays on the tree, or a branch stays connected to the vine, apples or grapes or figs or cucumbers get produced by the tree or the vine.  It’s as if the branch and the vine are one…and the fruit is evidence that the connection is real.

Remember the other day we had that confusing statement?  John 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Connected.  Like a branch into a vine.  Not complicated at all, really. 

That connection is called abiding and it is our key to producing fruit.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Thinking you can be disconnected and still be a disciple

Put it On for Lent:  Abiding

For further thought:

• If a connected apple branch bears apples and a connected grape branch bears grapes, what does a connected Christian produce?
• If loving others is the testimony to the world, what kind of fruit would demonstrate to ourselves, God, and the world that we are disciples of Jesus Christ?
• In verse 7, is Jesus promising to be our personal genie?  If not, what kinds of things does He mean by “whatever you wish”?
• What might be the kind of fruit that is to the Father’s glory?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.”

How often we fail to see how greatly Jesus looked forward to being freed from the constraints of the Incarnation and the immense joy He had anticipating a return to His Father!

Jesus was looking forward to this and dearly wanted His disciples to set aside their confusion and worry and instead, to share in His joy.

Wait a minute, are you saying that Jesus was actually looking forward to His own Crucifixion?

Not as an event per se, but for what it signified, yes, He was.

For this heralded several things immediately following His Crucifixion:

1. He’d be reunited with His Father!
2. He’d be back in His glory and in the presence of His Father’s glory!
3. He’d have fulfilled His entire mission by finishing perfectly what He’d come here to do!
4. He’d have offered to the world and to the disciples a complete picture of the full extent of His love. First and foremost, His love for the Father.  But also, His love for us.

In their place of grief, Jesus leaves peace behind.  His peace!  In their place of trouble and fear, Jesus wants them to have joy in the Lord.  In their place of confusion, Jesus wants them to learn just how immensely He loves the Father…and to learn that obedience is the surest evidence of love.

Jesus is leaving soon.  He has done all that He can while the disciples are With Christ in the Upper Room to prepare them for the events to come which surely will be a shock to them.  He doesn’t want their faith to fail even as He continues to prepare them for His leaving.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: The world revolving around us and our feelings

Put it On for Lent: Peace and Joy because Jesus was reunited with His Father.

For further thought:

• Read Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Why did God exalt Jesus to the highest place?
• Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Is it possible that the joy of doing the Father’s will is what gave Jesus perseverance through the excruciating Crucifixion?
• Luke 22: 67 “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” 70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.”  Jesus knew He was returning to the Father.  He spoke as if it was already done.  How could He be so sure?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14:25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, 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.”

Jesus knows that the disciples who are With Christ in the Upper Room are beyond baffled.  Jesus understands their limitations and in His grace, He gives them encouragement in His own words before He dies.  They hear it from His own lips.  After that, the Holy Spirit will take over making things understandable.  And with the Trinity, there’s a lot left to comprehend.

I love the Holy Spirit.  I’ve often called Him the best kept secret of Evangelical Christianity.

He’s the closest I’ll ever get to being in the presence of Christ…in this lifetime at least….since Jesus ascended to heaven almost 2000 years ago.

So many of us treat the Holy Spirit like the crazy uncle of the Trinity and are embarrassed to talk about Him out of fear that we’ll be seen as people who have lost our minds or are living in some bizarre fantasy world.  Other people turn Him into the litmus test of charismatic Christianity and worship the Holy Spirit more than the Father or Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

But I love the Holy Spirit.  Without Him, the Church wouldn’t be the Church.  Without Him, we could not adequately understand our Bibles.  Without Him, we wouldn’t have a decent prayer life.  Without Him, we’d be missing our guarantee of belonging to Christ.

While there was human breath in His body, Jesus tells the disciples all this confusing stuff, yet He knows they don’t and won’t understand…until later.  So He gives this beautiful promise: this Counselor is coming and He’ll help them from that point on.

The Father will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Name in order to teach what they were not capable of learning while Jesus was still in the flesh.  This Counselor will remind them of everything Jesus said…because the Holy Spirit is God and so is Jesus.

Do you love the Holy Spirit?

***

Give it Up for Lent: Treating the Holy Spirit as a second rate deity or a litmus test

Put it On for Lent: Love of who the Holy Spirit is

For further thought:

Read these words by Pastor AW Tozer and pray about the reflection points:

• “When Jesus is glorified, the Holy Spirit comes.  He does not have to be begged—the Holy Spirit comes when the Savior is glorified.”  Is Jesus glorified in your life?
• “Now a plain word here about the Christian Church trying to carry on in its own power.  That kind of Christianity makes God sick, for it is trying to run a heavenly institution after an earthly manner…The church that wants God’s power will have something to offer besides social clubs, knitting societies, the Boy Scout troops and all of the other side issues.”  Is your church carrying on in human power?
• “The cross of Jesus Christ always changes men’s plans.  The cross of Christ is revolutionary, and if we are not ready to let it be revolutionary in us nor let it cost us anything or control us in any way, we are not going to like a church that takes the things of God seriously.”  Are you willing to let the Cross of Christ change your plans?
• “The Holy Spirit is an Illuminator.  He is Light to the inner heart and He will show us more of God in a moment than we can learn in a lifetime without Him…He won’t throw out what we have learned if it is truth—He will set it on fire.”  When’s the last time the Holy Spirit set a truth on fire in your heart?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 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.” 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 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. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

By now, the disciples are probably like deer in the headlights.  Their heads are spinning.  Jesus seems to be talking in circles.  He’s going away.  He’s coming back.  He’s sending a Counselor who is going to be with them forever, but where is Jesus?   He’s going away, but He’s not telling them where He’s going!  They don’t know this Counselor from Adam, and they do want Jesus whom they have been devoted to following.

Now He says that He won’t leave them as orphans and He will come to them.  But He’s going to be quasi-invisible.  The world can’t see Him but they can.

He’s alive but He’s going away and because He lives they will live.  (Huh?  Wait a minute.  Is there a death in here we don’t know about? We’re totally confused!!)

Then He dumps the whole Trinity on’em and suggests there is a relationship they are part of that they cannot presently comprehend, even in the slightest.

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

What does this mean??  Stop the merry go round and let me off!  I don’t understand any of this!  That would have been my reaction.  It’d be like that shell game where something is hiding under one of the shells.  Where is Jesus in all of this?

“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.”  Wait a minute.  I thought it was the Counselor coming.  Aaaieee!

John 14:24  “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”

Ok, familiar territory.  We love You and will obey You. If only we could understand what You’re saying.

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” OK….(?!)  We’ve kind of heard this before… John 8:42 Jesus said to [the Pharisees], “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.”

Well, one thing is certain, they’ll have plenty to think about after He dies.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: The need to have understanding before faith

Put it On for Lent: Faith seeking understanding.

For further thought:

• Read about Jesus’ baptism Luke 3:21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
• Read about the Transfiguration:  Luke 9:35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
• If they had understood the baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration, how would that have helped them to understand the Trinity?
• At what point, must we be content to know enough to affirm our faith?  How would you address those who seem to always want more information before they’ll believe?
• When Jesus says “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you,” what do you think it means?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth. 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.

It would probably have been hard to be a disciple of Jesus.  He obviously had an intellect that allowed Him to comprehend and articulate things with perfect accuracy and detail…things that we cannot comprehend at all. Of course, He is God so that’s an advantage.

If I were a disciple, I think I’d become overwhelmed easily…like a baby who wants to walk whose physical capability just wasn’t there yet.

It’d be very frustrating to have all the desire to follow, a command to do so, and not be able to understand enough to do it without help.

With Christ in the Upper Room, today’s is the first mention of the Counselor (also known as the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Parakletos) in John’s Gospel.  The Holy Spirit connects the disciples’ time with Jesus to the time following His Ascension when the Holy Spirit would come at Pentecost to be God’s presence with us.  They just don’t know it yet.

Lots of tough concepts for a bunch of guys who are at the Last Supper.  They don’t even fully get it that Jesus is going to be arrested, crucified, and buried, the few short hours ticking away.

So why does Jesus tell them about this Counselor now?

• Comfort.  That they are going to have God with them in a whole new way.
• Comfort.  That this gift won’t ever be taken away.
• Comfort.  That where God commands obedience, He aims to provide every resource we’ll need to accomplish it.
• Comfort knowing that the word And beginning our passage today connects the “If you love Me” from yesterday with the power to obey: the Holy Spirit.

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Give it Up for Lent: Seeing the Holy Spirit as less of God than Jesus

Put it On for Lent: Comfort of the Counselor

For further thought, pray through all the things we do know about this Counselor in the Word of God, alluded to by Jesus today:

1. Jesus asks the Father to give the Counselor….but Jesus is not asking in prayer from earth.  On our side of the Resurrection we know He’s asking the Father face-to-face after He’s raised from the dead and His sacrifice was accepted by God as sufficient.  (Hebrews 7:23-8:2, Hebrews 10:12-14, Romans 8:34)
2. The Father will give the Holy Spirit to be with Jesus’ disciples, but He can’t until after the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.  (Acts 1:4)
3. This gift is a forever gift unlike the physical Jesus who was here and left and promises to return.  (John 14:3, 2 Corinthians 5:5 )
4. He is the Spirit of Truth, just as Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
5. He is given to disciples, not the world in general…because faith and cleansing need to happen to receive this gift. (John 15:3, Ephesians 1:13-14)
6. The Holy Spirit won’t be accepted (seen and known) just as Jesus was not recognized and accepted by all the world. (Luke 10:16 , John 15:18)
7. The disciples already know Him (as God).  He (God the Holy Spirit) is living with them now (as God the Son) and will be “in” believers in the same way that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in the Son (John 14:18-20).

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