S83P8 – A promise is a promise: He will share more with us
John 16:12-15
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
It must have been a very emotional scene. The verses which follow this passage make it clear that there was an atmosphere of confusion among the disciples. They were in the presence of their Lord, whom they had seen perform all sorts of miracles and speak God’s truth like no one had heard, and here He was telling them that it soon would be time for him to leave. They could not understand what He meant when He said that He would be gone soon. The man they had followed so closely, the one for whom they left their lives in the rear-view, would be leaving them after only a few short years. He had been their source of strength and inspiration during that time. Of course it would make no sense to them that they would be better off with him gone.
I would wager that even the thought of not hearing the voice of Jesus anymore brought sadness to those men. They had developed quite a bond with him, and their brotherhood depended on his presence and his guidance. I am sure today that we would think how great it would be to have Jesus here in his physical body to guide us and lead us, to share our lives with him. The truth is that what we have now that He has gone is a way for him to be with all of us, not only a select few who are within arm’s length of him. What Jesus was telling his disciples is that his going away actually would make it so that his presence could increase in this world. His Spirit can be everywhere, and He even resides within us. His Spirit shares with us the words we long to hear from him and continues to teach us just as Christ himself taught when He was here on the Earth.
Scripture teaches us so much about the Lord, and his Holy Spirit serves to remind us of the words He spoke while He was here. [John 14:26] We must remember, however, that there is infinitely more for him to share with us. The Holy Spirit makes that impartation possible. He speaks only what He hears from the Lord himself. We may spend decade upon decade growing close to God and learning of his ways, but there is so much more still to learn. If we have any reason to get up and face the day tomorrow, let it be the desire to hear the words which God wants to declare to us through his Spirit. If for nothing else, let us ask for God to extend our days so that we can receive more and more of this holy word. Father, thank You that the Godhead works in unity and partnership to continually speak your words to us for encouragement, comfort, knowledge and wisdom.