But these things (about the coming persecutions, but also the help you will receive so that you will be able to endure them and even benefit because of them) I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes (and there are times when God will allow the wicked to have power to hurt you), you may remember that I told you of them. (And if you remember that I forewarned you, you will be better prepared and be able to endure). And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (and I was the focus of the world’s opposition; I could shield you, and you weren’t in any danger. But now I am leaving, and you will have to bear the brunt of the world’s hatred).
But now I am going to Him who sent Me (God, My Father, sent Me, and I obeyed His commands, and came to this world, but very soon I will be returning to the Heavens, having accomplished My mission); and none of you asks Me, “Where are You going?” You don’t ask Me where I’m going because you still don’t understand what I’ve been trying to tell you for some time – that tomorrow I, the King of Israel, the Messiah and the Savior, am about to die; but My death will make final atonement possible for Israel and all the nations of the world. Then, I will be raised back to life, conquering sin, overcoming death, and continue process of destroying the works of the devil.
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. You sense that something significant is about to happen, something not altogether good, and so you are sad. There should be sadness, but also a measure of joy and peace as well, since many good and great things are going to happen as a result of the events of the next several days.
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
Notice that Messiah says that He will send the Spirit of God. Who can send the Spirit of God anywhere? Can angels? Can men or women? I can send Ari or Aliza to do various tasks, and they may even on occasion do what I ask! But I can’t go to the CEO of GM and tell him what to do. I can’t go to President Bush and send him out on a mission of my choosing. He is greater than I. So, Yeshua must be equal to or greater than the Spirit of God, which means that Yeshua is fully God, deity, divine.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Yeshua. He is a Helper of the very same sort as is Yeshua. The Holy Spirit is called alongside to help us. He functions as our legal assistant, our counsel for the defense, our intercessor, our encourager, our comforter. Wow, what a great thing!
So Messiah is telling us, “Look. You’ve been blessed with My presence for the past several years, but having My Spirit live inside of you will be better than having Me here in Person. I am limited by this body. I can only be in one place at one time.
But My Spirit is the nonphysical part of Me. He shares My mind and My will. If I stayed here, in Person, in this earthly body, the Spirit of God, the One who will help you and teach you and guide you and direct you and comfort you, would not be able to come to you in this new, powerful, beneficial, indwelling way. It is My Exodus from this world, along with My resurrection and ascension to Heaven, that will enable Me to send My Spirit to you, who will be so advantageous to you.
Then I will be able to be with you, wherever you may be, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! The Holy Spirit will bring My life and ministry to you in an even greater way, so that you can be closer to Me than when I was living with you her on Earth!” “So,” Messiah says, “My coming Exodus from Earth is not all bad news!”
And, one of those advantages is that God’s Spirit, working through us, will be able to make a powerful impact on the entire world of men. When Messiah was here, He had to limit His ministry to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. But now, His Spirit dwelling in us, will reach all the nations of the world!
And He, when He comes, will convict the world: To convict means to refute, to argue against, to help someone come to a realization of their own guilt. The Holy Spirit, working through us, through our teaching and preaching and witnessing, through our love for each other, through the grace and mercy and love that we extend to others, will challenge the world’s wrong thinking in three major areas:
Concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment; Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; God’s Spirit, working through us, will teach the world about sin. The world doesn’t understand the sinfulness of sin, and the awfulness of it, and the terrible consequences of it. that sin, to which the whole world is subject, keeps men and women alienated from God, immersed in a state of spiritual death. The typical person in this world has a low regard for sin. Sin either doesn’t exist, or isn’t that bad, or can be dealt with through human efforts or human religion.
And, the sin that may be the greatest sin of all is the rejection of Messiah Yeshua. Why? Because Messiah is the Creator of the universe, and the Sustainer of the universe, and the only Savior and Redeemer of the universe. To reject Him is to reject your Creator, to despise your Sustainer, and to disrespect your Redeemer.
Messiah is our Prophet, Priest and King. As the Final Prophet, He is the ultimate Revealer of God and truth, so to reject Him is to leave yourself without the true knowledge about God. Yeshua is the final Priest, who alone can reconcile us to God, and so to reject or ignore Him is to leave yourself without atonement. Yeshua is the King, so to reject or ignore Him is to remain in rebellion against the Almighty. Yeshua is the Way, so to reject or ignore Yeshua is to continue in the wrong way, toward death and self-destruction. Yeshua is the Truth, so to reject or ignore Him is to remain deluded by deadly spiritual delusion. Yeshua is the Life, so to reject or ignore Him is to remain in a state of spiritual death.
We must talk about the reality of sin, and the consequences of sin, and also point people to the remedy for sin – Yeshua, the One who made perfect atonement for sin, reconciling the world to God, reconnecting men and women to the infinitely holy and pure God who abhors sin but loves sinners. If the Holy Spirit is living in us, and working through us then we must address the issue of sin.
The second major area that God’s Spirit, living in us, will teach the world about is righteousness: And concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
Neither you nor the world will behold Me. Oh, the world may look for Me if they want. Those Jewish leaders and Roman authorities who oppose Me can look for Me. They can check every tomb in and around Jerusalem if they want to, but they won’t find Me, because I won’t be there! I will come back to life, ascend to God, and mankind won’t be able to see Me with their physical eyes
And, when I come back to life it will be a very strong declaration that I am innocent of all the false and trumped up charges made against Me, and that I am the righteous Messiah, and the true King of Israel, and that everything that I said, all that I taught, were right and true. All My miracles were done by the finger of God. My resurrection will be My vindication, and God’s statement that I am the Righteous One.
Most people in the world think they are OK, that they are not too bad, even righteous, but you must tell the world that for them to really be OK, for them to really be in a right relationship with Him, they must believe in Me, follow Me and My right ways.
God can’t consider sinful human beings, who are alienated from God, to be in a right relationship until they believe that I am the Righteous One. When they do, God declares them righteous, and they are considered righteous by My Father. So, it is only by having faith in Me, that the people of the world overcome sin and become righteous.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit, living and working and teaching the world through you, will emphasize My resurrection, which is God’s declaration that I am righteous, and that people must believe in Me to be considered righteous by God.
The average worldling has a low regard for righteousness in his own life or in the life of others. The Spirit, working through you, will start making people hunger and thirst for righteousness, and that righteousness comes through Me.
The third major area that My Spirit, living inside of you, will emphasize to the world is judgment: And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
The average worldling pays little heed to warnings of the coming judgment. Now, it may seem that there isn’t a God who is concerned about judgment, because He does not always and immediately punish the wicked for each crime, or rescue the innocent from each sin done against them, but there is a righteous Judge. He is aware of everything that is said, everything that is done, everything that is thought. He might not judge people immediately, for every sin that is committed, but He is keeping track, and one day He will judge all the people of the world.
Even Satan, the ruler of this world, who runs this world by his corrupted and corrupting values, will be judged. His judgment is absolutely certain. When I die on the cross, I will have triumphed over all the dark forces of this world. Their judgment is certain, even though their sentence will not be immediately carried out. Satan, who was once a good and glorious and powerful angel, will eventually be thrown into the Lake of Fire, which was specifically created to be the final destiny of the devil and those angels who followed him in rebellion. The ruler of this world will be judged, and so will all the fallen angels, and so will all the men and women who remain part of this demonic world system.
So, we must communicate to the world that God must judge and reject all sin and those who cling to sin.
Let me summarize this important section. The people of the world generally don’t want to have their minds changed about sin and righteousness and judgment. They don’t like to acknowledge the sinfulness of sin or their need for a Savior. They want to think that they are righteous enough on their own. They don’t like thinking about standing before a holy and all-powerful God in the Day of Judgment. These things make them uncomfortable, and often annoyed and angry.
But we must tell them anyway! We must not be deterred! God’s Spirit, working through us, knows what is really important for people to be thinking about, and these are the things that He wants to teach the world through us. We must set the agenda! Let’s be courageous, and cooperate with Him, even if it doesn’t make us the most popular person at school, at work, or in our communities.
Yeshua continues: I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. In one sense, Yeshua’s ministry to the disciples was incomplete. There was more He wanted to teach them, but they weren’t able to understand it at this point, and Yeshua, the wise teacher, knew when to wait.
These additional truths would have to wait until the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would fulfill Yeshua’s teaching ministry to His disciples, as He makes clear: But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth – the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of truth. He is called the Spirit of truth, because He is the one true Spirit of God; and He teaches us the truth. If we learn anything true, whether it regular academic knowledge like math or science, or spiritual truth, that knowledge comes with the help of the Holy Spirit.
But the main area of truth that the Spirit will guide us into is spiritual truth – the truth about God, the truth about the fallenness of the world, the truth about sin and judgment, the truth about the Savior, the truth about Heaven and Hell, the truth about the reliability of the Word of God.
When the Holy Spirit lives in us, guides us into the truth. He helps us understand the Word of God. I like what Merrill Tenney wrote regarding the work of the Spirit of truth, who guides us into all the truth: Through the Holy Spirit every Christian (and Messianic Jew) can be provided with individual authoritative instruction… The creation, revelation, transmission, preservation and application of that truth is made possible by the living personal Spirit (Merrill Tenney). Having the Spirit here with us and live in us is like having Yeshua right here, our own personal Rabbi who will help us understand the teachings of Yeshua and all of the Scriptures. What a great blessing! What an incredible advantage!
The Spirit will guide us into all truth, but He does not act independently from the Father and the Son. He does not act on His own initiative. 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.
You see, there is a hierarchy within the Trinity. The Father is supreme. The Son is subject to the Father. The Holy Spirit is subject to the Father and to the Son. Those things that He hears coming from God the Father and God the Son, those things which are essential for us to know, those things He will communicate to us.
And, some of those things He hears from God the Father and God the Son is about the future: The Spirit can and will reveal the future to God’s people, either by illuminating the prophetic parts of the Holy Scriptures, or directly through the revelation of prophets.
The Spirit also hears about the Messiah. The Spirit is focused not on Himself, or His own ministry but on the Person and the work of the Son of God. Why? Just as the Son glorifies the Father, who is greater than He, and helps us know the Father, so the Spirit glorifies the Son, and helps us to know the Son. He takes the things of Yeshua and reveals them to us.
What things? Things like Yeshua’s deity, and His incarnation, and His interaction with various people, and how many rejected Him, but some followed Him; things like His rejection by the religious leaders, and His death; but also His resurrection and ascension, and His high priestly intercession and ministry that is taking place right now. Things like His Second Coming in power and glory to rule Israel and the nations, and His Millennial rule, and the praise and honor and worship He will receive throughout eternity.
The Spirit knows that if Messiah Yeshua is lifted up from the Earth He will draw all men to Himself. The Spirit know that in Yeshua we have all that is necessary for life and godliness. The Spirit knows that joined to Yeshua, we are complete. The Spirit knows that Yeshua is our salvation. Therefore, pointing men and women to Yeshua is the chief concern of the Spirit, and likewise, that must be our task as well.
We need to know about the Holy Spirit, and understand His work in us, and His gifts, but we must also understand that all these things are to help us better see and know and communicate the Messiah!
I mention this because for too long, the blessings that come from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit were rarely taught in the Church. However, now in some cases, the pendulum has swung too much in the other direction, and there are ministries that almost exclusively focus on the Spirit, and rarely on the Person of Yeshua, and that isn’t right either.
Messiah gives us another reason the Spirit will point us to Him: He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
He will bring Me honor. He will cause Me to grow in your estimation, because He will reveal to you those things that are Mine. Oh, by the way, everything that God has, which is everything that exists in the universe, and everything that will ever exist throughout eternity, belongs to Me! I am the Heir of all things!
Can you imagine any rabbi saying that everything that belongs to God belongs to him, when we know that the Torah teaches that all things belong to God?
L’Adonai ha-aretz u’m’loh-ah, tevel v’yosh-vay vah: the Earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.
Therefore, Yeshua is Adonai, the Lord, the Heir of all things. And the Holy Spirit will make us increasingly aware of this reality, and Yeshua’s reality. I like the way J. Vernon McGee put it: “When you suddenly get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus, and He becomes wonderful, very real, and meaningful to you, that is the working of the Holy Spirit.”
But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, “Where are You going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.