The Bible Recap - Day 315 (John 14-17) - Year 3

Episode Date: November 11, 2021

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. As he often does, today John gives us a more personal lens into things only the apostles experienced. John's been several extra chapters telling us about the final words of Jesus to his followers, and he covers a lot of ground, so we'll just hit the high points. Jesus has to go away, he says, and while they won't be able to follow him immediately, they'll be able to follow him eventually and eternally. Yesterday he told us where he's heading. In Luke 2269, he said, from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at

the right hand of the power of God. He's going to the right hand of the father, and he'll prepare a room for them in his father's house. This idea would be very familiar to First Century Jews. When the sun and a family gets married, the family adds another room to the house where the new extended family can live. So this is Jesus' way of saying, your family now, the rooms have already been added,

and I'm going to get them ready for the arrival of all God's new family members when the time is right. Jesus also tells them he's the way, the truth, and the life. In other words, he's the only connection point between them and the Father. No one can bridge the gap between mankind and God the Father except for Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man. He's the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures scriptures and he's the source of eternal life. He says that seeing him is like seeing the Father. And according to Hebrews 1 and Colossians 1,

the Son is the exact imprint of the Father. For him to claim to be the way, truth, and life, that's huge. When people say Jesus was just a good prophet or a good teacher of morality, they must not know he says stuff like this. CS Lewis said that when we're confronted with the statements Jesus made about himself, if he really said these things, then we're forced to recognize him as either a lunatic,

a liar, or Lord. Either he was crazy and thought he was God, in which case he was a false prophet, or he was a liar and knew these things weren't true, but still acted like they were, in which case he wasn't a good moral teacher, or he was saying things that really were true, in which case he's Lord. We'll link to an article with more info on this idea in the show notes. Jesus also says that his followers will do greater works than him. Greater? How is that possible? Some think this means his followers will do things that are even more powerful and remarkable than Jesus did,

though honestly, I'm hard-pressed to come up with any examples. While others point out that the word used for greater here means more, so the verse could be saying something like, you'll continue to do powerful and miraculous works of God even after I'm gone. And if Jesus happens to be referring to actual numbers, then think of all the believers throughout all of time doing the works of God. Those numbers really add up to more. Regardless which he means, he seems to be saying, believers will walk in his power.

He also says that he'll give them anything they ask in his name. But there are a few things worth pointing out here. First, this seems to be in the context of walking out his power and doing these miraculous works. We can't just pull these verses out to make them mean what we want them to mean. Second, he says these requests have to be made in his name, which ultimately means, in accordance with his will, because his name, and his personhood, and his will are inseparable from each other. So it's not like he's saying, if you ask me for a

mazerotti and tack the phrase, in Jesus' name, amen, on at the end, then, well, my hands are tied and I have to give you the Maserati, you got me. In fact, he addresses this later in 1623 through 24 when he dials in on this again and says, truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. They've asked for lots of things. Remember how they even asked to be seated beside him in the kingdom and he had to tell them, no? So by saying that they haven't asked for lots of things. Remember how they even asked to be seated beside him in the kingdom and he had to tell them no? So by saying that they haven't asked for anything in his name, he's indicating that they haven't asked for anything that corresponds to his will yet.

There's a kind of safety valve built into this promise. He'll say yes to anything that corresponds to his will and glorifies his name, and thankfully, he'll say no to anything that doesn't. That is such a gift to us. It means we don't have to figure out what's best before we pray. We can just ask and trust Him to do what's best. I'm so grateful for that personally because I've asked for a lot of foolish things. This safety valve frees me up to talk to Him openly and ask in the present without having

to stop and figure out the future, which, by the way, I'll never be able to do. One thing Jesus promises to give to all who believe in Him is His Spirit. This will happen for the disciples in about 50 days. God, the Spirit has always existed and we see Him throughout Scripture starting way back in Genesis 1-2. But in the Old Testament,

His presence was most often described as being on people, not in them. He would come to people to empower them for a specific task, then he'd move on. Now Jesus is telling them that he'll be going away, but that it's better for them that he goes away, because that usher's in the next part of God's plan, which is for him to send the spirit to dwell in them. Jesus wants them to know this is huge, because the Spirit will bless them in so many different ways. Jesus says in 1426 that the spirit is the reminder as in the one who reminds.

He helps us recall what Jesus has said and done. And in 1526, Jesus says the spirit bears witness about him. The spirit is a spotlight that shines on Jesus. One of the most common misconceptions about the spirit is that he's only involved in the mysterious things like signs and wonders and tongues, but those are just a handful of the many ways he points to Jesus. Wherever Jesus is being magnified and made known, the Holy Spirit is active.

That's him. He guides us into all truth. He affirms that we belong to the Father. And 1417 says he is exclusively present with followers of Christ. The world doesn't have him dwelling in them. He certainly works among them, but his relationship to the world is a different one. Jesus spends a lot of chapter 15 talking about how he is the vine and we are the branches. One section I find interesting in light of what's about to happen is how he says in verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. This verse reminds me of Judas and Peter, the one taken away,

and the one pruned. God is glorified when we bear fruit, and Jesus compels the disciples to be engaged in what he is doing, because bearing fruit will ultimately result in their joy. He knows they'll need to hear this reminder, because hard times are coming. He promises them trials and persecution, but one of their greatest encouragements in this time is what he says in 1516, that he's the one who chose them and appointed them, knowing all their strengths and weaknesses, knowing all their fears and failures, he still chose them, and he prays for them to be upheld when the world persecutes them. If they had initiated this whole thing, they'd never be able to keep it together, but because God himself is the one who initiated this in them, their hope is secure.

Chapter 17 is called the High Priestly Prayer. It's where Jesus prays for all believers, including you, according to verse 20. He prayed for all the spiritual offspring of His apostles. He prayed for unity among us, and he prayed for the Father to be glorified in us and through us and through Him. The glory of God is our shared purpose. Today my God shot was all over this text. He keeps reiterating the joy and peace He has for us. Here are the spots I loved most.

141 says, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me." 1427 says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives to I give. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. 1511 says, These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. 1624 says, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. 1633 says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. And possibly my favorite in these chapters is 16, 22, through 23. You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day, you will ask nothing of me. Did you see that?

The fullness of joy that comes from his presence will leave us wantless. How complete is the joy that can't even think of a single thing to ask for? We have fullness of joy, forever more, because he's where the joy is. Okay, Babble Readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. I just want to remind you that even though we're in the thick of things here, the turning point of history, the details aren't as important to remember as what you learn about who God is. So don't beat yourself up if you can't remember which trials he went through first or if you can't figure out which day you think he may have died on. All those things are secondary to who he is and what he has done.

Enjoy this process of discovering more about him and his word, engage with what you're seeing in his character, and hold everything else with an open hand. The Bible recap is brought to you by D-group, discipleship and Bible study groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week.