JESUS & THE TRINITY – John 14:7-18
Posted by Angella Diehl, Webmaster on September 11, 2013 under PM Bible Study |
PM Home Bible Study Group; September 11, 2013
John 14:7-18
Theme: Through a relationship with Jesus, we have a full relationship with the whole triune Godhead.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Lately, we have been studying from a wonderful portion of Scripture—and it’s a portion of God’s word that is so holy, we might almost be inclined—like Moses—to remove the sandals from our feet before we approach it. It’s found in John 13-17; and it describes the intimate conversation that our disciples enjoyed with the Lord Jesus just before He went to the cross for us.
When you think about the fact that our Lord was about to leave His disciples and go to the cross, and that He would only be with them for a short while; and when you consider that the things He told them were to be passed on by them to the church of all the redeemed people who would believe on Him through their testimony in the centuries that would follow, you get a sense of how significant these words are. Of all the things that our Lord could have passed on to His followers at a time like that, these things—contained in these relatively few chapters—are what He wanted us to know. We do a great service to our own souls when we read these words often, in a prayerful manner, and under the enabling guidance of the Holy Spirit.
* * * * * * * * * *
This evening, we discover that one of the things that our Lord deemed to pass on to His followers was an understanding of His relationship with the other members of the triune Godhead—the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Many books have been written about the deep theology of the Trinity; but no thoughts and speculations of even the greatest theologians could ever be deeper or more reliable than the words of the Lord Jesus Himself. He is not only the greatest Teacher on the Trinity that we could ever hear from, but is Himself the second Person of the Trinity and the divinely appointed Revealer of the triune Godhead to mankind. Tonight’s passage shows us that, through a relationship with Jesus, we have a full relationship with the Godhead in all three Persons.
In His words in the middle of Chapter 14, we find that . . .
I. THROUGH HIM, WE KNOW THE FATHER (vv. 7-11).
A. Jesus had been comforting His disciples after telling them that He would be leaving them for a time. He told them, in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” That would be a remarkable thing for a mere man to say. But Jesus—though fully human—is not presented to us in the Scriptures as a mere man. At the very beginning of this Gospel, we’re told that He was “with God” and “was God” (John 1:1). We’re told, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). John even makes this remarkable affirmation: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). In other words, whatever can be known by fallen mankind about the Father is only known accurately and in a saving way through His Son. And so; in our passage this evening, as our Lord ate His final meal with His disciples before going to the cross, He told them, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (v. 7). To know Jesus is to know the Father; because the Father is revealed in the Son. And because they had come to know Jesus and had spent the past three-and-a-half years with Him, it can be said—with the fullest possible verity—that they now know and have seen the Father.
B. One of the disciples was Philip. Philip was someone that God had used to introduce others to Jesus. He was the one who sought Nathaniel and told him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote . . .” (John 1:45). He told Nathaniel to come and see Jesus for himself. Later on, Philip was the one that the Greeks came to who were seeking to speak with Jesus; and Philip and Andrew went together to tell Jesus about them (John 12:20-22). I like Philip. I believe he was highly ‘relational’. As he listened to Jesus speak of knowing the Father, we’re told, “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us’” (v. 8). Just as Philip introduced Jesus to others, perhaps he hoped that Jesus would introduce the Father to them. But Philip didn’t understand the nature of Jesus’ relationship with them. “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’” (v. 9). To see Jesus was not merely to see Someone who could introduce them to the Father. Jesus enjoyed such an intimacy of union with the Father that to see Him was to see what can be seen of the Father.
C. Jesus went on to say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (v. 10a). The intimacy of union between the Father and the Son was expressed by Jesus later on in John 17—in His prayer to the Father for the disciples, and for us—when He said,
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:21-23).
We really do not yet have the capacity to grasp these words. Jesus is speaking of a union that we will only understand when we are glorified—and even then, we will perhaps never be able to plumb the depths of it fully. But though we cannot fully grasp the union of the Father and the Son, we can nevertheless believe it. Jesus enjoys such union with the Father that to see Him is to see the Father. In fact, there is no such thing as a relationship with the Father except though Jesus; and there is no saving knowledge of the Father except as the Father is revealed to us through His Son.
D. Jesus then takes this marvelous truth and shows us how to put it into practical application. He says, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (v. 10b). To hear the teaching of Jesus is to hear the teaching of the Father through Him; and to see the works of Jesus is to see the works that the Father is doing through Him. All that the Father does for us and to us is through His Son. And so, as Jesus tells us, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves” (v. 11). As Jesus affirmed in verse 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is no other way to the Father than through Jesus. But we can come to Jesus with the fullest confidence that, when we come to Him, we are coming to the Father. We come by believing His words and the works that the Father does through Him.
II. IN HIS NAME, WE HAVE ACCESS TO DIVINE AUTHORITY (vv. 12-14).
A. Jesus had been highlighting the Father in these words. He was assuring His disciples that in coming to Him, they are missing nothing of a relationship with the Father. They come as close to the Father as they can come by coming to Him. And now—in coming to the Father through Him—He lets them know that they have full access to divine authority from the Father through Him. He speaks in such a way as to verify the absolute truth of His words when He tells them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (v. 12). The full significance of these words is shown to us in the things He says later on in this discourse concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In John 16, He will tell them;
Nevertheless 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 depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:7-11).
After Jesus left and sent the Holy Spirit to them, they were empowered mightily to peach the gospel. And in that one sermon in Acts 2, three-thousand people came to the Lord. The work of the Holy Spirit through His people in the succeeding centuries has been not only the work that He did while here—but an expansion of that work that was much greater than He did while here! Thus it is that, through Jesus, we are enabled to do the works of God that He Himself did!
B. And in the doing of the work of the Lord Jesus on this earth in His absence, there is also full access to the blessings of the Father in His name. In fact, He promises that He will do what we ask! He said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (vv. 13-14).
1. Note, of course, that there is a condition attached to this remarkable promise. That condition is expressed in the fact that whatever we ask is to be asked in His ‘name’. This doesn’t mean that we merely attach the phrase “in Jesus name” to the end of our prayers, as if it were a magic formula that gave success to those prayers. Rather, it means that we ask whatever we ask as if under His authority and as His representatives. We are to ask what He would want us to ask, and what He Himself would ask if He were the one doing the asking. What’s more, the asking must have the ultimate goal in mind that Jesus Himself had—that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And so; when we ask in that manner—asking, as John said in 1 John 5:14-15; “according to His will”—then we know that the Father hears us and the Son will do as we ask. What authority the Son has placed in our hands! What a responsibility we have to study the Scriptures and know Jesus’ will!
2. And note also that we not only have access to divine authority, but also to the full acceptance of the Father in the use of that authority. In some translations of verse 14, you’ll find the addition of the word “me”. The New International Version, for example, translates that verse, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” But not all ancient manuscripts include the word “me”. As the New King James version has it, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” And the absence of the word “me” may be argued for by the fact that Jesus later says,
“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (16:23-24).
Just a few verses later, He goes on to say,
“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (vv. 26-27).
Whether the word “me” is to be included or not, though, the point remains the same. Through our union with Jesus, we now have full access to the divine authority that the Father has given to Him. Through Him, we may speak to the Father. What love Jesus has shown us! He has literally shared everything with us—even the intimacy and authority He enjoys with the Father!
III. BY HIM, WE ARE GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT (vv. 15-18).
A. Our access through Jesus to divine authority doesn’t mean, though, that we act in any way independently of Jesus Himself. He is ever and always our beloved Savior and Lord. He told His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (v. 15). That’s our part in the relationship. But notice what Jesus promises to do for us as His part of the relationship. He says, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—” (v. 16). Apart from that promised Helper, we could never keep our part of the relationship. But we are not left to our own power to try to keep His commandments. He has promised “another Helper”.
1. The word “Helper” is a translation of the Greek word paraklētos; which means “advocate”—one who is called alongside another to help. When Jesus told the disciples that He would send “another”, He was obviously affirming that they already had one. That first paraklētos would be Jesus Himself. But because He was leaving, He would send “another”.
2. And the word “another” is important to consider. There are two sorts of words in the Greek that would convey the idea of “another”. One would be the Greek word heteros; which means “another of a different kind”. If I had a pen, I would have a writing instrument; but if I also had a pencil, I’d have “another” writing instrument “of a different kind”. The other Greek word would be allos; which means “another in addition” or “another of the same kind”. If I had a black fine-point gel pen, I would have a writing instrument; but if I had another black fine-point gel pen that was identical to the first, I’d have allos—another of the exact same kind. Jesus is telling us that He will ask the Father; and the Father would give us allos—another Helper of the exact same kind as Jesus Himself.
B. Note that it is only by Jesus that the Holy Spirit is given to us. It’s the Father who sends Him to serve on earth as our Helper; but it is by the request of Jesus that He is sent. Jesus said earlier that He Himself is “the truth”; and here, He calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive . . .” (v. 17a). The reason the world cannot receive Him is “because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (v. 17b). How did the disciples know the Holy Spirit if He had not yet been sent? It was because of Jesus Himself. Just as they knew the Father through knowing Jesus, they also knew the Holy Spirit through knowing Jesus. The Holy Spirit was at work in Jesus; and so, He was “with” the disciples. But after Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Spirit to minister in His place; and from then on, their relationship with the Spirit would be different. After Pentecost, He was no longer just “with” them, but would then be “in” them. All of this is theirs through a relationship with Jesus.
C. And note the promise that Jesus makes in relation to the promised ministry of the Holy Spirit—Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18).
1. Certainly, this reflects the fact that Jesus would one day come back to them and receive them to Himself as He promised (see 14:3). The Holy Spirit’s presence in us is our guarantee that He will come and receive us to Himself. The Spirit is “the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:14).
2. But Jesus’ words, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you”, also reflect the depth of the Spirit’s ministry in mediating the very presence of Jesus to His disciples during Jesus’ physical absence. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would still be with them. In fact, the Spirit would so minister the presence of Jesus to them that He Himself could say—at the conclusion of His ‘Great Commission”—”and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We may, in the weakness of our understanding, long for the days when Jesus’ followers walked in His physical presence while on earth. But the fact is that we do walk with Him! Thanks to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He is now with His followers in a greater way than He could have been in the limitations of His earthly bodily presence!
* * * * * * * * * *
What wonderful things a relationship with Jesus Christ gives us! When we have entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith, we have entered into a relationship with the fullness of the triune Godhead itself!—the Father through Jesus, access to divine authority with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by Jesus!
Let’s seek our all in Him, then! Let’s be sure that we go nowhere else but to Him! As the apostle Paul warned us;
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
