I. Continued Manifestation Of God Vs. 21-26
A. Jesus Promised To Manifest Himself To His Followers
1. Jesus said that we must have and obey His word.
a. V. 24b- Jesus said that the word He brought originated with the Father.
2. V. 21a– Jesus repeats what he said in V. 15. Love for Jesus is shown through obedience.
a. Obedience shows that we consider Jesus as Lord.
b. Obedience shows that we believe His ways are better than our ways.
c. Obedience shows that we believe that to disobey Him brings bad and painful results.
d. Obedience shows we believe Jesus paid for our sins. Why would we embrace sin?
e. Obedience shows that we agree with Jesus, and since we agree, we walk in His ways.
3. V. 21b– One result of loving and obeying Jesus is that the Father loves that person.
a. We already know that God loves the whole world. (John 3:16)
b. Jesus is speaking of manifesting Himself to His followers.
c. This points to a different kind of love. It’s a love of relationship and oneness.
d. Manifest– emphanizo- to exhibit to view, to show one’s self, to make known
e. Jesus promised to make Himself knowable to those that love & obey Him.
f. Caveat (warning, caution)- Some Christians say, “The Lord told me, led me, etc.”
i. According to Jesus, that is entirely possible, and should be desired and sought.
ii. But not all who say such things are obeying Him, or truly discerning Him.
iii. Carnal Christians can make such claims and end up looking foolish, and making Christianity seem like a religion for fools.
iv. Perhaps we would be wise to whom we say this (if at all), and how we say it.
Ex.- “I think that God may be directing me to__________”.
g. However…Jesus said He would make Himself knowable. (See John 10:1-5, 27-29)
h. The greater the degree of obedience, the greater the familiarity with Jesus.
4. V. 21c– Jesus promised to return this love to the disciple. A love of relationship.
a. Jesus promised to make Himself knowable to the ones that would love/obey Him.
B. Jesus & The Father Would Make Their Home With Them
1. V. 23- Before His death, Jesus was physically with them.
a. After His ascension, He would be dwelling within them, by the Holy Spirit
b. He would be closer to them after His death than he was during His life.
c. This would happen through the presence of God the Holy Spirit, who had been with them, but would be in them. (See John 14:17, 18)
2. We see the Trinity in this passage. Three persons in one. Same heart, mind, and mission
a. The message, mission, presence and power of Jesus and the Father would dwell within each follower through the person of the Holy Spirit.
C. Non-Disciples Can Know Nothing Of These Experiences
1. V. 22– Judas (not Iscariot) didn’t understand how this could happen.
a. They believed Jesus to be a political Messiah who would drive out Rome.
b. They knew that certain passages described the very public presence of Messiah.
Daniel 7:13, 14 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
c. That ministry of Jesus will eventually happen, but first, the Church Age takes place.
2. Jesus was pointing to a spiritual indwelling that would take place between Him and those who loved and obeyed Him.
3. Those who don’t love Jesus and don’t want to obey Him will never know Him like this.
D. Continued Guidance
1. V. 25-Jesus was their teacher when He was present with them.
2. V. 26– The Holy Spirit would be with them in a different capacity (indwelling them), but He would carry on the same ministry of teaching and illuminating the words of Jesus.
a. whom the Father will send in My name– At Jesus’ request, the Spirit would be sent.
3. As obedience to Jesus results in Jesus manifesting Himself to the Believer, so also, obedience results in further illumination from the Holy Spirit.
II. Additional Thoughts Vs. 27-31
A. Jesus Style Peace
1. V. 27– Jesus was deliberate in differentiating His peace and the world’s version of it.
2. William Barclay- “In the Bible the word for peace, shalom, never means simply the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for our highest good. The peace which the world offers us is the peace of escape, the peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things.”
3. J. Carl Laney- Peace then is the spiritual well-being that results in being rightly related to God. A major feature of such peace is inward contentment. This is not the kind of peace that the world offers. The world offers a peace based on favorable conditions and circumstances. The legacy of peace that Jesus provides is independent of external circumstances.
4. Jesus promised them His presence and His peace via the Holy Spirit.
B. The “Good” Of Jesus Returning To The Father
1. Vs. 28, 29- The disciples’ outlook at this point is that they are still focusing on what they perceive is a corporate loss to them: Jesus is leaving.
2. Jesus gently tells them that if they really loved Him (more than themselves), that they would be glad for His sake that He was returning to the Father.
3. Jesus would return into the fullness of fellowship with the Father, having completed His mission.
4. V. 28- My Father is greater than I- A source of theological misunderstanding.
a. Turn to John 10:30-34 The Father isn’t greater because Jesus is less than God.
b. The issue is not one of inequality, but of hierarchy.
Equality and hierarchy are not mutually exclusive.
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Philippians 2:6-8 NLT Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
5. V. 29- Telling them ahead of time would prevent surprise and encourage faith later.
C. Satan Has No Advantage Over Jesus
1. V. 30- The Ruler of this world is coming- Satan had indwelt Judas Iscariot, and the betrayal was already in motion. Jesus would soon be arrested.
2. He has nothing in Me- Jesus was not a casualty to the desires of Satan. Jesus died willingly.
D. The Cross Demonstrated Jesus’ Love For The Father
1. V. 31– Far from being a victim, Jesus was a willing participant regarding His death of the cross. It proved His love for the Father, and set an example of Love bringing Obedience.