THE BELIEVER’S EQUIPMENT.
John 16.
The Lord is here warning His disciples that times of trial and suffering were before them. "These things have I told you, that when the time shall come ye may remember" (Joh_16:1-4). But He did not leave them with their "sorrow-filled hearts," without giving them many encouraging promises, which we may regard as their equipment for life’s work. There was-
I. The Promise of a Comforter. "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you" (Joh_16:7). He does not say, I will sent it, but Him. Christ never dishonours the Holy Spirit by speaking of Him is a mere thing. As a companion, the Holy Spirit was to be to them all that Christ had been. This was abundantly proven after Pentecost. This is what the Spirit can be to us in our times of suffering for His Name. His invisible Presence is here as really as the visible Presence of Christ is departed.
II. The Promise of Guidance and Teaching. "He will guide you into all truth, and He will shew you things to come" (Joh_16:13-14). John says that ye need not any man teach you, for this anointing teacheth you all things (1Jn_2:20-27). This is the Spirit that searcheth all things (1Co_2:9-10). Why should we not expect the Holy Spirit to do His work in us just as effectively as Christ has done His work for us? Don’t grieve the Spirit by refusing His teaching regarding these "things to come."
III. The Promise of His Coming Again. "You now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice" (Joh_16:22). This was literally fulfilled when He rose from the dead. "Then were their hearts glad when they saw the Lord." But is there not a wider fulfilment awaiting for His suffering, sorrowing disciples in these latter days? When He promised: "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also" (Joh_14:3).
IV. The Promise of Answered Prayer. "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He will give you; ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full" (Joh_16:23-24). Having, therefore, brethren, such good and sure promises, let us come with boldness into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus and confidently make our requests known (Heb_10:19). "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it" (Psa_81:10).
V. The Promise of Christ’s Intercession. "I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loveth you" (Joh_16:26-27). What thanksgiving and confidence this should bring to our hearts, that Christ is pleading for us with the Father who loves us. What then in Heaven, earth, or Hell can hinder His will being done in us? Only our own unbelief.
VI. The Promise of Peace. "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace" (Joh_16:33). He hath made peace by the Blood of His Cross. He hath spoken peace by the power of His resurrection. This peace is not of ourselves, not the result of anything we can do. It is not conditioned by our circumstances. Not affected by our disappointments or tribulations. The world cannot give it nor take it away. It is in Himself, and all that He is to His own people. It is as real as abiding and as eternal as He Himself is. "In Me ye shall have peace."
VII. The Promise of Victory. "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (Joh_16:33). "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2Ti_3:12). But persecution, mockery, or death does not mean defeat, for out of their tribulation they shall come with washed robes (Rev_7:14). Nothing can "separate us from the love of Christ, and where His love is, His power also is there to make us more than conquerors" (Rom_8:35-37). The powers of the world are impotent when the "Greater is He that is in you" is with us (1Jn_4:4). Christ has already overcome the world, and your life is hid with Christ in God. To God be the thanks, who in Christ ever heads our triumphal procession (2Co_2:14).
Autor: James Smith