15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. 17 That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. 21 Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them. 24 A person who doesn’t love me doesn’t do what I say. I don’t make up what you hear me say. What I say comes from the Father who sent me.
25 “I have told you this while I’m still with you. 26 However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.
27 “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly. 28 You heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.
29 “I’m telling you this now before it happens. When it does happen, you will believe. 30 The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer. 31 However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.”
Read John 14:15-31 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
On the night Jesus was betrayed and ultimately arrested, He promises to ask the Father to send the disciples help. The help Jesus promised comes from the Father in what Jesus describes as “the Spirit of Truth”. When describing how the Helper would come, Jesus tells His followers: “I have told you this while I’m still with you. However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.” (v. 25-26)
It seems interesting in my mind that Jesus would describe the Holy Spirit as being sent from the Father in His name. In this verse, while the Holy Spirit comes in Jesus’ name, the description Jesus shares is that the Holy Spirit clearly comes from the Father.
Also contained in this short description is one of the things the Holy Spirit would do. Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit “will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.” (v. 26)
This detail is significant for us to pay attention to if we ever have doubts about whether the gospel writers could be trusted to accurately share what they witnessed while writing their respective gospels decades after the events actually happened. In John’s case, his gospel was the last to be written, and it may have been written so late in his life that all the remaining original disciples had already died.
As an old man, some skeptics might believe that we cannot trust John’s gospel record because it was written so long after the events he describes actually took place. However, if we think like a skeptic in this case, we are actually discounting the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
John says that the Holy Spirit’s role is reminding us of what Jesus has taught us, and this was true while he was writing his gospel record. John’s gospel shares a unique angle on Jesus’ ministry that can best be understood as simply inspired. While John may have held the pen, the Holy Spirit inspired the memories, events, and words that were written.
It is the same in our lives as well. While we were not present while Jesus walked the earth, the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to help us remember truth we learned while we were younger, and the Holy Spirit is happy to help redirect us back to focusing on Jesus. Jesus has offered to send the Holy Spirit to help us, and there are no downsides to accepting the Holy Spirit’s help with our lives.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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