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 arrested, the gospel of John spends a significant amount of space dedicated to the time between the last supper the disciples had with Jesus, and the time Jesus was betrayed and arrested. Part way through the last teaching opportunity Jesus had with the disciples prior to the cross, Jesus promises us that even though He is leaving, He will send us help. John records Jesus’ promise by saying: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. 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.” (v. 16-17)
One big thing that I see in this description of the Spirit of Truth that Jesus promises us is that the world cannot accept Him because it doesn’t see or know Him. In contrast, Jesus tells the disciples that they will be able to know this Helper because He will live with them and be in them.
This prompts me to wonder if Jesus was simply promising this helper to those original disciples, or if Jesus’ promise extends beyond the first generation of believers. Tucked at the end of verse 16, is the timeframe for this promise. Jesus tells us that the helper that the Father sends to them “will be with you forever.” (v. 16)
Skeptics might say that the emphasis for this promise was on those original disciples, but Jesus uses the word “forever” which is significantly longer than “for the rest of your lives”, which is another time span that Jesus could have said.
I believe Jesus uses the word forever because as long as there are Christians alive on earth and who are sharing their faith with others, they will have help from the Spirit of Truth. The world doesn’t see or know God’s Holy Spirit, and because of this, the world cannot accept the truth about God, but this is because the world is not interested in Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we have been called to live in a way that makes the Christian life look attractive to others. We are called to share our faith with those God brings into our lives. And we are called to depend on and learn from the Spirit of Truth as we go about our daily lives living for God.
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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