John 14:15-21

¹⁵"If you love Me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. ²¹Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him."

If the first 13 or 14 verses are considered to be Jesus’ “Father Sermon,” then the rest of the chapter ought to be called His “Spirit Sermon.” Jesus’ instruction now turns naturally to the coming of the Spirit. And it’s not likely that the disciples understood Jesus’ teaching here and now. Ironically, the Holy Spirit about whom Jesus taught would only later teach the disciples to remember and discern this teaching about Himself. Jesus will not leave His disciples; rather He will come to them (and us) in the Holy Spirit making His presence known. The world won’t see Him; but believers will know Him intimately, because He will live with them and in them.

V15 is challenging. All true believers would claim to love Jesus; consider Peter in the final chapter of John’s Gospel – He gets annoyed that Jesus would ask him if he loves Him three times. Calvin says, “The love with which the disciples loved Christ was true and sincere, and yet there was some superstition mixed with it, as is frequently the case with ourselves; for it was very foolish in them to wish to keep Him in the world. To correct this fault, He bids them direct their love to another end; and that is, to employ themselves in keeping the commandments which He had given them. This is undoubtedly a useful doctrine, for of those who think that they love Christ, there are very few who honor Him as they ought to do; but, on the contrary, after having performed small and trivial services, they give themselves no farther concern. The true love of Christ, on the other hand, is regulated by the observation of his doctrine as the only rule. But we are likewise reminded how sinful our affections are, since even the love which we bear to Christ is not without fault, if it be not directed to a pure obedience.”

In v16, Jesus comforts His followers by telling them that He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit, whom He calls “another Counselor,” or Comforter, or Advocate, or Paraclete, which means “Helper.” V17 calls Him the Spirit of truth. He’ll be with us “forever.” Jesus will elaborate on this in chapter 16. In today’s culture, when we get into legal trouble, we hire a lawyer. In first century Palestine, a person in legal trouble would seek out their best friend as someone who knew their character and could vouch for their typical behavior. This Person for us is the Holy Spirit. He is our hedge of protection God gives to believers. He speaks for us when we don’t know the words to say. And at the same time, He is the prosecutor and convictor of the unbelieving world, who effectually and irresistibly leads some to become believers. If the Spirit does not reveal Himself to each person, then we can know nothing of Him – the world cannot receive or accept Him.

V18 accomplishes two things. First Jesus tells His followers that they are orphans. He reminds us of our weakness apart from Him, and He’ll say later, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” Second, Jesus tells His followers that He will not leave them in this state of weakness. He will come to them by the power of His empowering Spirit. This statement alone proves His Divinity – or His lunacy if you don’t believe. He speaks of the unity He has with His followers, extending even to life and death. V20 causes some question with the words, “On that day.” Some suggest this to be the day of Pentecost. Others think Jesus is speaking of the entire day – as in long period of time – of His Spirit’s power between Pentecost and His bodily return. This thought speaks to the reality that we can not really know anything of the Spirit unless He dwells in us (1 Corinthians 2:14). Finally, v21 reminds us of v15, the challenge to obey Jesus as evidence of our love for Him. The means of this process is progress (sanctification) resulting in the end of this process: conformity to the image of Christ – glorification.

Throughout the entire history of redemption, all three Persons of the Trinity have constantly been at work together, in perfect unity; and yet, in the different eras, the work of one of these Persons has come more to the forefront. Before Christ came, the Father’s work was in the forefront, as He sovereignly worked all things out for the coming of the King. After Christ’s incarnation, His own work of purchasing redemption for us was obviously at the forefront. And after this marvelous redemption was indeed accomplished, the ministry of the Spirit, in teaching men of Christ and opening their hearts to the knowledge of Him – applying to the elect of the Father the redemption which the Son had already won – this new ministry moved, in a sense, to the forefront. And Jesus called this ministry “greater” than His own. The Holy Spirit would change the hearts of His people so that they would be able to follow His perfect commandment – just as had been prophesied before (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27)! We must be careful not to forget that God’s Spirit was at work in the hearts of true believers in the Old Testament, “circumcising their hearts” so that they might obey God (Deuteronomy 30:6) – but after Jesus’ ascension, He was about to work in mightier ways than ever before, within the new Covenant, which exceeds the old Mosaic Covenant, just as the substance exceeds the shadow.