A Promise, A Prediction, A Prayer (John 15:26-17)

As we come to the last few hours before Christ is taken prisoner we see a picture of Him showing a great amount of love.  We do not see Christ focused on Himself but instead focused on preparing His disciples for what is to come.  In John 15:26-27 Christ tells them this, “But I will send you the Counselor—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me.  And you must also tell others about me because you have been with me from the beginning.”  Once again He is promising them a helper, the Holy Ghost that is going to come after Him; it is through the Holy Spirit that they will gain more knowledge and strength.  What are they to do once they receive the Spirit, go and tell others of who Christ is, spread the word and let people know where true salvation comes from.  We see that happening In Acts when they receive the Spirit that they go and tell those in the city about Christ.  But it is also through the Spirit that they will be guided into truth and obedience to God, Christ tells them in John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”  Where can we find truth in the word it is through the word of God  that the Holy Spirit works in us.  2^nd Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ^that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Christ in the midst of His coming death on the cross gives those around Him encouraging words, He telling them that He is going away but the helper is coming.  That it is a good thing that He is going away.  He goes on to tell that He is going to die, that they are going to feel sorrow.  But that their sorrow is going to be turned to joy, that they are going to see Him once again.  He is talking about the time just before His ascension into Heaven.  The world thinks they are getting rid of Christ but they are not, no instead they are doing just what God had planned, it is through the death of Christ that we are able to have the Holy Spirit as our Helper.  Christ tells that they are going to be able to communicate with Him through the Holy Spirit.  “At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. The truth is, you can go directly to the Father and ask him, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”(16:23-24).   Christ is telling them that there is going to be true salvation, that we can go and ask Him for forgiveness and through the Holy Spirit talking to Christ for us we are forgiven.  How exciting for them to think that they could pray to God directly, know they had an intercessory to their prayers.  Hebrew 7:25, “consequently he is able for all time to save^ those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Christ doesn’t stop their He then goes on to pray for them, He is asking that God give them strength.  That They won’t fall away from Him. He goes on to pray for us as well.  “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. ²¹ My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.”  He prays for our salvation to be strong as well.  Is it not great to know that we serve a God that loves us, wants us to succeed in obeying Him and also seeing others come to know Him and have salvation, through Him.  It has nothing to do with where we came from, what we have done, it has to do with the fact that we have a God that loves us and wants us to follow Him.  He came to die on a cross, so that we may have salvation in Him, He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct and strengthen us so we could go and tell others.