SUMMARY.--Persecution Predicted.
The Comforter to Come.
He Will Reprove the World of Sin; of Righteousness; of Judgment.
Will Guide into All Truth.
Sorrow and Rejoicing.
Overcoming the World.
1. These things have I spoken. The warnings found in the
14th and 15th chapters.
They were given beforehand lest they should stumble. To be forewarned
would be a help to their faith amid the dark scenes of the next few
days, and in the persecutions that would come later. [391]
2. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Excommunicate you.
The first persecutions were Jewish.
Whosoever killeth you, etc. Even so Saul of Tarsus thought while
persecuting the saints.
Fanaticism has always held the slaughter of those who are deemed
heretics to be praiseworthy.
3. These things will they do, etc. Had they known Christ, or the
Father, and received the Holy Spirit, they could not do thus.
4. These things I said not unto you at the beginning. He had
made his instructions as they were prepared to receive them, lesson by
lesson.
5, 6. Now I go my way to him that sent me. To the Father, by way
of the Cross, the Sepulcher, the Resurrection and the Ascension.
None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? They had asked this
question, but in the stupefaction of their sorrow they had ceased to
ask.
7. It is expedient for you that I go away. What seemed then a
crushing sorrow was a real blessing. His mission could never be
accomplished unless he went away.
For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come. While Christ
was present in person, in bodily form, the Holy Spirit, the
representative of the Godhead, could not come. Christ, as King, must
send him, and on the day of Pentecost Peter declared, "He hath shed
forth the things ye do see and hear."
8. Will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment. The Revision more correctly renders, "Will convict the
world in respect of sin." There are three points concerning which the
world would be convicted, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The Holy Spirit would effect these important results through some
means. If we would understand the methods we have only to turn over to
the fulfillment of these predictions recorded in the Acts of the
Apostles. In
Acts 2:38,
the Holy Spirit fell upon eleven apostles and they spoke as "the Spirit
gave them utterance."
The words that they spoke were the words of the Holy Spirit. In the
record of what was said by the mouth of Peter, we find that the Spirit
convicted (1) of sin, in that those who heard had rejected the Lord of
life and glory; (2) of righteousness, in that it was demonstrated by
the manifestations of that hour that God had exalted the Lord whom they
had condemned to his own right hand; (3) of judgment, in that they were
assured of the "wrath to come,"
and warned to "save themselves from this untoward generation."
9. Of sin, because they believe not on me. In naming sin, the
chief of all sins is singled out. All sin springs from unbelief. To
destroy sin, the heart of man must be pierced with the sword of the
Spirit. Hence, the aim of the Spirit on Pentecost, and always, is to
destroy unbelief.
10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father. Human tribunals
convicted him of blasphemy, because he said he was the Son of God, and
put him to death. God exalted him to a throne, [392]
thereby showing that the condemnation was wrong and that he was
righteous. Of this the Holy Spirit bore witness in words and by
miracles.
11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. In
chapter 14:30,
he declared, "The prince of this world cometh." It was the prince of
this world, the spirit of the world, Satan, as the ruler of the world,
who slew him. When Christ rose from the dead, and all power was given
into his hands, this was a judgment in the court of the universe
against the prince of the world.
13. When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth. He is about to go away and his own personal teachings
will be ended, but those things that he desires them to know will be
taught them still. The Spirit of truth will guide them into all
truth.
14, 15. He shall glorify me. "All things that the Father hath
are mine," and the Spirit "shall receive of mine and shew it to you."
"These three are one;"
a striking illustration of the unity of the Godhead. They are so united
that what proceeds from one proceeds from all.
16, 17. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little
while, and ye shall see me. On the morrow he would die, be buried,
and for "a little while" they would not see him; then he would rise,
and for another "little while," a space of forty days before "he went
to his Father," they would see him while he remained on the earth. When
he ascended to his Father, they, in a spiritual sense, would "see him
coming in the kingdom of God."
20. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. How
sad were the [393]
broken-hearted disciples, as they wept at the tomb! At the same time
their enemies were gloating over their triumph. Soon all was changed,
for
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. The glad news came, "The
Lord is risen!"
Then they heard that "all power was his,"
saw him ascend into heaven, and "returned to Jerusalem with great
joy."
22. Ye now therefore have sorrow. Are in travail, but soon there
shall be a birth, "the First Born of the new creation"
from the tomb.
23, 24. In that day. After the Kingdom comes on Pentecost.
Ask the Father in my name. We must come to God through him. His
is "the only name."
Before, when they prayed, he told them to say, "Our Father," etc.
Now they must pray in the name of the ascended Lord.
25. Spoken in proverbs. In figures.
31, 32. Do ye now believe? The disciples had just asserted that
they did, because they thought they understood him, but before morning
their faith would give way and, instead of clinging to him in the hour
of trial, they would leave him alone. [394]
33. I have overcome the world. In this world his disciples would
be persecuted and have sorrow, but he bids them
Be of good cheer. The world can only afflict for a season; it is
a conquered world; Christ has overcome it.
