Mocking and Crucifying the King

John 19:1-16

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.

4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him."

Pilate's Decision

5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"

6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"  Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."  7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."

8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, 9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.  10 Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?"  11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."  13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"

15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!"  Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?"  The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"  16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.

Finally the time arrived for Jesus the Christ, the perfect sinless Lamb of God (Isaiah 52:7, John 1:29, Acts 8:32-33), to be led to the slaughter as a willing self-sacrifice for our sins.  They mocked the King of the universe with taunts and piercing thorns before piercing His hands and feet as predetermined (Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, Revelation 1:7) to fulfill all things related to our salvation from sin’s just penalty we are all due.  They put a royal purple robe on Him with that painful piercing crown and paraded Jesus around to mock further as they hit Him and told Him to prophesy to them.  They did not believe Jesus could really prophesy nor did they see Him as the true King over all creation; they mocked the Lord of all in utter rejection and disbelief.  Even after such scourging and unwarranted mocking, Pilate still found Jesus to be innocent as he led Him so arrayed before them to display their own decision to kill their guiltless King.  They refused to crucify Jesus themselves but forced the Roman government to do their dirty work for them as they yelled, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”Jesus was to die as they found His truth a lie that He was the Son of God.  This truth pierced the heart and conscience of Pilate with fear and dread at the thought of possibly putting a deity to death.  He asked Jesus once more who He was and where He came from, threatening his earthly authority over the omnipotent One seemingly holding His fate in his hands.  Jesus told him plainly that he only had power allowed by God and the sin lay in those handing Him over to Roman justice who rejected Jesus and not he himself.  Though Pilate then tried to free Jesus, the crowd accused him of making Jesus king over Caesar to manipulate him into doing as they demanded by questioning the loyalty of Pilate.  This worked and he passed the sentence of judgment on Jesus Christ as Pilate exclaimed, “Behold your king!”  The mob. Died again for His crucifixion as the swore loyalty to Caesar as their only king as they denied their true Sovereign.  They took Jesus away from the judgment to the cross of the cursed tree for the slow and painful execution of the King of creation.  We see here how rejecting God’s Son and His rule over us only seems to eliminate the source of condemnation; we know now how the account ends as our King is not judged by us but we by Him who died for our sin’s judgment even as we all as Adam’s descendants falsely accuse our Savior in our mocking and denial until He draws us to Himself and opens our blind eyes and deaf ears to the truth that He is the Son of God (John 3:18, 11:27, 20:31, 1 John 5:13).  Amen! 

Denial, Judgment, and Substitutionary Sacrifice

John 18:19-40 

Jesus Questioned by the High Priest

19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine.  20 Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. 21 Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said."

22 And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?"  23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?"  24 Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter Denies Twice More

25 Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?"  He denied it and said, "I am not!"

26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" 27 Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.

In Pilate's Court

28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"  30 They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."

31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law."  Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.

33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"  35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"

36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."  37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.

Taking the Place of Barabbas

39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"  40 Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.

Jesus spoke openly about the kingdom of heaven and who He is yet the the high priest still queried Him about His doctrine and disciples when they arrested Him.  Since the Lord had taught openly and not in secret, He asked them to ask those who had listened to what He had told them.  They hit Him in return for not telling them what they wanted to hear.  Jesus asked them for what evil He was beaten and if not, why did they hit Him.  He exposed their sin by telling them the truth of their motives and actions against the truth and what is good.  While they shipped Him off to the high priest Caiaphas, Peter continued to deny following Jesus two more times until he heard the rooster crow to expose his fear of standing on for his Lord just as he was told he would do.  Meanwhile back at the high priest’s, they marched Jesus from there to the Roman Praetorium, the judgment hall of the governor which was a courtroom as well.  The Jews who brought Him there stood outside to wait for Pilate to come out and pass judgment because they did not want to dirty themselves in a pagan place.  This is ironic since they were not acting godly by rejecting God’s Son as they were set on having Him killed to protect their standing (John 11:48) and power over the people.  They could not comprehend that by having Him killed that they would be setting the stage for God to sacrifice His Son to deliver them from their sins and save their nation and the people (John 11:51-52)!  This is the sovereign will of God in history as He arranged everything just as predestined to happen in God’s plan for redemptive salvation.  When the Jews accused Jesus before the Roman governor, they were asked what His crime was and then told them to deal with Jesus thems since their accusations fell outside of Roman law.  They wanted Him dead for falsely perceived blasphemy and could not kill Him themselves because of the Law of God.  God had told us long ago in Isaiah 53:5, 7-8 and Psalm 22 that this would happen so that He could die for the sins and ours by His suffering and death at their hands of disbelief and rejection.  Pilate asked Jesus if He really was the King of the Jews and He told him plainly that His kingdom was of Heaven above and not an earthly one that threatened Roman authority.  He came to bear witness to the truth God according to the written word of scripture.  He further explained that only those of the truth (called and chosen by God’s predetermined choice) were able to accept and receive Him as the truth.  Pilate then asked, “What is truth?” in his own inability to grasp it but still told the accusers that he could not find Him guilty according to Roman law.  As the rabble rose louder, Pilate found a way out of taking responsibility by enacting the custom of a substitutionary death by offering the people’s choice of who to release on the Passover.  Thus they offered up Jesus by letting Him die in the place of a sinner who was an guilty criminal.  This is a picture of how Christ subtituted His death for ours that we might not be judged, condemned, and put to eternal death for our sin as He took our place to hang on that cursed tree (Galatians 3:13) instead.  This account demonstrated the denial of the people, the judgment on sin accounted to Christ instead of the guilty, and the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus for all who do not reject Him but believe through God-given faith and receive Him (John 1:12) to pass from spiritual death to everlasting life (John 5:24). 

Whom are you Seeking?

John 18:1-24

Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?"

5 They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth."

Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.

7 Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

8 Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way," 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none."

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

Before the High Priest

12 Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. 13 And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. 14 Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

Peter Denies Jesus

15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. 16 But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in. 17 Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?"

He said, "I am not."

18 Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.

Jesus was betrayed by the one who was destined to set his heel against Him (Psalm 41:9, John 13:18) and the soldiers did the bidding of the chief priests and Pharisees to have the Lord arrested.  Judas gave up the Lord for a pittance of silver coins because he could not get his hands on enough from the disciples’ money box which he held as they traveled while Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven where all true riches had been offered him and Judas rejected.  When they came for Him with torches and weapons drawn, Jesus knew exactly what was happening because God had planned each moment of this time that He might go to suffer for our sins and die a cruel death on a cursed tree (Galatians 3:13) to personally take the punishment of the curse of sin which we all owe Him.  Therefore, Jesus asked them, “Whom are you seeking?” as a way to once again testify of His identity of divinity as the Christ, the Son of God come for such a moment as this, His purpose for coming incarnate to accomplish (Luke 9:31) salvation for His people.  When the legal mob answered the question of Jesus as to who they were looking for, they still did not recognize who He is but just said they wanted Jesus of Nazareth to take into custody.  Jesus responded with, “I AM” as the identifying response of His equality with Yahweh God whose name is the same, the I AM from Exodus 3:14 (John 8:58) who is eternally existing.  Upon hearing the Lord God answer them, Judas and the mob fell backwards to the ground in His presence out of unconscious fear in the very presence of the Almighty who is and was and always will be.  They got up and Him the same question and received the same answer but this time remained standing.  Jesus told them to let the others go free and take only Him to fulfill the words He spoke before in John 6:39 as a promise to keep those given to Him until after He died and came back to give them unending life with Him as He had told them.  One disciple tried to stop the mob from taking his Lord by cutting off an ear of a servant there, but Jesus told him to stop trying to stop the work He was doing as He had to to save them all.  They took the Lord to the high priest for judgment of blasphemy by claiming He was the Christ and God’s Son.  The one priest had previously prophetically told the others that it was necessary for one man to die for the people (John 11:49-50, 51-52), not knowing the depth of truth coming out of his mouth which he had no idea of the eternal heavenly weight of those God-driven words.  Mean, Peter had followed them to the courtyard of the high priest to see what would happen to Jesus, yet denied he even knew the Lord when asked out of fear for his own life by that association.  He sat with the enemy instead and kept warm by the fire as he waited for the coming judgment and sentencing on Jesus.  May we not imitate the example of Peter but stand up for our Lord, not with violence and not in timidity (2 Timothy 1:7).  We know Him as the I AM, the God-Man who came to sacrifice Himself as His own High Priest for our deliverance from sin’s penalty.  Let us proclaim Him in this way as well to answer those who are seeking Him because He is drawing them to Himself to look for Him as they hear the word of God and our testimony giving them the answer to that critical question for eternity. 

Jesus Prays for His Own Whom He Calls

John 17:1-26 

Jesus Prays that We May Know 

1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Chosen Ones

6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Jesus Prays for All Who Are Called 

20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

24 "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Jesus prayed looking heavenward to His Father that He as the Son would be glorified in the suffering and death set before Him (Hebrews 12:2) with joy that He might give glory to the Father in this work of atonement for the salvation of all given already to Him.  He dedined this eternal life as knowing the Father as the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to do His work for us (John 6:29) to believe in for imputed righteousness (Romans 3:22, 1 Corinthians 1:30) and life to be lived with Him now and into eternity.  Jesus finished this work on the cross and up from the grave when He arose from death to life as a guarantee of our own resurrection in Him at the final judgment in that righteousness alone and not our own.  Yes, he prayed for the followers who were with Him then in the beginning but also for all in the ages to follow who would take up their own cross (Luke 9:23) of death to self and to live for Him who called them from before time began (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:1-3).  Jesus prayed for those whom He had chosen from the beginning who were not yet following Him as well.  We who are His heart His word and receive Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world by His word and work in which we believe by faith through repentance from the death of sin and life given in Him.  We believe in Him as sent by God His Father to redeem us from the curse of the Law which reveals our sin inherited from Adam and continued by our own corrupt actions every waking moment.  He prays for us and not for the world, the vessels prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22) who are not drawn to Himself as called and chosen vessels of His great undeserved grace (Romans 9:23).  

He therefore prayed for our union with Christ and our permanence of that calling which can never be taken away by Him or our sin nor forfeited by us.  Once we are truly saved we are always saved because we have always been chosen to be saved from the moment He willed to create us and bring us into this world.  This is our hope as revealed in this prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He prayed further for our pro from the roaring lion who is our adversary, the evil one who is the great serpent set against Christ and all who have His testimony from the Garden of Eden until the final rede of the purchase of our souls in the day of the final judgment when that one will be forever cast down into unending torment all who follow the liar instead of the Lord of truth and life who covers our sin with His blood as foreshadowed in the sacrificed skins of animals covering the sin (Genesis 3:21) of our ancestors, Adam and Eve.  We now are not of this world just as He is from heaven above, sealed for that destiny as our destination promised by His word and proven by His work on earth to defeat death once and forever.  We are also sanctified by this truth, made holy according to His word of the gospel of our deliverance from sin’s punishment which was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14) and remains dead there as surely as we live from the life risen out of death through faith in Christ and His work (John 5:24).  Jesus therefore ended this prayer by lifting up all those in the future who would come through repentance and faith in his sacrifice for their salvation by believing and receiving (John 1:12) Him as well.  He brings all He calls into union with Christ to be made perfect in His righteousness and to display that glory through the words and testimony of the gospel words of this life that never ends with Him.  The Father displays His work in Christ in whom we stand by grace and declare this love to the world that those who are called and chosen are drawn to know him as the only way to God, the truth of all God’s Word, and the life given unearned and undeserved by the Father’s great love.  This is the true God and eternal life (John 17:3, 1 John 5:11, 20) in Jesus Christ as He calls His own out of the world to Himself! 

Faith that Forever Overcomes

John 16:25-33

Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World

25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

29 His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God."

31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Who is he who overcomes the world?  Jesus Christ.  And who is he overcomes the world in Him?  He who believes (1 John 5:4-5) in Jesus as the Son of God who has overcome the world on purpose behalf.  We, like the original disciples who have gone first before us, hear His words of the gospel of God’s love for us because He came into the lower parts of the earth out of the highest heaven to redeem us as His people, chil of the promise by faith as of Abraham who set the example (Galatians 3:6-7, 9, 26) long ago on which we now stand.  We also know we can pray based on this faith for our needs that align with His will of good providence and provision.  We then join with the disciples in saying we believe that He came forth from God just as He told us.  This is faith, believing and trusting in His words of His identity and work on our behalf that we are utterly unable to earn deliverance from sin’s eternal consequences by our meager human efforts.  Only God as the Son was able to save us from our sins and draw us to Himself.  Like the disciples, however, we too must beware of being scattered by fear of physical death or suffering for identifying with Christ in pressing times of persecution.  May we hold fast in faith to endure to the end as we have the assurance of our salvation which cannot be forfeited or taken away no matter what we may face (Romans 8:37-39).  In this world we will suffer tribulation (2 Timothy 3:12) but we must remain in His joy with cheerful hope in the absolute knowledge that He has overcome the world which once held up us in the power of sin and its just deserves. 

Our Sorrow Will Turn to Joy!

John 16:16-24

16 "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."

17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?" 18 They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is saying."

19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

23 "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Deep sorrow is turned to great joy in seeing Jesus suffer and die for our sakes with the certainty the knowledge of His imminent return after first going to His Father.  This is what the disciples of the Christ Jesus were told by Him as an assurance of joy and hope which we now also enjoy.  They would see Him again because He went to the Father and not in spite of Him disappearing to Him while leaving them.  But remember that He did not leave them alone, but would send God’s Spirit to inhabit their bodily temples (1 Corinthians 6:19) that they and all who follow Him since will have God’s very presence to lead and guide us into all truth (John 16:13).  The disciples did not yet have His Spirit of understanding in them and relied on the Lord Jesus outside of them to reveal God’s will and word by speaking to them out loud.  We now have that inner voice guiding us (Isaiah 30:21) and do not have to wrestle with asking, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me” and not finding the answer.  We now know that the Son of God came to suffer and die and rise from death to life to pave the way for our own resurrection of spirit now in our rebirth and into eternity with incorruptible bodies (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Peter 1:4)!  Jesus then explained only that their sorrow would be followed by great exhuberant joy as the world celebrated His death and they His resurrection out of that empty tomb.  Such joy would overwhelm their sorrow with hope that cannot disappoint (Romans 5:5) just as woman giving birth quickly forgets the agony of childbirth upon holding her newborn baby in her arms full of life and a future of hope that would grow before her.  Such joy nobody can take from we who are born again to this living hope with joy made completely full in certainty and with the internal proof of His presence sealing (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14) us as His own until that Day.  This is our hope of joy out of sorrow as we await the return of our Lord, our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13), Jesus Christ!

God’s Holy Spirit is our Helper

John 16:1-15

1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

"And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

God’s Holy Spirit is our Helper in time of need and His word to help us heed.  Jesus warned the disciples that many would reject Him and them because they followed Him.  He wanted them to know they would certainly suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12) to set their expectations on this reality so they would not be unnerved and caused to stumble by thinking all would be smooth sailing in the stormy seas of this world in opposition to Him and them for their testimony of the gospel.  He told them that some would be out to kill them as if that honored who they imagine God is.  We see that through history among the early Roman empire to the Roman church which lost its way and led to the inquisition to torture and kill innocent believers in the name of God to Islamic fundamentalists killing to gin their god's favor.  The world is not to be tamed by the gospel because it is fundamentally opposed to Christ and His gospel of grace and righteousness through redemption that cannot be earned and because of the roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8, Rev 12:17) who is our real and active enemy in the world.  All these who oppose Jesus and the gospel do these evil acts because they do not know God as their Father and reject Jesus as the Son of God who is the Christ-Messiah.  But following Jesus is far from hopeless once we count the cost of eternity against the temporary (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) sufferings of this life.  “Therefore we do not lose heart” we are told.  We can realize this because the Spirit of the living God has come to live in us till the end to help, comfort, encourage, and guide us.  Jesus as our helper ascended back into heaven so God could then descend into us as the Spirit to walk with us as Jesus had done, yet as unseen as the wind and invisible to our sight.  He uses us through the gospel preached to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment as He is revealed in his absolute holiness and all of us as absolutely sinful and corrupt to the core in the fallen nature we inherited from Adam’s disobedience.  Sin means that the world continues to reject Him and His word.  Righteousness means that the work Jesus alone could do to cover and atone for our sin is seen only in Christ as we are in Him through acceptance instead of rejection.  Judgment means that the devil who temporarily has been allowed to rule the world will be cast down into an never ending torment which all others who disbelieve and reject Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who alone is our redemption, will face.  There is much more to hear just as the disciples were told then and we now have the promised presence of God’s Spirit in us to take God’s word and translate it into meaningful understanding for us to be able to live rightly in response to the work of our salvation earned by Christ alone for all He calls to Himself.  He resides permanently in all true believers to show us what is true as we read His word and put it into practice.  He is our heavenly translator of what to do and intercessor when we fail.  He takes all what God our Father wills for us as Jesus the Son has told us and tells us what is all means and how to live it with discernment of truth and error that we might follow Him as well-pleasing children.  God’s Holy Spirit is our ever present helper (Hebrews 4:16) in time of need in time of need and throughout all of life by whom we approach God’s throne of grace and mercy.  What a wonder He is! 

Despised and Rejected by Man

John 15:18-27

The World's Hatred

18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause.'

The Coming Rejection

26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Jesus Christ the Messiah was told to be despised and rejected as we read in Isaiah 53:3 by the people He came to deliver from sin and deliver spiritual healing (Isaiah 53:5-6) to the wandering sheep of His pasture.  Even so, the world has hated Him and all who follow this Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) of our souls who have the testimony of Jesus Christ which our enemy wars  against until the Lord’s return.  Because we are no longer of this world, the hate towards us by those still in the world is great and unrelenting.  He chose us and called us out of this world and that is the reason for the hate as Jesus told the disciples here; those who have not been chosen are vessels of wrath for destruction (Romans 9:22-23) and therefore are envious in a sense of those chosen as vessels of mercy and grace, but more so just at odds with us as they serve the evil one set on our destruction as they were on His as they pursued Jesus to death on the cursed tree.  These persecuted our Lord and so will persecute and pursue all who follow Him, but those sheep of His pasture who are called to Himself will hear and keep our word testifying to the truth of the gospel because it is His word.  These who are set against God’s chosen think that they do God service because they serve a set of religious beliefs and philosophies but do not know God personally through Jesus Christ whom he sent to gather us to Himself.  Since He did come our sin is exposed and we are all held accountable with only trust in the Son through repentance and faith as our escape from certain judgment.  The works Jesus did while among us prove these things and reveal the hidden sin of our hearts which lead to the hate of Him and we who follow.  The hope we have to understand these words and the strength we need to follow come from His very own Spirit sent to inhabit each of His chosen children of whom we are who have believed and received the Son and His work (John 1:12, 6:29, 17:8, Galatians 2:16, 1 John 4:16) for us. He is truth who resounds the identity and presence of Christ in us, the hope of glory!  Therefore we also bear witness of these truths of God the Father in the Son by the understanding and enabling power of His Holy Spirit leading and guiding us for His name’s sake.  Though Jesus was despised and rejected by the world, we follow with acceptance and devotion in loving response to all Je has done for us. 

There is No Other God but the Son

John 15:1-17

The True Vine

1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

Jesus is the only place to live.  If we live and remain in Christ we are as branches of a grapevine that receives all nourishment and life from Him whose blood flows into us and sustains us from here to eternity.  Jesus is the only true vine.  There is none other than Him (John 14:6, Acts 4:12) who can give and sustain life both now and forever after death.  There is no other god but God and Jesus Christ is His Son.  This confession of truth is our salvation and hope which cannot ever disappoint.  All other religions and philosophies of life dry up on the vine and fall to the ground to be burned in the end.  Only by entering into Jesus the Christ can we escape the withering away and useless end by fire.  This picture of the vine and the dead disconnected branches contrasts sharply with the abiding nourishment of being attached to the living vine of life who flows into us and causes us to bear good fruit in various forms and amounts, yet promises to do so abundantly.  This comes from His word which we bring in (Jeremiah 15:16) to change us over time into His image as we realize more each passing day how we truly and absolutely can do nothing without Him in us!  His joy then also is a result of His presence flowing through our veins that provides the strength to remain on the vine which supports and supplies us with life that we might glorify and honor our Lord.  He perfects this joy and love in us with these words of absolute hope that cannot disappoint (Romans 5:5) us as we cling to the vine of God Himself and not attach ourselves elsewhere in  futility.  Remaining in His love is a result of remaining in His word with joyful obedience as we do what He says just as we did so when believing in Jesus as His Son who died for us and gave us this life in Himself as we find ourselves in Him and His love.  He spoke these words to the disciples and left this written testimony of His will and heart as a testament of grace after His death and resurrection to remind us of this certain hope found on the Vine of life.  Such love given us causes us to also lay down our lives for each other in return as we serve one another and nourish each one in and with His love given us.  This is because we are His friends who are told things from heaven above out of the Father’s heart to us as recorded here in scripture that we might remain in His presence of love and joy in bearing such acceptable fruit of a life lived for Him.  This abiding brings answers to prayer and love for one another as the rewards for willing trust and obedience out of joy.  May we hold fast to our confession that there is no other God but in the Son and always abide close to Him in His word and in living to honor and glorify our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13), Jesus Christ! 

The Indwelling of God Brings Peace

John 14:15-31

Jesus Promises Another Helper

15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Indwelling of the Father and the Son

19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"

23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

The Gift of His Peace

25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.

29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Jesus began speaking of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in the people He chose to be His children by the coming of a Helper for us to take the place of His physical presence with the disciples after He no longer walked among them on earth.  This was prefaced by the command to willing keep His word out of love for Him who had loved them so much.  Jesus prayed that the Father would send His Spirit to fill and help them as He had done while walking as God-Among-Us, Immanuel.  After the Lord ascended back into heaven from the lower parts of the earth, God would send Himself as Spirit to indwell them and we who now have believed and received God’s Son come from the Father to redeem and reconcile us to Himself.  The promise is for Him (the Spirit) to forever remain in we the people of God in Christ as the permanent tenant in our souls who will never leave or forsake us for any reason whatsoever.  He comes to stay in everyone who has received Christ as the Son of God and been reborn as His chosen children forever.  If anyone does not have His Spirit, that one is simply not of God (Romans 8:9) but for those who have believed and received the Son by faith through repentance are changed forever and indwelt with certainty as we know by the peace passing all understanding in knowing we are reconciled at last with God for our inherited and continued sin.  He is the Spirit of Truth because He reveals the meaning and purpose of God’s written word to us as the living Word had lived out among the disciples before leaving and having the Spirit take His place in us, yet we are still in the Father and Son of God as well, a great mystery which is difficult to completely grasp on our own.  The Son is in the Father and we are in the Son so we are all together in Him whom we call God as the three persons in one God over all.  Our love for the Son is therefore proven by our desire to willingly obey His word, living and written, by the enabling power of His presence as Spirit within us.  If we have kept His word by faith and received the Son, we know Hae has come to make His eternal home in and with us.  This is the proof and joy of our salvation, the promises of His word to we who have truly believed.  The world who refuses to believe and receive Jesus as the Christ remains lost (John 3:18-19) in their love of sin and rejection of Him who speaks these words for all to hear.  For those whose eyes and ears are opened to Him, we have this magnificent gift of inner peace in the ongoing storms of life as He says, ‘Peace, be still’ (Mark 4:39) with the utmost absolute authority and rock solid assurance as witnessed by the seal of His presence set within each of us (Ephesians 1:13-14).  His Spirit is the one who now is with us just as the Son was present with the disciples then.  Our peace is the same as theirs because it is based on the promise of His return to take us home to Himself and His Father when the world is judged in righteousness (Acts 17:31) and we are admitted into His presence according to the promise of peace with God in our reconciliation with Him by believing the Son’s work instead of our own (John 6:29) to save us from sin’s penalty.  Jesus loved the Father and we love Him and the result is His Helper come to love within.  The indwelling of God alone brings true peace to our weary and sin-worn souls which goes beyond our understanding!