Jesus Gave Up His Spirit So That We Can Receive The Spirit of Truth
We hear preaching or people saying that Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Life (John 14) but until the Holy Spirit stirs this Truth in you, you don’t really understand or comprehend what is being preached.
BUT, there is no reason to worry because we learn that even the disciples who followed Jesus while He was on Earth had the same problem. The Word was being preached by Jesus and He said He would rise again but the disciples who were following Him didn’t fully understand what He was saying until after it actually happened.
In John 16, we even read that Jesus specifically told the disciples that He was telling them these things then so that when they did happen, they would remember what He said and understand that He had to leave Earth in order for the Holy Spirit to come. Yet, when they witnessed Him give up His life on the cross through crucifixion, they still lost hope.
How do we know they lost hope?
They went and hid. They did not even believe the women who had been at the tomb and found it empty. They didn’t fully comprehend until Jesus came back and visited them in the Upper Room.
Jesus had completed His work on Earth and gave up His life on Earth on Friday (the first day) and, as He had told the disciple and others, He rose on the third day.
Jesus was busy from the time He gave up His Spirit until the time He came back and visited the disciples. But during that same time, the disciples and others had given up hope. They were lost and hid in the Upper Room. Again, remember that Jesus had assured them He would rise again. They truly didn’t yet understand the full girth of what He preached while He was on Earth preaching this very moment to them.
But don’t worry, it wasn’t yet time for them to understand. As I showed earlier, in John 16, Jesus said that they would need the Helper so that they could fully understand and that would not be possible while Jesus was on Earth with them. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)
Why is this important to know today?
There are so many reasons. In my daily routines in or out of the air, I encounter many people who comment (and some in despair) about the times we are living in and the conditions of the world around us.
There’s no denying that these do appear to be the dark days that Jesus warned would happen when John recorded His words in John 16. The disciples probably felt two dark days during the time immediately after Jesus had been mocked, spitted on and scourged and definitely when He gave up His Spirit to fulfill God’s promises to us.
They heard it firsthand from the mouth of Jesus in the flesh that He would be delivered unto the Gentiles (unbelievers of the time), be mocked, spitefully entreated, spitted on, scourged and put to death; and the third day would rise again (Matthew 20: 17-18; Luke 18:32-33). Yet, the disciples hid and most likely were mourning from Friday evening through Sunday morning.
This is what brings me hope. For the Bible explicitly tells us that before His death, Jesus shared with the disciples and although they heard, they did not understand. For the Bible states, “But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.” But Jesus promised in John 16 that the Spirit of truth, the Helper, would be sent after His death and then they would fully understand.
Why does it give me hope? Hope, because Jesus previously indicated that He had more to say but did not yet say these things because the disciples were not ready to bear them and He promised them that the Spirit of truth would guide them into ALL truth. (John 16: 12-13) And, in Acts 2, we discover that those of us who decide to repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So we too, receive the same promise that Jesus gave to those who walked with Him while He was here on Earth.
Currently, you may feel as if these are dark days or days where so much darkness seems to be coming at us from all around the world BUT you should have hope. For Jesus had forewarned us of these times that we are in now. The 16th Chapter of John is full of this wisdom that gives us hope, Jesus answered what the disciples desired to ask Him and assured them that there would be weeping and lamentation of believers while the worldly rejoiced. But He told them that their sorrow would be turned to joy.
He said that we shouldn’t be troubled that instead we should be watching and taking authority that has been given to us while He is away. We know that Jesus is coming. We just don’t know exactly when. We need to continually pray and seek Him and know when false christs and false prophets have risen for He warned us that there will be many. (Mark 13 and John 16)
So why is this a day that means everything to a Christian?
Jesus said (in Luke 21:36) to “watch therefore, and pray always that we may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Without the sacrifice of Jesus, there would be no hope but because Jesus obeyed and became a sacrifice for those of us who believe in the Word of God and are lead by the Spirit of truth (Who was sent to us by Jesus after His death and resurrection), we should have hope and rejoice that Jesus is our Advocate.
So, let me encourage you to rejoice instead of weeping. Spread the Good News that God places in your heart. Let the Spirit of truth speak through you.