Studies in John 14-16: John 14:15-21

John 14:15-16

If ye love me, keep my commandments. (16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

If you love me, keep my commandments. . .
If you love me, keep my commandments. . .
If you love me, keep my commandments. . .
You cannot just pay lip service to the love of God. Your love for God must be connected with your obedience to Him. This verse is connected with an “AND”. . . I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

The two verses cannot be separated, the ‘AND’ welds them together.

Jesus telling His Disciples, that He, their comforter, is going away, but that He is going to ask God to send another Comforter that will never go away, that will live with them for ever.

Who is this other Comforter?

John 14:17-18

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (18) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

The Spirit of truth. . .the pneuma. . .the breath. . . the current of air. . .The Holy Spirit. . .The world cannot accept, for it is invisible and has no knowledge of this Spirit. . .BUT YOU KNOW HIM. . .for He has been living with you all this time and shall continue to be with you. Verse 18. . .Jesus is revealing it. He has been talking about the Comforter which will come. . .the Comforter which He will ask God to send. . . Jesus now clearly says, “I will not leave you comfortless. . .I myself will come to you.”

In the clearest possible terms, telling them that they will not see Him any longer in the flesh, but that He will send the Spirit of Truth. . .the Holy Spirit. . . to them, and that this Spirit is Jesus Himself.

John 14:19-21

Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (20) At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

A third time in this passage, He reiterates it for them that He is going away, and will no longer be seen, but He is not dead. He will return and at that time it will be full revealed that Jesus is in God, they are living in Him, and He is living in them. To finish this passage, Jesus paraphrases and repeats what was said in verses 15 and 16. If you know His commandments and do them, then is your love for Him proved. Because of this obedience to the will of God, you will be loved by God and I (Jesus speaking) will show myself to him. . .

This is to take place in the future. He starts it out by saying. . .”Yet in a little while. . .” He’s not talking about right that moment, but in a time to come. . .”At that day. . .” He will manifest Himself to those who show their love for Him by keeping His commandments.

How was this predicted manifestation fulfilled? In Jesus final earthly appearance before being taken up to heaven:

Acts 1:4-9

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (6) When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (7) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (9) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost. . .the same Greek word pneuma used in John 14:17, is now here translated Ghost rather than Spirit, but it is the exact same word. The Spirit of truth was promised by Jesus to come to them as another Comforter. Again Jesus says plainly that this Spirit is soon coming to them. . . in John 14:18 Jesus said: I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. . . He now says that the Holy Spirit of God will come to them in a little while. . .

Acts 2:1-4

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now the fulfillment of all this predicted Spirit of God. . .the Comforter that Jesus promised. . . the returning of Jesus to comfort them, has occurred. Jesus said that He would manifest Himself to them, and now they are filled with His promised Spirit of truth. . . The Comforter is here. It was predicted even in the old testament:

Acts 2:12-18

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? (13) Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. (14) But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: (15) For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (16) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; (17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (18) And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Those outsiders standing watching had no clue as to what was going on. Peter explained to them and quoted from the prophet Joel, that God would pour out His Spirit on ALL FLESH!!! No longer would only the high priest be able to come into the presence of God, but all men would by obedience to God’s will, by repentence, by the washing away of sins by the water of baptism, now be able to have this intimate relationship with Him. . .