“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your
advantage that I go away…” John 16:7a
I don’t
know about you, but at first glance, this statement is kind of hard to
understand. In short, Jesus tells us that we are actually better off without
Him standing right beside us. And if
this is difficult for me, how must the disciples have first received it?
I’ve
often thought the disciples had an easier time following Christ, for daily they
were privileged to share life with Him. They got to hear Him teach and
compassionately minister to their hurting world; they watched our Lord heal the
sick, raise the lame, and perform various types of miracles for all kinds of
people. Yet in all they witnessed, we see that their faith was consistently found
lacking. On occasions they doubted Christ. They regularly missed the big
picture. No doubt they inadvertently neglected the fullness of walking with the
Savior of the world.
So if
they struggled to score an A+ in their faithfulness while Jesus was right next to them, how would it be for
them once He was gone? And if the Twelve struggled, how in the world can we
expect to make it? “Jesus, with all due
respect, how is you’re going away advantageous for us?”
Well, thankfully
Christ explains how this is so later in the same verse. “If I do not go away, the Helper
will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16:7b).” See,
while Jesus was ministering here on earth, in human flesh, He was confined to
being in one place at a time. Heaven came down to earth in the person of Christ,
and He humbled Himself and emptied Himself to take on the form of a servant
(Philippians 2:5-11). He willing took on the limitations of humanity so that He
would be able to relate with us, sympathize with us (Hebrews 4:14-15), and
ultimately, free us from our bondage, by conquering sin and death through His
life, death, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-10).
So when
Jesus, the Son, ascended to the Father, He sent His Spirit. And the Holy Spirit
now resides within all His people,
simultaneously. The Spirit is not confined to one person or room or region. And
how did Christ refer to the Spirit? He called Him our Helper. The Spirit will
guide us into all truth (John 16:13) by reminding us of what our Lord has
taught (John 14:26). In fact, Jesus encouraged His disciples to not worry when
placed on trial and put before men, for the Holy Spirit would lead them into
the right words to say (Luke 12:11-12).
If we
were to probe the Scriptures, we’d see that this promise held true. When Jesus
was with Peter, the fisherman turned
apostle, was rebuked for being so selfishly man-centered in his futile
thinking. Jesus told him, “Get behind me,
Satan (Matthew 16:23)!” When Jesus was close
by, Peter, having still missed the purpose of Christ’s coming, chopped a
dude’s ear off with a sword (John 18:10-11). Simon thrice denied Jesus after He
was arrested, even though Jesus gave Him a heads up that it would happen. But if
we continue to read, we observe a different guy in the book of Acts.
After
receiving the promised Holy Spirit, Christ in
Peter, is a changed man. Scripture shows us a once cowardly nincompoop
disciple transform into a bold minister of the gospel. He preached sermons that
put his life at risk (i.e. - Acts 4). Indeed, church tradition tells us that
Peter died for the cause of Christ. He was beaten and threatened to be silent
about the cross and the empty tomb. But the Spirit within Peter would not allow it (Acts 4:18-20, Acts 5:27-32)). We
see him leave a flogging, rejoicing for the opportunity to suffer for the Name
(Acts 5:40-41). And this is just a brief overview of one. Scripture is full of
other examples – ordinary men and women that courageously heralded the hope of
the gospel amidst every kind of persecution.
Was
Jesus in the habit of lying? Of course not! So why would He preface His statement
with, “I tell you the truth”? Simple, He wants to make sure we hear
His promise. It may be hard to fathom, but it is true nonetheless. Christ in us is better than Christ by us. The disciples had it no better
than we do. In fact, being on this side of the cross and possessing the closed
canon of Scripture, the Holy Bible written in our very own language, we have a
much more enviable position. We can read of God’s faithfulness in the Old Testament,
Jesus’ life in the New Testament, His words, His cross, the formation of His
Church, and the lives of those Spirit-empowered messengers that propelled the
gospel forward.
And we have recorded for us this precious promise of the Helper
coming. Believer, He who is in you is
greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). God promised that
He would never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). So when Jesus left in
body, to be seated at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20), He gave us
something better. He gave us Himself, now within
us! Friend, He now resides in you and
I through His Spirit; we are each a temple of the living God (1 Corinthians
6:19). Though this seems impossible, may we truly take it to heart. It is
better for us that Jesus went away, so that His Spirit might come to life inside His disciples.
Father, remind us of who You are
and all You have done. Take these wobbly knees and make them brave. Stand us
firmly in Your truth and give us the courage and endurance to boldly run our race
with joy, making Your Name famous among the nations.
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| Matt Fowler Associate Pastor of Missions & Students matt@nbchurch.info @fattmowler |
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