Empowered by the Spirit

KEY VERSE: “The Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” —John 14:26

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: John 14:15-27

THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE course of Jesus’ ministry, he was unfolding the various aspects of truth which had been revealed to him. While he did not himself record his teachings, yet, under the later direction of the Holy Spirit his wonderful words of life were preserved by others in writing, thus making them available for the instruction of all the Lord’s people throughout the entire age. And how clearly Jesus emphasized that his teachings were not his own! Referring to himself he said, “He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”—John 3:34

How wonderful, and how reassuring! The giving of the Holy Spirit to Jesus as a power to reveal the thoughts of God was not in limited measure. It came with such full and complete clarifying brilliance that Jesus understood the thoughts—yes, the very intents—of God’s heart. This means that we can accept every word which Jesus spoke as reflecting the mind of God. Again Jesus said, “I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”—John 12:49

Toward the close of Jesus’ ministry, Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus’ reply was, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”—John 14:8-10

What this means to us is that in the words and works of Jesus has been revealed the meaning of the Spirit-inspired writings of the Old Testament. We have been brought close to the holy thoughts of God that they might exert their intended influence in our lives. When we read the teachings of Jesus we may know that they reveal the will of God. When Jesus said that we should love our enemies it means that God wants us to love our enemies. When he said, “Ye are the light of the world,” we know that it is the Heavenly Father who expects us to be the light of the world. When the Master commanded that we should lay down our lives for the brethren, we should realize that it is his Father who issued that command.

And so it is with respect to all the gracious words which fell from the Master’s lips. But we do not have the full will of God revealed through the personal teachings and example of Jesus. He did not give expression to all the wonderful truths which were revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. Jesus confirmed this when he said to his disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, [it] will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:12,13) The minds of the disciples were not then prepared to grasp all the marvelous truths which had been revealed to Jesus. Much even of what he did tell them was only vaguely understood by them; and many of his lessons they failed to remember.

In our text Jesus gives us another promise, that in his name the Father would send the Holy Spirit to his disciples, and that it would be to them as a wonderful Comforter. The Spirit, he said, “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” What a wonderful promise! As Jesus indicated to his disciples there were many truths of the Father’s plan which he had not told them, but later these would be revealed. When the Holy Spirit came upon them as it had already come upon him, they would be taught ‘all things’. Nothing which they needed to know in order to complete the divine revelation through their oral and written ministry would be omitted.

The Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit completed the miraculous revelation which was given to Jesus at Jordan, and thus through his teachings, and theirs—the apostles’—the revelation of the divine will was completed, and is now contained in the written Word. No further miraculous revelation is needed. Paul emphasized this when he wrote to Timothy, saying, “All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”—II Tim. 3:16,17

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