Day 16

Believer’s comfort and joy

John 16

Key Verses: 1, 7-8, 16, 33

Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for what is coming next: His death and burial. I have been with many people as they tried to prepare their families for their upcoming death. This is one of the hardest things to do. Often cancer patients know they are dying and try to communicate this to their families. Sometimes the families have a very difficult time accepting the reality of what is next. The disciples are just such a ‘family.’ Jesus has been telling them all along that He was going to die, but they have been unable to hear that message. They also have difficulty hearing the message of their coming rejection and persecution.

Jesus says that it is necessary for Him to leave so that He can send the Holy Spirit to them. The Holy Spirit is God working in the believers. He works in the world by proving the world wrong in the three areas of sin, righteousness and judgment. These are the three areas for which the world hates the Gospel. The Gospel brings hope for believers, but allows judgment to stand on unbelievers. Jesus death stands in stark contrast to those who would give excuses for sin. Jesus proved that judgment for sin is real. He bore the world’s sin and makes free access if we will but believe in Him. But the world hates this because there is an absolute moral authority in our lives, whether we accept it or not. There are universal rights and wrongs. We don’t get to make up the rules as we go along. We are all under condemnation. Period. Jesus offers a way out, the only way out of that condemnation.

When the Holy Spirit came after the Resurrection the believers were transformed. The loss and sorrow turned into comfort and joy. The short period of absence, because of the tomb, was replaced with a permanent sense of God’s presence with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is the One who embodies God’s peace in our lives. When we allow the Spirit to dwell, peace is pervasive. When the Spirit is leading us, we have victory regardless of the world’s scoring system. We overcome! What a comfort and joy we have, knowing that in the end all will be made right. The troubles we have suffered will pass away and only victory will remain.

REVIEW: Acrostic Theme & each chapter’s phrase.