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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conference, Conference With the Disciples, Part XXVIII, John 14:29-31 - Lesson 136
Read for review verses: John 14:28: Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
John 14:29, And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
Jesus Christ desires that his disciples trust his word.
He predicts his departure in advance of his home going.
By this prediction He wants to reinforce in the minds of the disciples that he is the Messiah.
He wants to strengthen their faith.
Prophesy is like the miracles that Jesus Christ performed.
Prophesy is proof of the divine power and the divine presence that was in Jesus Christ.
Prophesies fulfilled in the past provide a foundation for faith as to those prophesies still future.
Jesus Christ does not leave us without evidence that he is the Son of God and that he is worthy of our trust.
His works confirm his word. His prophesy confirms his trust ability.
His life on earth in perfect obedience to the will of the Father affirms his word as the word of God.
Augustine said: Every word of the Lord is intended to establish our faith, as it is by faith we live.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
God does not expect us to have foolish faith, built on nothing but wishes and optimistic hopes without foundation.
That is worldly kind of faith.
That is the kind of faith that people of the world build their lives upon.
Faith that everything will turn out alright.
Everything will not turn out alright for the unbeliever!
Something bad is going to happen to the unbeliever in spite of the world saying that something good is going to happen.
My faith in the word of God tells me that.
Jesus Christ gives us a foundation for our faith.
He is the foundation for our faith.
Our faith is built upon the Word of God, the rock of God, not empty or foolish wishes.
John 14:30, Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
He tells his own that the words that he speaks are drawing to a close.
We all pay attention to the last words of a man near death, don't we?.
They were to ponder his words because his time is short and he will not talk much more with them.
Jesus Christ was ready to keep his appointment with the prince of this world.
He was not to be deterred.
As recorded in Isa 50:7: He knows:....the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Satan was gathering his forces but Satan was simply the pawn of God the Father.
But God was about to use Satan's efforts to give the greatest gift ever to the world.
Satan efforts would result in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the only blood that would satisfy the perfect justice of Almighty God.
Satan had been assembling his players for his evil work.
Judas had left the upper room to ready himself for his part.
The Sanhedrin, the priests, the Pharisees and the scribes were in place.
Herod knew his part and Pontius Pilate, the Roman occupied his position of authority in the land.
His being there in that place and at that time was no accident of history.
But Jesus Christ tells his disciples that the prince of this world had nothing in him.
Up to this point every man that Satan ushered into death had much in them to justify death.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and all had earned the wages of sin.
But Jesus Christ is the exception to this principle.
In Jesus Christ there was nothing in him to justify death.
There was no sin in his life in which Satan could hold him in death.
The Prince of this world is only the prince of this world and Jesus Christ was not of this world.
Satan could only do what God allowed him to do and that was to usher in a sacrifice that was a sweet smelling savor to the Father.
Satan was only allowed to bruise the Savior's heel but the woman's seed, that is Jesus Christ, would bruise his head.
The fatal blow to Satan foretold in Genesis was about to take place.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Jesus had said earlier in John 12:31-33, Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.
John 14:31, But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Jesus knew the battle ahead but he did not shirk his duty in meeting the prince of this world head on.
The prince of this world cometh.
Let him come, for I must be about my Father's business.
But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Jesus Christ will go forth to meet Satan in spite of what lies ahead because he had received commandment from the Father.
This is how the world knows that Jesus Christ loved the Father.
He was obedient unto the Father even unto death, the death of the cross.
Did he not say to his disciples, If you love me you will keep my commandments.
Jesus Christ leads his disciples in this principle of discipleship.
Get up! Lets get about my Father's business.
We meet Satan head on in obedience to the Father!
This is not a time to be depressed, this is a time for rejoicing! |