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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conference, Conference With the Disciples, Part XLIX, John 16:7-11 - Lesson 157
Read Verses John 16:5,6, for review: But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
John 16:7, Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Jesus Christ knows that the disciples were full of sorrow at the thought of them being left without him.
They had left all to follow him.
They depended upon him to be in front of them, to shield them, to speak for them.
But he tells them it is better for you that I go away.
It is beneficial for you for me to leave.
It is for your profit, your advantage.
What great profit it was for the disciples for Jesus Christ to go to the cross!
Without the cross all would be doomed.
Without the Lord Jesus Christ going away all would remain the same.
The Jews under the law of Moses, the lost in their blind state and all under sin and death.
See how narrow our sight is, see how little we understand when we focus on our own little world.
If Christ had not returned to the Father his ministry would have continued to be confined to Israel.
A body is confined to one place but a Spirit is omnipresent.
Where two or three disciples are gathered together in Jesus name there He is in the midst of them.
Through his Spirit Jesus Christ is accessible to all at all times in all places to those who call upon his name.
Opportunities to exercise faith increase without the physical presence of Jesus Christ.
They then must depend upon him by faith instead of by sight.
And we can note the vast change in the disciples when they were indwelt with his Spirit.
They did far more for their Lord after he left than they did for him while he was present.
It is the Spirit who makes us partakers of the fullness of Christ and his redemption.
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
For if Jesus went not to the cross and bore your sins and suffered death for you the Comforter cannot come.
This is the Spirit of redemption and adoption.
You cannot be redeemed and adopted unless Jesus was offered up as the atoning sacrifice.
He must go to his Father and be your mediator
John 16:8-11 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
The world stands guilty of refusing to believe in Christ.
He is going to the Father because he has been rejected by the world.
The Holy Spirit comes because Jesus Christ has promised the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans.
But he comes in Christ's stead because Christ goes from an unbelieving world, a Messiah rejected by the world.
The Holy Spirit comes to reprove or convict the world of sin.
His very presence instead of the rejected Christ is a conviction of the world of sin, because they believe not on me, Jesus says.
His very presence demonstrates to the world who condemned Jesus Christ that he was right and the world was wrong.
This work of the Holy Spirit is a prosecuting work.
He is an advocate for the believer but he acts as counsel for the prosecution of the unbeliever.
This mirrors the work of Christ while he was on Earth.
A helper of the disciples but to the world his presence and his witness had served to convict the world of hypocrisy and iniquity.
In one he opens the eyes, in another he seals tightly the eyes to further blindness.
He will reprove the world of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit comes to reprove or convict the world of righteousness because Jesus Christ goes to his Father, and ye see him no more.
It is the Spirit's presence on Earth which establishes Christ's righteousness and the evidence that he has gone to the Father.
The Spirit's presence on Earth is vindication of the rightness of Jesus Christ and the wrongness of the world.
The Spirit's presence on Earth is proof that the Father has received Jesus Christ.
He will reprove the world of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
The world stands guilty of refusing to believe in Christ.
It is condemned because it is not righteous as Christ.
So therefore nothing awaits it but judgment.
The Spirit's presence is evidence that the Prince of this world has been judged.
So this is God's reversal of the treatment accorded his Son.
It is the Father's answer to the world for what the world has done to his Son. |