Category: 19 John

For most of us, there is something special about home.  It may have been the home of your childhood or the home you made with your spouse.  It could also be a home that you are looking forward to one day, here on this earth or even the home Jesus has promised believers in heaven.  There are emotions and a fullness that comes with our thoughts and our yearnings for home.  It is far more than just a house.

I think it is one way that we can understand the gift of peace that Jesus discusses.  Peace is far more than the absence of war or the absence of conflict, in the same way that light is more than the absence of darkness.  It is a real thing in and of itself.  It is the feeling we have in our heart when we dream of home.  A feeling of calm and comfort, of love.  And it is a reflection of the home we are destined to: heaven.

But, while heaven is and will be our home, as it is the home of our Father and our Brother, it is not Satan’s home.  Satan is the prince of the Earth.  He does not have a home in heaven and he has no peace.  His dominion is one of lies and unrest of conflict and fear. And, when this world ends, Satan will see his end as well in a lake of fire, but we in peace in Heaven will go on for eternity.

My Answers:

12.
“He” has no hold, not it, but He.  He comes (and even in his coming of evil he serves the purposes of the Father).  He is the devil, He has been cast out of heaven and has no home there.  He is a liar and the father of lies.  He is a brother to the sin of this world, not a child of God because he rejects God and rejects Jesus

13.
“He” has no hold, not it, but He.  He comes (and even in his coming of evil he serves the purposes of the Father).  He is the devil, He has been cast out of heaven and has no home there.  He is a liar and the father of lies.  He is a brother to the sin of this world, not a child of God because he rejects God and rejects Jesus

There may be many different interpretations of what the gospel means in John 14 related to “that day”.  I believe the time that Jesus was discussing was the day, after His ascension, that the Holy Spirit would come into the apostles.  That day was Pentecost when they were gathered together and the gift manifested itself in their professing the good news in many tongues with flames of fire.

I believe that day comes for us when we accept the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice and the Holy Spirit is given to us as a seal of the commitment of God that we are His adopted children.

But, that begs the question, if I’m filled by the Holy Spirit, why do I keep sinning?  Why do I feel so hollow at times?  Why do I fear and worry?

This is an area where not having a background in the Jewish faith puts us at a disadvantage.  Pentecost was a holy day long before the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the Apostles on that day.  It is called Shavu’ot.  49 days, 7 weeks of 7 days are counted leading up to the day of Shavu’ot from the second day of Passover.  The 50^th day is the day of celebration.  The celebration is also called the Festival of Weeks because of the counting of the weeks leading to it.  It jointly celebrates the First Fruits of the Harvest and it also celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

One point I thought was interesting, quoting from the website, jewfaq.org, “It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah.  The sages point out that we are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that we receive it every day, but it was first given at this time, thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant.”

Isn’t it amazing that God used this holiday as a foreshadowing of the day of the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers in Jesus.  And, like a book, especially, like the bible, we receive Him, the Holy Spirit, day after day after day, entering into a deeper relationship and being transformed by His presence in our hearts and minds.  This illuminates why and how we have been given the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit on the day we accept Jesus as our savior, yet we receive Him more and more each day.

My Answers:

9.
The day of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  For those in the room, it was Pentecost.  For us, it is the day we accept Jesus as our savior and we are born again

10.
to have his commands and keep them is to love Jesus.  Those who love Jesus are loved by the Father and loved in return by Jesus and Jesus will reveal himself to them/us/those he loves
It has helped me see things in a bigger light of a tapestry that was unwoven by sin, but now has been retied and rewoven

11.
teach you all things, remind you of everything Jesus has said – Both, because they go together.  I need both teaching and reminding, more in-depth education and the day-to-day drill and practice of what I know.  I know the difference between right and wrong (in most cases), but I still choose to falter and sin.  I need the reminder, the coach.

I love the message and the pictures in John 14:20-21.  It is a picture of total connection.  The image that comes to my mind is a chain.  Now, I understand that we often have a negative impression of chains: the chains of bondage and oppression and slavery.  But chains have very positive meaning as well.  They embody strength and flexibility.  They provide an accurate measure (in land surveying a chain was often used for measurement).  They also a good metaphor for the connection of us with God.  The three persons of God are perfectly interconnected.  The Father in the Son and the Son in the Father, The Holy Spirit also linked in each of them.  And the message of these verses in John 14 is an invitation, a promise, of a gift that will reconnect us into that Spiritual Chain.  We are not just outside, but linked directly to God through the Holy Spirit inside of us.

I think this is how it originally was in the Garden.  Man was not God but he was in God’s image and shared a connection that was broken when we opened our link in the chain to sin instead of Love.  But, by Jesus becoming fully man, He has restored the link.

My Answers:

6.
Advocate – One who supports and recommends on our behalf
Spirit of Truth – One who is in spirit and is inherently true and the truth
Holy Spirit – Holy, Set apart, God, Spirit is the nature, breath of God, Mist, not of the physical dimension/world but of the spiritual

7.
He is a he, He is not visible but real, He can be known, He is given by the Father and stays forever (he is eternal), we will come to them and make our home is Jesus and the H/S on equal footing, he teaches and reminds

8.
Jesus commands us to obey his teaching, through obedience we show our love for Him and the Father shows his love for us in return.  The words of Jesus we are to obey are not his alone, but also those of the Father.  Without bible study we do not know the word of God, given as a gift for us for God to reveal himself to us so we may know and repent and love Him

Can you even imagine what it was like for the Apostles win the room with Jesus?  We are taking this a week at a time, but we need to keep in mind the last few weeks have all occurred in a matter of minutes, not hours.  The confirmation that Jesus’ death was imminent, one of the men at the table would be a betrayer, Peter would deny Jesus 3 times, that Jesus was going away but would come again, that He was going to Heaven and now this – there is a third person to God that is coming.

They would have grown up with the idea of monotheistic God.  The hints were there throughout the scriptures that the promised one, the messiah would be more than just a man, that He would be Emmanuel, God with us, but now not only is this second person of God, the Son of the Father, leaving, but a third person of God is coming.  Talk about expanding their minds and transforming their thoughts.

But, at the same time, they must have felt a comfort in this as well.  They longed to have God close to themselves.  They would have grown up with the wearing of the verses from Deuteronomy on their wrist and forehead, literally, not just figuratively.  They would have worn tassels and not trimmed the corners of their beards.  They wanted a private personal connection with God, not just at the temple but every day in every part of their life.  And now, Jesus has revealed to them not only would the Spirit of Truth be sent to them but that He would live in them, connecting them from the inside with God: Father, Son and Spirit.

But Jesus also points out to them that they already know the Spirit.  You know Him, He says.  And they do.  In the same way that they know the Father by knowing Jesus, they also know the Holy Spirit.  They also know the scriptures which are breathed through the Holy Spirit and they know God in creation where the mist of the Holy Spirit was part of the forming of the physical world that we know.

My Answers:

3.
I = Jesus, the Father=Father, Advocate/Spirit of Truth=Holy Spirit.  Separate by the use of the word “another”.  Holy Spirit is a “him”

4.
You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  The H/S is alive in me, shaping me and making me holier into the image of Jesus

5.
The connectivity in love of vs 20, Jesus in the Father, me in Jesus, Jesus in me, the Holy Spirit with and in me..  It is the way we were created to be, the original relationship of Adam with God