The Spirit Bears Witness
John’s Gospel drops this little nugget in chapter 7 that ought to cause us to lace up and take on the Everest that deep study offers to us. Or, if I want to stay in keeping with the nugget illustration, it ought to make us want to eat the whole chicken. John says:
“Now this He(Jesus) said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:39 (emphasis added)
This isn’t a cherry-picked, isolated verse that has little relevance to the Holy Spirit. It also must not lead to thinking wrongly about the Spirit’s eternality, deity, and equality with the Father and Son. However, I’ll let you decide how deeply you want to pursue that today (a recommended resource at the end of the article), but my concern for today and this past Sunday’s message is to see how this relates to our study in Acts. More specifically, to see the fact that Jesus founded and established His Church during His earthly ministry, but that the sending of the Spirit and the consummation of the church came only after Jesus was glorified and ascended. Without Christ’s death & resurrection, the church has no mission and no Savior. Without the Spirit(sent by the Father) indwelling her, the Church has no power.
Before we even get to that (Acts 1 begins this Sunday), we must see what Jesus says about the role of the Spirit in John 14-16.
The Context of our Passage
Beginning in chapter 13, Jesus has been teaching about love, and showing what selfless love entails(13:1-20) by His own example. He speaks of the love He has for His disciples, the love the disciples have for the Father, and love for one another. John 15-16 turn to the reality that the disciples will endure hatred and hostility for the sake of Christ. Jesus has been telling them He must depart. To their dismay, Jesus tells them about the Father’s plan to send the Spirit upon Christ's departure, and why it is better for them that He go away.
What is the Spirit’s Ministry?
Jesus tells His disciples that the Spirit's primary ministry is to bear witness about the Lord Jesus Christ. This encapsulates the other things Jesus says the Spirit will do: The Spirit covicts(v. 8), the Spirit reveals the truth of Christ(vv. 12-13), glorifies Christ(v. 14), brings joy in Christ(for their impending suffering)(v. 22), and peace through Christ(v. 33). But as is the case with many points of doctrine, there is one central role. A good framework to keep in mind: more than one true thing can be said. This relates to many subjects. There can be multiple facets to a thing. But that doesn’t mean that there can’t be more central things to a multifaceted thing. And a central thing doesn’t diminish the other true things; it often supports and strengthens them. On the subject of the Spirit’s ministry, the central role gives the proper guardrails and context for the other things the Scriptures declare about the Spirit.
Challenge
Is the Spirit’s testimony about Christ satisfying to you? This bearing witness was most certainly relevant for the ministry of the Apostles, but we affirm that bearing witness about the Risen Lord Jesus remains the Spirit’s central work today.
One reason we may struggle with this is that maybe we believe that we have somehow exhausted the riches of Christ. That I have been saved, and I have my ticket to heaven. Or maybe it is that you earnestly desire deeper knowledge of God, and there must be some mystery out there that the Spirit can help unlock that you’ll be the first to discover.
Let me encourage you: you have not exhausted the riches of Christ. You haven’t gone too deep into Christ.
Eph 4:13-19 says, ”For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
God’s Indwelling Presence by Jim Hamilton.
