With God

The LORD has it all covered. There is nothing lacking or missing in His provision for us. The devil would claim otherwise but it is not true. The Gospel of John focuses on the last week of Jesus’s earthly life from Chapter 12 forward where we since an expediency in the teaching of the disciples. There is much preparatory teaching reminding them of what has already been taught across the past forty-two months but now it has an immediacy and will be vital for their carrying on. Jesus teaches:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” ¹

The years together is now condensed into this week and the teaching is very explicit, summarized and yet rich and full. “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” sums up all that Jesus is to mankind and He adds the caveat: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Concise, direct, non-inclusive. There is only one Way and it is through Him. Therefore, there is no reason for them to let their hearts be troubled. If they believe God, they will know Jesus and will be destined for the place prepared for those who know Him. In Jesus, it is not a hidden destination for He has declared the Way and demonstrated how to live in the LORD in the now and for eternity.

But wait—there’s more! Lest we be left at distance with only the Word of God for reference on how to live in the LORD, He has more provision for us. While God Incarnate lived among us in the flesh, God the Spirit will come to live in us, to be our Guide, Tutor, Witness of all that is needful in the LORD. The Holy Spirit is not the ghost of Jesus but rather fully God in His own person and fully in agreement with the Father and the Son.

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. ²

There is the unity of the work of the LORD on our behalf that involves all of God, all three of the LORD. ‘Helper’ is a role in our lives and not that He or the other members of the Godhead are needing help for they are sufficient but we need a present help according to God. Jesus continues in His preparation of the disciples for His departure from the Incarnate One in their midst:

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me… Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.
But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 
concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 
concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 
concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ³

There is a distinct completeness in the LORD beyond what the created comprehends and the Truth of that is applied from the Word of God into the lives of mankind by the Spirit of God. We cannot see Jesus or the Father or the Spirit with our eyes but we can see the LORD in the Word by the work of the Spirit ministering into us in the character of the LORD. We are not left without God’s presence. Amen.