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JOHN CHAPTER 14 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Jn 14,1-6 (208d) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The expectations of God >> God expects us to follow Him Jn 14,1-3 (38g) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of freedom – Those who have died and gone to heaven are living as disembodied spirits, but this is only temporary; besides, they are living in the New Jerusalem, which is a spiritual place, apart from this natural universe, and spirits interacting with a spiritual place don't notice they are bodiless. Heaven has a physical expression, and it also has a spiritual expression that is equally substantive (1Cor 15-44), made from a material that the new heavens and new earth is destined to assume (Rev 21-5). God is slowly materializing His kingdom, step-by-step, until it crowds out the curse and completely overtakes it (Gen 1-28). We listen to Jesus’ words that this is God’s vision for mankind. It wasn’t His dream to live in a spiritual place as disembodied spirits; His vision is to manifest His kingdom in the natural realm, because God likes matter (C.S. Lewis; Mere Christianity; P. 50; Macmillian; 1943). He will give us bodies so He can interact with His people, and He will create that realm so death no longer exists or is even possible. We don’t know how something alive could remain alive forever; nevertheless, that is our future. There will be trees, flowers, plants, animals of every kind, and people, and none of it will ever die but will remain alive and grow, becoming more and more beautiful every day. See also: overtaking the curse; Jn 14-3; 224f / New heavens and a new earth (Spiritual giving way to the Physical); Rev 1-5; 245e / God is defined by His authority; 2Cor 12,7-10; 66h (57f) Paradox >> Opposites >> To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord – There are some things about the Bible that are hard to understand; one of its biggest conundrums is grasping what happens to a person when he dies. We think the Bible should have answered this above all the literature that is in the world, and it did, but the question remains: there are so many different views, how do we interpret what the Bible says? When a person dies, the spirit goes directly to heaven to be with the Lord, according to 2Cor 5-8, “To be absent from the body [is]… to be at home with the Lord.” Paul spoke about this like a light-switch; it is either on or it is off, one mode being mutually exclusive of the other. This means that either our spirit is with the body and we are absent from the Lord, or the spirit is absent from the body and we are present with the Lord. These are the only two choices, and there are other passages in the Bible that say this. (140c) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> House where you live with Jesus (209a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> We go where He goes Jn 14-1 (24c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Anxiety >> Fear of losing spiritual territory -- This verse goes with verse 27 (85m) Thy kingdom come >> Belief >> Treating the knowledge of God as fact >> Believing the Son by obeying the Father >> Obeying the old covenant through the new Jn 14-2,3 (35c) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> God’s immeasurable generosity (50b) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The second coming of Christ (226d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Our inheritance is reserved in heaven Jn 14-3 (224f) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> We shall always be with the Lord – The resurrection from the dead will happen at the second coming of Christ, and we will receive indestructible bodies. We don’t know how a body can remain alive forever, for everyone we know has died or will die; even non-living things corrode and erode or else break and fall apart; everything reduces to a simpler state. We will quit breathing; all the physiological processes will stop; at death our bodies will become motionless and inert and will decay, but the exciting thing about God is His perspective on life. His view is that if it doesn’t manifest in the natural realm, then it isn’t real. That is what He thinks about our faith, and it is also what He thinks about Himself and about His kingdom and His plan for mankind; if it doesn’t materialize in the natural realm, it isn’t worth a plug nickel. Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven, called the New Jerusalem. After He destroys this present universe and builds a new one in its place, He will cause the New Jerusalem to settle on the new earth so that heaven and earth become one. Jesus is saying that if His kingdom never manifested in the natural realm, then all of this is for nothing, including His suffering and death on the cross. All of it would be in vain without the resurrection. Paul intimated this too in 1Cor 15-17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” See also: overtaking the curse; Jn 14,1-3; 38g (231g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Body of Christ is the organism of God’s kingdom >> Jesus is the head of His body’s kingdom >> The Kingdom of Heaven is where Jesus is KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,4-9 (169a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blind to Jesus >> Blind to the glory of God in Christ – When the disciples looked at Jesus, they were seeing the Father through the Son, but they didn’t know it. Phillip asked Jesus to show them the Father. Although he had performed so many signs, yet all they could see was His flesh. When Jesus asked Phillip, “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father,’” He was saying, ‘I don’t understand why you don’t understand.’ He had been talking to them about these things and they still didn’t get it. The disciples were not dense or stupid; they were spiritually blind, just like the rest of us. In fact, Jesus picked His particular disciples because they represented the human race, who are blind to the things of God. His truth and His personal attributes are completely unknown to man to such a degree that even with the Holy Spirit we still could never guess in a million years who is waiting for us in the Father. God could clothe Himself in human flesh and pick twelve men, and demonstrate His character to them for 3 years, and at the end of it the disciples were not any more enlightened than they were at the beginning. This is how spiritually blind people are to the person of God. They still thought God was someone other than whom Jesus represented. The flesh of man will never understand God. (175k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Ignorant of what God means >> Ignorant of the meaning of God’s works – Jesus wanted His disciples to stop looking at Him with their fleshly eyes and start seeing Him in the spirit (Eph 1-18). They observed His outward form, which had a greater impact on them than the working of miracles that He performed from day to day right in front of them. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples (chapters 14-17) the night of His arrest, which means He had dedicated 3 years to His disciples before He shared His vision with them. They were convinced by their natural eyes; they saw a man clothed in common flesh, which is how the Pharisees and scribes saw Him, being the mistake of the Jews and all Israel, causing them to unwittingly crucify their own Messiah. He spoke to them words that only God could say, and he performed works that only God could do, and they were still more convinced by the familiarity of His flesh than by His works. Jn 14,4-6 (66j) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His words are the authority of God -- These verses go with verses 16&17 (91m) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> The trail that Jesus walked Jn 14,5-9 (34b) Gift of God >> God’s generosity >> Believer owns everything >> Trinity belongs to us >> Father belongs to us (196f) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Not mature enough to seek God >> Unable to know the mind of Christ – Thomas and Philip walked with Jesus for 3 years, and after so many experiences with Him, Jesus accused them of not knowing Him, saying, “If you had known me you would have known my Father also. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.” What would a man say to be remembered for 2000 years, and be on virtually every person’s conscience, a man who could raise the dead and walk on water? The way Jesus spoke to his disciples was indeed puzzling, but isn’t that what we would expect from a man so futuristic and otherworldly? His disciples had no chance of knowing Him or understanding His words, because He spoke to them retroactively, as though the Holy Spirit had already revealed all things to them. Jesus knew they didn’t know what He was saying, but spoke just same, knowing they would understand later. Jn 14,5-7 (107e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Truth of the trinity >> Jesus is truth – We know the Father is the origin of all things, including the Truth, being infinite and eternal, as opposed to man’s truth that fluctuates. God’s Truth never changes because God never changes. Man defines truth as information that is not based on falsehood, but God considers Truth to be something on a spiritual level, because “God is Spirit” (Jn 4-24). Jesus is the embodiment of Truth, and He said the same about the Holy Spirit (Jn 14-17;15-26;16-13), making them one and the same in that sense. We can also say this about the Holy Spirit, who is the life of God. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (Jn 14-18). He also said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…” (Jn 14-26), and Jn 15-26, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” Spirit is Truth, and the Truth is Spirit; they converge at a single point, who is “the Father,” and all things proceed from Him. The hierarchy of the trinity says that no one is inferior, but all is balanced between authority and servanthood. (210g) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our savior >> Jesus is the only savior – God made man in His own image. Although God created the entire universe, He also created the atom and is aware of the minutest particles that we have not even conceptualized. We are tiny creatures on a colossal planet, and God limited Himself to a man of our stature and suffered beside us through our infirmities and temptations. Man has no idea what his rebellion entails and just how deep it goes. Rebellion started with simply eating a piece of forbidden fruit, but what man has failed to grasp is that if allowed to continue unabated, he would eventually make an attempt on God’s throne. Man would love to get his hands on God and kill Him and reign in His place, as though he could maintain the universe that God created. This is his level of rebellion, and this is why God must subject His creation to His will. God is an authority figure who is a threat to those in rebellion against Him, and this is why we must go through Christ to find favor with Him. If we seek God’s favor through Christ, we must bow our knee to Him and admit we are sinners in need of a savior. He will cleanse us and prepare us for heaven and perfect us and deliver us from rebellion, so we can freely submit to His authority. (254f) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> Jesus is the substance of God’s life >> Jesus is the manifestation of God’s life – The Holy Spirit has come in place of Christ as His identical twin, meaning that Jesus is the human embodiment of the Spirit. The way to Jesus is through the Spirit, just as the way to the Father is through Christ. In Jn 6-33 Jesus said, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world,” and then said, “I am the bread of life” (v35). So Jesus is the life of God, but in the same chapter (v63) He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,6-15 (253h) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Father and Son represent each other – When Jesus said to Thomas, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him” (v7), He was claiming to be an exact reflection of one aspect of the Father, in terms of His loving kindness, and His grace and mercy. However, we could describe God as a polygon (many sided). Another side of God is that He is judge of all creation, who through Christ will judge the Church and the world. He will judge the Church worthy of eternal life based on our faith and service in His name, and He will condemn the world because it rejected His love and mercy. Someone might say this is the opposite side of God, but there are more sides to Him than this, sides we have not yet known, and perhaps sides we will never know. There are sides of God that we saw in the days of Moses that don’t appear in the Church age, and there are sides in the New Testament that don’t appear in the Old. Jn 14,6-9 (245b) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ >> Jesus is the manifestation of the Father – Jesus' three highest values are: being a shepherd to His sheep, speaking the word of God from the Father and imparting life in His creation. In doing these things He is acting most like God. That is, without interpreting verse 9, it says that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father (Heb 1-3). Jesus is an eternal member of the trinity, not just alive forevermore; He never had a beginning (Rev 1-17,18). These words along with so many other things Jesus said according to the gospel of John within the chapters: 14- 17 define Jesus as God in human flesh. It would be one thing if we made up such a story, but it’s another thing for Jesus to say it about Himself, which He did when He said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” When we don’t specify the generic term “God”, it refers to the Father by default, so He was essentially saying, ‘When you look at Me, you are looking at God.’ Of course there are many people who would deny this, literally every cult in the world: Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons, just to name a couple. They are all willing to admit that their redeemer is someone less than God, thus discrediting Him and debasing their own redemption. They all renounce Jesus as God in human flesh, and that alone excludes them from true Christianity, which means when they read this passage, they interpret it instead of accepting what it says. Jn 14-6 (83h) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He represents us before the Father – When we think of the creation, how big and complex, and how small the atom, and how many laws the creation follows, and the ways the galaxies operate as an entire system of stars, it is mind-boggling. These things were obviously created by God as a person who uses certain rules that do not change. So when Adam transgressed and rebelled against God, He could not forgive Adam or his predecessors simply through the volition of His own will. He is not the kind of person who can manipulate His own mind to believe whatever He wants as we so often do. Instead, He had to give Himself a reason to forgive us and create a system of forgiveness. He punished His Son in our place, and now that His fury is spent, He can forgive us. God knows how big He is; He knows that He is bigger than the infinite universe that He made. Tiny man thumbs His nose in rebellion against almighty God. We live on a giant planet that appears less than a dot in the vastness of space. He cannot have rebellion running in His paradise. See also: Physical and spiritual realms are opposites; Heb 4-14; 150ca (107a) Truth (Key verse) (114k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Jesus is the way to the Father -- This verse goes with verse 13. If man had an affinity for God, there would be no religions. As it is, when Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but through Me,” He shut the door on every religion except Christianity. There are many beliefs in the world that incorporate Jesus as a mere aspect of their religion. They misinterpret the term “Son of God” to mean something other than God in human flesh, an eternal being who was never created but played a central role in creation, who was always with the Father. It is truly unfortunate that most people would prefer to remain at arms length from God. Most people have a religious side that makes them feel accepted by God without actually receiving Him, and they want heaven when they die (not hell) but they don’t want to serve Him, and they especially don’t want to submit to Him, because they don’t want to admit that they are sinners in rebellion against God. They will have to humble their pride if they want heaven. There are many religions that incorporate humiliation as a means of appealing to God, but God is not interested in humiliating us, though He is interested in our humility. Most people will readily proclaim they believe in God, and of them many will say they believe in Jesus, and of them some will confess they are sinners. Most, however, don’t want to change, and they don’t feel a need to be saved. They have no intension of living for Jesus and submitting to His authority, being the reason there are so many religions in the world. That is, religion is a way of stiff-arming God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,7-15 (207h) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The Kingdom of God >> Salvation authority of God’s kingdom Jn 14,7-11 (117j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Acknowledging the presence of God -- These verses go with verse 19. Philip said to Him, “Show us the Father and it is enough for us,” indicating that he was confined to His five senses. On some obscure level he understood Jesus to be the Son of God, as Peter did, yet he was bound to satisfying his eyes, not his faith in Christ. Philip needed to see the truth with his natural eyes. Perhaps having seen Him on the mount of transfiguration would have helped, but probably not, being most likely why the Lord didn't take him. What our eyes see and our ears hear, what we smell, taste and feel, is like god to our flesh, yet what is even more like god is our fleshly mind, brainwashed to believe a host of lies. For example, when a person is lost in the woods, he knows what he should see when he climbs to the top of a crest, having a picture in his mind how the vista should look if he has been walking in the right direction, so when he sees something different from his expectations, he figures he's lost, though camp is at the bottom of the ridge. Instead of taking a closer look at what was in front of him, he missed the cabin with smoke coming from the chimney. The idea in his mind about what he should expect to see prevented him from seeing what was in front of him, so he changed directions and walked further into the woods and got more lost. Philip was in a place like that in his heart, and God in human flesh was standing in front of him saying, 'I'm right here!' See also: Analogies (Using a map lost in the woods); Phi 3-15; 105j Jn 14,7-9 (209b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Counterfeit relationship through religion >> Knowing about God, but not knowing God (253d) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the internal qualities of the Father >> Jesus is the exact representation of the Father – Jesus is in those who are born of God, and we are also in Him, but when He said, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me,” He was saying that it was just as much the Father standing in front of the disciples as it was Christ. He was not talking about Himself as a separate entity from the Father, just the opposite; they are one and the same person. For example, water has three phases: liquid, solid and gas, so God has three phases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jn 14-8,9 (17k) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Ignorance >> Misinterpreting Jesus – We want to read the Bible without interpreting it if possible, though there are passages that require interpretation, such as the book of Revelation, which was written in a way that requires interpretation; that is, it was intended to be difficult to understand for the simple reason that in the last days there will be many rebellious people who will reject the truth, plodding into ruin and destruction, and God’s attitude about them is that if they insist on rejecting the truth, He will help them. He wrote the last day’s book of the Bible in code, so when they attempt to interpret it, their corrupt flesh and the demons they serve will steer them astray. In the same way, the parables of Jesus all require interpretation, and many people have gotten them wrong. To interpret the Bible is to risk misunderstanding it; therefore, we should not interpret passages that require no interpretation, and this is one of them. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father;” if we don’t apply any interpretation to that, it says exactly what Jesus meant; He is God in human flesh. (20c) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unbelief >> Having a mind that is unable to receive >> Being slow to understand God – It is truly amazing just how blind, deaf and dumb the flesh is to God. After Jesus healed the sick for 3½ years, gave sight to the blind, opened the ears to the deaf and fulfilled Old Testament prophecy to the letter, His own disciples interpreted Him as someone other than God in human flesh, though they recognized Him as their Messiah. The Jews rightly understood that when He comes, He would be someone they just couldn’t miss; yet they overlooked Him. They surmised that since Jesus was ignorable, He couldn't be their Messiah and dismissed Him. That is, they interpreted Him and got it wrong! They misinterpreted Him because He was of common appearance, His outward form familiar to theirs, having all the needs and bodily functions they had, and when they read in the Old Testament that their Messiah would bring in a new kingdom, coming not in weakness but in power, they dismissed Him despite His proven identity. (183f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Nursery of the Spirit of error >> Ignorance – They had religious leaders who taught Israel the Old Testament Scriptures and interpreted them for the people, and so they had this scenario in mind as what to expect from their Messiah when He came. He would be like a giant monolith in the midst of a flat plane, the only object to catch the eye, something people could not possibly fail to notice. Missing their Messiah was the least of their worries, but they should have considered that He would come after centuries of rebellion in a disguise to see if anyone would notice and awake from their delirium. Although their minds were filled with fallacies, they still could have taken the works that Jesus performed into consideration and tossed aside their preconceived notions. They could have placed a higher priority on the things they witnessed with their own eyes, and used the empirical evidence to see through the fog of false knowledge. The fact that they didn’t do this reveals the effectiveness of well-entrenched mindsets being more powerful than the evidence presented to them. (198j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating Jesus >> Frustrating Jesus through unbelief Jn 14-9 (221e) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from the mind of man >> He hides the truth from man’s understanding – Jesus was hidden even from His own disciples with the Father conceiving Him in common flesh. They couldn’t stop thinking about Jesus as a mortal man, because of what they saw. Jesus proved to them in so many ways His true identity through the miracles He performed, through His boldness to take on the religious establishment of His day, through His wisdom to stay one step ahead of His enemies and through the authority of God's word that He spoke. These proved His identity, but His humanity was all that registered in their minds, for they just couldn’t see beyond His flesh that acted like the veil of the old covenant temple, stretched across the doorway of the Most Holy Place. If Jesus was so well hidden from his own disciples, how much more hidden was He from the world and from those who do not believe in Him and from those who deny His deity? Jesus wasn’t even trying to hide from his disciples, so imagine how elusive He was to those He wanted to elude. The Father sent His Son in the façade of human flesh so those with faith could believe in the inner person of Christ, and those without faith would remain ignorant, being the reason He spoke in parables. Part of the reason the Father hid His Son’s deity from prying eyes was for mercy’s sake, for had He revealed Himself to unbelievers and they not converted to faith, though knowing His true identity, God would have judged them more severely. As it was they didn’t believe Jesus was the Son of God, so God didn’t judge them for their unbelief in full knowledge of the truth. The more we know and reject about God, the more severe the judgment, and so God was protecting people from His judgment by limiting their understanding of Christ. Conversely, the more we believed and obey, the more we understood the truth. They must have longed for another day with Him after He ascended to the Father to finally understand His plan and purpose for mankind. Imagine worshipping Jesus in the glory of heaven, seeing Him seated next to His Father on His throne; we will be fulfilling our purpose for being born that God intended from the beginning, creatures made in His image worshipping Him in full knowledge. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,10-15 (113h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anointed through obedience – When Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” He was talking about both the anointing ("I am in the Father") and the indwelling Holy Spirit ("the Father is in Me"). We are not like Jesus who was without sin. He came to save us from sin, yet God's will for us is the same as for His Son: remain obedient in all things, and if we sin, “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1-9). Sin detracts from the will of God, and it grieves the Holy Spirit within us. The less we sin, the more His will becomes clear to us, but the more we sin, the less we understand of Him. To abstain from sin is an appeal to God for His anointing that enables us to know and do His will. There are two things happening at the same time: the indwelling Holy Spirit and the anointing, inside and out respectively. The indwelling is our salvation, and the anointing is our covering, so in that sense Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” Jesus lived under the covering of the anointing, and the Holy Spirit also lived in Him, and the same is true with us. (114ha) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All his works are done through the father >> Jesus gives voice to the Father – The Father runs His omniscient Spirit through Christ and performs all His works through Him. That is, Jesus is the Father’s means of expression. The Father never does anything without His Son, but uses Him as a conduit to exert His power and authority over His creation. Jesus doesn’t actually have any power of his own but works the works of His Father; he doesn’t have any words of His own but speaks the words of the Father. Jesus made this clear in the gospel of John (Jn 5,20-30; Jn 8-28; Jn 10,25-38; Jn 12-49; Jn 14-10; Jn 16,13-15). Jesus did not relate to His Father this way from the weakness of human flesh only, but has always had this relationship with the Father, and He will continue this relationship forevermore. The Spirit of the Father performs the works of God through Christ. To our limited knowledge contained in Scripture the Father has never done anything on His own, but delegates all His authority to the Son, and Jesus never did anything on His own but obeys the Father in all things, and God has called us to the same kind of relationship with Him that Jesus has with the Father. Jn 14,10-12 (111h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Kingdom of God revealed >> Word plus signs and wonders – Except for the religious establishment, Jesus was warmly received almost everywhere He went, such as Bethany, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Gennesaret to name a few, but when He went to Jerusalem, it was a different story; He didn't perform many miracles within its city limits. Hearing about a miracle worker is not the same as seeing one in action. Even among those who received Him the people often took His miracles as a form of entertainment. Miracles were just a way to get people's attention so He could speak the word to them, which was more convincing than His miracles. A person who hears the greatest news of His life, the words reverberate in his mind; that is what God's word does. To the person who believes in Jesus, His words are like standing next to a giant gong as someone strikes it. Many people heard the word of God sounding in their hearts, being more meaningful than His miracles, but in Jerusalem His blood was meaningful. Jn 14-10,11 (253ja) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is under the authority of the Father >> Jesus did His Father's will Jn 14-10 (110f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Spirit speaks through Jesus – The words that Jesus spoke were not His own but His Father’s. The Father gave Him what to say, and Jesus spoke the word, and the Father performed His works through Christ. That is how it was; it is how it has always been, and it is how it will forever remain. Jesus has no power of His own, so when He came in the flesh and relied on His Father, nothing really changed, for this has always been His relationship with the Father. Nevertheless, temporarily throughout the age of grace, in heaven Jesus has all power. God gave it to Him, and He is all-knowing through the Spirit, who goes into the creation and gathers all knowledge in every place and relays it to Christ, who relays it to the Father. That is how the trinity works in the age of grace, but when this age has ended, “Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father… then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all” (1Cor 15,24-29). Jesus will return the kingdom to His Father, so all things flow from Him to the Son and to the Church, and we will forever disseminate all power and authority to His creation. (150i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Speak the word of the Spirit >> Speaking the words that God has spoken to you – When Paul commanded us to walk by the Spirit, he was talking about the anointing. Anything that manifests the Kingdom of God is related to the anointing, such as the word of God in our mouth and the fruit of the Spirit. The anointing is our covering, and so is the fruit that He bears. Our relationship with God dwells in us, protected by the anointing, which is deeply affected by sin, for sin competes with the anointing for the right to manifest through the members of our bodies opposing kingdoms. When we sin, the anointing receives the brunt of its destructive power, but the indwelling Holy Spirit hardly notices. God Himself protects our salvation by His promises to never leave us nor forsake us. Instead, the threat to the indwelling Holy Spirit is sloppy theology, false doctrines and satanic deception. (254i) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Holy Spirit >> Holy Spirit is life >> Spirit of Jesus – The things that Jesus said about Himself in this verse are also happening in the believer, only there is a giant difference between us and Him, and that difference pertains to the soul of Christ. We each have a unique soul; every person is different, not because of the body, but because of the unique person who dwells in the body, the soul, the very essence of the person. On the one hand, with Christ it says the Father overshadowed Mary and caused her to conceive, and the child that resulted was in fact the Holy Spirit in human flesh, the Son of God. On the other hand, the Christian consists of a human soul plus the soul of Christ. There aren’t two spirits dwelling in us but one, for the Holy Spirit has infused Himself with our spirit so that the two have become one. In contrast, Jesus’ soul is the undiluted Holy Spirit. This is partly what Jesus meant when He said, “the Father is in Me and I am in Him.” The Father was in Christ through the Spirit, and Christ was in the Father through obedience. They were in perfect agreement with each other; Jesus wanted only to please Him and did only that which was pleasing in His sight, and He wants the same for us. See also: Jesus Christ (His spirit is the Spirit of God); Eph 1-10; 44e KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,11-13 (146j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the Church may believe -- These verses go with verse 29. The words of Christ are just as convincing if not more than for Him to lay His hands on one who was born blind and see him gain his sight, or to open the ears of the deaf who never heard a sound his whole life, or to lay His hand on a coffin and see the occupant suddenly climb from his resting place alive. His words have the power to convince us of Himself, and He said that if for any reason we have a hard time believing in Him, we can fall back on His works. He was telling them, ‘Just remember what you saw with your own eyes,’ as John said, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life” (1Jn 1-1). He combined His works with His words when the five senses witnessed the word of God. Jn 14,12-15 (35e) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> Ask to receive – There is a pervasive false teaching in the Church that says signs, wonders and miracles were meant only for the apostles, that the dispensation for miracles has ended, but this teaching is based on observation and not on Scripture. People make up these doctrines to explain why God doesn't work with their lives, but the reason He won’t work with them is that they won’t work with Him. Nowhere does it say that signs and wonders are under a time limit, and when time runs out, miracles run dry; and nowhere does it say they were meant only for the apostles. We see Stephen who merely served tables for old ladies, and He performed signs and wonders. We say, ‘That was in the first century;’ yes, it was in the day when people actually believed in God. It was in the day when the teachings of Scripture were untarnished by false doctrine, but today so many doctrines have calved the Church into myriad denominations that nobody knows what to believe. We need to leave the door open for signs, wonders and miracles, because if we close the door and say God is unwilling, then He is unwilling. (114a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Believing the Father by obeying the Son >> Obeying Jesus’ word (129e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Bear fruit by dying to self – To be a Christian is to be a little christ with a small-case letter “c”. Everything Jesus did His Father also wills us to do, and that includes performing miracles. Nothing did Jesus do that He doesn’t expect us to do; even when Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross, He expects us to pick up our cross and follow Him. The outcome of His works was the redemption of mankind, but the outcome of the Church in obedience to Christ is that the world might believe that the Father sent His Son and be saved. (206j) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to getting your prayers answered – Jesus could virtually do anything; if one of His disciples had a problem and asked the Lord, He would usually solve it for him. What is the difference between that and prayer? Jesus gave us a blank check when He said, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” It was a blank check with a condition; we must be relatives; we must have His last name. Jesus last name is “Christ”, and the believer is a Christian. Not just anybody can pray to the Lord and receive an answer, but if we believe in Jesus and have His Spirit dwelling in us and keep His commandments, we can ask whatever we want and He will give it. When we meet His conditions, it changes our hearts, and our hearts change our requests, so we pray according to His will, making Him all the more willing to answer our prayers. (231c) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery of godliness >> God’s grace is the mystery of godliness >> God working in you is a mystery – It was statements like this that the disciples had absolutely no chance of understanding, but he told them anyway, knowing they would understand later. The disciples must have stared at Him without a clue what He was saying, because they didn’t understand His plan. Jesus spoke these words to them at the very end of His ministry, telling them He would die on a Roman cross, which was the opposite of their expectations. These words went in one ear and out the other. For that matter the Church may still not understand the plan of God, particularly when it comes to the Holy Spirit. Most denominations of the Church have no idea what to do with Him, and those that claim they know mostly fudge the doctrines surrounding the Holy Spirit, hence they have little to nothing to show for all their faith. That is not to condemn them, at least they are trying, but it shows that we are no better than Israel throughout the Old Testament in understanding God’s plan and fulfilling it. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,13-15 (83b) Thy kingdom come >> Receiving from God through prayer >> Ask and it shall be given – Materialism is highly improbable as part of God’s plan for our lives, since He railed against the Pharisees and the rich for their love of money. That is not to say God will not give us things if we ask for them, but if we value them too much we won’t receive them from God. The object of Christianity is to assimilate into His will for our lives, which is spiritual in nature. He has a plan already prepared for us according to Eph 2-10. If we walk on God’s designated trail of good works, we will discover God’s plan for our lives and He will create in us the person He saw in us from the beginning. Combine these two promises: 1) The works that He did we will do also, and 2) Whatever we ask He will do for us if we love Him and keep His commandments. The implication of these two promises is not for the individual to believe in God isolated and alone, but is intended for the entire body of Christ. The outcome is unity, which is the focus of Jesus’ vision for the Church, and so is the focus of these four chapters in the gospel of John: chapters 14-17. Chapter 17 is the great crescendo of His vision of unity. None of His promises in these chapters will ever make sense or even see the light of day without unity. Jn 14-13,14 (67k) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Praying in Jesus’ name – Jesus glorifies the Father when He answers our prayers; it is not begrudging to Him. This means there is something wrong with us when our prayers go unanswered. There are constraints; for example, a person whose life is riddled with sin, if Jesus answered his prayers, Christ would be doing the gospel a disfavor. Some people say prayer goes unanswered from a lack of faith. What do they mean by faith anyway? Faith does more than believe; it knows things in ways that transcend the human ability to believe. How are we supposed to muster this kind of faith? It is God-given through a process of repentance and a life commitment of body and soul to serve Christ. This cultivated life is what Jesus seeks in His worshippers before He answers their prayers, so they don’t damage His name and the gospel the next day with their sin. What if we laid hands on the sick and they recovered and then went on our way, smoking and drinking, sexually promiscuous and sought revenge on our enemies, how could people properly understand God through our example? They would think God didn’t care about sin. In many cases God does not answer our prayers from our poor reputation. If we laid our hands on the sick and they recovered, and we lived a holy life without contradicting ourselves, this is the message God wants to convey to the world. Nevertheless, a person could dedicate himself completely to the grace of God and His prayers still go unanswered, because of his brothers and sisters in the Church. It is one thing for one man to live a holy life, but it is another thing for the entire Church to live holy to the Lord. That is what Christ expects of us before He will perform miracles through us, otherwise the Father would not be glorified. One man can set a good example, but it is not enough for God to perform miracles through him; the entire church needs to get behind Christ and live for Him, so God can work through us all. The people of God are all linked together as one, and each has a reputation to uphold, and the Church as a whole has a reputation. All these things need to be in line before God will work through us to perform signs, wonders and miracles. Jn 14-13 (114k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Jesus is the way to the Father -- This verse goes with verse 16 Jn 14,14-16 (68h) Authority >> We have been given authority through prayer Jn 14,15-24 (208h) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God by the Spirit – Obviously, the word “disclose” in verse 21 is key. We could look it up in the Bible dictionary, but basically "disclose" means disclose. Jesus said, “the world will behold Me no more, but you will behold Me.” This is the disclosure that Jesus meant, and throughout our lives He will continually reveal Himself to us, a life-long process through a spiritual relationship with Him, and God will continue to disclose Himself throughout eternity. The beginning of God’s disclosure starts right now, a process that will never end. This life is probably more important than any other time in eternity, because we have an opportunity to show God our faith. What God reveals to us becomes the basis of our relationship in eternity, but the one who never grew in His faith, though He may have been saved for decades, this too becomes the basis of his relationship with God in heaven. Jn 14-15 (89c) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wisdom never exceeds what is appropriate (156b) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Loving God is evidence of salvation >> Keeping His commandments (206f) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the love of God >> Conditions to loving Jesus – Jesus makes a promise that is topped only by the promise of eternal life. It is one of the most amazing promises we can believe. Basically, Jesus has written us a blank check to give us whatever we ask of Him. If that sounds a little fanciful, then we are on the same page. Now we are stuck trying to make sense of it in a world where miracles seem to never occur. This statement depicts the level of commitment God has for us, and it implies that we will see the fulfillment of this promise as soon as we reciprocate that same level of commitment toward Him. This condition of answered prayer, had Jesus not given it, would have suggested that reprobates also had access to the promises of God. Now only those who are fully committed to God to the degree that God is committed to us will consistently see the fulfillment of His promises. What happens to a person who commits himself to this degree; will he ask for material things or will he make request that corresponds with the interests of God? He will ask for things that God wants to give, which is why Jesus was willing to make this promise in the first place. (208f) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God through obedience Jn 14,16-26 (113l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anointing establishes us in His will (228c) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> We are comforted in the presence of God >> Holy Spirit is our comforter KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,16-24 (34c) Gift of God >> Believer owns everything >> Holy Spirit belongs to us (35g) Gift of God >> God gives Himself to us >> Jesus sends the Holy Spirit -- These verses go with verse 27. Take away the teaching of the Holy Spirit from these four chapters in the gospel of John (14-17) and there would no longer be a gospel. There are many Christians today who want to somehow pattern their lives around the gospel, though they don't understand the Holy Spirit any better than the disciples. Innumerous denominations and churches exclude the Holy Spirit from their theology, from their ministries and from their personal lives, partly because they don’t understand Him, but also because they are afraid of Him. People who live and walk by the Spirit prove that they understand God and know Him. (44e) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Transformed >> Completed by God – Man is composed of a body, soul and spirit. We know we have a body, and the Bible teaches that we have a soul, and it stands to reason that this is true since atoms and molecules cannot perceive consciousness, but whether we have a spirit is questionable. It actually seems redundant that we should have a spirit and a soul, unless the spirit refers to the Spirit of God, suggesting that man has no spirit until he is born of God. (132a) Holy Spirit Is In God’s People (Key verse) (132b) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holy Spirit is in God’s people >> Spirit of God in the spirit of man >> Spirit of Jesus – Jesus was the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, meaning that when He promised to send the Helper, He was promising to send Himself (v18) "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." He planned to come back to the world, not as a man who can be in only one place at a time, but in the Spirit, who can now be everywhere at once. Jesus claimed that His Father was in Him (v10); the Holy Spirit also dwells in the believer. The Spirit does not dwell in the unbeliever, though, for this is what makes a person saved, and it is what gives him entrance into heaven. The world says that all people are God’s children, but this is simply not true. They may all be His creation made in His image, but they are not all His children; only those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them belong to Him (Rom 8-9). (155g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Holy Spirit bears witness of the believer – Those who live and walk in the flesh are incapable of understanding God. Even if He were explained to them, after they rejected the offer of eternal life, they would be rejecting something they had not even begun to understand. It is impossible for the fleshly mind to appreciate anything about God. Jesus was saying that the life He offers has value that will follow his believers into the life to come, proving that our experience of the Holy Spirit today will be the basis of our heavenly experience, which is far more valuable than anything in this world. God’s life who has come to dwell in us has a value that we need to appreciate here and now. The world heaps expectations on us: school, work, marriage, raising a family, yet the value we hold on the life of God in us far exceeds any value we place on this life. (164h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is at enmity with God >> The world does not know God – Jesus said of the Holy Spirit that the world cannot receive Him, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but He said to His disciples, “You know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.” The fact that the Holy Spirit did not dwell in the disciples while Jesus was speaking to them was the reason they did not understand Him, suggesting that no one can understand Jesus without the Holy Spirit. Throughout His ministry His disciples loved and respected Him, but understood very little about Him. He challenged the religious establishment of His day and railed against the Pharisees who held the people in bondage to their expensive religion. He was fearless and had a way with words, and He loved the poor and the downcast. He had all these qualities and many more, yet the world wanted nothing to do with Him, because according to them He had the wrong Spirit. The world by definition has not received the Spirit of God, and for this reason it cannot know Him, and in this way Jesus will reveal Himself only to those who obey Him. (201a) Denying Christ >> Whoever is not with Jesus is against him >> He is against Christ who does not receive Him >> Whoever does not receive God’s word is against Christ (205c) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> According to promise >> Promise of the Holy Spirit (205g) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> New covenant >> The new one is a better one (207j) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The generosity of God’s salvation >> Salvation is the gift of God (217h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you never did His will (221j) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from sin >> He hides behind disobedience (225a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The holy of holies >> The Kingdom of God is in your spirit – The Holy Spirit is our comforter, the one who dwells in us and stands beside us through thick and thin. He is our advocate, who will not just help us in this life but throughout all eternity (v16). Someone may ask, “What help will we need in heaven?” Many people may be surprised how much help we will need. The subject of heaven is nebulously understood; God will give us great responsibility. First and foremost, He will give us authority and we will be rulers of His kingdom. When we think of the blood, sweat and tears it took to make mankind suitable for God's heavenly kingdom, the horror of sin and death, man’s history of war over the millennia, Jesus coming and giving His life's blood a ransom for the sake of the elect, persecution of the saints ending in a crescendo of the last days great tribulation, God has winnowed mankind and chosen from the world His elect. We will rule over a people whom God will create in the future, who will need our guidance and experience in establishing a kingdom that will increase forever. People will be born to this kingdom throughout eternity, and there will be no death, and so their numbers will increase astronomically very quickly and we will build a hierarchy of authority among them, calling out many to become rulers. We will need help with that, lots of help! See also: New heavens and a new earth (We will teach the new creation right from wrong); Rom 5-13,14; 52c (230d) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking of the power of God >> Partaking of the ministry of the Holy Spirit (231h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Body of Christ is the organism of God’s kingdom >> Jesus is the head of His body’s kingdom >> Jesus builds His kingdom in your midst (238b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Born again >> Born of the Spirit by the will of man (255b) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Spirit of the word >> Words of His Spirit are truth – In verse 17 w hen Jesus said to His disciples, "He abides with you," He was referring to Himself, and when Jesus said, "He... will be in you," He was referring to the Holy Spirit. In this way Jesus directly equated Himself to the Holy Spirit, not that His is similar but exactly the same. Jesus is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the very soul of God. (255g) Trinity >> Father, Son and Holy Spirit >> The process of imparting the substance of God >> Father discloses the Spirit by the word – Jesus intends to unveil Himself to those who love Him, meaning that He is hidden from those who do not love Him. These verses make it difficult to deny the doctrine of the trinity that describes God in three persons. The doer of the word is the one who loves Jesus, and those who love Him will be loved by the Father, and Jesus will also love him, and will disclose Himself to His believers. Jesus just said He loves those who love Him, but isn’t that what He condemned in His Sermon on the Mount, teaching that to love those who love us back is nothing, but to love our enemies is behaving like God (Mat 5,43-48)? The love that Jesus had for His enemies was a different kind of love that He has for His Church. In the Sermon on the Mount He was referring to an undeserving agape love that involves kindness to those who show no kindness, whereas Jesus in this passage is talking about a love that is capable of disclosing God to those who are open to receiving Him. Jesus equated disclosing the Holy Spirit to disclosing Himself, equating Himself with the Holy Spirit, who is the soul of God, and so there we have the trinity. Heb 1-3 says, “[Jesus] is the radiance of [the Father’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature.” They are one and the same in three different forms. Therefore, we understand the trinity by the Holy Spirit being both in Christ and in the Father. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,16-21 (107g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Truth of the trinity >> Spirit is truth – Jesus claimed to be the Truth, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14-6); then He talked about the Spirit of Truth whom He would send in His name, who would come to dwell in us, meaning that He and the Spirit are one with the Truth. That is, Jesus is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the soul of God. In this chapter Jesus is promising to send the Spirit of Truth, saying “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” For Jesus to send us the Holy Spirit is to send His very soul. If God had more than one Spirit, it would break down the trinity, for the Spirit acts as glue to hold all three members together. Moreover, God has only one Truth, whose name is Jesus, whose soul is the Holy Spirit, who teaches that truth is in Jesus. If someone understands the gospel in a different way from the teachings of Christ, he would be listening to wrong spirits. Col 1-17 says, “[Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together,” but what holds God together? The Truth does in the fact that all three members of the trinity harmonize in one Spirit. Jn 14,16-20 (117f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His mercy (238g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Jesus will never leave us Jn 14-16,17 (66j) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His words are the authority of God -- These verses go with verses 4-6 (111c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit of truth – Jesus gave His life for the sins of the world, rose from the dead and ascend to the Father, and the earth will not see Him until the Millennium, but Jesus promised the disciples that they would see Him long before that. Even after Jesus ascended to the Father, His disciples continued to behold their Savior, because of the life-giving Spirit who dwelled in them. Jesus was trying to get across the point that the Holy Spirit was not coming to replace Christ; rather, He is the very essence of Christ. The best way to understand this is through the term “Son of God,” Mary conceived a child as a virgin. In Lk 1-35 the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” She conceived a child in her womb, and the child was the Son of God. What we need to understand is that like us Jesus had a soul, only His soul was the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Jesus did not need to be born-again, because the Holy Spirit already dwelled in Him. Therefore, when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to us, He is literally sending His very soul. See also: Trinity; Rev 21-3; 104h (199i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> The world rejects God >> World rejects God because it does not know Him (244f) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> Eternal life of the trinity >> Spirit is the source of eternal life – Take this passage from the Bible and the gospel would become hard to understand. Jesus died and rose again and ascended to the Father. What are we called to do, believe in a set of doctrines? Some say that if we do, we can go to heaven. The gospel regresses to believing in a set of facts when we take the Holy Spirit from the equation. It’s like taking the soul out of a person, which is the definition of death, meaning the gospel is dead without the Holy Spirit. We cannot keep living if our soul no longer inhabits our body. Let's say that after death the spirit asks the body, ‘Now where am I supposed to go?’ and the body says, ‘Its not my problem anymore; you just can’t stay here.’ This is why we need Jesus; on the day of our death, we will need a place to go. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Theologically we know the way, but when our body dies, how will we know the way to heaven? We’ll be lost, except that a heavenly host will come and escort us into the presence of Jesus. The angels will come and escort us to heaven, not because we believe in the Bible, but because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. On the day of our death our body will no longer be relevant to us. We could turn and look at our body, and see that it's just a lot of atoms and molecules already entering the decomposition stage. However, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in our spirit, and He is our salvation. Paul said in 1Cor 6-17, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” For this reason the angels will come and escort us to heaven, because God dwells in us, not in our body but in our soul, for the Spirit of God and our soul are one Spirit. Therefore, this verse is important to understanding the gospel, for without the Holy Spirit there is no gospel. We Christians seem to be living for a book; we believe in the Bible and live by it, and this is all the world really knows about us. The world don’t know there is a living Spirit in connection with the gospel, and He follows those who believe and inhabits them, and we are one with Him. See also: What happens to people when they die; Act 2,23-36; 149a Jn 14-16 (83e) Thy kingdom come >> Intercession >> Jesus stands in the gap >> He prays for us – This website has submitted very few word studies, but it seems one is in order here. The word "Helper" (NASB) is transliterated "Paraclete", which is defined as one who is "summoned", or "called to one's side" (https://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html). Scholars from various other translations interpreted "Paraclete" in this verse and in verse 26 to mean: Advocate, Comforter, Counselor and Intercessor. We could add another term: "defense attorney", except that Jesus gave this word further reaching implications, such as that He is also our teacher. Yet, defense attorney enlightens the relationship between ourselves, the Father, and Satan (accuser of the brethren; Rev 12-10), making Jesus (a.k.a. the Holy Spirit) our defense attorney as though we were on trial in a court of law with the Father as our Judge, Satan as the prosecutor and Jesus (the Holy Spirit) at our side as our defense attorney. The devil raises our sins before the court and Jesus refutes them, saying that His client would rather he were not born in sin, and did what he could to avoid sin and believed in Jesus' blood sacrifice to cleanse him of all unrighteousness, and by that the Judge hammers the gavel in our acquittal. (114k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Jesus is the way to the Father -- This verse goes with verse 20 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,17-19 (118h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Giving God your attention >> Resolutely focus on the glory of God >> Focus on Jesus Jn 14-17 (169e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Darkness has a blinding effect -- This verse goes with verse 19 Jn 14-18 (36k) Adopted (Key verse) (36l) Gift of God >> Adopted >> We are adopted by the Spirit – Jesus demands all our attention, like a newborn baby. When we are born-again, we are babes in Christ, but the real babe is the Spirit that He gives us, and we are supposed to take care of Him. Basically, Jesus comes to each of us and asks if we would like to adopt Him, and at our acceptance, He adopts us into His heavenly family. That is the deal, life for life. Most people don’t have any place for Jesus in their hearts; their lives are already filled with other things. Jn 14,19-24 (117h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Vision >> Real-eyes God’s purpose >> Understand God’s purpose for your life (129j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> love perfects unity >> Pursue unity in love that the world may be saved (230h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery of godliness >> Mystery of the trinity >> Obey the mystery of godliness like Jesus did – The Father had greater authority, but Jesus was the greater servant. Jesus said he was going away, but was returning to His disciples in the form of the Holy Spirit, saying, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” The members of the trinity are equal, yet they have separate offices, each being greater than the other in either authority or service. The Father has the greatest authority, but Jesus is a greater servant, and the Holy Spirit is a greater servant still. Jesus’ service to the Father was that He should sacrifice His flesh on the cross, and the Father honored Him, which became grounds for the Holy Spirit, who has a greater ministry than Christ. To God servanthood is equivalent to authority, making the members of the trinity equal to each other. Jesus said in Jn 16-7 that the Holy Spirit has a better ministry than Him, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” Jesus spoke to His disciples for 3 years until He was blue in the face, and they understood very little of what He said, but when God released the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, everything fell into place, and they immediately understood His purpose. Jesus became frustrated with His disciples on a number of occasions (Mat 17-17; Mk 9-19; Lk 9-41) saying, “O unbelieving and perverse generation… how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” Jn 14-19,20 (254b) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> We live because we are in Jesus – The world will no longer see Jesus because He was crucified, rose from the dead and ascended to the Father and is no longer in the world, but His disciples will see Him through the Spirit sent in His place from heaven. Jesus lives through the Father as Christ lives in us. John chapter seventeen speaks about His authority through the Father and about His love and His Spirit, yet these are basically one and the same. His life is linked to His authority and His authority is linked to the Spirit. All things are interconnected within the trinity. The Father has given His Son all authority for the purpose of delegating His Spirit to His people for the sake of establishing His kingdom. We dwell in His life; we abide in His love, and we submit to His authority. The Father has all authority, and He has delegated it to Christ, who delegates it to us, so collectively we have authority from God to establish His kingdom in love. His Spirit performs all transmissions of life, love and authority within the godhead, throughout His kingdom. Jesus is in us through the Spirit of His Father, and there is no difference between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; they are all one, and the Truth holds them together. Jn 14-19 (64l) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> Jesus blinds the world -- This verse goes with verses 22-24 (117j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Acknowledging the presence of God -- This verse goes with verses 7-11. Paul said in Eph 1-18,19, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Jesus too was talking about seeing Him through the eyes of our spirit, but the world is blind to Him. God has given us the ability to see Him by the Spirit that He has given us, so we can now see into the spirit realm (Jn 5-19,20). Jesus had eyes to see into the spirit realm; our eyes are not as clear as His, but we too can see, and we know some things that God is doing, suggesting that we know what plans God has for mankind, making us prophets. Jesus said as much in Jn 16-13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will... disclose to you what is to come.” Those who do His will can see what God is doing. Jesus said that the world does not have ability to see into the Spirit realm; they might see demonic spirits and forces of wickedness in high places, but they don’t know what God is doing. (154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin -- This verse goes with verses 22-24 (169e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Darkness has a blinding effect -- This verse goes with verse 17 (223j) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the train >> Miss the invitation from God -- This verse goes with verses 22-24 (240h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Natural disadvantage of the world -- This verse goes with verses 22-24. On the one hand, the world is a disadvantage and a hindrance to the Kingdom of God; but on the other, it is our mission field, as we pull people from Satan’s grip and convert them to become God's children, making them disciples of Jesus that they too might make disciples. So the Kingdom of God grows from those who were once constituents of the world, who once persecuted us and expressed its disadvantage in our lives, yet through hardship and difficulties we communicate the gospel of Christ and make disciples of those who would listen and believe in Jesus. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,20-23 (71l) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We are ordained through obedience – When Jesus made a distinction between Himself and His Father, naming two distinct entities, saying, “We will come to him, and make our abode with him,” He is talking about the Holy Spirit representing both the Father and the Son in their distinct offices. The office of the Father is the origin of God’s love for mankind, and the office of the Son is the manifestation of that love. This then is what we have in the Holy Spirit: the origin and manifestation of God’s love. God does not dwell in sinners but in His believers through their word (Jn 17-20), faithfulness being central to their relationship with God. These verses are the central nervous system of the gospel that depicts Jesus Christ disclosing Himself to His people through their obedience. That is, God’s way of salvation is based on the cross of Jesus Christ, but our personal salvation is based on obedience, being the very definition of our love for Jesus, as it says in verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” In other words, if we don’t obey His commandments, then we don’t love Him, and what were His commandments but to be born-again and to love one another. So, if we don’t walk in love, then we don’t love Jesus. Jn 14-20,21 (229g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Kingdom grows by itself >> Kingdom assumes the mind of Christ >> Kingdom grows through knowledge Jn 14-20 (94m) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> God reflects on His creation (114k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Jesus is the way to the Father -- This verse goes with verse 26 (136j) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Body of Christ is the temple of God – Jesus described a three-tier dwelling place where the Father is the ultimate temple, Christ is in Him and we are in Christ, who is also in us, indicating that we are in the Father through Christ. This is similar to the old covenant temple of worship that God commanded Israel through Moses. The overall building represented the God; inside was a room called the Holy Place representing Christ, and beyond that room was another room called the Holy of Holies, which was the dwelling place of the Father. The closer we get to the most inner room the holier the place and the greater requirement for reverence toward God. The high priest met with God in the Most Holy Place once a year with a basin of animal blood collected from the sacrifice that was made outside the temple that was his offering. In the same way after Jesus’ resurrection, He ascended to the Father after shedding His blood, and the Father accepted His sacrifice, proving His acceptance of us. (224e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> The marriage supper of the lamb – Each of us has a soul, and our soul is our spiritual identity. Our soul needs to be saved, so we who are born of God and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "'Abba! Father!'” (Gal 4-6), and He has meshed His spirit with ours so we have become one with Him. Therefore, the phrase ‘body, soul and spirit’ refers to the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Jesus too had a body, but his soul was the Holy Spirit, so in that sense He needs a soul to be complete, and His soul is the collective Church. There will be a meshing of spirits in heaven at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a celebration marking the point in which Jesus will have finally received His soul. For this reason He said in Lk 22-15,16, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” His soul is the spirit of the Church in unity, all of us collectively as one. Jesus is in us and we are in Him. What it means to be in Christ will be fully realized at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. See also: Jesus Christ (His soul is the Church); 1Cor 12,12-27; 135n Jn 14,21-24 (114f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Receiving a revelation from God through obedience – We are comfortable with the physical world, and find it difficult to interact with the Spiritual realm. Most people would prefer Jesus in the flesh rather than the Spirit, but we don't have a choice. We must receive Him in the Spirit, though many think He holds an inferior ministry, but that is not what Jesus said, “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” (Jn 16-7). The Holy Spirit has a better ministry than Him by just so much as Jesus is one man, while the Spirit can reach the whole world at once, and He is in us instead of beside us. Some understood Jesus and others did not (for example, many women understood Him much better than His own disciples), just like some can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and others do not. Those who hear His voice are permanently affected, but those who do not heed His voice, neither in the Bible nor in the Spirit, eventually lose their hearing and become deaf in regard to faith. So the Holy Spirit has far more authority over the Church than Jesus did. We are living in the age of grace, which was made for the Holy Spirit to reign in the Church, bringing salvation to those who had been chosen to inherit eternal life. The Father was in charge during the old covenant, and Jesus will be in charge during the Millennium. (117b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke through obedience Jn 14,21-23 (6b) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of love (255i) Trinity >> Father, Son and Holy Spirit >> Three in one >> God is one – The disciples had a habit of asking a lot of dumb questions, but Judas (not Iscariot) knocked this one out of the park when he asked how Jesus planned to disclose Himself to them and not to the world. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all dwelling in the believer. If anyone else said this, it would sound like heresy, but Jesus came to teach us about God, and should we not believe Him? We may not understand Him; His words may seem otherworldly and crazy like a sci-fi movie, but shouldn't we expect that from our creator? If He made perfect sense, we wouldn’t believe He was from God, and because He seems strange to us, we reject Him. Where is any neutral ground in that? It doesn’t matter whether we can relate to God or not, we prefer to follow our natural proclivities, which tends to reject God, but there are those who believe, and God lives in their hearts through faith against the current of the world. Jesus visited us for this very reason, but there are contradictions between He and His creation, and we are unwilling to see that the problem is on our end. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14,22-24 (32h) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Father will honor your obedience – If we commit a sin, neither our relationship with God, nor our faith, nor our hope of eternal life is affected. It is not so much the sins we commit that have such a corrosive effect on our faith, as much as the righteousness we omit. There are ways of expressing our love for the brethren, and when we omit it, we often express ourselves in other ways that are contrary to love, and those are the ways of sin and evil. When we love God and commit sin, we still love God, but we have contradicted our faith. We should love one another with His passion, not through emotions but through obedience. If we can’t demonstrate what God has done for us, then God says it really doesn’t mean anything, and if God doesn’t mean anything to us, then we don’t love Him, and if we don’t love Him, then the Father's vision of us is unfulfilled. (64l) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> Jesus blinds the world -- These verses go with verse 19 (107f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing From God >> Truth of the trinity >> Father is truth – If we extracted these verses from the Bible, it would be like taking the compass from a hiker; how would he know which way he was going? These verses hit at the very core of the gospel. This is where Jesus speaks most vividly about the Holy Spirit coming to dwell in us. Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit as Himself indwelling the believer, as well as the Father. In fact, all three members of the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit come to dwell in the believer. Every aspect of God dwells in us! (154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin -- These verses go with verse 19 (223j) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the train >> Miss the invitation from God -- These verses go with verse 19 (240h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Natural disadvantage of the world -- These verses go with verse 19 Jn 14-23,24 (85l) Thy kingdom come >> Belief >> Treating the knowledge of God as fact >> Believing the Son by obeying the Father >> Obeying the law by faith in the cross >> Obedience represents our faith – Jesus equated love with obedience. Every time someone pledged their loyalty to Him He would answer them with doubt, suggesting that He didn’t like people telling Him they loved Him. He would rather they showed Him their love than merely say the words. Not even His disciples were particularly obedient before Pentecost; His comment to them was, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (v15). If we don’t do what He says it proves we don’t really love Him. This goes back to the relationship between obedience and belief; they are essentially two sides of the same coin. For us to believe in Jesus is to obey Him. If anyone proves His love for Christ, He said that the Father would love him too, and they both would come and dwell in Him through the Holy Spirit, so that all three members of the trinity dwell in the believer. There is perfect communion within the Godhead that Father and Son can dwell in the believer vicariously through the Spirit, making the indwelling Holy Spirit tantamount to Jesus and the Father dwelling in us. Jesus is "human", who is equivalent to the Father, and we are made in His image. That is, God made humans because God is human. Without the Holy Spirit dwelling in us we are like the beasts that perish (Psalm 49-20). (114i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All His works are what the Father does – Jesus always glorified the Father, who was the essence of His authority. Take a character like Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith show, and put him in front of a couple bullies who were selling fruit from their truck on the edge of town, which was against city ordinance, undercutting local businesses. Barney went to chase them down the road, and they made fun of him and threatened him. At the end of the episode, Barney amassed all his courage and went back to them and pointed at his badge when he spoke saying, ‘This is my authority.’ They picked up their produce and left town, because he had the law on his side and if they didn’t do what he said, more officers would come, first Andy, then the Raleigh police. He could have as many hands on the scene as needed to remove those jokers. Maybe Barney didn’t have the personality to be an effective police officer, but he was part of a greater system of authority that was comparatively infinite to those two peddlers. We can say the same about Jesus; He came in the weakness of human flesh and spoke to us the words of His Father. We might laugh at Him and make jokes, but the fact remains, He had all the authority of His Father behind Him, which was more than enough to deal with a few sinners. Instead of protecting Him from harm, His Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right-hand and gave Him all power in heaven and on earth to establish His Church in preparation for an eternal Kingdom. From His loyalty, obedience and faithfulness the Father was able to trust Him with everything. One of many purposes of the cross was for God to test Himself against His creation and prove His faithfulness. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14-23 (70j) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have been given authority over all creation >> We are the children of God >> We have the divine nature – If Jesus is in the Father and in us, and if we are in Christ, then we are one with the Father through Christ in unity with Him as witnesses of the godhead (see Col 2-9,10). People think God is hard on us for not coming to our rescue during times of distress, but He has a very large reward waiting for us in heaven that He thinks is worth our faith and suffering. We who are born of the Spirit are in a state of unity with God. It is no wonder, then, that Jesus’ vision of His church is for us to be in unity with each another. (111e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Father and the Son (206e) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the love of God >> Conditions to the father’s love – Who invented the phony idea of God's unconditional love? The Father’s love is contingent on our love for Jesus (Jn 16-27)! We also know from Jn 3-16 that God’s love for the world is based on a vision, that we might come to love His Son. The word “believe” is tantamount to obedience, and in verse 23 when Jesus said, “the Father will love him,” He was referring to that vision fulfilled. (252a) Trinity — Key verse for the entire chapter. The Trinity is an age old conquest that has been separating cults from Christianity since the early years of church history; yet because of its controversial nature, it is not a well-understood subject of the Bible, even among scholars who share similar beliefs. As a way of understanding the Trinity, consider identical twins, which have identical genes, yet over the course of a lifetime deviate from each other. In contrast, the members of the trinity have converged on a singularity of personal traits. For example, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are so much alike, they don't just represent each other, but virtually are each other. What is more amazing is that this is also the case between the Father and the Son. Jesus is the exact representation of His nature (Heb 1-3), yet Jesus differentiates from Him as far as the physical realm is from the spiritual realm. That is, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are unalike as much as they are alike, suggesting this must be true also of the Father. In other words, if there is such disparity between the Son and the Spirit, then the Father must also be equidistant from the other two, suggesting that we have no idea how the Father expresses Himself, whose closest definition is "Faith". What form the essence of faith takes is anybody's guess! We know the human form of Jesus, but we don’t know anything about the spiritual realm, only that it exists. What form the Father takes is an abrupt mystery; it will be an interesting revelation when we get to heaven. “God is Spirit” Jesus said in Jn 4-24, meaning He has a spiritual side, and Jesus is His physical side. He must also have a compositional side that is unique only to the Father, all three forms amalgamated into one that we cannot begin to postulate until we see Him face to face. Even then we may not comprehend his form, though all things will eventually be revealed through the course of eternity. The Father exists in a form that most ardently represents God. The Bible says that we will have spiritual bodies; that is two of the three forms of God. We don’t know if we will ever take on the third form of the Father, but we do know that we are His children and have been made in His image. See also: Father is an abrupt mystery; Mat 11,20-24; 48i Jn 14-24 (180h) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the word of God – Jesus is not talking about unbelievers but about those who claim to believe in Him, separating the walkers from the talkers, who claim great love for God but never show any fruit. He said in Lk 11-23, “He who is not with Me is against Me,” meaning that mere talkers are just as much His enemy as His enemies. Talkers-only do more harm to the gospel than possibly any other group, proclaiming their faith but hardly demonstrating it. They would be better to use the language of an unbeliever and never mentioning Jesus than to drag his name through the mud. Jesus topped it off saying, “The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” That is a statement of judgment. He said in Jn 8-15, “I am not judging anyone.” If we disobey the word of Christ, He won’t judge us; His Father will, which is a far greater threat. He came to show His Father’s love to us, but if we reject Him through word and deed, Jn 7-48 says, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” The word of Christ originated from the Father, so to disobey Christ is to disobey the Father, and for this reason His words will judge us and not Jesus. He was using the transitive property, distinguishing Himself from His words, saying that His words had far more authority than Him. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14-26 (109g) Spirit The Teacher (Key verse) (109h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit teaches us about the word – Jesus alluded to the Holy Spirit from the beginning of this discourse and formally introduced Him in verse 16, calling Him the Helper of the Christian walk. His primary purpose is to dwell in the believer and teach us the word of God. Jesus earlier explained the nature of God in three persons, and He is now explaining the Holy Spirit’s relationship to the word of God made flesh (Jn 1,1-14). The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ worked in tandem, and now He is calling us to walk with God in the same way He did, as students of the word of God and disciples of prayer. What is the Father’s role? Jesus explained to the woman at the well in John chapter four that God is Spirit (verse 24; the generic name “God” refers to the Father). That means the Holy Spirit and the Father are one and the same person, though they occupy distinct offices within the trinity. (114k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s grace through Christ >> Jesus is the way to the Father -- This verse goes with verse 6 Jn 14-27 (24c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Anxiety >> Fear of losing spiritual territory -- This verse goes with verse 1 (35g) Gift of God >> God gives Himself to us >> Jesus sends the Holy Spirit -- This verse goes with verses 16-24 (125j) Peace (Key verse) (126b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> God is at peace >> The Peace of God – Jesus offers a peace the world cannot give, referring to the peace of the Holy Spirit. Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The spiritual fruit of peace belongs to us as a gift from Christ. He said to them, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” God extends His peace to protect us from a troubled and fearful heart. God does not want us to know fear, which is one of a handful of elementary destructive forces that has the power to change the course of our lives, having the power to asphyxiate any and all efforts to succeed in positive directions. In contrast, a storm suddenly brewed in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, but Jesus never lost His cool. God has forever lived in peace and has never known fear, except when He went to the cross, and God heaped upon Him all the sins of mankind. He then lost His peace, and it was this that He feared most. He was not afraid of the physical punishment that He would endure, that terrible whipping He received. He wasn’t worried about anyone driving nails into His wrist and feet or breathing His last breath, and He wasn’t even afraid of going to hell. What bothered Him was sin heaped upon Him that would alienate Him from His Father. His peace was already being taken from Him in the Garden of Gethsemane when He sweat drops of blood as He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Mat 26-39). Jesus suddenly wanted to be like Abraham and let this be a dry run, a pretend sacrifice as on Mount Moriah, instead of the real thing, but there was no way around it. He feared taking on the sins of the world and losing the attributes of God, love, joy, peace, patience… the many attributes that people are so willing to sacrifice to accommodate their lifestyle of choice. (165d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is at enmity with God >> The world has no hope Jn 14-28,29 (224h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> Heaven is better than earth – Jesus said that He was going to the Father who was greater then Him and said that His disciples should have been happy for Him instead of mourning over Him. Jesus was saying that He would be happier in heaven next to His Father than He was in the weakness of human flesh, struggling with everyday problems. This is how we should feel about our loved ones who have passed into eternity, who were full of faith with every hope of eternal life. They have gone to meet Jesus and to see the angels and to be reunited with family members who have gone before them. Jesus rebuked His disciples for mourning over Him. Although we miss our family members who have died in faith, we should be happy for them for they have gone to a better place. (244g) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The word of God is eternal >> The word of God will outlast the creation (215e) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God views time in eternity >> God sees eras as moments – “I go away and will come to you;” that is Jesus’ perspective on His second coming. He jumped over this entire 2000-year period, just took it right out of the equation and put His first and second coming side-by-side, as though telling His disciples He would return before they had a chance to miss Him. This suggests that when we die and enter eternity and we no longer recognize time, it will be like there was no time between our death and our resurrection. The disciples noticed there was a long time span between Jesus’ ascension and their own death, for some of them it was many decades, but after they entered eternity, time became irrelevant. Jesus ascended in front of them and never returned, but one day He will return, and He will bring His people with Him, and when it happens, then we will believe. This suggests that faith is still relevant in eternity even as we believe in Him now. (215i) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Without warning >> God brings His kingdom to pass in its time – The thing about God that is so frustrating is that we are living in the temporal realm while He lives in eternity. Jesus spoke about a large swath of time like it was nothing, excluding it from His discourse as though there were no time between His first and second coming. Time does not exist in eternity. We are in the temporal realm and seeing time unfold on a minute-by-minute basis, whereas God does not recognize time at all; to Him it seems as though He ascended to the father just a couple days ago. It sounded like He would go to heaven and then return to His disciples before they died; Paul thought this too as did all the writers of the New Testament. Jesus was speaking according to His Father’s perspective and not on our own terms. He was trying to train His disciples to think like God. He wants us to adopt His perspective, not just about time but about everything, using time as an example, indicating the degree of change He desires in our thinking. By the time we finish renewing our minds and transforming into the image of His Son, we will no longer be the same people. God wants to transform our thinking into His own so we can communicate with Him. We all know what Jesus meant when He said, “I go away;” He was talking about ascending back to heaven after His resurrection, and “I will come to you” refers to the second coming of Christ, but Jesus said it all in one sentence without any commas, as though one event would follow at the heels of the other. It has been 2000 years and counting since Jesus went to heaven, and He still hasn’t returned. (253b) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the external qualities of the Father >> Son is infinite and eternal like the Father Jn 14-28 (61l) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> "I go away, and I will come to you": I will return at My resurrection / I will return at the end of the age (214a) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> God owns everything KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Jn 14-29 (146j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the Church may believe -- This verse goes with verses 11-13 Jn 14-30,31 (87c) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Jesus obeyed all the Father’s will – Jesus never said He loved the world. Does that mean He didn’t? It was His Father who loved the world by sending His only begotten Son (Jn 3-16), who went to the cross in obedience to His Father. It means even more coming from the Father, because He is the final authority. Jesus expressed His love to His disciples, but made no claim to love the world. He said in Jn 17-9, “I ask on their behalf [His disciples]; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me; for they are thine.” This verse says that Jesus doesn't even pray for the world! So, who should we emulate, the Father’s vision of the world, or Jesus’ vision of the Church, and there can be only one vision? We should emulate Christ and help to fulfill the Father's vision of saving a lost world. See also: God's ultimate goal; Lk 24,27-29; 215j (164c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> The world is his kingdom – The moment darkness overtook Jesus He stopped speaking. The only statements He made after His arrest was His great confession, along with a few comments to Pilate. When darkness in us overwhelms the Holy Spirit, He goes silent in our hearts. Jesus testified saying that Satan has nothing in Him, meaning that he is His exact opposite. He is the antithesis of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit that He bears in his children. He is the antithesis of the mindset of servitude and all the attributes of God. (165g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not partake of the world >> Be in the world but not of the world Jn 14-30 (41d) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Jesus overcame sin Jn 14-31 (13c) Servant >> Jesus serves His Father >> He is the servant of God (144h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Trinity bears witness of Jesus >> Word of God bears witness to Jesus (153b) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Jesus bears witness of the Father See next page