When the Spirit Comes
By Dudley Hall www.sclm.org
If you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17 (ESV)
Jesus is honing in on the new humanity that will carry on his mission after his resurrection. First, he identifies those who are members of this new company. It is those who love him by following the truth as he defines it. To claim to love him without ordering your life around his teaching, is a fallacy. He is not just a lovable person that can be added to our personal pantheon of gods. He is not just one of the historical characters we would invite to our fantasy dinner. He is the Lord of all truth and worthy to be followed exclusively.
Second, he is describing the process that will enable this new race to fulfill its destiny. The Father is sending the Holy Spirit to help. He will move from "with" to "in" this community and will empower it to get the assignment done. Since Jesus operated on earth as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, the corporate body of Christ will need this power also. He is the Spirit of truth. He operates in ultimate reality. He will illumine the minds of those who believe in Jesus with the truth that is in him. Those who are not believers will not see the same way. Their perspective lacks the illumination the Spirit gives. This means that there will be conflict. It also means that those who know the truth become servants to those who don't. It is our privilege and responsibility to give the higher perspective in any conversation in which we find ourselves.
This is heady stuff Jesus is discussing with his disciples. He is talking about a dynamic that is universally majestic. It is on the dramatic scale equal to the original creation. In the Genesis account, God created a race by his word. Now, he is creating another one by his Word. This new humanity is defined neither by ethnicity nor geography. It is defined by Jesus. Those who believe and obey his order are apart of it, and those who don't believe can't see or know the truth he reveals for that community. Just as Adam and Eve were expected to create a culture of divine order in the first creation, this new creation is to spread the culture of his kingdom through the whole world. It is the ultimate privilege to be a part of this project.
We will need all the grace offered in order to get the job done. We must prize the gift of the Holy Spirit and his many expressions. We can't reveal the divine model without supernatural power. We can't love like Jesus loves without the Spirit that empowered him. We can't suffer without him. We can't forgive on our own. But, with him indwelling us individually and corporately, the church can invade every sphere of influence in creation and bring light in place of darkness. We can speak truth in place of error.
Maybe we should spend some time just rejoicing that we have been chosen to be a part of the new humanity and thinking of how we can live appropriately.
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