Help Is On The Way: Finding Peace and Power Through the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-31)
In the journey of faith, there are moments when we all feel stranded. Perhaps you have experienced the modern-day frustration of a dead car battery, a cancelled flight, or being snowed in. In those moments of isolation and helplessness, there is one specific phrase that immediately puts the mind at ease: "Help is on the way".
In John 14:15-31, we hear Jesus’ final discourse in the upper room at the last supper. As Jesus prepares His disciples for His departure, He offers them—and us—the ultimate reassurance: although the road ahead may be treacherous, we are never truly alone.
The Foundation of Faith: Love and Obedience
Jesus begins this discourse with a statement that often challenges believers: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". While many view this as a burdensome moral checklist, Jesus is actually highlighting the inseparable link between the root (love) and the fruit (obedience).
Delight Before Duty
A central theme of the passage is that true love reveals itself through its effects. We often struggle to do the right thing because we try to skip the most important step: delighting in the person of Jesus. As it turns out, we need help to delight in Jesus before we need help to do things for Jesus.
The order of the phrase is important:
1. Love/Desire: We must be satisfied in Christ before we serve Christ.
2. Keeping/Labor: We must develop a love for Christ before we labor for Christ.
If you find yourself "stuck" in your faith journey, struggling with sin, one of the most important diagnostic questions to ask yourself is not "Am I working hard enough?" but rather: "Am I really delighting in Christ at this moment? Am I treasuring Him for all that He is for me?”
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The Promise of "Another Helper"
Recognizing that human strength is insufficient to maintain this level of devotion, Jesus promises that He will ask the Father to send "another helper" to be with us forever.
A Shift in Presence
The coming of the Holy Spirit marks a profound shift from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant:
• Permanence: In the Old Testament, the Spirit might "rest" on an individual temporarily. Under the New Covenant, the Spirit dwells within every believer permanently.
• Indwelling: Unlike how the Holy Spirit “rests” on or with a person in the Old Covenant, under the terms of the New Covenant, the Spirit dwells within him.
• The Spirit of Truth: While Jesus is the Truth, the Holy Spirit is guaranteed to apply that truth to our hearts and minds.
Jesus reassures His followers that He will not leave them as "orphans". Through the Spirit, we are granted a "guarantee of a future inheritance," a seal that ensures Jesus will return to take us to where He is.
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Four Gifts of the Holy Spirit
By uniting us to Christ, the Holy Spirit provides four essential helps that enable us to live a life of faith.
1. The Gift of Love
The Spirit allows us to experience the reciprocal love of the Father and the Son. Just as the first miracle at Cana pointed to a bridegroom’s delight in his bride, the Spirit helps us understand that God deeply delights in His church.
2. The Gift of Sight
While the world cannot see or know the Spirit, believers are given spiritual sight. This is not physical vision but a presence perceived through the "eyes of faith," allowing us to comprehend the reality of God’s indwelling even when He is not physically visible.
3. The Gift of Truth
One of the Spirit’s primary roles is to teach and remind. He does not speak on His own authority but brings to our remembrance everything Jesus has spoken. The Spirit often brings a biblical principle or word from God to mind to provide encouragement and direction.
4. The Gift of Peace
Jesus offers a peace that is fundamentally different from what the world provides. The world defines peace as the absence of trouble, but the peace of Jesus is the presence of assurance in the midst of trouble. Because Jesus has overcome the world, we can have a settled heart even when circumstances are chaotic.
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Deep Theology: The Trinity at Work
The text highlights complex theological concepts to explain how God interacts with humanity. Specifically, it addresses the "inseparable operations" of the Trinity. This means that whenever God acts, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all acting in unison.
Divine Appropriations
The text also highlights the "doctrine of divine appropriations," which describes how God’s external acts reveal the internal relations of the Persons of the Trinity:
• The Father is the source and author of truth.
• The Son is the truth taught and the one who reveals the Father.
• The Holy Spirit is the one who applies that truth to our minds and lives.
This relationship has existed from all eternity; the Son is from the Father, and the Spirit is from the Father and the Son. Understanding this helps us see that God’s help is not a detached resource, but the very presence of the Triune God dwelling within us.
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Why Jesus Had to Go: Humiliation and Exaltation
One of the most startling statements in John 14 is Jesus telling His disciples that they should rejoice that He is going away. From a human perspective, losing Jesus' physical presence seemed like a tragedy. However, Jesus explains that His departure is necessary for two reasons:
1. Kingly Inauguration: Jesus was transitioning from a "state of humiliation" (suffering as a servant in human flesh) to a "state of exaltation" (His coronation as the glorious King in the throne room of God).
2. Sending the Spirit: It is from His highly exalted position that He sends the Spirit, which is what we need most to navigate the road to resurrection.
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Conclusion: Help Is Here
The message of John 14:15-31 is a powerful reminder that we are not meant to do life alone. Because Jesus loves the Father and kept His commands perfectly, He has paved the way for us to receive the Helper.
The "ruler of this world" (Satan) may be coming, but as Jesus declared, the enemy has "no claim" on Him. Because we are united to Christ by the Spirit, the enemy has no ultimate claim on us either.
Help is not just on the way for the future; it is on the way for right now. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you have everything you need to delight in Christ, obey His word, and experience a peace that surpasses all understanding.
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Key Takeaways for Your Week:
• Focus on Delight: Before you strive to do more for God, spend time treasuring Him for who He is.
• Lean on the Helper: You don't have to generate your own strength; ask the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of the Gospel to your heart.
• Trust the Peace: When you feel troubled, remember that Jesus’ peace is a gift of assurance, not a promise of an easy life.