I can only imagine what it must have been like to walk with Jesus, to see Him perform great miracles, to hear Him speak with amazing love and authority. While He continually challenged those who followed His followers to pursue a deeper relationship with God, He also inspired them with the eyes of a friend and the heart of a King.
During His life, Jesus was present with His disciples each day, but He also knew what was coming. He knew how hard it would be to go through the suffering of beatings and death on the cross. He had clarity on how the His story would end. He knew He would rise from the dead to conquer sin and death. He knew that He would leave His followers behind, ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of the Father on the throne, as the King.
Because He was leaving His disciples, He wanted to make sure they understood how He had lived with such power, love and authority. It was vital that they be clear on what would happen after He left them. He talked often about going to the Father. Without Jesus by their side, how would this band of men change the world?
Their first hint came at the beginning of Jesus ministry years, toward the end of His life. There had been a prophecy given before the cousins, Jesus and John, had been born. John would be a forerunner before Jesus in the power and spirit of the ancient prophet Isaiah, and John would prepare the way for the Messiah.
It was the doctor, Luke who recorded the story best in Luke 3:21-22…
“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."”
This would have been a key point of understanding for the disciples. They needed to know that when the Son of God came to earth as a tiny baby, He set aside His equality with God (Philippians 2:6-8) and came to earth as a man. As a man, Jesus needed the Spirit of God to come upon Him in order to do the great miracles that He performed.
We have already learned that Jesus does nothing of His own initiative. In His time here on earth, He did not have the power or the authority to heal someone, or cast out demos, or to raise someone from the dead. The authority came from the Father and the power came from the Spirit of God who lived right inside Jesus earthly, human body.
Jesus lived with power and authority, not because He was superhuman. He lived in the supernatural, in the realm of heaven, because He followed the instructions of the Father and acted in the power of the Spirit. His life was lived as an example to His disciples, and to us today, as to how we ought to live. His life was not only exceptional, it was exemplary.
Therefore, because Jesus lived His life as an example, He was able to say to His disciples in John 14:12…
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”
These statements would have been a complete mystery to the disciples. His words would have baffled them. Jesus was saying that anyone who believes in Him would do the same kinds of works Jesus had been doing. He was claiming that ordinary men and women, ordinary followers of Jesus, would have a part in bringing heaven to earth with power and authority.
But Jesus did not stop there, He said that these ordinary men and women would do even greater works. The idea here is not greater in power, but greater in magnitude, or greater in number. Jesus ministry was confined to a period of about three years in a very limited region of earth. His proclamation was that ordinary men and women would do the great works of Jesus, and that they would do these great works for centuries, all the way to the ends of the earth.
Jesus also explains the reason why this would be possible. Ordinary men and women will perform great miracles because Jesus was going to the Father. The disciples would not have understood what this meant until after the resurrection, after the forty days of teaching from Jesus, when they watched Him ascend into heaven to be with the Father.
We do not know the details of everything Jesus spoke to His followers in the forty days, but I am confident that He taught them about the power and authority of the Kingdom. He prepared them for the day He would leave them. He taught them about the kingdom and He taught them about the Holy Spirit who would come upon them in the same way He had come upon Jesus.
It was in John 14:16-17, that Jesus first introduced them to what would come…
16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
How would ordinary Christ-followers do great works? When Jesus leaves, the Father will send “another Helper.” The word “another” means “another of the same kind.” In other words, God is going to send someone just like Jesus. We may be without Jesus here on earth, but we have one just like Him, the Holy Spirit.
The word “helper” is literally “one who is called along side of us to help us.” It is broadly understood as an advocate, someone who pleads our cause. The Holy Spirit pleads our cause to the Father. It also has broad meaning, including comfort, encouragement, exhort, or counsel. The idea is that the Holy Spirit comes along side of us to help us with exactly what is appropriate in the need of that moment. When we need comfort, He comforts. When we need exhortation, He exhorts us. He brings exactly what we need when we need it.
The Holy Spirit is also called “the Spirit of truth.” How fitting that when the Father provides us with rhema, the Holy Spirit takes the words of truth, helps us understand them, and when we know the truth, the truth will set us free. As the “Holy” One, the Spirit can only speak truth. He takes from the words of the Father and leads us to the truth about ourselves, the truth about God’s word, the truth about our circumstances, and the truth about our path forward to freedom.
The promise of the Holy Spirit is far-reaching and deeply personal. Jesus said three things, “He will be with you forever,” “He will abide with you,” and “He will be in you.” Jesus is describing a relationship with the Spirit of God that will be even closer than the relationship with Jesus.
He will be with us forever. Once He comes to us, He will never leave us. But, being with us is not enough. He will abide with us. He will dwell with us and be at home with us. But, abiding is not enough. He will make His home inside of us. The Spirit of God will live inside us in intimate relationship with our spirits, communicating, comforting, exhorting, and empowering us to be part of the greatest revolution of all time, the kingdom of God.
Contrast this to the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus came for a time. The Holy Spirit will never leave us. He is with us forever. Jesus lived His life in the same proximity of His followers. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, communing with us in the core of who we are as men and women.
It is because of the longevity and intimacy of the Spirit that Jesus says that we will “know” Him. The world cannot know Him because they have not been forgiven of their sin by believing in Jesus. But when we believe in Jesus and receive the cleansing and forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit comes to live in intimate relationship with us. Then, we will know Him. We will know Him intimately because He lives in us. We will grow in intimacy with Him because He remains with us forever.
The Spirit of God lives in us. This is the reason why twelve cowardly men were transformed into men who would lead the greatest revolution of all time and change the world forever. This is why the men who denied Jesus and hid from His persecutors would have the courage, power and authority to be on mission from the Father and never look back. This is how we can do the same.
WORSHIP: It is beyond our thinking to fully understand how the mighty God who created heaven and earth could come to live inside of us. Take some time to worship God for this miracle. He comes to live in us. He is closer to us than our own breath. He is mighty and He lives in us.
PRACTICE: Answer three questions today and write down your answers. What do you think about God living in you? What do you feel about God living in you? Since God lives in you, how should your life be different?
MEDITATION: Read John 14:12 several times. If you can, memorize it. Then, as you meditate on it, as yourself, do I believe this? If you do not believe it, be willing to be persuaded by God and ask Him to give you faith to believer it. Look inside. Think about what holds you back from believing it. Work through this until you get it settled. It may take time and it may not happen today. Begin the process today.
ABIDING: Go back and read through this teaching one more time. Ask the Father if there is anything in these passages specifically for you. Write down anything you hear from Him. Spend some extra time listening to see if He has anything more to say to you or if there is a deeper teaching for you today. Write down whatever you hear. Ask the Father if there is someone, He wants you to share this with and follow through with His assignment.