Chapter Thirty-seven:
Jesus' last Passover on earth - part three
JESUS WARNS OF PERSECUTION Jesus continued with plain words to His disciples, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, doing what the world does, the world would love you; but because you are not living like the general world lives, but I chose you to live differently, then the world will hate you. Remember the word I said to you that a servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they keep my word, they will also keep yours. They will persecute you because of me, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to the world, they would not understand what sin is; but now they really do not have any excuse for their sin. He who hates me, hates my Father also. If I had not done in the world the works that I did do, which no one else ever did, they could say they do not understand what sin is; but now they have seen and heard, and they hated both myself and the Father. All this fulfils the words written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.' But when the Holy Spirit comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, that proceeds from the Father Himself, he will bear witness of me; and you also are witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry. I have said all this to you to help keep you from falling away. They, your persecutors, will throw you out of the churches; indeed, the day is coming when whoever KILLS you will THINK he is offering SERVICE to GOD! And they will do all this because they have not known the Father, nor known me. But I have said these things to you, that when they do these things, you will remember I told you it would happen at times until I come again" (John 15: 18 to 16: 4). And so the history of the last two thousands year has shown that at times some of God's true people have been persecuted even unto death, often by others who claimed the name of Christ, thinking that by killing people they were actually serving God. Such can be the depths of deception that the human mind can fall into, usually helped along in that deception by Satan the Devil and his demons. WORDS OF COMFORT Jesus now goes into quite a long talk about Himself and the Holy Spirit, to give comfort and encouragement to all His disciples from the day He spoke them, to the day of His return in glory. "I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to Him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go, the Holy Spirit will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince and convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I have many things to say to you, but now is not the right time, for you are not in the state of mind to hear all I have to say to you. When the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you all into the truth; for he will not speak to you by his own authority, but whatsoever the Spirit hears that it will speak to you, and he will declare and help you understand the things that are yet to come on this earth. He will glorify me, for he will take what belongs to me, and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore that is why I said to you he will take what is mine and declare it to you. In a little while, you will see me no more; then again in a little while, you will see me once more." Some of the disciples said to each other, "What is this that Jesus talks about, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'; and 'because I go to the Father'? They said to each other that they did not understand what Jesus was saying by "a little while.' They were again very puzzled by many things He was saying of late, and now puzzled over this, "a little while" talk. Jesus knew they wanted to ask Him to be clearer in His talking to them. Jesus said to them, "Is this what you are asking each other, what I meant by saying, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and then a little while and you will see me'? Well, shortly you will all weep and lament, while the world will rejoice; you will be filled with sorrow, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. When a woman goes into labor and is ready to deliver a child, she has sorrow and anguish because her time to bring forth a child has come; but when she has brought forth her baby, her anguish she no longer remembers, for her joy that a child is born over shadows any anguish she had. So, you have sorrow now, you are down cast and low in the spirit of your minds, but I will see you again and your heart will then rejoice, and no one will be able to take away your joy of heart. On that day you will ask me no questions. But truly I say to you, if you do ask anything of the Father, He will give it to you, in my name. If you have not yet asked anything in my name, then ask, and you will receive, in order that your joy may be full. Yes I know I have often spoken to you in parables and analogies; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables and analogies, but I will tell you clearly and plainly what comes from the Father. At that time you will ask in my name; and I will not have to pray to the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. So the Father will answer you. Yes, I have come from the Father into this world, and again I am going to leave this world and return to the Father." "Ah, now you are speaking plainly," the disciples said, "and not in parables. We know that you know all things, and need no one to question you about that fact. And by all this we believe you have come from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will all be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace of heart. In the world you will at times have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world, and you can also, if you have me with you" (John 16: 4-33). Once more Jesus gave them the hope and comfort that the Holy Spirit would come and lead them, teach them, give them strength, and guide them into remembering all that Jesus had taught them, and also lead them into more of the truths of God. Jesus was telling them that He would be taken away from them in a very short time, that they would be scattered, they would be in sorrow, anguish, very low in their hearts and minds, somewhat like being very sad over the loss of a close friend, or a pet dog or cat. But, He was also assuring them that they would see Him again, and they did indeed after He had risen from the grave. And Jesus told them that at that time they would be in utter joy, which, as we shall see later, they certainly were. He told them to be asking the Father in His name, and He was telling them that the Father loved them, because they had loved Him and believed that He did come from the Father. He told them He did come from the Father, and that He now needed to go back to the Father. The disciples could now understand those clear words of Jesus' and they told Him they very much believed He had come from the Father. Jesus acknowledged what they now confessed, but wanted to tel them that even in their state of belief, they would very God's children are ONE, they have always been ONE, so all the Catholic and Protestant churches cannot be the true churches of God. The Churches of God are ONE in all the basic main doctrines of God's word.
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