Tuesday, March 22, 2016

In our last visit we considered the skill of partial and progressive communication as practiced by Jesus in His relationship with the disciples. While with them Jesus shared partial information based on what He knew they needed and could handle. There was a fair amount of repetition so they would have truth deeply imbedded in their minds and hearts. Now they were going to face the challenges of life without the physical presence of Jesus, so He taught them progressively what they needed to know and experience, as found in John 14-16. He promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them, never to leave them. He would teach them all things and remind them of everything Jesus had taught them. He would testify about Jesus, in them and through them. He would “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” What the disciples had been commissioned to do Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would do through them. In addition, The Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth, even tell them things that were yet to come, and bring glory to Jesus. What Jesus was telling the disciples was that the initial things Jesus taught them, and the things He progressively added to their data bank, they would be reminded of by the Holy Spirit. And to top it off, since they would be assigned to go and do things in the future all over the then known world, the Holy Spirit would be there with them. They would never be alone.