City Life Starter

The Word

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Exegesis

The anguish that the Lord Jesus must’ve had on His last night with the disciples. Wanting to share with them all that He could…yet, having to hold back because it was too much for them to bear. How tough it must’ve been for Jesus to let his twelve disciples loose in a world that would hate them like they hated Him but without His direct protection.

Jesus was preparing the disciples for a life that would ultimately lead to their premature deaths, and He knew this, and He knew what it would take out of them during their years of ministry. Telling them all this now would be too much to bear. It is like a father that wants to prepare a son or daughter for adulthood. To teach them about life without the protection that he could provide. How do you tell your kids about pain, hurt, and the consequences of sin without them being able to bear it all?

Though, Jesus knew that He could leave His disciples in trusting hands. The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, would be there to guide them. The Spirit would give them the courage and strength to face all the trials that they would experience in life.

The Father gave all that He had to the Son, the Son glorifies the Father in return through obedience, even to His death on the Cross. The Son entrusts all to the Spirit and the Spirit glorifies the Father and Son in return. How amazing is the Trinity? Each part of the Godhead completes the other and invites us to be a part their perfect being, one God, three Persons. How loving and how selfless is our God?!

Application

Today, we have this same Spirit of truth to guide us and direct our lives. The Spirit, He knows our struggles, directs us to the Truth, and points our lives to Jesus. He provides us all that we need to know at the right time as we deal with trials and tribulations. Let us never forget the ultimate gift of Jesus dying for our sins and the ultimate guide for our lives and relationship we have thanks to the Holy Spirit.

It is through love and obedience that Jesus showed us the way. It is also through love and obedience that we get to experience His grace and provision and the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives.