Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Sixteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 28-32

Jesus then plainly told His disciples that He came from His Father into the world, and He would leave the world and go back to His Father. Jesus spoke about His mission to the world and His ascension. This statement by Jesus caused His disciples to understand at least the outline of who Jesus was and why He came to the world. Their increased understanding deepened their faith in Him and their love for Him.

Jesus told His disciples that they may now have greater faith in Him, but a time would shortly come that they would be scattered from Him in fear for their lives. In other words, they would lose their faith and backslide. Matthew 26:56. Simon Peter, at least, had a little more faith than Jesus' other disciples because he followed Jesus to His trial. But when the crowd put pressure on him, he denied that he knew the Lord. Luke 22:54-62. Jesus assured His disciples that even though they would abandon Him, His Father would not abandon Him.

When Jesus cried from the cross as to why His Father had forsaken Him, He did not mean that His Father had abandoned Him. Matthew 27:46. Jesus bore the sins, evil, and spiritual deaths of all humans on the cross which caused Him to cry out as any ordinary sinner would do who died without faith or any help from God. In other words, Jesus died in the lost sinner's place. In that regard, His Father could not help Him. But His Father also knew that Jesus, being God in human form, had all the power He needed to endure that terrible suffering for sins and evil, and when He had finished putting all evil and the Devil away, He would give up the Ghost and die in every lost sinner's place. John 19:30; Hebrews 2:9. God's power is infinite, but Jesus' Father also knew that although His infinite power had been divided between Him and His Son on the cross, He had complete confidence that His Son would succeed in paying the full price for man's salvation even without His help because every part of infinity equals the whole of infinity. Psalm 147:5.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Sixteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 23-27

Jesus informed His disciples that when they would see Him again after His resurrection, they would become so overwhelmed with joy that they would forget to ask Him about anything that they should do or believe. Jesus instructed His disciples, and His Church, that their joy would become even greater if they would only think to ask their Father in Jesus' name for whatever they needed. Jesus told them that if they did so, His Father would give them detailed instructions and information about exactly how Jesus had saved them by His grace, how His Holy Spirit would sanctify them, and how His Church should conduct itself in the world. In other words, Jesus prophesied again that His Holy Spirit would inspire the writing of the New Testament.

Jesus admitted that He had often taught them by His use of "proverbs," by which He meant that He had often used stories and metaphors. Jesus knew that at that time His disciples simply did not have the spiritual ability to understand, in detail, who He was and what He had come to earth to do for them. They believed in Him in their hearts because they loved Him, but their minds could not fully understand much of what He had taught them. The Holy Spirit can directly preach the gospel to a person who is ignorant of the Word of God and cause that person to believe in Christ in their hearts, and yet, their minds will not understand exactly what happened to them. Colossians 1:6; Colossians 1:23. But Jesus prophesied to His disciples, and to His Church, that a time would come when He would provide them with plain instructions about what His Father expected from them. Jesus referred again to the coming of the Church Age and the writing of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit speaks more plainly to believers from the New Testament than Jesus did while He was in the world.

Jesus assured His disciples, and His Church, that His Father loved them because they loved Him and believed that He came from God. By this statement, Jesus actually informed His disciples and His future believers that they did not have to understand with their minds exactly what He had done for them as long as they loved Him and believed in Him in their hearts. Nevertheless, God has a mission for His Church to fulfill, and His Church would need detailed instructions and teachings from the Holy Spirit to carry out that mission in an effective way. The Church would need the written New Testament. Matthew 28:18-20.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Sixteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 16-22

Jesus then informed His disciples that they would not see Him for a "little while," and then after a "little while" they would see Him again. Jesus referred to the three days He would be in the grave before His resurrection. Jesus also informed His disciples that during the time that they would not see Him, He would go to His Father. After Jesus' death on the cross, His Spirit descended into Hell, but His Spirit also went home to visit His Father. This was no problem for God's Spirit because He happens to be everywhere at the same time. In the words of those who study Quantum Mechanics, God would be non-local. To these scientists, the word "non-local" means that they have discovered that one particle, such as an electron, can become two entangled particles which are still the same particle, and yet, these particles can be in two separate places at the same time. This fact happens to be counterintuitive, but it is true nevertheless.

When Jesus died on the cross, He commended His Spirit to the care of His Father. Luke 23:46. Jesus' Father caused His Spirit to descend into Hell to leave behind there all of the sins and evil of all humans that Jesus bore on the cross who do not become saved by grace. Acts 2:25-31. Since Jesus' Spirit did not see corruption, then He had to have risen immaculate from Hell to reanimate Jesus' perfect body so that He could rise from the dead victorious over the Devil and all of his evil works. Revelation 1:17-18. But while Jesus' body was in the grave, God also brought Jesus' Spirit home to Him in Heaven. Jesus' perfect Spirit did not die in Hell, and His Spirit also went home to Heaven. This fact can only mean that God Himself can never die. But the perfect life and body of Jesus, who is God in human form, could die the spiritual deaths that all humans possess in their places, and because of His innocence, could rise victorious over all sin, evil, and spiritual death to give all humans His eternal life. Romans 5:10; Hebrews 2:9. The Holy Spirit created a perfect body for God in the womb of the virgin Mary so that the sinless life of Jesus could be nailed to a cross to purge all sins, evil, and spiritual deaths from all living humans, and so that the Living Spirit of God, coming back to Jesus from Heaven and from Hell, could reanimate His perfect and innocent body so that He, in eternal human form, would gain complete victory over the Devil and all of his evil works. Christ was not in human form until the Holy Spirit conceived Him in Mary's virgin womb. Numbers 23:19; Matthew 1:18-25. But Christ is now in human form forever in order to make His eternal salvation of the human race effective forever. Romans 5:10; Hebrews 2:9. Since all living humans belong to Jesus, then He had to have saved the entire living human race by destroying the Devil and all of his evil works. I John 2:2; I Timothy 4:10; Revelation 21:5; I John 3:8; John 12:31-32. God used a perfect and sinless body, not subject to sin and spiritual death, to save the entire human race by destroying all sin, evil, and spiritual death, all of which are the evil works of the Devil. Hebrews 2:9-15; I John 3:8; John 12:31-32.

Where do the purged sins, evil, and spiritual deaths of all living humans that Christ saves from the regions of death go? They are all a part of all of the dead humans that Christ casts in to the lake of fire which is the second death which follows spiritual death. Revelation 20:11-15.

By their answer to Jesus, His disciples demonstrated that they had become greatly confused by what Jesus had taught them. They could not understand Jesus.

Jesus told them that they would experience great grief and sorrow when He died and was buried. When Jesus said that during this short time, "the world shall rejoice," He had to have meant the evil natures of humans and the totally evil nature of Satan. Jesus then compared His suffering on the cross to a woman who gives birth to a baby. She may suffer great anguish and pain, but she will have joy when her baby is born. Jesus used this metaphor to describe how He would suffer on the cross, die and be buried, and rise again from  the dead. Jesus told His disciples that they may now have sorrow, but that sorrow would only last a "little while," and then they all will be filled with a joy that the world will never be able to take away from them.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Sixteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 12-15

Jesus had much more information to teach His disciples, but He did not want to overburden them with too much information because He knew that they would have trouble remembering it all. So Jesus taught His disciples that His Spirit, that He would send to the writers of the New Testament, would provide them with all the rest of His teachings so that they could write it all a little at a time. Jesus also informed His disciples that the Holy Spirit would give them prophecies as well.

Jesus informed His disciples that the Holy Spirit would only glorify Him and His Father. The Holy Spirit would give to the writers of the New Testament only that which Jesus gave His Spirit to write. Although He is God as well, the Holy Spirit does not glorify Himself. The Holy Spirit seems to be the quiet and reserved part of God's personality. The Father in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament often performed tremendous, outward, public miracles, but the Holy Spirit seems to prefer to work quiet miracles mostly within the confines of the Church. The Holy Spirit concentrates on preaching the gospel and winning lost souls to salvation by grace which are miracles never reported in the news. Even so, in pagan areas where the Word of God has never been preached, even the Holy Spirit will sometimes perform tremendous, outward miracles which are rarely reported in the news.

Jesus informed His disciples that "all things" that belong to His Father also belong to Him. Since God created all things, including every living human in His image, then every living human belongs to Jesus. Genesis 1:27. Since God can never lose anything He has ever created, then Christ can never lose even a single living human that He will ever create. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38. Since Christ has promised that He will "make all things new," then He must recover and recreate every living human that He will ever create. Revelation 21:5. God has two forms of salvation for all living humans. He has a higher form of salvation by His grace for all living humans who repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. John 5:24. And He has a lesser form of salvation for all living humans confined to the regions of death because He will appear to them and cause them all to repent and believe in Him as the Lamb of God. Revelation 5:11-14.

After they all repent and believe, Christ will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve their systems in order to separate their cleansed, living natures for Him to recreate to live on His new earth from their totally evil, dead natures that never repent and whom He will cast into the eternal lake of fire. Matthew 12:31-32; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 5:11-14; Philippians 2:9-11; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 20:11-15. God created "all things." Colossians 1:16. God will also "reconcile all things unto Himself," Colossians 1:20.

 

                                          Chapter Sixteen

 

                                                                                                                                               Verses 7-11

 

Jesus reminded His disciples that after He went away He would send the Comforter to His Church to teach them and to guide them. Jesus promised His Church that His Spirit would always be with them just as He had been with His followers in bodily form. Hebrews 13:5. Jesus also taught His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be better for them than Himself because His Spirit would dwell in their hearts.

 

Jesus then began to teach His disciples about not only the ministry of the Comforter to His Church, but also of His ministry to the world. Jesus taught that the Comforter would convince mankind through the messages from His Church of those basic truths of His Word that they really need to know. The Holy Spirit rebukes the sins of the world so that humans will know that they need to repent and put their faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that the righteousness of God still exists in His Word and in His Church so that humans will know that they can possess Christ's righteousness as a free gift that will make them wholly right with God if they repent and put their faith in Jesus. John 3:16; II Corinthians 5:21.

 

Jesus then taught His disciples about His judgment that He would make as He hung on the cross. Jesus had formerly taught His disciples that He would judge no human while He was in the world, but He would reserve all of His final judgments of humanity to the end of the world. John 12:44-50. Believers in Christ can come out of the darkness of sin and evil into the light of salvation by His grace if they repent and believe while still alive in the flesh, but believers can also come out of the darkness of the regions of death when they repent and believe in the Lamb of God when He appears to them in a great worship service near the end of the world. John 5:24; John 11:25-26; Revelation 5:11-14; John 12:46; Psalm 107:8-16.Therefore, Christ judged no living human as He hung on the cross. Christ came to save all of humanity from sin, evil, and eternal spiritual death. John 12:47. God judged only the Devil and all of his evil works as Jesus hung on the cross, and His Spirit will draw all living humans to repentance and faith in Christ so that God can save them all. John 12:31-32. Jesus came to cast out the Devil, spiritual death, and all sin and evil from all living humans. He did not come to cast out living humans whom He creates and loves. Hebrews 2:9-17; I John 3:8; Luke 20:38; I Timothy 4:10; I Timothy 6:13. God can never lose anything He has ever created, and His Love can never fail. Ecclesiastes 3:14; I Corinthians 13:8.

 

Near the end of the world and Jesus' final judgment, Christ will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve every human system confined to the regions of death in order to melt them to separate their repentant living souls and spirits from their spiritual deaths so that He can save their living souls and spirits, and He can cast their dead natures into the eternal lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Matthew 13:36-43. Living humans become saved by grace by being cleansed by the blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross. The living souls and spirits of the rest of humanity will be saved by God's fiery wrath against evil. The Old Testament sin offering symbolized salvation by grace, but the Old Testament burnt offering symbolized God's salvation of the rest of humanity by the use of His fiery wrath against evil in order to dissolve their systems to separate their living natures from their dead natures. Genesis 3:20-21; Genesis 8:20-21; Leviticus 5:5-10; Psalm 75:3. Jesus prophesied that He will judge those who finally reject Him and His Word by His Word in the end of the world. John 12:48. Any final rejection of Christ and the Holy Spirit constitutes total evil and spiritual death that Christ will cast into the lake of fire. Matthew 12:31-32. Jesus will fulfill this prophecy in His final judgment when He raises all repentant, living humans from the regions of death for Him to recreate to live of His new earth, and He will cast all of their separated, spiritual deaths into the eternal lake of fire which is the second death from spiritual death. John 12:48; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12; Matthew 13:36-43; I Timothy 4:10; I Timothy 6:13; II Timothy 4:1; John 11:25; Acts 24:15; Colossians 1:15-23; Isaiah 66:22-24.

 

The very fact that God has said that all humans are always alive to Him and that Christ will destroy only death itself can only mean that Christ will forever save all living humans that He creates and loves from eternal spiritual death. Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 1:17-18. No verse in the entire Bible (KJB) states that if a living human rejects Christ's salvation by grace until his physical death, then Christ will cast that living human into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15 clearly teaches that Christ will cast only dead humans into the lake of fire.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Sixteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 4-6

Jesus began to fill in many of the details about His death and resurrection, and the work of the Holy Spirit in His Church and in the world. Jesus gave these details to His followers all at once so that when some of His followers began to write the New Testament, the Holy Spirit could make them remember Jesus' sermons just prior to His crucifixion. Jesus' writers would be able to remember these sermons better because of the intensity of the situation. Jesus did not teach many of these details to His disciples during His ministry because all they needed to know was that He was their Comforter and leader. If Jesus had stretched His teaching of these details over the time of His ministry, His disciples would have had much more trouble remembering them. But when the time would come for some of His followers to write the New Testament, the Holy Spirit would cause the writers to more easily remember these details because Jesus crammed them all into precise sermons near the end of His ministry. The Apostle Paul wrote much of the New Testament, but he had to have gotten the details of Jesus' teachings from the memory of some of Jesus' disciples. Even so, the writers of the Gospels did a good job of remembering, by listening to the Holy Spirit, the miracles and the teachings of Jesus during His public ministry.

Jesus informed His disciples that He was going away to be with His Father, and He wondered why His disciples did not ask Him where He was going. They probably did not ask Him because they were confused about much of what Jesus had taught them. Sorrow filled their hearts because they thought Jesus was going away never to return. Jesus knew that they were confused, and so He began to give them more details about how He would return to His Church in the form of the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter and Teacher. John 14:18. 

Commentary on the Gospel of John

 

                                           Chapter Sixteen

 

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-3

 

Jesus preached to His disciples that He would send them a Comforter so that they would not be "offended." By using this word, Jesus meant that His disciples, and His Church, would need the power of God in their lives so that the persecution that would come upon them from the world would not cause them to lose their faith. Whenever worldly people ridicule and outright persecute His believers, they can rely on the comfort and encouragement supplied by the Holy Spirit in order to continue in the faith and never give up.

 

Jesus did teach that initial believers who fail to commit their whole lives to Him will not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in time of persecution, they will lose their faith and their salvation by grace. Matthew 13:20-21. Jesus gives His gift of the Holy Spirit only to believers who have committed their whole lives to Him for eternity. Mark 8:34-38; Acts 1:1-9. When Jesus comes to make His final judgment, He will be ashamed of those initial believers who lost their salvation by grace because they became ashamed of Him. Mark 8:38. But believers who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ can never lose their salvation by grace even if they backslide into the ways of the world. They can never lose their salvation by grace because the Holy Spirit has washed away all of their sins and evil with the spiritual blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit has the power to change the physical blood and water from Jesus' cross to spiritual blood and water. That cleansing by the Holy Spirit can never be undone. God knows to whom He should give His Spirit, and those to whom He should not give His Spirit. Hebrews 10:12-18; II Timothy 2:10-13. God will severely punish backsliders for their correction, but He also knows exactly how to cause every backslider saved by grace to repent and return to complete faith in Him when He Raptures His Church. Hebrews 12:3-15; Ephesians 5:25-27. Whenever a backslider repents and returns to an active faith, Christ will forgive that backslider and return him to full fellowship with Him. Matthew 26:75. Tribulation saints can be saved by grace, but they must endure to being martyred or to the end of the Tribulation period to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal salvation by being washed in the blood of Christ. Matthew 24:11-13; II Thessalonians 2:6-8; Revelation 7:9-17. Tribulation saints who lose their faith will also lose their salvation by grace. Matthew 22:9-13.

 

Jesus then made a remarkable prophecy which history has proven to be true to this day. If Jesus had been an ordinary human, His prophecy about the future persecution of His followers could have been merely fortunate guesswork, but when Jesus prophesied that those who persecute His believers will think they do it in God's service, that happened to be an exact detail that no ordinary human would have ever thought of. This prophecy alone proves that Jesus had to be God in human form. Saul of Tarsus, and other Jews, persecuted and killed the first Christians. The pagan Romans persecuted and killed Christians in the service of their gods. In the middle ages, a hierarchical religion persecuted and killed Christians and claimed they did it in the service of God. But many lay Catholics, who were true Christians themselves, vehemently opposed the Inquisition and the persecution of their fellow Christians.

 

Religions may claim that they know God, but Jesus informed His followers that religious people will not know Him or His Father. Christianity has formed itself into many religions and denominations, each with its own traditions and religious practices, but no one can come to know Christ and His Father through religious practices. John 14:6. John the Baptist formed religious practices when he baptized in water to symbolize remission of sins, but when Jesus came on the scene, John pointed directly to Jesus as being the Savior of the world. John 1:25-36. Jesus then formed followers around Him who knew Him personally. John 1:37-51. Religious practices can be used in the worship of God, but in order for any person to become saved by grace, that person must come to know Christ as his own, personal Savior. John 14:6. Salvation by grace will come to any person immediately upon sincere repentance and faith in Christ as his Savior. A person who comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit must humble himself to Christ, repent of his sins and evil, and believe that only the person of Christ can save him from eternal death and give him His own everlasting Life. John 3:3; John 3:16; Luke 18:9-14; Romans 10:8-13; John 5:24.