Reading 5—Thursday morning
A.J.G. In our previous considerations, we looked at some of the earlier chapters of John’s gospel, and we thought in particular of God’s activities, which have the purpose of the rest of God in mind. So we have in Genesis 1 the six days of activities, starting with God saying, “Let there be light”, in order to work in the light, and on the sixth day, typically, Christ and the assembly are brought on to view, as “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”, and He created them, male and female. When this point was reached, God introduced His rest and sanctified the seventh day.
But when we come to the gospels, we find that the Lord says, “The sabbath was made on account of man”, and in the epistle to the Hebrews in chapters 3 and 4, the Spirit of God stresses that we should enter into the rest of God as into something present. God’s rest will, of course, actually be in the world to come and in eternity. But what will actually be in the world to come and in eternity should already be known in the assembly by the power of the Spirit, not only as a matter of light, but also in such a way that we possess it in a substantial way. Christ is before God, He is the Man who fully answers to God and who upholds the true light concerning God; but then the assembly, as united with Christ, is brought in to give an answer to God in sonship and to maintain all that is due to His Name in the testimony. Where this is the case the conditions are provided in which God can rest. Now God has worked in wisdom in view of all this. In our second reading, we considered a part of Proverbs 8 that shows that before He began His activities, God used wisdom in all that He wanted to do. The expression of divine wisdom lies on the one hand in the incarnation, that is, that a Person of the Godhead became a Man, and then on the other hand it also lies in the coming of the Spirit to dwell with men, for it is said that the pleasure of wisdom was with the children of men. That is why men in sonship have been in the thoughts of God from the beginning. But this could only be accomplished in a way that was able to satisfy the heart of God, namely that one of the Godhead became a Man, and then in the fact that redemption was accomplished by the death of the Son of God, that the Spirit might be given to men; and in the Spirit we share in the life of Christ. That is why we have looked at chapter 3, which says that the Son of man must be lifted up, and then in chapter 4, where we see that the Spirit is active in ensuring that worshippers are secured. Then we considered chapters 5 and 6, where the Father is presented as supreme, and in which the Lord is viewed as heavenly food for us, so that we may be enabled to move from the natural into the spiritual. Yesterday we looked at the man born blind in chapter 9, in whom the works of God are manifested in a Man who is completely victorious over this world and who came into the appreciation of the Son of God as One who opens up another world in Himself. Then we had the idea of the flock and the shepherd, for these are the normal characteristics of Christianity, that the saints move together as a flock, guided by the voice of the Shepherd, and are led into eternal life. This may indicate to the brethren who were not here what we had before us.
Now, in chapter 14, we come to the great matter of divine purpose. It is interesting that in chapter 13: 31 we have that God is glorified in the Son of man. It is the glory of the Son of man that He has done it. It was necessary that God should be glorified in relation to sin, for no moral questions can remain unresolved. The holiness of God is justified on the cross, and His rights are established, and so God is now free to open up to us the thought of His purpose. But the purpose of God lies on the other side of death; and so the Lord taught the disciples that He would go out by way of death. Peter even wanted to be with the Lord at the time; he says, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? But the Lord insists that He must first pass through alone, as the ark went two thousand cubits before the people. They had to keep these two thousand cubits apart, so that the glory of the ark, as it went into the Jordan, and how it overcame the Jordan, should always stand before their hearts. This leads us to chapter 14, where we have the full extent of the divine purpose in connection with the Father’s house.
Thus the Lord speaks to the disciples of “my Father’s house”, and He tells them enough to show them that it is something very extensive, there are many abodes. It is consistent with what we have in Ephesians 3 that there are heavenly and earthly families, all named of the Father. But one family, the assembly, is very distinguished, and the Lord focuses on what is due to the assembly. The great distinction of the assembly is that its place is with Christ where He is. Therefore the Lord says, “That where I am ye also may be”.
E.E.P. Does “also” mean that it has a current application?
A.J.G. Yes, definitely. Thus, on each Lord’s day morning, the Lord gives us a fresh taste of His love, and He desires to bring us to the consciousness of union with Himself. This is the distinguished glory of the assembly, that it is united with Christ, and that it is with Him in every position He fills as a Man.
A.S.T. In verse 1, Jesus says, “ye believe on God, believe also on me”. Is that because we come to the knowledge of the Father in Himself?
A.J.G. That is right. It is by Christ we come to know the Father.
A.S.T. Is that not related to verse 7?
A.J.G. That is right, because the Lord says, “and henceforth ye know him and have seen him”. The Lord just desired to take His place as a Man in the presence of the Father, and the Spirit was about to come. Thus the whole truth comes into our hearts as we apprehend it in Christ. The Father’s love rests upon Christ with all its pleasure, and He responds to it in a perfect way, and we are brought into the same love with Christ and afford an answer to it through the Spirit of God’s Son.
E.E.P. Is it important that the heart is spoken of?
A.J.G. He does not want our hearts to be dismayed. In verse 27, He says again, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it fear”. In the light of the fact that Christ is there in the presence of the Father and the Spirit is here, we come to restful conditions.
W.Schr. When He says, “believe also on me”, does He have His departing out of the world before Him?
A.J.G. Yes. He intends that we believe on Him where He is now and how He is, and I believe it goes further than our own knowledge of the Father. I believe when the Lord says, “believe also on me”, that this is related to the prayer in Ephesians 3: “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”. This is Jesus as the Christ before our hearts; the anointed head of the whole system of blessings that God has before Him.
W.Schr. Was that the shortcoming in chapter 21 when they went fishing?
A.J.G. Yes, they went away from the Lord. But that is a chapter that shows the wonderful grace of the Lord in the restoration.
C.deK.F. I wondered if you might have something to say about the fact that here at the beginning of the chapter the Lord says, “ye believe on God”, and then in chapter 16: 27 it says, “because ye have had affection for me, and have believed that I came out from God”, and in verse 30 they say, “By this we believe that thou art come from God”. He speaks of God before He speaks of the Father.
A.J.G. Well, they had accustomed themselves to the knowledge of God. Abraham knew Him as Almighty God, Israel knew Him as Jehovah. So it was nothing new to believe on God, but they should now believe on Christ. The Christ should be in our hearts by faith. The apostle pursues this in prayer in Ephesians 3, and it leads to us being filled to all the fulness of God.
E.B. In the sixth verse, does the Lord indicate to the disciples that He is the Centre? “Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father unless by me”.
A.J.G. Quite so. Thus the Lord opens up what He says: “No one comes to the Father unless by me”. That is: “I am the way”. Then He says, “He that has seen me has seen the Father”. That is: I am “the truth”. And then He says, “because I live ye also shall live”. It is, I am “the life”. The Lord is leading us through the whole position here.
E.E.P. These three thoughts are mentioned for our sake in this order.
A.J.G. Yes, they are in relation to us, so that we are consciously brought to the Father.
E.E.P. Would you say, in relation to a way, that it has a beginning and an end, and hence the rest that is coming is brought before us?
A.J.G. Yes, I think so. The Lord would like us to be brought into the full thoughts that the Father has before Him. But then there is a present realisation included in it. Therefore the Lord says afterwards in verse 23 of this chapter, when certain conditions are prepared for Him: “my Father will love him, and we (that is, the Father and the Son) will come to him and make our abode with him”. But then the Spirit is come; so we have conditions in which the Father and the Son and the Spirit can dwell. This shows that where we offer right conditions, there is a dwelling for God.
E.O. Is it therefore important that we pay attention to verse 4?
A.J.G. What are you thinking about?
E.O. I was thinking that we know where He has gone.
A.J.G. The Lord spoke of the Father all the time. I have often gone over in my mind how the Lord spoke to the woman in John 4 of the Father, and I can understand that the woman would have said to herself, Who is the Father? We were brought up in the light of Christianity, but for the woman it was a whole new thought. Thus the Lord spoke continually of the Father, as if He wanted to give them an impression that this was the great thing to which they should come, namely to the knowledge of the Father. Now when God introduced the human race, He brought it in on the principle of begetting and of generation, and of fathers and sons. With the angels He did not work according to this principle—with angels we have no generations. But God introduced the human race according to the principle of families and generations, so that man would get used to the thought of father and son. When “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” what they saw was “…a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”. One can see in it that God had prepared the ground centuries before, so that we could get used to this idea of knowing God as Father.
E.E.P. So these unfoldings from heaven serve not only to show how great the Son is, but also show that the Father is behind all that the Son does.
A.J.G. Quite so.
A S.T. Does the Father’s house involve spiritual conditions and the house of God more moral conditions?
A.J.G. I think that helps. The truth of the house of God first came to light in Jacob’s dream, and moral questions arose with Jacob, so that he said, “How dreadful is this place!” but then he was brought into line with it. But when the Lord speaks of “my Father’s house”, He speaks of eternal conditions, and eternal conditions are spiritual conditions, because God is a Spirit; and it says in the scriptures: “that which is spiritual was not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual”, 1 Cor 15: 46.
H.Mö. Was it necessary for Philip to ask this question so that the disciples could understand the position regarding the Father?
A.J.G. It is very impressive, as it is said: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”. Then it goes on: “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Thus God introduces Himself to man in this light; in the light of the beloved Son in the bosom of the Father, which shows that God had this in His mind: to bring man in.
W.E. Our hearts should not be troubled. The footnote [in the German translation] reads: ‘Or shaken’. The kingdom of God and of Christ is called “a kingdom not to be shaken”, Heb 12: 28.
A.J.G. It is important to see that we have come to final conditions. We are so accustomed to the weakness on our side and the disintegrating conditions in Christendom that we find it difficult to grasp that, with Christ above and the Spirit here, the final conditions for the rest of God can already now be secured. That is why the place that the Spirit has in these chapters of the gospel of John is so important; for all the thoughts of God can now be realised to the extent that the Spirit has freedom among the saints.
E.E.P. When it says: “Let not your heart be troubled” (it is not said, ‘your hearts’, but “your heart”), is this a reference to the one heart, that all were one heart and one soul?
A.J.G. Well, the Lord wants that to be the case.
W.Schr. We often say that it is good for us that the Holy Spirit has come, as the Lord also says; but after this passage we should not forget that it is good that the Lord is above.
A.J.G. The Spirit could not come until the Lord had gone above. This is clear after chapter 7 of this gospel, where it is said “for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. Then Peter says in Acts 2 that Jesus is exalted by the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Father, He has poured out the Holy Spirit; thus the present day, the day of Christianity, is marked by the fact that the Spirit is here to the full degree. But the position, as you say, is that Christ is in the presence of the Father.
C.deK.F. Why does the Lord say in the third verse: “that where I am ye also may be?”
A.J.G. This shows the excellent place held by the assembly. If we therefore fall asleep, it is not that we go to heaven when we die, but that we depart in order to be with Christ.
Ques. What is included in the idea of preparing a place?
A.J.G. This place was prepared because the Lord went there as a Man. I do not think there is any need for more preparation than this. A Man is there in the Person of Christ, and also in glorious Sonship, and this is the representation of what is in God’s thoughts for those who are part of the assembly.
A.S.T. That is why every person who is in Him is there.
A.J.G. Quite so, and He is not only there, but is also in lasting favour with the Father; we are taken into favour in the Beloved.
E.E.P. I think the preparation of the place impresses us a lot. I also thought of the other place where we follow the man with the pitcher of water and prepare the passover where he goes in. Is there any indication that this must be characteristically in agreement?
A.J.G. Well, the Lord had the place prepared for us when He Himself went there, and then the intention of God is that there is something corresponding to it down here. That is why the Lord brings in the thought of the Comforter, for to the extent that the Comforter has His place with us in a practical way, we can enter into divine thoughts and respond to them in the present moment. This requires moral conditions on our side, and so the Lord brings in the object of the presence of the Comforter by saying: “If ye love me, keep my commandments”. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Christ.
W.Schr. Is it a consolation that He gives here: “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be” (v 3), and that He then sends another Comforter?
A.J.G. Quite so, we must carry these words of the Lord constantly in our hearts; for I believe that nothing gives us such a great awareness of the place which the assembly has in the heart of Christ as these words of the Lord Jesus: “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”. Then we find that the Lord uses a similar language in chapter 17, where He speaks to the Father. He says there in verse 24, “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me”. I think we must carry these thoughts in our spirits and hearts, because they give us an idea of what the assembly means for Christ.
A.S.T. The present form in verse 3: “I am coming again” should help us in our present exercises.
A.J.G. It does not say: ‘This is how I will come back’—in the future, but: “I am coming again”, that is, it is always present before Christ.
E.B. Can you say something about the commandments in verse 16?
A.J.G. From verse 15 onwards, it is about how we should be already prepared with right conditions, so that we may now enter into all that the Lord has spoken of by the power of the Spirit. But first of all, the Lord speaks of the Comforter to us in such a way to recommend Him to us; He says, “but ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you”, and in verse 16 he says, “that he may be with you for ever”. This is to lead us to treasure the Spirit in a personal way as a Comforter, not simply as a power or as the One who gives us understanding, but in a personal sense.
A.S.T. How far does the expression go: “for ever”?
A.J.G. The first thought of Christ was that He would be with us here for the whole history of the testimony, but I think it goes on to eternity, it goes on to the eternal day, for we have a remarkable expression in the second epistle to John in verse 2: “for the truth’s sake which abides in us and shall be with us to eternity”. That must include the Spirit.
A.S.T. I wondered if the Lord did not also refer to the length of time the Spirit would be with us, as opposed to the short time when He wanted to stay with them.
A.J.G. That is certainly the case.
K.H. Is it very important to recognise that the present dispensation is characterised by the Spirit abiding in and with believers?
A.J.G. That is very important. The Lord would like us to have an increased personal knowledge of the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit can be worshipped personally because He is God; and it is very touching that He stays with us for ever, even though we often offer Him very poor conditions.
J.deR. Can you tell us the difference between coming in verse 3 and coming in verse 18?
A.J.G. In verse 3, the Lord says that He will come to take us to Himself, that is, to say, He wants to take us to Himself where He is. But verse 18 is about the Lord visiting us here, in the place of His absence. He visits us. That is why we have this passage in Acts 1: 21: “It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us ...”. The Lord went in and out. In contrast, the Spirit comes and remains.
E.E.P. Is this the thought of rest in connection with the Spirit, He remains?
A.J.G. I think so. If we are submissive to Him, then He brings about conditions among the saints, where the Father and the Son can come and dwell among us and abide with us.
K.M. The coming in and going out: was that during the forty days?
A.J.G. Not only during the forty days, it began at the baptism of John and continued until the end of the forty days, and now the Lord comes in, as He says, “I am coming to you”. In verse 21, He says: “but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”. I believe that on the Lord’s day morning, we are looking for the Lord to reveal Himself to us.
E.E.P. Is this especially John’s language?
A.J.G. I think so.
C.deK.F. What is the meaning of abiding in this chapter? We find in verse 17 that the Lord says that the Spirit abides with us, and then He speaks about divine Persons. He says in verse 23, “and we (that is, the Father and He Himself) will come to him and make our abode with him”.
A.J.G. We can see that this is the idea of finality. He suggested to the people of God of old that they should prepare a sanctuary for Him, that He might dwell among them. We come to this in verse 23 of this chapter, that certain conditions are set out by the saints so that God may dwell among us.
C.deK.F. I would like to ask if we have any of this at the end of Ephesians 2, the “habitation of God in the Spirit”?
A.J.G. Yes, the truth of the present time is brought to us. But in this chapter of the gospel of John, the Lord emphasises in particular that appropriate conditions are prepared. There are many Christians who have the Holy Spirit, so that in this sense God dwells in them, but they are not characterised by keeping the commandments of the Lord and keeping His word. Therefore, they do not offer suitable conditions in which God can dwell.
E.E P. Is the individual addressed here so that we all feel the responsibility individually in this regard?
A.J.G. Yes, the Lord is showing the individual things here, so that provision is made for the most difficult day, when perhaps only two or three are available. But I do not believe that the Lord thinks that there should be single saints, but when He says, “If anyone loves me”, that is something that should mark us, that is, where these conditions find themselves, certain results follow.
A.S.T. Do we have to distinguish between brethren who are isolated and those who isolate themselves?
A.J.G. John on Patmos is an example of the former. He had not isolated himself. That is why he was in accord with the brethren in his compassion and outlook, although he was isolated.
E.E.P. That is why we see here the possibilities offered to this one flock.
A.J.G. Yes, it is important to see that the flock follows characteristically as a result of hearing the voice of the Shepherd. The Shepherd then leads to eternal life, that is, to the enjoyment of eternal conditions here in the presence of death.
P.Sch. The Lord says to Peter in chapter 21, “Follow thou me”. Is this the voice of the Lord to everyone? When we do this, we are not isolated, but we are with Him, and we are all with Him.
A.J.G. That is the case. We already have the thought of following in the first chapter of the gospel of John, that two disciples of John the baptist heard him speak and followed Jesus. This thought of following runs through the whole gospel, and it is also the final word in the last chapter, as you say.
E.E.P. Is it also the idea here that if we are in the presence of the Lord and progress with Him in His movements, we will come to things that are greater? For the Lord says, “My Father is greater than I”, John 14: 25.
A.J.G. Yes, the Lord always directs our thoughts to the Father, so that we may have an appreciation of the Father’s supremacy. The Father is a name of grace and affection, and the assembly may know the Father in a very outstanding way—Christ’s Father and our Father, but each family gets a certain impression of the Father. Because the Lord is the Head of all things, He is the Head of every family, and the Head of every family is the beloved Son of the Father. That is why every family is held in a certain sense in the light of the Father.
A.S.T. Are the references to love in this chapter very interesting: the love of the disciples, the love of the Lord and the love of the Father, because they really relate to eternal conditions?
A.J.G. Yes, I think so, but please say a little more what is in your mind.
A.S.T. We should be holy and blameless before Him in love.
A.J.G. This means not only in the enjoyment of the love of the Father, but also the conditions of love amongst ourselves. That is why the Lord commands us to love one another. He says, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another …”. It is therefore necessary that we do not allow anything to come in to affect the conditions of love among the saints. But it must be love governed by the truth.
C.deK.F. Does the Lord not mean this when He says: “he will keep my word”? I thought that the Lord had before Him that this love should be seen among the saints.
A.J.G. Yes, quite so.
H.Mö. Is this the thought in chapter 13: 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another”?
A.J.G. The fact that the Lord commands it shows how important it is.
W.E. Do we have such spiritual and God-pleasing conditions in the Lord’s word to Philadelphia?
A.J.G. Quite so. There are two things in this chapter in verse 21 and 23 to have and keep the commandments of Christ and to keep His word. We will come to nothing if we do not keep the commandments of the Lord. The first commandment, and what must be kept first, is probably in 2 Timothy 2: “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. This enables us to find those with whom we can go forward together. As we move forward together, the next commandment is in the first epistle to the Corinthians, which is the Lord’s commandment and orders the ordinary movements of the saints. The other great commandment is that we love one another here in the gospel of John. When we move together in this way, we do so in right and happy conditions. If these commandments are not kept, then we do not have conditions in which the Spirit of God is free to reveal to us the truth of God; but if they are kept, then the truth can be opened up among us. But then something else is necessary, and that is that we keep Christ’s word. This includes everything He has said and what He may say so that things are preserved in life.
E.E.P. Keeping His word includes the Spirit being there.
A.J.G. Yes, whatever the Spirit may say.
J.deR. Can you say something about verse 17: “whom the world cannot receive … but ye know him”?
A.J.G. Yes, if the saints go forward with the Spirit, it is a complete mystery to the world, and it is God’s intention that this should be the case. The world cannot receive the Spirit. The world does not know the Spirit and does not see Him. In this way, God lifts things up completely from the reach of the world.
A.S.T. I think that is very important, because we have a tendency to think that we have to justify ourselves in our position before the world.
A.J.G. We have to be content with being unknown. They said of the Lord, “He has a demon and raves”, John 10: 20. The more we move in the stream of the Spirit, the more we will be a mystery to the world, and we will be despised by it.
A.R. We read in the first epistle to John, “For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not”, 1 John 3: 1?
A.J.G. In chapter 16, the Lord refers again to the Comforter. He even says in verse 7, “It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you”. Thus the Lord emphasises the importance of having the Comforter with us in a conscious manner. In this chapter we are told that the testimony of this should be maintained in the world.
W.E. God has not given us “a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”, 2 Tim 1: 7.
A.J.G. That is very important that God has given us the spirit of power, and love, and wise discretion, and the Spirit is with us as the Spirit of truth.
A.S.T. The reference to the Spirit and to “you” in verses 6 and 7 shows the place that the saints have in the heart of Christ?
A.J.G. Yes, that is the idea. In a sense we fill the same place that the Lord Himself filled in the days of His flesh, to be on the one hand for the pleasure of God, and on the other hand to maintain the truth of God in the testimony. For this to be made possible, the Spirit has come. He has come as the Spirit of truth, and He exposes the world.
E.E.P. Is it important that we recognise the Spirit as One who has been sent?
A J.G. Yes, I think so, but please say more about what you are thinking.
E.E.P. I believe that we are considering things more in relation to the Holy Spirit when we see that heaven is behind it, that is, the place where He came from, from with the Father and from the area of the Father, which you spoke of in terms of rest. Thus, restful conditions that are to be among us are truly among us when we see that divine power is behind everything.
A.J.G. It helps us a lot if we take note of the fact that God has everything in perfection in Christ; He wants this to develop in the saints through the Spirit. Thus, on the one hand, there should be a complete answer to God and on the other hand there should be a representation of God. That is why evil is dealt with in accordance with God in the assembly, and the truth concerning God is maintained in testimony and walk.
C.deK.F. We have the fulness of what is sustained by the Spirit here in the words: “all the truth”.
A.J.G. “He shall guide you into all the truth”. It is wonderful to remember that “all the truth” comes to light in relation to God, and a perfect answer to it in men. This should be close to our hearts in our localities.
H.G. Should we not speak of the present truth in this sense?
A.J.G. Quite so. What the Spirit is emphasising at the moment is the present truth.
J.deR. I have a question about the epistle to the Colossians, where it is said that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him, and in Ephesians 3: 19 it says: “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. Can it be the case with us that all the fulness of God dwells in us?
A.J.G. We are filled to the fulness of God. This means, I think, that we are able to give an answer to the way God has come forth. Not that the fulness of God is in us, it is bodily in Christ. But the assembly is fully capable of being in correspondence with it.
W.E. Did the Lord not say to His disciples that when the Spirit came even greater things would be brought before them?
A.J.G. Quite so, because it is now the day of greater things. When the Lord was on this earth, He was limited in this sense, but now the Spirit is given without measure, so that people, that is, the saints, can be brought into the full thoughts of God and find strength in the Spirit to be brought into correspondence with these thoughts.
E.E.P. So we also limit the activity or ministry of the Lord if we do not recognise the Spirit, for He was sent here. The Lord goes to the Father to send Him, “I will send him to you”.
A.J.G. Yes, the presence of the Spirit is essential, because it is a matter of bringing man into the things of God. In the service of Christ, of course, there was no error or defect, but man could not enter into these things until the Spirit came. Therefore, the wisdom in which God works not only includes the incarnation: that one of the Godhead became Man, but also includes the coming of the Spirit, so that life in man in Christ Jesus may appear.
A.S.T. What was expressed in a Man is now expressed in myriads of men.
A.J.G. The assembly is the fulness of Christ. It does not add anything to Him, but it is the vessel in which all that is in Him is expressed.
E.E.P. Is verse 8 important? I would like to know what you think about it.
A.J.G. We see this especially in the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, such as in Acts 5. There Peter says in verse 32, “And we are his witnesses of these things, and the Holy Spirit also, which God has given to those that obey him”. This affected their consciences, that some had not obeyed Him because their leaders had not received the Holy Spirit. It was obvious that they had not received Him. It says: “But they, when they heard these things, were cut to the heart”. The presence of the apostles, the believers, was a testimony to others in Jerusalem that they were disobedient to God. He convicted them of this sin.
E.B. Does it not show the unselfishness of the Spirit that He makes nothing of Himself, but everything of Christ?
A.J.G. It is really wonderful that the Spirit takes this place to receive from Christ: “he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”, John 16: 13. This is in accordance with the way in which the Lord was in His ministry, for in John 12: 49 the Lord says, “For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what I should say and what I should speak”. Thus the Lord was here according to this principle, and now the Spirit is here according to this principle. ·
W.Schr. In chapter 16: 15 we then have all three divine Persons working together.
A.J.G. Yes, we have the Father and the Lord and the Spirit in one verse.
E.Schl. What did the Lord have in His mind when He says he will “announce to you what is coming”?
A.J.G. The Lord had in mind the whole truth, which Paul would later bring to light, the whole mystery in which the word of God is completed. Of course, the Spirit also gave John in Patmos the light on things to come; therefore, I do not know whether we can limit this verse to Paul.
E.E.P. Is verse 13 very important? We have read: “I am the way, the truth ...”, and now the Lord protects the Spirit and says of Him, “the Spirit of truth”.
A.J.G. Quite so, in this way He is here as the Spirit of truth. It is important to see how God was put in a bad light by the serpent when sin came into the world. The serpent said to the woman, “Ye will not certainly die”. This shows that the serpent introduced the thought to the woman that God was a liar and that He was not good. Well, God has countered this doubt, and He is now making Himself known as the One that is true and also as One who is altogether good. He brings in the good in a complete way and confines evil to the lake of fire as the final vindication of God.
A.S.T. You referred to Paul’s service. Would you say that it was according to the same principle as the speaking of Jesus and the speaking of the Spirit? He refers to what he had received.
A.J.G. Yes, for whatever he had received, he received it from the Lord through the Spirit.
A.S.T. Is not that an important principle that we must always recognise?
A.J.G. It is something very important and also encouraging that the Spirit is here as the Spirit of truth and that He leads into the truth. We live, of course, in days when the truth revealed by the apostle was given up by the assembly; for one-hundred and thirty years the truth has been recovered. But it is not recovered in a random way, but in a proper way, because the Spirit leads into the whole truth. I believe that if we look back on the history of the past one-hundred and thirty years, we can see that the truth has been properly recovered, which shows that the Spirit guides us into the truth.
C.deK.F. Does the Spirit use human vessels for the service of guiding into the truth?
A.J.G. Yes, He certainly does.
K.M. This guiding into the truth is not only doctrine.
A.J.G. No, first the truth is opened up to us as doctrine, and then it is brought forth in the saints. It is often done through resistance to the truth, so that the truth comes forth in greater determination and power.
P.Sch. Can we say that the Spirit of truth gives life to the word?
A.J.G. Yes, certainly.
W.E. We should remember the word: “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”, Heb 13: 7.
A.J.G. Well, that is part of the Lord’s care for us, that He gives us leaders, and so Deborah says in her song: “For that leaders led in Israel … Bless Jehovah”, Judg 5: 2. She rejoiced in the fact that there were leaders.
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