The promise…

Of the Spirit (part 21) 

Jesus asked his Father to give his disciples the Holy Spirit because the Spirit would provide them with constant evidence that he was alive and still with them. 

And “Because I live,” Jesus told them – or because I’ll be alive and still with you – “you also will live,” John 14:19. But what exactly did Jesus mean by that? Did he mean that they’d continue to live physically, or that because Jesus was now living in a different dimension in which he’d never die, that they would never have to die either? 

Jesus explains himself in verse 20, that “On that day (when they receive the Spirit) you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” So this is what “you also will live” means; it means this is what they will now begin to experience.  

Fortunately, Jesus goes on to explain in verse 21 what being “in” someone means. He gives three clues, the first one being love: “Whoever obeys my commands loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him.” So the Spirit opens up this new world of love to us. “You also will live,” then, means “you will live to experience this love too.”

Secondly, being “in” someone means – as Jesus put it in verse 21 – “showing myself to him.” The Greek word for “show” in that verse is emphanisō (em-faneezo) meaning “to reveal, make known, cause to appear clearly, communicate plainly, to inform,” all suggesting that, through the Holy Spirit in and with us, Jesus will constantly reveal to us, communicate with us, and inform us as to who he is, what he’s up to, and how much he loves us. He’s alive and “in” us to that depth of intimacy, vastly expanding our understanding of him and his part in his Father’s plan. That too, then, was what “you also will live” was about.  

Thirdly, being “in” someone means, as Jesus put it in verse 23, “making one’s home with…” – and how much more “in” someone could you be than wanting to make your home forever with them? But that’s exactly what the Father and Jesus want to do with us – forever. 

“You also will live,” therefore, includes this constant picture the Spirit unfolds for us of God’s world of love, because that is now the world we are living in too…(more on this tomorrow)