The Holy Spirit and God’s Presence in our Hearts (John 14:18-24)

Some of you may be interested to know that on the 1st of July 1643, the Westminster Assembly began its meetings with a sermon by William Twisse on John 14:18 (‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you’ – although he used a different version of the Bible from what we use). It was a good verse from which to encourage the delegates who produced the Westminster Confession of Faith as well as the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. In this section, the Lord Jesus holds out to his people some of the greatest of Christian experiences.    

The Comfort Promised

Jesus had indicated to the disciples that he was to leave them. Normally when a leader was separated from his disciples they would be without his help. The disciples had known the help of Jesus in a wide variety of ways and it is very likely that they would have concluded that they could not live without his presence. They would have been confused and apprehensive.

It is worth noting that Jesus here addresses the feelings of his disciples. We know that a believer can be comfortless even although he is aware that his salvation is secure. This lack of comfort is an aspect of how he feels at the time. It is encouraging to realise that Jesus took note of the feelings of his disciples in the Upper Room because it reminds us that he is also concerned about our feelings or lack of them.  

The idea that is behind the term translated ‘comfortless’ is ‘orphans’, helpless children facing a hostile environment. But Jesus assures them that they would not be helpless when he left. The answer to their difficulty was his promise to come to them.

The Comfort Promised is the Spirit

It is possible to interpret this promise of the coming of Jesus in verse 18 in different ways. For example, it could be taken as referring to the second coming of Jesus, which he referred to in 14:3. Jesus, however, is not referring to his second coming here because he then says that his disciples will see him in a little while and his second coming was centuries away.

Since this coming of Jesus is going to happen in a little while, is he referring to them seeing him after his resurrection, especially as he says in the next verse that he would return soon. Verse 19 could indicate this in the words, ‘Because I live, you shall live also.’ However, verse 20 suggests that the result of Jesus’ coming would be an understanding of spiritual union, and it is clear that the disciples did not have this understanding even on the day when Jesus was resurrected.

This leaves a third option as to which coming Jesus has in mind. He will come when the Holy Spirit comes as the promised Comforter, as the Representative of Jesus. This interpretation fits with the context.

The Life Provided by the Spirit

Jesus again reminds his disciples of the great privilege that they possess in contrast to the world, which he describes as seeing him. I suspect what he means is that they will begin to understand the union that exists between him and them. This union is certain because he possesses life. In what ways does Jesus possess life?

One obvious way is by virtue of his deity. In this sense he possesses eternal life that had no beginning, a life marked by self-existence. This type of life cannot be conveyed to us. ‘That is a life in which none can participate beyond the sacred circle of the deity’ (John Brown).

Jesus possesses life in another way as well, which is the life he possesses as the second Adam or, in other words, as the Mediator. We can put it this way. The role that Jesus has is to reverse the effects of Adam’s fall and enhance the capabilities of humans beyond what they would have known if Adam had not fallen. The effect of Adam’s fall was death – spiritual, physical and eternal. In other words, every human has a spiritually-dead inner life in the sense that it is detached from God, lives in a physically dying body, and faces an existence of continual worsening in hell. It is an existence marked by increasing death.

How are such sinners to experience the life of Jesus? The answer is by the Holy Spirit. Through him, Jesus deals with these areas of death that Adam’s fall caused. He send his Spirit and regenerates those who are spiritually dead, by the Spirit he will resurrect their bodies, and by the Spirit he will permeate and influence entirely their life in heaven.

For Jesus himself, it is not ‘so much to the life restored by the resurrection, as to the new development of life which accompanied and followed the resurrection, that our Lord refers, when he here says, “I live”’ (John Brown). In that glorified existence, he will receive the promised Spirit in order to fulfil the divine purposes for him as prophet, priest and king, an aspect of which is to give life to his people.

The situation can be explained in this way. Jesus in heaven continually desires to instruct us in the ways of God (prophet), he continually wants to purify us to serve God (priest), and he continually wants to protect us from the enemies of our spiritual development (king). The goal is Christlikeness, and the means is the Spirit of life.

There are many wonderful pictures of this in the Bible. One is the picture of the river of life permanently flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 21–22). There is the amazing illustration in Ezekiel 47 of the Dead Sea becoming full of life through the river of life that flows from the temple. In John 7, Jesus taught that within each of his people, the indwelling Holy Spirit would be like a permanently flowing fountain of life.

Jesus then mentions two particular ways in which this life will show itself. In verse 20, Jesus says that his people will know intimacy with him that is similar to the intimacy that he has with the Father. The intimacy that he had with the Father is likened to being ‘in’ the Father. This is what life in its fullness is, to know God. Eternal life, says Jesus in John 17, is to know the Father and the Son. It is not merely knowing about God, it is having fellowship with God.

The second way in which this life shows itself is by loving obedience to the commandments of Jesus. Notice the order that Jesus uses. First, a disciple has the commandments, that is, he treats them as a prized possession. We keep material things of value, such as a painting or a piece of pottery in a secure place, but not in an obscure place because we want to see them. Similarly, the disciple has a secure place for Christ’s teachings and that secure place is the disciple’s heart and mind. He meditates on the sayings of Jesus and becomes like the person described in Psalm 1; he hides God’s Word in his heart in order to prevent sin overpowering him. Thinking about God’s law makes him spiritually discerning and creates a strong desire to obey it. Meditation and practice go together.

These two features of intimacy with God and obedience of God marked the Saviour in his life on earth. He spent time with God and he meditated on the things of God. In his human experience he did them through the enabling and direction of the Spirit. Since these features are what Jesus possessed, it means that Christlikeness must involve these features. To be like Jesus means drawing near to God and lovingly obeying him.

The Fellowship Enjoyed through the Spirit

Jesus then says that there will be a divine response to such Christian living. There will be a response of love from both the Father and Jesus, with the response by Jesus being one of further manifestations of himself to his loving disciple. This amazing promise leads to another question from one of his disciples, Judas. This question seems to be a different kind from those asked earlier by Thomas and Philip because there is no hint of rebuke in the Saviour’s reply. Instead he expands his teaching. Perhaps Jude asked it with a sense of wonder.

Jesus says that the Father and him will come and live in the inner life of an obedient disciple. This does not mean that they were not there before. Rather it means that there will be further visits throughout one’s Christian journey if one is obedient to Christ’s teaching. This is remarkable promise – God who dwells in the purity of heaven desires to make his home in the hearts of his people who are still sinful.

These divine visits are explained by three details. First, they are visits of love, whether by the Father (v. 23) or by the Son (v. 21); second, they are visits in which particular responses or activities of the Father and of the Son will be identified; third, they are visits in which the Father and the Son come together to bless the obedient disciple. These three features are achieved by the presence of the life-giving Spirit.

No doubt there are ways in which these divine responses will overlap. Yet we can think of them separately even if they are experienced in harmony. The love of the Father involves choice of his people before they were born, compassion towards them as they wandered lost in sin, complacency towards them as they obey him, and companionship with them as they journey towards the family home. These and other features of the Father’s love are communicated to us in increasing measure by the Spirit as we continue in the path of obedience. The love of the Son is receptive (he received us from the Father), redemptive (took our place on the cross), rescuing from sin at conversion, recruiting into his service, and refreshing on our journey. Many more features could be added. The Spirit brings these features of the love of Jesus into our souls.

It is good for us to experience distinct fellowship with each person of the Trinity. We should ask the Spirit to bring into our minds and hearts the thoughts of the heavenly Father toward us and the attitude of the Saviour towards us. These divine encounters are obviously intimate, and there is always the potential for increase of them. There are no limits to the love of God.

As we conclude, here are some points of application. First, we should explore our inheritance, the riches of God’s grace. We are called to know God, to know his presence, to experience his peace, to reflect on his purposes and to praise his great name. 

Second, we should gladly confess our need of the Spirit in order for these riches to be enjoyed. We need him because of our weakness and our need of strengthening (Eph. 3:16-19). 

Third, we should assess the extent of our obedience. It is quite clear that some Christians are more devoted than other believers. It is a law in Christ’s kingdom that the more obedient we are the more will be our spiritual delights (Isa. 1:19; 48:18). 

Fourth, we should remember the price of disobedience as Christians. It is to miss out on heavenly visits from the Father and the Son.