The Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit after his departure. The disciples may not be with the Lord in the flesh, but it was for their greater good; the Lord can now be with them in every moment of their lives surpassing the boundaries of the flesh. Not knowing that the Holy Spirit was the greatest gift and love from the Lord to them, who are left behind, the disciples were filled with worries in their hearts.
To these disciples the Lord explains the work of the Holy Spirit. Here we have an almost perfect summary of the work of the Spirit.[1]
When the Spirit comes, he will reprove the world regarding sin, righteousness and judgement. To reprove (convict of guilt, convince, elegchein) is the word which is used for the cross-examination of a witness, or a man on trial, or an opponent in an argument. It has always this idea of cross-examining a man until he sees and admits his errors or acknowledges the force of some argument which he had not yet seen.[2]
Sin, righteousness, and judgment are fundamental issues of our walk of faith. There must be the sense of sin, or he will not seek the Savior. There must be a belief that righteousness is possible, or the convicted sinner will die of despair. There must be the assurance that sin is doomed, and shall be finally vanquished, or the baffled warrior will give up the long conflict as hopeless.[3]
When the Spirit descends, he will first convict the world of guilt regarding sin. The message of salvation is useless to those who do not even recognize their sin. When a man realizes that his life is being eaten out by some insidious disease, he will need not further urging to go to a physician. In the same way when a man realizes his sin, he will naturally feel his need for salvation. The Holy Spirit convicts men of the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus Christ.[4]
There stands the cross, the evidence and symbol of God’s love; and there stands the risen Christ, offering himself to men. There is nothing which more certainly proves the innate evil of the human heart than its refusal of that mystery of grace.[5] When the Spirit comes, he will lead us to look at the cross of Jesus Christ and fully disclose all our sins.
Jesus is gone to the Father; and it is clear, therefore, that he has been accepted as the Savior and Redeemer of men. He is gone to the Father in the likeness and nature of men; evidently, then, man is an object of God’s love, is reconciled to God, and is admitted to the rights and privileges of a son and heir.[6] As the Son had gone to the Father, the love of the Father had been clearly manifested in us. The Spirit comes and leads us to see the cross of Christ which ever so brightly discloses the love of God towards us.
The Spirit reproves the world regarding judgement. When we have been freed from sin, and made righteous in Christ, we are left face to face with a tremendous struggle against sin. The sin of the past is indeed forgiven, the voice of conscience has been hushed, the sinner rejoices to know that he is accepted on the ground of righteousness; but the old temptations still crop up.[7]
What we should remember is that the Lord we believe in is the victor Christ. The whole Gospel is a story of the duel in which our Lord forever worsted and mastered Satan. The conflict began with the lonely struggle of the temptation in the wilderness; it pervaded Christ’s earthly career; it culminated in the cross.[8] The cross was the crisis of this world’s history: the prince of this world measured himself for one final wrestle with the Son of God. Had he succeeded, evil would have reigned but since he failed, he fell as lightning from heaven.[9] The Holy Spirit has come, let us see the cross of Jesus Christ, and has already judged all the sin of the past, the present and the future.
The amazing sacrifice of the Lord has opened a new era of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit of God does not leave us but leads us to the Lord in each corner of our lives.
[1] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 224.
[2] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 224.
[3] F. B. Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2nd Impression (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1952), 281.
[4] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 281.
[5] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 281.
[6] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 283.
[7] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 283.
[8] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 284.
[9] Meyer, The Life and Light of Men and Love to the Uttermost: A Commentary on the Gospel of John, 284.