"These Things Have I Spoken to You" Part 2 of 2

Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven saying, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you" John 17:1

His Love Absorbs Us

THREE: "These things I have spoken to you so that you would not be offended. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me... But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  John 16:1-7

Jesus says that if we are His and they persecuted Him that we too will be persecuted for our Communion with Him. Some will try so much to silent our witness that they will kill us. Like Stephen and James, Jesus brother, they will pelt our physical bodies with rocks without realizing that every rock they throw will become a living stone. Others they try to kill by fire and others on crosses but if the seed die - much fruit! In effect Jesus says be prepared. This love is so great that it will lay down for the sake of others. We will take the hits just like Jesus because we are inseparable and absorbed into His love. Our "Counselor, Attorney and Advocate" before the throne of Heaven during any trial of our faith is the Holy Spirit.

FOUR: "So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you... These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” John 16:22, 25-28

He will see us again after we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent to reveal Jesus presence to us. When He does, Jesus speaks plainly to us. He is not hiding within parables and story books. He is alive and present to meet with us and share His life with us. Jesus came back in a resurrected body and appeared to the followers for 40 days. He still appears to all of us through Communion. He speaks simply and clearly in a way that we know it is Him. Through His presence we are transformed from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:18) He speaks to us clearly what He wants us to know each time we meet with Him. Jesus says, "Now I am leaving the world and going to the Father", so that He can send the Holy Spirit who is sent to convey the presence of Jesus in our life through Communion. 

FIVE: "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." 

These are the final words Jesus says before He prays the Communion Prayer of John 17. He prays that the Father keeps us through His name and that we may be one in Him. He prays that we might be filled with His joy because the Holy Spirit makes it real to us through what He shares with us. Because we are first-hand witnesses to the living Jesus, again, the world hates us and causes us trouble, turmoil and persecution. That's okay though because He prays that we will be set apart by the truth. The truth literally means "The reality of His true presence". When we are in His presence He gives us His glory that we might be one with each other. We become "over-comers" because He has already overcome the world. In Him we have peace. He finishes His final message by praying:

O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:25-26

When you know His love because your spend time with Him in Communion - then His love is in you. You receive His love every day. His love opens the window of this life to see Him and the life to come. It is so marvelous, so wondrous that any thing else pales in comparison. We are fully persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus. Neither life or death, neither things present or things to come, neither principalities or powers. Transformed from glory to glory, day by day, we become over-comers in Him and the reality of His presence absorbs our very heart, mind, soul and strength. God is answering His own prayer that we become one with Him and one another through Him. Love conquers all! We are more than conquerors through Him that loves us.

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