Jesus is speaking to His disciples about love and joy, and how both are perfected. Judas (not Iscariot) is asking Him, "Lord, how is it that Thou will manifest Thyself to us, and not unto the world?" Jesus answers him saying, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with Him ... he that loves Me not, keepeth not My sayings; and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me. These things have I spoken unto you, being YET present with you.
But the Comforter [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you -- not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you -- "I go away, and come [again] unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, "I go unto the Father; for My Father is greater than I." (John 14:22-28)
Jesus told them this BEFORE it came to pass "that when it is come to pass ye might believe." (John 14:29)
Sadly, many believers get hung up in John 14 and 15 because they do not understand that Jesus is telling His disciples "beforehand" what was yet to happen. Indeed, He wanted His disciples to understand that when He gave up the ghost on the cross, that He would not leave them comfortless. He would come to them. However, the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying, as evidenced by the fact that the disciples (at least the males) returned to their former profession -- fishing.
Nevertheless, Jesus did not stop there, because He wanted His disciples to fully understand that when the Comforter is come, whom Jesus will send unto you from the Father -- the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father -- that same Holy Ghost would "testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with Me from the beginning." (John 15:26-27)
By now, Jesus had already told them -- "I and My Father are ONE!" (John 10:30) By now, Jesus had already told Philip and Thomas -- "If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him." (John 14:5-12)
Remember, Philip asked Jesus to shew us the Father and it would suffice. Jesus said unto him, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet, hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?" (John 14:8-9)
Even here, what the disciples did not understand was that the Father was about to be glorified in the Son. The same Father who overshadowed Mary so that she could bring forth a son -- so that we could experience His costly to Him (but free to us) gift of salvation -- His glory was about to be revealed to all. (Luke 1:35) The very mystery that was held in the bosom of the Father from the very beginning was unfolding for one and all to see. That is, God manifest in the flesh was to become our Saviour. (I Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6)
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His Name JESUS for He shall save His people from their sins ... and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us!" (Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:21; John 1:20)
"He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David ..." (Luke 1:31; Mark 5:7; II Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1)
If the disciples had understood (like the woman at the well) these would have understood that this same Jesus who was about to be crucified was BOTH Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36) That even as He walked in a sin-prone flesh (yet without sin) the Son of man was still Lord of the Sabbath. In that regard, the miracles He performed should have clarified His identity for them. Perhaps, this is why the disciples had gone for meat when Jesus met the woman at the well -- but I digress.
What does the prophet Isaiah record, when the Lord God spoke through him?
"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 40:5) ".... they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God!" (Isaiah 35:2)
"He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young .... who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighted the mountain in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or His Counsellor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and [who] instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed to Him the way of understanding?" (Isaiah 40:10-14)
"To who then will ye liken God? Or, what likeness will ye compare unto Him?" (Isaiah 40:18)
"To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?" saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things .... Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard [that] the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding." (Isaiah 40:18-31)
But when we search the scriptures, as doth a workman unto God, rightly dividing the Word, the Lord reveals Himself to us. That indeed He -- the Lord Himself did come forth as a mighty man. (Isaiah 42:13) After His kindness and love for us, God became our Saviour, shedding His holy blood on the cross for you and I. All the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in the man Christ Jesus. (Colossians 2:9; Colossians 1:17-18)
"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Isaiah 43:25)
And why did the Lord God Himself, who at sundry times and in diverse manners speak in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, choose in these last days to speak unto us by [His] Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds -- as the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person? (Hebrews 1:1-13)
Because of His abundance of love for you and I.
"This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." (Isaiah 44:21)
He brought forth a "new thing" in this current dispensation of grace. "The dayspring from on high has visited His people." (Luke 1:78) The Lord God "hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10)
"Therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him and His righteousness, it sustained Him." (Isaiah 59:16)
And, as a consequence, "the Gentiles shall see Thy righteousness, and all the kings Thy glory. And thou shalt be called by a new Name, which the mouth of the Lord shall Name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of Thy God." (Isaiah 62:2-3)
"According to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses" (Isaiah 63:7)
But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honour that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him -- for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:9-10)
Christ as a son over His own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness ..." (Hebrews 3:6-9)
Jesus -- a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 7:1-28) But the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. (Hebrews 9:8) In other words, if the first covenant had been faultless, there would not have been a need for a Mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6-13)
"And for this cause, He is the mediator of the new testament -- for a testament is of force after men are dead." (Hebrews 9:15-18)
Thus, the Lord God Himself prepared a fleshly body and hid Himself as a Son so that the first could be taken away and the second established. "By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us -- through the veil -- that is to say -- His flesh!" (Hebrews 10:19-20)
And, in so doing, He gave us a new Name in which to worship Him. (Acts 4:12; Philippians 2:9)
"Thou, O Lord art our Father, our Redeemer -- Thy Name is from everlasting." (Isaiah 63:16)
"O Lord, Thou art our Father ... " (Isaiah 64:8)
His Name is JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins.
"Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He THROUGH the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen. To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:2)
This is why we will see Jesus no more, for He has returned to the Father from whence He came -- just as He beforehand said He would.
This is why we will see Jesus no more, for He has returned to the Father from whence He came -- just as He beforehand said He would.
It is for this reason that the disciples -- all 120 of them -- tarried in Jerusalem, for as Jesus said, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. (Acts 1:8) The very SAME Holy Ghost which overshadowed Mary so that she could bring forth a son. The very SAME Holy Ghost in which John the baptist/baptizer was filled with from birth. The very SAME Holy Ghost who was upon Simeon, and revealed to him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ -- who said, "For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people ...." (Luke 2:25-32)
"He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:10-11)
But as Jesus said to His disciples, you both know Him and have seen Him -- Jesus -- the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Thus, don't get stuck in the false traditions of men wherein they attempt to reduce the greatest love story ever told to a shambles. And unlike the disciples, we have the privilege of knowing and understanding who Jesus really is (without that time on the beach wherein Jesus opened their eyes over broiled fish and honeycomb).
We can know the Lord Jesus to be God our Saviour, who loved us enough to become that Light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel. Jesus -- King of kings and Lord of lords. Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending. (Revelation 1:8, 11)
"Lo, behold, the volume of the book is written of Me!" (Hebrews 10:7; Psalm 40:7)
Thus, arise and shine for Thy light is come to you also so the glory of the Lord can shine in your hearts. (Isaiah 60:1)
Stand in the offering plate.
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