Thread by @glprater

#GeraldsDevotional
God in Us – Speaking Figuratively vs Literally
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Today we will read the end of John chapter 16 where Jesus has just finished explaining to His disciples that He is leaving them but that it is a very good thing for them as part of God’s perfect plan. He had previously said that He had more to tell them but that they could not

yet fully understand or benefit from it. But He knew that they would eventually be able to understand and benefit from the truth. Personal knowledge of the truth would eventually set them (as well as us) free from this world system as we will read tomorrow.

Because they could not yet fully understand, Jesus said that He had been speaking to them figuratively about how they would relate to and represent the Father. He makes another reference to what it really means to “ask anything in His Name.” And once again, He explains that He

came into the world from the Father and is going back to the Father.

So in response, His disciples said that they finally understood clearly based on what Jesus was saying. They said that they now believed that He was in complete control and had been sent by God.

But in the final words of this chapter, Jesus gently points out to them that they still did not yet really understand. Even though He had repeatedly told them that He would always be with them in a much better way through the Helper, they would soon scatter and abandon Him,

leaving Him alone at a difficult time. But Jesus reassured them that He would not be alone because the Father will be with Him. And He is indeed in complete control of everything that will happen around them and us in this world.

As we close the discussion this morning, I want to highlight an important lesson that we can all learn from the response here of the disciples. They were now listening closely to what Jesus was saying and they felt like they fully understood. But Jesus knew that they still didn’t

get it. Their belief would have to be based on their personal experience with the resurrected Jesus. It is not enough to simply listen. The things that we do give evidence of that which we truly believe. In the lives of these disciples, the things that they did in response to the

pressures of this world changed dramatically AFTER they saw the resurrected Jesus. The book of James 2:14-26 describes this topic in detail. We can never be saved by our works, but the things that we do give evidence of what we truly believe. These disciples would eventually each

die in this world refusing to compromise on what they believed about Jesus.

So now let’s read and ponder the conclusion of this exchange that Jesus had with His disciples at the end of John chapter 16 beginning at verse 25 where Jesus is still speaking.

Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World
25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not

say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

29 His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” 31 Jesus answered them,

“Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” - John 16:25-33
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