10 November

Bible in 365 Days

John 13-15

John 13

For a time our Lord now devoted Himself to His own, and in this connection we have the account of His washing the disciples' feet. The whole action was Eastern, and was the action of a slave: By what He did and said our Lord intended to emphasize that the supreme action of God is service, and that fellowship with Him demands such action on the part of His followers.

Then, in connection with the Pass over feast, Judas was excluded, and our Lord uttered the significant words, "Now is the Son of Man glorified," and this made possible our Lord's final instruction to His disciples. It was in this connection that Peter, strangely perplexed, asked Him the question, "Whither goest Thou?" to which our Lord first replied by showing Peter that he, Peter, could not at that time accompany Him on the pathway. When Peter protested, our Lord showed him that He knew all the weakness lurking within him better than he himself could know it, as He declared that before sunrise he would deny Him thrice.

John 14

There is no real break between the end of chapter 13 and beginning of chapter 14. Therefore continuing, while now including all the disciples, He charged them not to let their heart be troubled. He then answered Peter's original question by saying He was going to prepare a place for them. To Thomas' protest He answered that He Himself was "the way, the truth, and the life"; and to Philip's great exclamation, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," He replied in words that need no comment, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father."

Still continuing, He told them that at His departure He would send them Another, who would disannul their orphanage by revealing Himself to them and bringing them into closer association with Him. It was on the basis of this assurance that He said to them, "Peace I leave with you." He carefully described the peace as "My peace." His peace was a heart untroubled and unfearful in spite of all the suffering and conflict ahead of Him. The secrets of that peace were His certainty as expressed in the words, first, "I go to the Father," and, second, "The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in Me."

John 15

Our Lord now uttered the great allegory of the vine. Certain words in it arrest our attention, "the vine," "the branches," "the fruit." The close interrelationship between these is emphasized, and our Lord declared, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches." The vine includes all-root, stem, branches, leaves, and fruit. No figure of speech could more perfectly set forth the intimate relationship between Christ and His own.

In applying the truth, the commandments of the Lord are found in remarkable setting. The first, "Abide ye in My love"; the second, "Love one another." In this connection He dealt with the ministry of the Spirit in this application.

Their relationship to Him, issuing in likeness to Him, must bring on them the hatred and persecution of the world which already had been brought on Him. Jesus declared this hatred to be finally hatred of the Father. The measure in which His disciples produce the fruitage of His life will be the measure of their revelation of the Father, with its protest against worldliness; and so it must be the measure of the world's hatred of them. Nevertheless, in the Comforter there would be a ministry directly for the world. That testimony is to be borne by the Spirit in His co-operation with the Church.