The Spirit brings glory to Jesus
May 16, 2021
15:18 – 16:33 Sent into the world, just as Jesus was sent
Read John 16:14-15
In his farewell teaching about the Holy Spirit, Jesus had emphasised various key aspects of the Spirit’s work. Through his Spirit, believers will know the life of Jesus in them (14:17,23), they will continue to be taught by him (14:26; 16:13) and they will be enabled to carry out his mission fruitfully (15:5,26-27). So it is definitely for their good that he is going away (16:7). But in all of that, the Spirit has one supreme objective – everything he does is for the purpose of bringing glory to Jesus (14).
In this, he is like Jesus himself, who had stated, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me” and which is therefore for the glory of the Father (7:16-18; 17:4). Likewise, the Spirit always looks to bring glory to Jesus, by taking what he has received from Jesus and making it known. Through the Word becoming flesh, the glory which Jesus has with the Father was revealed (1:14). The Spirit’s work is not to bring new revelation of his own. Rather, he communicates to us and to the world the same truth which Jesus himself brought from the Father.
The glory which Jesus shares with the Father is indicated in the amazing claim “all that belongs to the Father is mine” (15). The unity of the Father and the Son is a key theme of these chapters (14:7-11; 15:1), and the Spirit shares in that unity (14:16-17; 14:26; 15:26). He takes from what the Son has with the Father and makes it known to us. The outcome is further glory to Jesus. The one who is one with the Father in heavenly glory still delights that glory comes to him and the Father through his disciples (17:10). This is what the Holy Spirit works to do in us (15:8).