Psalm 68:32-35, 2 Kings 2:9-15, 1 Peter 4:7-11, John 15:26-27, John 16:1-4.
A). O SING PRAISES UNTO THE LORD.
Psalm 68:32-35.
PSALM 68:32. The closing exhortation of this Psalm calls upon all the kingdoms of the earth to sing praises unto God.
PSALM 68:33. He is again referred to under the figure of “Him that rideth upon the heavens” (cf. Psalm 68:4). But now we are told that the heavens were “of old.” “He sent out His voice, and that a mighty voice” when He cried, ‘Light be’ and there was light (cf. Genesis 1:3).
PSALM 68:34. God’s strength is to be recognised. His goodness to Israel acknowledged. His mighty power over nature also taken into consideration.
PSALM 68:35. “O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places.” His people honour Him, His enemies ARE scattered (cf. Psalm 68:1). It is our covenant God, the God of Israel whose all-sufficiency sustains His people. “Blessed be God.”
B). ELISHA TAKES UP THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH.
2 Kings 2:9-15.
1. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's blessing, but Elijah laid emphasis on God’s sovereignty in this matter (2 Kings 2:9-10). After Elijah was taken up, Elisha tore his own clothes into two pieces, then took up Elijah's mantle and (again miraculously) crossed back over the River Jordan (2 Kings 2:11-14). The “sons of the prophets” were perfectly assured that “the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha” (2 Kings 2:15).
2. There was also concern for the continuity of the church after the ascension of Jesus. It was a time for waiting, according to His instruction, for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). The question of continuity amongst the Apostles was something of a distraction during the waiting time, but did give rise to a timeless definition of the qualifications required of an Apostle (Acts 1:21-22).
3. The visible church still has to address occasional gaps in ministry, when one servant passes the mantle to another. The times between ministries are times for waiting, for prayer (Acts 1:14), and for maintaining church unity (Acts 2:1).
C). THE GRACE OF SERVICE.
1 Peter 4:7-11.
Peter has already told us the ‘last days’ began at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:16-18). Now he tells us that “the end of all things is at hand” (1 PETER 4:7a). Although he wrote those words nearly two millennia ago, that sense of imminence remains. The question is: How should we live as we wait in these in-between times between the ascension and return of Jesus?
Peter’s answer is clear: “Be sober-minded, and watchful unto prayers” (1 PETER 4:7b). Peter goes on to call us to sober watchfulness because ‘the devil, as a roaring lion’ is ‘seeking whom he may devour’ (cf. 1 Peter 5:8).
If we have indeed tasted of the good things of the Lord (cf. Hebrews 6:5), then we shall live in joyful hope, and not in despair, as we wait for the end (cf. 1 Peter 1:13). The return of Jesus is good news, after all, for His own people. It is joyous news: which is why the expression ‘miserable Christians’ is such an oxymoron!
Sober-mindedness equips us for prayer. Not only are we not to fall prey to the demon drink, but we are called to watchful waiting for the return of the Lord. Jesus Himself warned His servants against letting our guards down because of the supposed ‘delay’ in His coming (cf. Luke 12:45-46).
“But before all things,” Peter calls us to fervent love for one another within the church (1 PETER 4:8a; cf. 1 Peter 1:22). This is a deep love, a constant love. We love God ‘because He first loved us’ (cf. 1 John 4:19); and Jesus instructs us to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (cf. John 13:34-35). Paul tells us that ‘love never fails’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8).
Peter tells us that “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 PETER 4:8b; cf. Proverbs 10:12). This answers Peter’s own question to the Lord, ‘How many times must I forgive my brother?’ (cf. Matthew 18:21-22). “A multitude” is innumerable. It is inappropriate to count how many times!
Peter continues, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging” (1 PETER 4:9). On one occasion Jesus upbraided a Pharisee for his lack of hospitality: ‘You gave me no water to wash my feet &c.’ (cf. Luke 7:44-48).
But Jesus stooped down to wash His disciples’ feet in the Upper Room (cf. John 13:4-5). Jesus then said, ‘If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet’ (cf. John 13:14). It is a picture of service, from the One who ‘came not to be ministered unto, but to minister’ (cf. Mark 10:45).
Jesus speaks of hospitality to those on His right hand: ‘I was a stranger, and you took me in’ (Matthew 25:35). He continues, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done in unto me’ (cf. Matthew 25:40).
If we love the brethren, we will minister to them as we are able, in accordance with the “gift” that we have received (1 PETER 4:10a). As each one has received the gift, so are they to serve. This is our stewardship, our service arising from “the manifold (variegated) grace of God” (1 PETER 4:10b).
Peter speaks here of just two foundational categories of ministry: “speaking,” and “ministering” (or ‘serving’: the Greek word gives us our English word ‘deacon’) (1 PETER 4:11a).
(i). If we are called by God to speak, it must be “the very oracles of God.” This is how to preach the Scriptures of the Word of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:17). While Peter spoke the words of God at the house of Cornelius, ‘the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word’ (cf. Acts 10:44). The elders in particular are exhorted to ‘feed the flock of God’ (cf. 1 Peter 5:2), which is done by the preaching and teaching of God’s word.
(ii). If we are called to serve, we are discouraged from trying to undergo our tasks in our own strength. All things must be done in the strength of the One who calls us to service.
All such speaking and service is exercised with a view to ‘the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ’ (cf. Ephesians 4:12).
And ultimately, for bringing glory to the Lord: “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (1 PETER 4:11b).
D). THE COMFORTER, AND PERSECUTION.
John 15:26-27, John 16:1-4.
1. The Coming of the Comforter.
John 15:26-27.
As we enter this part of our text, it is well to note, first, the certainty of the event: “When the Comforter IS COME” (John 15:26a).
But when did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit? It may appear at first glance in John’s Gospel that He came upon them when Jesus ‘breathed on them’ during one of His post-resurrection appearances (cf. John 20:22). However, Luke’s Gospel records the same conversation in a slightly different way: ‘And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high’ (cf. Luke 24:48-49).
In other words, the “coming” of the Holy Spirit corresponds with the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4.
Second, Jesus names the Comforter, “the Spirit of Truth” (John 15:26b).
Jesus says, ‘When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all the truth’ (cf. John 16:13). Now this is tantamount to saying that He will point the disciples to Jesus, for Jesus has already said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me’ (cf. John 14:6).
Third - as well as being “sent” by the Father, and by Jesus, the Holy Spirit “proceeds (goes forth) from the Father” (John 15:26c) under the power of His own volition, His own sovereign free-will.
Fourth, the Holy Spirit comes to testify of Jesus (John 15:26d). The Holy Spirit does not point to Himself, but away from Himself to Jesus. As should we.
Fifth, it is at this point that we see the disciples’ responsibility to bear witness (John 15:27a).
Primarily, this no doubt applies specifically to those who were still present with Jesus at this stage of the Upper Room discourse. This would be the apostolic party, which Judas had already left. They are the ones who had been “with Me from the beginning” (John 15:27b).
Secondarily, this applies to successive generations of the church, each with a duty to tell forth to their own generation ‘the wonderful works of God’ (cf. Acts 2:11). A mission which began in Jerusalem and is continuing even now ‘to the ends of the earth’ (cf. Acts 1:8).
2. The Inevitability Of Persecution.
John 16:1-4.
In the previous chapter, Jesus did not hold back from His eleven remaining disciples the reality that they must face. They would face persecutions. Jesus has forewarned them, and us, so that we might be forearmed against such things, and need not be “offended” (literally, “scandalised”) by them (John 16:1).
It is a fact of our faith, that, ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution’ (cf. 2 Timothy 3:12).
For the eleven this involved, literally, “Out of the synagogues will they put you” (John 16:2). Excommunication. Worse than this, the time would come when the person who killed them would think that he was doing a service to God.
This was the testimony of St. Paul, when he reflected upon his pre-conversion state as Saul of Tarsus. ‘I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.’ Bearing letters from ‘the high priest’ and ‘all the estate of the elders,’ he ‘went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished’ (cf. Acts 22:4-5).
It is often ‘religious’ people who persecute those who find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us why. “And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me” (John 16:3; cf. John 15:21).
The Greek rendering of the first sentence in John 16:4 is: “But these things have I said to you that when the hour may have come you (all) may remember that (it was) I that said them to you.” The emphasis falls upon the “I” who spoke these words, even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In the second sentence of John 16:4, Jesus explains why He had not put so much stress upon persecution at the beginning of His ministry. It was because He was with them, teaching them the fundamentals of the faith. It would have been too early for them to stomach the full extent of the hard realities of which He was now forewarning them.
