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And He (the
Helper/Holy Spirit), when He comes,
will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment;
concerning sin, because they do not
believe in Me; and
concerning righteousness, because I
go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and
concerning judgment, because the
ruler of this world has been judged. (John 16:8-11)
This has been a passage that has
greatly puzzled me for many years. Of course there has been no
shortage of commentators and expostulates ready to express their
views. But I also believe that God desires to share truth with each
person individually so that it really connects with them in such a
way that truth becomes firmly embedded in the deepest parts of their
soul. I am not seeking to discount other sources that God may provide
to assist in revealing truth to us. But I am very cognizant that the
vast majority of people are all too willing to depend on others to do
their thinking and processing for them. Sadly it seems that most
believe it is alright to let others predigest their spiritual food so
they can be spoon-fed once in awhile like little babies.
Well, that was not at all what I wanted
to talk about here. What I am more interested in is how this passage
is becoming more filled with light as over time better definitions of
religious words have begun to affect my thinking. I now can see that
much of my frustration and confusion in times past when I have read
this passage was not from Jesus trying to be obscure, but because
Satan has so successfully obscured Him from us by replacing the
meanings of nearly all the words used by Jesus with counterfeit
notions that are foreign to the heart of God.
In these verses I notice a number of
key words that for many years were trigger points for me, creating
fear not unlike that of the disciples who were suffering here from
deep sadness and foreboding as Jesus kept mentioning the idea of
leaving them. Jesus faces their feelings and confusion head-on in
this discourse by telling them that it is really something to get
excited about, not something to mourn. The problem is not that He is
leaving but rather their misinterpretation and false assumptions
about the reason for His departure.
But now I am going to Him who sent
Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' But because I
have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I
tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that
I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you;
but if I go, I will send Him to you. (John 16:5-7)
It seems so natural for many of us to
assume the worst, to put a negative spin on just about everything, to
readily move into feelings of foreboding and fear whenever the
unexpected transpires. But Jesus, the perfect reflection of the
Father who is love through and through, viewed reality from a
radically different perspective and seeks to infuse us with that same
way of viewing things. In fact as I look over the context of this
passage, this whole chapter is an introduction to the more prevalent
presence of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is eager to unleash on the
whole world. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the pivotal point
of history where Jesus accomplished a radical displacement of Satan
as the recognized authority representing this world before the
universe. Because of the new position of authority He is about to
earn He can hardly wait to implement one of the first major changes
in the way things will be done under the new administration.
Whenever a new political party takes
power in a government here on earth, to bring people more into
alignment with their values and priorities they move quickly to
replace old systems and laws and policies with new ones that more
accurately reflect their own ideals to move people in a different
direction from that of the old regime. So too, when Jesus took over
rulership of this planet after His resurrection, one of the first
things He planned to do was to send His personal envoy to communicate
with every individual personally all over the planet to convict them
of the real truth about God and His deep desire to bring them back
into harmony with His ways, His principles and to come to know His
passion for them. This is the very essence of the gospel. And the
Holy Spirit is the power behind it.
So in anticipation of this coming
change of regime power on earth, Jesus alerts His disciples that this
Helper (implying that they will need tremendous help in the work they
will find themselves commissioned to do very soon) is going to do
three very specific things in this world. He is going to bring
conviction to each person about three major areas that need radical
change in the thinking of humanity to redirect their attention and
thinking from how Satan has governed this planet.
The Holy Spirit Helper, Jesus says,
will convict the world concerning sin
and righteousness and judgment.
Rather than belabor
extensively the false assumed meanings of these words, I want to
reinforce what I have been discovering over a number of years and
apply these fresh revelations of proper definitions from the Word
itself to open up a completely new perspective of what Jesus was
saying here. I feel I should maybe take a whole article to unpack
each of these items individually, but even then I know I would only
scratch the surface. Yet it seems shallow to tackle all three of
these in one short piece.
Far from having a
negative connotation as I have thought for much of my life, these
words are actually all enlightening and stirring for me now. Even the
word convict is becoming a more welcome concept in my life, for if I
do not feel regular moments of conviction from the Holy Spirit in my
own conscience, I become concerned that I must be indulging in
something that is preventing me from hearing the voice of the Spirit.
That will inhibit my growth in maturity because I am being
compromised by something that is hardening my heart.
Conviction used to
be something that I assumed was similar to condemnation. In my
experience the two were pretty much synonymous. But graciously God
has been delivering me over time from that slavery of fear that has
suffocated my spirit for much of my life and I now see that heaven's
kind of conviction is something to welcome and even to be desired.
Indeed, God did not send the Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him.
(John 3:17 NRSV) This has been one of the most enlightening and
liberating verses of my whole life. To realize that conviction and
condemnation actually come from two opposite sources has been a major
key for dispelling the lies of Satan about God that have for so long
kept me in darkness and fear of Him. Condemnation and shame are
actually counterfeits of conviction and never come through the Spirit
that works for Jesus.
I am
coming to see that conviction is actually heaven's way to make us
aware of what is real and true and good. It is really that simple. In
relation to this, I learned that the Greek word for confession
simply means to agree. That is the healthy response to God's
convicting. From God's side, the Holy Spirit makes our minds and
hearts aware of what is really true, which of course by contrast
exposes our perceptions and beliefs that are false. If we are willing
to embrace His version of reality and humble ourselves by laying
aside our opinions in favor of God's perspective, then confession
simply involves accepting God's version of reality to displace my own
confused notions about what is true and right.
I have long tried
to make sense out of why Jesus talked about these three specifics
that the Holy Spirit would convict us about. But today as I read this
again and applied updated definitions, suddenly the passage came
alive with increased meaning, significance and light. Jesus explains
why each of these are mentioned.
...concerning
sin, because they do not believe
in Me
One of the most
important transitions in my thinking has been about the definition of
sin itself. Without launching into a long explanation I will simply
say that I now see much more clearly that our problem of sin revolves
around the core issue of trust, not around legal issues with God.
But those who have doubts are
condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for
whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
(Romans 14:23 NRSV)
Since faith, belief
and trust all come from the very same word in the Greek, this verse
is telling us that anything outside of simple trust in God is sin.
That has unlocked so many other things in my understanding and has
allowed my heart to awaken with love for the first time. The Holy
Spirit intends to reveal to each soul that what it needs most is to
be restored into a trusting relationship with our Father. If we do
not believe in Jesus, which means we don't accept the truth He
declared, that God is no different in the slightest from the Son
Jesus Christ, then we will remain trapped in sin and darkness that
will always prevent us from trusting God.
...concerning
righteousness, because I go to the Father and
you no longer see Me
Righteousness is
another one of those oversize words that totally baffled me for many
years. It was always generally associated with behavior and thus
locked into the external definition of sin – the opposite of
righteousness – as an issue of bad behavior. But as my realization
of what sin really is began to transform, so too my appreciation of
what righteousness actually means began to expand.
Righteousness now,
at least in my thinking, has come to embrace all that God is.
Righteous is just the catch-all term for describing all the
attributes and terms that accurately describe what God is like and
how He acts toward others. God is right – all the time. But not
because He demands that we believe that no matter how illogical His
actions might be, but because all of the insinuations about Him we
have received from the great accuser are in reality baseless and
slanderous.
God is fair.
God is consistently
good, caring, loving and compassionate.
God never resorts
to using the techniques of His enemy to accomplish His desires.
God never changes
and is not schizophrenic. He is good all the time in spite of what we
often think.
God is continuously
forgiving. It is not something He does when we ask Him to change His
mind about us. It is a description of His very being. That became
clear to me when I did an in-depth study on Matthew 18 where I found
that offenses and sin are synonymous. I learned that forgiveness is
the releasing of offenses and the waiving of all rights to collect on
debts or to take revenge.
If God were ever
found to be in a position of needing to let go of an offense against
us, that would vindicate the enemy's charges that He takes offense to
start with. For to hold onto an offense, even for a moment, is to
engage in sin. God cannot sin and therefore never takes offense at
anything. How could Jesus instruct us to let go of offenses while
holding onto them Himself? That too was a breakthrough insight for me
that has increased my respect and appreciation for the truth about
His love.
All of the above
characteristics that describe what God is like are included in the
word righteousness. And it is the job of the Holy Spirit sent by God
and directed by Jesus to convict every person of these truths about
God so that we can begin to see that God really can be trusted and
that all the lies about Him we have believed or heard are groundless
and even destructive.
Some
of the most potent expressions and images of trust for God can be
found in the book of Revelation where we get a peek into the final
conclusion of this dispute. There we find those who have come to
really know the truth about God constantly offering up expressions of
praise, gratitude and genuine worship. They are ever talking about
God and Jesus as completely worthy.
It finally dawned on me one day that this term worthy
actually revolves around the issue of trust.
We generally use the term trust-worthy
when we speak of someone whom we have come to respect, who has earned
our trust over time. That is the core issue at the center of the
gospel, for the gospel means simply the truth that God is totally
worthy of our trust and that He is all that we were designed to need
and want.
"Worthy are You, our
Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power;
for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed,
and were created."
(Revelation 4:11)
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open
the book and to break its seals?" And no one in heaven
or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the
book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one
was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the
elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the
book and its seven seals." And I saw between the throne (with
the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing,
as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the
earth.
And they sang a new song, saying,
"Worthy are You to take the book and to
break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your
blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
...saying with a loud voice, "Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every
created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and
glory and dominion forever and ever."
(Revelation 5:2-6, 9, 12-13)
So, why did Jesus
say that the Spirit would convict of righteousness because the world
could no longer see Him? I am now starting to see that it is because
without the perfect example and embodiment of righteousness in human
form here on earth, God needed to provide another source from which
we could receive a knowledge of what is righteous. Instead of a
physical person providing the perfect example of what righteousness
is, now the Holy Spirit is ever present to convict each person from
inside their heart to sense what is righteous and what God is really
like if they will only listen to that conviction and respond to it.
...concerning judgment,
because the ruler of this world has been judged
This part of Jesus'
teaching has now become most exciting for me. As I have become more
and more aware of the reality and centrality of the truth about the
change of authority over this world from Satan to Jesus that happened
at the cross, I now realize better the implications of what Jesus is
saying here.
The
main reason that Jesus came to this earth besides to reveal the real
truth about God's character to the universe, was to expose by
contrast to His revelation the real truth about God's greatest
accuser. This word judgment
has been another major breakthrough for me in connection to what I
have recently come to learn about the biblical definition of justice.
Some time ago I began to learn that judgment has to do with exposing
what is hidden, not about
condemning or pronouncing arbitrary sentence on someone. And
likewise, justice from
heaven's perspective has nothing to do with arbitrary punishments or
rewards for bad or good behaviors – as if God were the great Santa
Clause of the universe. Rather, justice is simply the restoration by
God of everything back to its intended function and design.
The
word justice in the
Bible actually comes from the very same original word as
righteousness which comes as a great surprise to many including me.
Justice and judgment are usually closely linked together in our
minds, and they should be. But we must be extremely careful not to
allow false assumptions about these words continue to infect our
understanding and appreciation of what Jesus is saying to us.
Judgment
from heaven's perspective happens anytime the secret thoughts and
intents of hearts are exposed through circumstances or events. And
justice
from heaven's standpoint is the restoration to wholeness, restoration
of what has been broken, damaged or destroyed by Satan's kingdom,
restoration to the extent that God is given permission to do by those
needing it.
The Holy Spirit has
been sent to expose the lies of Satan about God just as Jesus did.
Jesus states explicitly here that the ruler of this world – the
despotic, tyrannical ruler of darkness who is the epitome of evil,
has been exposed by the light of the real truth about God as revealed
in the life and death of Jesus Christ. As we allow His Spirit to
enlighten our own minds and hearts with ever increasing revelations
of truth about God's loving character, we too shall increasingly find
the lies of the false ruler of this world exposed. And to our horror
we will find that many of the enemy's lies exposed are deep inside
ourselves. And even worse we realize that we have assumed many of
those lies were foundational truths of our religious belief systems
about God.
Are you praying for
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Are you desirous of a greater
awareness of the presence of Jesus in your life? That is all
wonderful and I affirm you in that desire. I too am praying earnestly
for much more of the Spirit of Jesus in my life.
But be aware that
if God answers our prayers that we may well be shocked and confused
by the results. For according to Jesus in this passage, if the Holy
Spirit ramps up His work in our life, we may suddenly find ourselves
under increasing conviction about things we have long assumed were
correct doctrine and faith. We will likely be very challenged to
question what we have long assumed was settled truth and may find
ourselves wondering if this Spirit is really from God or is leading
us in the wrong direction according to what we have believed is truth
all our lives.
If we are unwilling
to allow God to challenge our paradigms, our doctrines, our settle
assumptions about what is truth and error, then we remain in serious
danger of resisting the very Spirit we are praying for God to send to
us. God may find it very difficult to answer our prayers for more of
His Spirit as long as we are unwilling to let go of our cherished
opinions about Him He wants to expose.
I have often felt a
bit sad when I have read the words of Jesus that come right after
these words about the Holy Spirit. I feel that because of the
disciple's dullness of heart that the world has been short-changed
ever since. Yet am I really any more open to listening and
appreciating what Jesus wants to reveal today than they were?
I have many more things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth,
comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on
His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will
disclose to you what is to come.
(John 16:12-13)
