“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15:26 – 27).
When we arrive, the Lord willing, at John 16:5 – 15, we will explore more of the Holy Spirit (see also John 14:16 – 17); at this point let’s note that the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus, forever and always the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ. This testimony expresses itself in two directions, the Holy Spirit speaks to the world, and the Holy Spirit speaks to the Church.
In the context of John 15:18 – 16:4, our present passage, the Holy Spirit speaks to the world as we speak to the world. In 16:8 – 11 we see the Holy Spirit working in the world. When we arrive at John 16:12 – 15 we see the blessed Holy Spirit speaking to us, the People of Christ, His Body, revealing Jesus Christ, always revealing Jesus.
In Revelation 19:10 we see that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” and in Revelation 12:17 we witness the dragon making war with those who “keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
While the “spirit of prophecy” may have a predictive element to it, the term really speaks to us of the Living Word of God, as Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak to you are Spirit and are Life” (John 6:63).
Actually, the predictive element may often be in the testimony of Jesus but seldom recognized because we are not looking for Him. We are looking for news of coming events, we are looking for our curiosity to be satisfied, we are looking for entertainment. We are not interested in transformation in Christ through the Cross.
And so we follow teachers and preachers who produce a steady diet of speculation in the guise of teaching us the Bible, we become followers of people who do not point us to Jesus Christ, but to their particular brand of fast food and to themselves. Today we see the sad fruit of decades of this nonsense, for we go on our merry way undisturbed by our abandonment of Jesus in the professing church.
If we abandon the testimony of Jesus we will live in darkness – this is the kind of predictive element we need but reject because we are not looking for it, we are looking for entertainment. I find few Christians who will speak to me of Jesus, why is this? They will speak of worldviews, of their doctrinal distinctives, of politics, of the economy, of religious marketing so their churches will grow and grow, but few will speak of Jesus. Is this not strange?
Well now, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will testify of Him and that we will also testify of Him. While we note that Jesus says, “for you have been with Me from the beginning,” let’s also note what Jesus says in Acts 1:7 – 8:
“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
When the Holy Spirit comes on the Day of Pentecost, He comes to live within the entire Church, the Body of Christ (see also 1 Corinthians 12:12 – 13). Therefore, while those “who have been with Him from the beginning” stand in a special place, they do so as the foundation stones of our witness of Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:19 – 22) equipping us for the “work of service” (Ephesians 4:11 – 12).
We are ALL to be His witnesses, we are ALL to share Jesus Christ with others. We are to be those who “keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
To be sure we need one another to do this, and hopefully we all have one or two or five brothers or sisters whom we can journey with, hopefully we can find others who love Jesus.
I also want us to consider that there is a sense in which we can also be among those “who have been with Him from the beginning.” We can go there in His Word, we can go to Genesis 1:1, to Proverbs 8:1, to John 1:1, and to 1 John 1:1 – 4. This is not a stretch at all, for we are raised up with Him in the heavenlies in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and have been blessed in Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3).
As we learn to see the things that are unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18), the communion of the saints becomes more and more real to us (Hebrews 12:2, 22 – 24).
Indeed, throughout the Upper Room Jesus is drawing us deeper and deeper into the Trinity, and this is a koinonia where words fail us.
In John 15:26 – 27 our testimony of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s testimony of Jesus are melded, we become one with the Holy Spirit, indeed we are “one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17), crying “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15).
There may be times when we stand alone, or among the few, to testify of Jesus; just as Jesus stood alone to testify of the Father. I think this is one of those times.
What a high calling, to be faithful to Jesus.
O Jesus, capture our hearts. Let us love you in pure devotion and simplicity. (2 Corinthians 11:1 – 3).
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