The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
July, 1957
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Thirty)

QUIET TALKS WITH THE APOSTLES

In this day of hustle and bustle and of stress and strain, it is comforting to read the words of Jesus to His apostles upon their return from an exhausting preaching mission, only to be surrounded by so many going and coming that they had no leisure even to eat. "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while," he said (Mark 6:31). Jesus frequently went apart to be alone with God. In Isaiah, chapter 50, which records the intimate life of the Lord, one learns of Him: "The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he awakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught" (v. 4). Thus He was daily instructed of God.

In the Upper Room

In John 13:31-14:31 is the account of the withdrawal of Jesus with His apostles into the upper room. There He observed with them for the last time until the Millennium the Feast of Passover and established what has come to be known as the Lord's Supper. John does not record the establishment of the Lord's Super, but he does show, beyond question, that Judas Iscariot had left beforehand, during the observance of the Passover.

Peter's Question

Knowing well where Judas had gone and why, Jesus nevertheless took occasion in the seclusion of the upper room to have a quiet talk with His apostles. He told them that the hour of His glorification was at hand and that soon He would go where they could not come. Then He gave them a new commandment, to love one another as He had loved them. Their love one to another would make them known to all men as His disciples. Peter, who some six months before had rebuked Him for determining to go to Jerusalem to be killed (Matt. 16:22), asked immediately, "Lord, whither goest thou?" He replied, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow afterwards." But the persistent Peter asked, "Lord, why cannot I follow thee even now?" He could not go with Jesus then because the new and living way was not yet open. Jesus had first to die on the cross and then ascend into heaven to appear before the face of God, having sacrificed Himself to put away sin (Heb. 9:23-28).

Thomas's Question

Aware of the dismay of the apostles because of the impending separation, Jesus bade them, "Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go, ye know the way" (John 14:1-4).

On this occasion Thomas interrupted, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way?" This statement shows clearly that the disciples could not comprehend what was about to occur. Nor had they understood when Jesus previously told them that He was going to Jerusalem to be delivered up (Luke 18:31-34).

In reply to Thomas Jesus resorted to paronomasia, or a play on words. The question being "How know we the way?" He replied, "I am the way." Since the apostles were already believers, Jesus was not stressing here that He was the way to salvation—although He is the only way. He was referring particularly to His being the way to Eternal Jerusalem, the place that He had just said He was going away to prepare. He said also that He was the truth. In Him is perfect correspondence between fact and idea. He declared further that He was the life, even as he had said to the grieving Martha, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me though he die, yet shall he live; 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die" (John 11:25, 26).

Philip's Question

Concluding His reply to Thomas's question, He said, "No one cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him" (John 14:6b,7). In this declaration, Jesus proved false any teaching that one can inherit eternal life through mere good works and moral living or in any way except through Him. His statement concerning knowing the Father, however, caused Philip to request, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (v. 8). The reply is one of the many passages in the Scriptures attesting that Jesus Christ is one of the Persons of the Trinity, identical in substance with God the Father, but different in personality. "9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."

Had God the Father entered the world as Jesus had done, He would have acted as Jesus did, for in Jesus Christ the complete revelation of God to man was made. His nature and character were fully revealed.

The quiet talk in the upper room was not the only occasion that Jesus Christ identified Himself with God the Father. About three months earlier, at the time of the Feast of the Dedication, as He was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch, He had declared to the Jews who had demanded that He tell them plainly whether He was the Christ, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). The Jews thereupon took up stones to stone Him for blasphemy. His statement was an affirmation that He and God the Father were one, not in personality, but in essence, nature, character, and purpose.

Jesus also declared His Divinity to the multitudes after He had paid high tribute to John the Baptist, who had sent from prison by his disciples his inquiry concerning Jesus. "All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him" (Matt. 11:27). In this passage He recognized the infinity of God, yet affirmed that only He and those whom He willed to make the revelation could comprehend God and that only God could comprehend Him. He thus declared His Divinity, because only a Divine Being can comprehend a Divine Being.

His statement to Philip that the one who had seen Him had seen the Father means fundamentally that He was of the same essence or substance as the Father and that the nature of the Father was manifested in His own life.

Greater Works

In this quiet talk with the apostles, Jesus next declared, "12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father." How could any human being do more than the Son of God? One should remember that, when the Son entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth, He took upon Himself human limitations. Now He was to return unto the Father. His earthly mission was almost completed. After the cross, He would carry on His work through those who believed on Him and were obedient unto Him. Two instances of the apostles' doing greater works than He had manifested are the evangelization at Pentecost, when the Lord added to them in one day "about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:41), and the giving of the gospel to the whole world (Rom. 10:16-18; Col. 1:6, 21-23). For such events to take place, Jesus Christ had first to die on the cross to atone for sin, so that the separation between God and man might be destroyed. He had also to send the Holy Spirit to man.

Prayer

In John 14:13,14 is one of the greatest passages on prayer in all the Scriptures. "13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do." When Jesus specified that the apostles were to petition in His name, He gave them no magical formula. Simply to say, as one should when he prays, "In Jesus' name" is not enough. What else is needed? Faith that involves a knowledge of the Son. To pray in His name, then, is to pray on the basis of the revelation that He has given of Himself and with this knowledge of Him reflected in one's thoughts. For example, should one ask in the name of justice that an unjust act be done? Certainly not. Neither, then, should one ask in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that something contrary to His nature be done. But all petitions in the name of the Son, in accordance with His nature, will be granted—"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."

Holy Spirit, the Comforter

In verse 15, Jesus sets forth the infallible proof of love of Him: "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." Then in verses 16-21 appears His promise to send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to dwell forever within the believer. He had been with the apostles, but now He was going away. He would, therefore, send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, not to be with them bodily, as He had been, but to dwell within them, in their hearts. That He would manifest Himself to them through the Holy Spirit is made clear by His statement "I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you" (v. 18).

The Question of Judas, not Iscariot

Still preparing the apostles for the impending separation, Jesus declared: "19 Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him."

Here Judas, not Iscariot, interrupted to ask, "Lord, what is come to pass that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Jesus replied to this question by repeating that which He had just said, but which Judas, or Jude, also called Lebbeus and Thaddeus (Matt. 10:3, Mark 3:18), could not understand because of his expectation of an external manifestation of the Messianic kingdom. Jesus reiterated the moral condition necessary for Him to manifest Himself to anyone. The person must love Jesus, keep His word, and be loved of the father. Worldly people do none of these; therefore Jesus manifests Himself, not to them, but to believers only. Through the Holy Spirit He indwells those who believe on Him.

The Purpose of the Quiet Talk

In conclusion, Jesus told why He had had this quiet talk with the apostles. He wanted to prepare them for what was to come. The Comforter would teach them all things and remind them of all that He had told them. Having been told beforehand what was to come, they would believe it when it occurred.

His statement "I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I" (vs. 28) is not a contradiction of His earlier statement "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). It is simply another reference to Himself as the God-man. God was greater than Jesus Christ because, by assuming human form, the Son had voluntarily imposed limitations upon Himself.

In closing this talk, Jesus made a prediction concerning Satan, the prince of the world (John 14:30). He declared that Satan was coming, but had nothing in Him. His statement is, in effect, a declaration of His sinlessness. Because Jesus was without sin, Satan could lay no claim upon Him.

Jesus would no more speak with the apostles after this quiet talk, which He continued on the way to Gethsemane; but, He declared, "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (v. 31). He then bade the apostles, "Arise, let us go hence" and willingly departed to Gethsemane where He knew that He would be betrayed.