22 Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. John 14: 22-24 LSB
John 14: 22-24
V. 22 Judas (not Iscariot) - Imagine having that name and being one of the disciples; I would want it to be abundantly clear that I am not that guy, maybe even go by Jude or something, but it also shows that it's not what's in a name. There is probably a meekness that comes with sharing one of the most notorious names in history. Imagine if you were introduced as Adolf, you would say, "not Hitler", or Ted "not Bundy". The name is a byword for a traitor and deceiver now, and in agriculture it is the name given to the goat that leads the sheep to slaughter. Shepherds train a goat to walk the sheep to the slaughter pen, using the sheep's natural instinct to follow, hence the Judas Goat. He infiltrates the group and leads them toward their demise.
V. 22b Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world - This bears a Messianic question, and this has been problematic for them all along. Peter tries to rebuke Jesus for suggesting that He will go to the cross, and Jesus' reply is a very stern rebuke back to Peter, where He tells him, "get the behind Me, Satan." They struggle to discern the time of their visitation, that this is what the prophet Isaiah wrote about, the suffering of Messiah. This is Jesus first coming, and they naturally move to the other passages in Isaiah and the prophets that speak of earthly reign and the second coming. Now Isaiah 53 is fulfilled in the most exact, literal fashion, and every prophetic utterance, even symbolic, has a literal interpretation, a non figurative fulfillment, but there are those, some who I consider to be Jesus' disciples even today, that choose an eschatology which differs from the simple reading. When it speaks of the Lamb, that Messiah is despised and rejected, that He is righteous, that He bears our iniquity, that He is pierced, well, they see all that historically fulfilled in Christ Jesus. When it says He is going to rule, they want that to be figurative, to be interpreted some other way. The disciples expectation is high, and the age, Church age, that they are entering into is mysterious to them. It is the time of the gentiles.
…5For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.… Isaiah 9: 5-7
…25I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities. 26I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” 27Zion will be redeemed with justice, her repentant ones with righteousness.… Isaiah 1: 25-27
1This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.…
4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war. Isaiah 2: 1-4
…23How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.… Luke 21: 23-25
V. 23 If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word - This is within the context of the promise of the Holy Spirit, Who indwells believers. The fruit of the Spirit is obedience to Christ's teachings, and becomes the evidence of whether someone truly knows Him. This faith is not owed to anyone except those that God is calling out of the world through His Son, those He has promised to the Son. The disciples will not cease to know Jesus when He departs, because He lives and intercedes for us in the presence of the Father, and has given us a Comforter, the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is He Who causes us to believe, regenerates us unto life, convicts the world of sin, and brings us to walk in the truth, being conformed to the image of Christ. There is a day when even the unbelieving world will see, but they still won't know Him because they don't love Him, but "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Maclaren on My word - “That is more than a ‘commandment,’ is it not? Christ’s ‘word’ is more than precept. It includes all His sayings, and it includes them all as in one vital unity and organic whole. We are not to go picking and choosing among them; they are one.”
Andrew Murray - The abiding presence of God is the heritage of every child of God. The Father never hides His face from His child. Sin hides it, and unbelief hides it; but the Father lets His love shine all the day on the face of His children. The sun is shining day and night. Your sun shall never go down. Come and live in the presence Of God. - Precept Austin
…11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 13And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,…
14who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1: 11-14
V. 24 But the Father's Who sent Me - He continues to answer Judas, that there is a correlation between love and action; it is something far above sentiment. The worldling loves the things of this world, is molded by the world rather than by God's word. Some will try to separate Jesus from the Father in their thinking, their aberrant form of Christianity. Some will say the God of the OT verses the God of the NT, but Jesus says, "I and the Father are One". He also makes it clear that He didn't come to change the law, there was nothing wrong with it. There is no need for God to change because you cannot make the perfect more perfect by degree. No, it is man who has fallen short, and Christ has come to save those who can acknowledge that, to call them to repentance. God sent His Son out of love, God killed Him out of love for the people He had chosen, and He did so because the law was just, and the wages of sin is death. It is not that those of the world do not know Christ by name, many know that, and there are many false Christs, but like He says, "if you love Me then keep My commandments, if you love Me, feed My sheep."
…33Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful. 34For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.… John 3: 33-35
…16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? 18Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.…
…19And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence: 20Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things. 21Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,… 1 John 3: 16-21
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