The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 302

HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-4-.-A warning of future persewtion8. Having spoken of the guilt of the persecutors, our Lord refers now to the sufferings of the disciples. I. 'l'nE DEBtGN 01• THE WARNING. "These things have I spoken unto you, thnt you should not bo offended." 1. The obstinate unbelief of the Jews would be not only a great surprise to the apostles, but a profound disappointment. They al ways lived in the expectation of IL national conversion of Israel. 2. It was therefore ner,essary to prepatre them by timely warnings/or a fact so unexpected and so tragiwl in its results. II. RELIGIOUS ZEAL TllE PRETENCE OF FUTURE PERSECUTIONS. "They shall pnt you out of their synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he oO'ereth worship to God." 1. The persecutions would either take the form of (1) excommunication or (2) death. 2. Fanatical religious zeal would prompt the most extreme action, as it did in the case of Saul the persecutor, who thought he ought to do many things contrary to the Namo of Christ, 3. The cause or ground of this persewting zeal. "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." (1) Blindness and hatred often go hand-in-hand. (2) The Jews were not guiltless of cruelty on the ground of their ignorance, because they had the amplest opportunities for knowing Christ and his Father, III. OUR Loan's PDEDICTION OF COMING PERSECUTIONS OUGHT TO BE A GROU'.'!D OF FAITII, "But these things I have foretold you, that when their hour shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them." 1. Our Lord will not allo 1n his disciples to go forward into suffering without being prepared and trained lo meet it. 2. He had hitherto spared them this disclosure of coming evil. "These things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you," (1) He had often spoken of persecutions as awaiting them, but not in such close connection with their relatioruhip to himself and the manner in which they were to be encountered in the comfort and strength of the Spirit's witness. (2) So Jong as Christ was with the disciples, the rage of the Jews was directed against himself, and not agninst them. Vers. 5-11.-The v/,ctory of the disciples. Jesus new describes the power which will gain their.victory over the world. I. THE POWER WHIOII WILL GIVE THE VICTORY, 1. The disciples were too absorbed by the sorrows of the approaching separation to think of anything but themselves. "But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? _But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart." (1) They were so absorbed with the thought of their own immediate loss that they missed the meaning of his departure for themselves. (2) They ought not to have so greatly lamented his bodily absence and overlooked all the spiritual advantages that would accrue to themselves from his ascension to heaven and his participation in his Father's glory. 2. The expediency of his departure from the world. "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (1) Our Lord's departure the Church's gain. It would lead to truer conceptions of Christ's Person and work. (a) A great man's greatness is usually increased by death. The removal of Christ would dissolve the illusion of familiarity. He could only be truly tmder- stood after he was gone. (b) 'l'he souls of the apostles were greatly quickened after his departure. '!'heir faith, hope, charity, were increased after Pentecost. (2) Our Lord's departure was the condition of the Spirit's advent. (a) He left the earth to return as a quickening Spirit. Christ after the flesh must disappear, to make way for Christ after the Spirit. (b) The vicarious sacrifice of Christ stands to the mission of the Comforter in the relation of cause and effect. (c) The dispensa- tion of the Spirit is superior to the dispensation of "Christ come in the flesh," for the followina reasons: (ca) J'esus in the flesh could not be present in every place or in all the hou~eholds of the world; but Christ by his Spirit can ilwell in the hearts of millions at the same moment of time as the Hope of glory, (/J) If Christ were still in the flesh, his presence would only be temporary and occasional; bnt Christ by his Spirit can be always everywhere at the same moment of time. ('Y) As a. matter of fact.  312 'l'BE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO S'l', JOHN. [on. xvr. 1-3:l,