_“But I tell you the truths: It is for your good that I am going away. ...” (John 16: 7)_
In John 14: 28, Jesus told His disciples: “I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father”, and in John 16: 7 He said, “It is for your good that I am going away.” How could it possibly have been to the apostles’ good that Jesus should leave them? They had three marvelous years in His company. They watched Him feed the hungry, heal the sick and raise the dead! What could Jesus have meant? Well. John Stott writes, “The apostles experienced two major drawbacks”. Firstly, while Jesus was with them on earth, His presence was localized. So they were sometimes separated from one another. For example, once when they were in the boat, Jesus was praying on the mountain. They could not enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Him. Henry Drummond explains it this way - suppose Jesus was still in Jerusalem. Every ship and plane would be crowded with Christian pilgrims and suppose you were in one of them. With much difficulty you land there. But you find that every road is congested and crowded. Between you and Jerusalem lies a seething mass of people. You have come to Jesus but you will never see Him! It was to avoid such frustration that Jesus went away and sent the Holy Spirit to take His place. For what the Holy Spirit has done is to universalize the presence of Jesus and to make Him accessible to everybody everywhere. The second drawback was that while Jesus was with them on earth, His presence was external. He could not enter their personality or change them from within, getting at the source of their thoughts, motives and desires. But the Holy Spirit would live in them and will be with them. (John 14: 17) Thus the Holy Spirit internalizes the presence of Jesus so that Christ dwells by His Spirit in our hearts and transforms us into His likeness.
Dear friends, it is, therefore, greatly to our advantage that Jesus went away, for in His place He has sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has made the presence of Jesus no longer local but universal, no longer external but internal.
*PRAYER* : Dear Lord, You are now in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father and You have sent Your Holy Spirit to be with me and to live in me to transform me in Your likeness. By Your Holy Spirit I can have fellowship with You always. Thank You for this great privilege. Amen.
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