13-17 The Deity of Christ discussed
in private
This commences a whole new section in the gospel of
John. Jesus no longer addresses the
public at large, only His disciples. He is preparing them for future service. These chapters have been described as “The
upper room ministry”, yet it seems that chapters 15-17 take place outside-refer14v31
with 18v1.
Chapters 1-17 can be divided into three sections:
· 1-7
the word “life” occurs 37 times
· 8-12 the word “light” occurs 13 times
· 13-17
the word “love” occurs 33 times
John’s threefold presentation of Christ is that He has
come to reveal Divine life, and light, and love, and in that specific
order. We can trace a similar pattern in
His epistles. We need the life of God,
the light of God and the love of God.
The predominant thought in these chapters is of Divine love. Indeed that is how the section begins-13v1,
and ends-17v26. It is important to grasp
this, that the revelation of God in Christ comes to us in these three
forms. We can know nothing of God
without Divine life; we require the light of God within; we need the love of
God to function for Him on this earth.
Christ is all three for us, He is the life of God, the light of God, and
the love of God, to every believer. Thus
we could describe this portion as “the circle of God’s love”. We see:
the love of the Father for the Son-15v9; 17v23, v24,
v26 the love of the Son for the Father-14v31;
15v10 the love of the Father for His children-14v21;
17v23 the love of the Son
for His own-13v1; 14v21, 15v9 the love of the disciples for
the Lord-14v21, v23, v28;15v10,13 the love of believers for each other-13v34;
14v13; 15v12, v17
Christ was on a mission, the time of fulfilment was upon
them and the emphasis is on love, the love of God pervading all our lives.
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