The Time Has Come
John 16:5-15
As we have read, Jesus’ time has finally come, and the disciples feared what that would mean for their lives. When something terrible happens, we focus on ourselves and become victims. Questions like “Why is this happening to me?” and “How is this going to affect me?” run rampant in our minds. The disciples reacted similarly, and in this section of John 16, Jesus reassures them by explaining the role of the Holy Spirit.
As He has explained, Jesus had to leave to send the Holy Spirit, who would act as a Helper (v.7) and Advocate for the disciples and all believers. In going, Jesus also starts teaching His disciples to look outside themselves and live for something more significant.
In verse 8, Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will come and convict the world of their “sin and righteousness and judgment.” But, because the Spirit is not in the physical form like Jesus, how will He do that? As the disciples go out, the Spirit will work through them to convict people of their sins and ask them to repent and believe in the gospel. Even now, as Jesus' disciples, we have the honor of acting as agents of repentance to the world, asking people to repent and believe in the gospel. It is important to note here that the Spirit alone calls convicts of sin and brings people from death to life. We have the humble role of going and being faithful, but we must understand that God alone saves.
The beautiful thing about this mission of repentance is that we do not do it alone or out of our power. Remember, the Spirit Himself is the one who convicts the world, and we, as disciples, act as vessels. The Spirit convicts through us; it is not we who do the convicting. The passage says that the Spirit will guide us into all truth (v.13), and in verse 11, we read that the battle is already won because “the prince of this world stands condemned.” We can rest on the truth that Jesus has already won the battle, and the cross defeated sin and death forever. The Holy Spirit in us acts to bring glory to God and will be with us from the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord.
Do you trust that the Holy Spirit does the work of saving people? What does being an agent of repentance look like in your life?
