John 14:26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Most Christians are aware of the new covenant promised to God-fearers in Jeremiah 31:33. God promises he would "put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This is a change from the covenant of physical blessing promised to Abraham and the nation. This is a spiritual covenant made to all peoples of faith.
Today's text fulfills this covenant. With the coming of the Spirit on the Church, God's law comes to live within us and written on our hearts and minds. The Spirit teaches the Church all things and reminds us constantly of Christ.
With the Spirit, God's covenant is now both external – in the moral law outlined in the Old Testament, Christ's teachings, New Testament teachings – and internal – from the direct revelations to us from the Spirit. In a sense, every believer now has their own private tutor.
Of course, some believers struggle to rightly hear from the Spirit. Instead, we wrongly listen to cultural teachings, confusing these ideas with the voice of the Spirit. Several times, I've heard believers claim the Spirit was leading them in a way that contradicted God's Word. While I may not have the spiritual gift of discernment, we can be sure the Spirit will not contradict God's already revealed revelations of himself, for his nature is not changing.
We must be careful to discern when the Spirit is speaking or we'll find ourselves going astray. Be assured, the Spirit never speaks in opposition to God's Word.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for your internal voice living within me. May I have wisdom to discern your voice above all others and to be obedient to follow after you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment