The Spirit’s Testimony #1572

26 But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. (John 15:26–27, NKJV)

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to His apostles to be a Helper, a Comforter, after He left this world (John 14:16-18). He fulfilled His promise to them (Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-4, 33). The Holy Spirit has given powerful testimony of Jesus Christ to the world. By His miraculous revelation, inspiration and confirmation, the Spirit of truth bears witness of the gospel of Christ through the apostles He empowered (Acts 1:8). The testimony borne by the Spirit of truth is not a personal impulse, feeling or revelation uniquely given as personal experiences to each individual. His testimony is the gospel He gave the apostles which they preached to the world (Jno. 14:25-26; 16:8-13). To refuse their word for a personal testimony that contradicts the Spirit’s testimony in Scripture is spiritually destructive: “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” (Hebrews 2:3-4) The New Testament is the Spirit’s testimony to the world. What a comfort the Comforter has given us!

“If You Love Me” #1571

If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15, NKJV)

It’s easy to love a child in a manger. But, on this day when the religious world long ago decided to have a holy day in honor of the birth of Jesus (a holiday, by the way, never commanded in the Scriptures and never celebrated by the New Testament church), the Child who was given to the world challenges the world with these words spoken by Him over 30 years after He was in the manger. Keeping the commands of Jesus is the essence of loving Him, because it puts His will and His purposes before our own. His will is superior to ours, and so, in faith we obey His word instead of our own wisdom and wishes. Love Jesus by keeping His commands. Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:21). That is the love we must have for Jesus every day.