The Promise of the Spirit
J. S. Candlish, D. D. John 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you. In the words, "He shall receive of Mine," &c., the Spirit stands in a twofold relation and discharges a twofold function — towards Christ on the one hand, and toward His believing people on the other. I. HE SHALL TAKE OR RECEIVE OF MINE. 1. He is well entitled to take of what is Christ's, because He is Himself a Divine person. The manner in which the Holy Ghost is here associated with the Father and the Son clearly shows that tie is such. In truth, for any other than a Divine Person to take part in this transaction were a liberty not to be tolerated. But the Holy Ghost, being Himself God, is a party to the whole arrangement by which all things that the Father hath become Christ's: nay, more, He is a party to the carrying of that arrangement into effect. For consider how large a share the Holy Ghost had in the whole of that mediatorial work of Christ, which is the main ground of His saying, "All things that the Father hath are Mine." His very coming into the world was by the Holy Ghost, by whom a body was prepared for Him. He was "anointed by the Holy Ghost without measure," for the doing of His Father's will. "Through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself, without spot, to God;" and He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, by His resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness." In all the critical circumstances of His arduous undertaking, in His birth, His baptism, &c., the Holy Ghost stood by Him sustaining His human soul, and conveying to it the Father's love. 2. Nor is He less qualified and able, than He is entitled, to receive of what is Christ's. For, having been with the Father and the Son in the ordering of the plan from all eternity, and having been with Christ all along in the accomplishment of it, "He searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God:" and in dealing with what is Christ's, He is in His element, so to speak, and at home (ver. 13). He can make us know "the things which are freely given to us of God;" past, present, and future; "opening our eyes to behold wondrous things out of God's law." 3. He is One whom Christ is, altogether willing to have taking of His. It is not a stranger who disposes of another's property, or builds on another's foundation. It is no rash or rude hand, indifferent to His interest or honour, that rifles His treasury and steals from His unsearchable riches. "He shall glorify Me," says Christ Himself. He is of My council, and His sole aim is to carry out My work and to exalt My name. II. WHAT THE SPIRIT THUS TAKES OR RECEIVES OF CHRIST'S, HE SHOWS TO HIS PEOPLE. 1. What kind of showing is it that we need? How is it that what the Spirit takes of Christ's must be revealed? Will it suffice to set before our eyes what is to be shown? Alas! the experience of the Lord's actual sojourn here below gives but a sad reply. Nor is the case altered now. In the written Word, in the preaching of the gospel, in all the means and ordinances by which Christ and His salvation are brought before the minds of men and pressed upon their regard, the Holy Ghost is "taking of what is Christ's and showing it," and every time you open the Bible, or wait on the preaching of Christ crucified, if you continue unaffected and unmoved, you are resisting the Spirit. But there must be a showing of another kind; a work of discovery within, an opening of the eye of the carnal mind; a dispelling of the darkness of the evil heart, that "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" may shine. Now for this kind of showing, the Holy Ghost is the fitting agent. For being pure Spirit, He has access immediately to your spirits: and being almighty, He turns them whithersoever He will. 2. Mark the progress of the Spirit's work, in showing you what He takes of Christ's. (1) Call to mind the first awakening of your soul to the apprehension of things divine. Think on the time, when, after a sudden and decided call perhaps, or a slower and more doubtful process of conviction, you have felt as if, all at once, the clouds broke and the sky cleared. What of Christ's was it that the Spirit was then showing you? Did He not show you the Son obedient, and the Father well pleased: the righteous and holy love of God, which is Christ's as the reward of His obedience unto death, in all its fulness and freeness? (2) Or again, if you go back to any season of peculiar spiritual prosperity, what was it that quickened your holy graces, filled you with hatred of sin, and made duties a delight? What did the Spirit show to you of Christ's then? What of holy beauty, or meek endurance, or tender sympathy in Christ? What of venerable authority and benignant complacency in God His Father? (3) Learn to note in some such way as this the agency of the Holy Spirit in you, by observing what it is that He shows you of Christ's and of the Father's, in the critical periods of your Christian pilgrimage. See how He has used the "unsearchable riches of Christ" for the satisfying of your wants; how in your ignorance He has opened to you "the riches of His wisdom and knowledge;" in your waywardness and backsliding; "the riches of His forbearance" in your grief and despondency "the riches of His grace;" and amid the terrors of death "the riches of His glory." Thus you will be able to stir up the gift that is in you, and to improve the Spirit's gracious dealings with you to the uttermost. 3. Observe as an encouragement how this whole work of the Spirit is carried on, not against, but by means of our natural faculties of understanding and conscience. If He shows you must look. It is in the Word that Christ is set forth. Let the Word of Christ then dwell in you richly. Then will the Spirit be ever showing you out of the word by His inward teaching, more and more of what is Christ's and opening your eyes more and more to "behold wondrous things out of His law." And this the rather because — 4. The work is according to the mind of Christ. He is the Spirit of Christ — the Spirit that dwelt in Him. And if the very Spirit that dwelt in Christ, and was intimately cognisant of all that passed through His soul in all His life of sorrows, and His death of shame, and His resurrection to glory, dwell in you; have you not here a connecting link which will give you a quick understanding and discernment of all that is Christ's, and cause you to realize it as your own?Conclusion: 1. The doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity is brought out in this, as it generally is in other passages of the Word, not abstractly and in the way of a naked statement of the truth, but practically, and with reference to what they severally do in the economy of grace. 2. The manner of intercourse between heaven and earth is here presented. The chain is formed — fixed on the throne of God at one end, twined round your heart at the other — waiting but the touch of the heavenly fire, the swift and secret influence of the Heavenly Spirit, to make it all instinct with life and meaning, so that signs and tokens may pass between. The ladder is set — reaching from the sanctuary above to the sanctuary of every church, home, and closet. And not angels only are ascending and descending on this ladder, which is none other than the mediation of the Son of Man — but the Lord Himself — the Spirit-As moving to and fro, communicating the fulness of the Father, through the Son. (J. S. Candlish, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. WEB: He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.