This series, taken from the Gospel of John, the apostle has reminded us that the Lord loves man enough to give His Son to die for him.  He also sends man gifts such as sunshine, rain, etc. so that he can live well and long.  Along with the necessities of life, the gracious God has spiritual gifts that those who believe in Him can receive if His rules of life (caveats) are obeyed, among those gifts are GRACE and TRUTH (God’s Word–17:17).  These spiritual gifts are designed to draw man ever closer to Him so that, upon the return of His Son at the end of this age, obedient man will have qualified to spend eternity with the Father and the Son in the earthly paradise known Biblically as the Kingdom of God.  Read the series by that name.  Key word–Kingdom.

In this posting we will study other gifts from God that John mentions in his Gospel, gifts that have been expounded upon by other Scriptural writers.  One of those gifts, actually the most important gift relative to receiving the ultimate gift of ETERNAL LIFE, is the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT (7:37-39; 14:16), symbolized as living water (4:10).  In Acts 1:3-5 we find Jesus telling His disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait there for the gift of the Holy Spirit which would be poured out (like water) on them a few days later.  This gift was “the promise of the Father” given to true believers.  The Holy Spirit–“the power of God” (Lk. 1:35)–would come upon them and they would have power to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead.  In sum, they would be able to do not only what He (Jesus) had done, but even greater things (14:12).  This gift would give true believers “… power over all the power of the enemy (Satan)” (Lk. 10:19) that would enable the true saint to “… overcome (Satan) even as I (Jesus) overcame (him)” so that he/she can “… sit with Me (Jesus) on My throne” (Rev. 3:21) in the Kingdom of God.  Again, notice that receiving the promise was contingent upon one fulfilling the command to overcome Satan.  The believer must resist (overcome) Satan’s temptations to sin just as Jesus had resisted those same temptations (Heb. 4:15).  The Scriptures guarantee that Satan will actually flee from the one who continuously resists him–overcomes his temptations to sin (Jam. 4:7).  The Holy Spirit is the gift that empowers the holiness seeker to do exactly that and thereby receive the reward of ETERNAL LIFE (6:33; 10: 27-29), which is the ultimate gift God offers to those who overcome the devil and his fallen angels.

In 13:15 Jesus declares to His disciples, then and now, that He has been the PERFECT EXAMPLE for them to follow in all areas of life.  One of the works (caveats) God’s true saints are required to do is to wash one another’s feet–an act of humility and service to others normally relegated to a servant.  Recall the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them with her hair, and how He praised her and used her act of humility to scold a Pharisee for not having a servant wash His feet upon His arrival at his home (Lk. 7:36-50).  I have washed the feet of others and have had my feet washed by others.  I know of no greater act of humility than to wash the feet of another.  Jesus, the greatest human being ever to walk in the dust of this earth, lowered Himself to the most basic level.  What an example!  May we all follow the perfect pattern established by the Son of God in all areas of life.  But understand this–being humble does not mean being cowardly.  We must boldly stand for the God of the Bible and live out His will (Word) before those who reject Him, reject His Word and reject those of who believe and obey it.  Remember also that obeying God’s Word cost Jesus and the apostles their lives.  Being a true Christian is not for the faint of heart.  And it will become much more dangerous as we approach the end of the age.

There will come a time when the federal government will force the Very Elect to leave the country because their light will expose the darkness of so-called Christianity.  God’s apostles will tell those in spiritual darkness that the nation is a religious sewer and why–the sins of her people.  I can tell you by experience, church people do not those words.  But take heart, God has a place of safety prepared for His people which He calls “her place” in Revelation 12:14.  “Her” refers to His true church.  Read Revelation 12:6-16.  Be aware, those of “the church” will be the instigators of the government’s persecution of God’s saints.  The great (Catholic) whore and her harlot (Protestant) daughters will be the very ones who will urge the government to expel the children of God.  They will have become a one-world church that is represented in Revelation 17:1-5 as a woman bearing a cup filled with the blood of the saints.  The beast she is “riding” will be the one-world government which she will influence.

Which brings us to another gift from God mentioned by John–PEACE (14:27): “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you which is not like the world’s peace.  As I have said unto you, ‘Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid'” of what true believers would face.  This is the “peace that passes all understanding.”  This is the peace Jesus and the apostles possessed when they faced certain death.  Hear what Jesus said: “I did not come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come with peace, but rather, a sword.  For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be those in his own household” (Mat. 10:34-36).  Read verses 37 through 39.  Jesus warned us that loving and obeying Him would cause the world to hate us.  The “world” often includes one’s family.  Those who come against God’s people usually do not hate them personally, rather, they hate the saints’ spiritual light because it reveals the haters’ darkness.  As we become what we manifest, God’s people are his light.  Therefore the people’s hatred for God is in fact hatred for the saint.  As Jesus warned in Luke 10:16, to reject His Word means that one despises Jesus Himself, His Father and the one who obeys Their Word.  It is the Word/Light/Truth/Gospel that the world hates.  This hatred therefore proves their hatred toward the Godhead and Their followers.  As you can imagine, religious people reject this message and the ones who proclaim it.

Lastly, God has given His Very Elect the gift of His GLORY (17:17-23).  Read that passage carefully with your heart open to Christ’s Words.  We who are sanctified (set aside for holy works) by God’s Word, are the believers, bearers and doers of His Truth.  True saints have been placed in this world to live lives of holiness so that they manifest His glory to the world around them.  Like Jesus, when people see them, they must see the Father.  Otherwise, they are not His children and are not walking with Him in agreement with Him (Amos 3:3).  Christ’s apostles are sent into the world to preach His Word and to manifest Him not only in word, but in acts of power.  Both disciples and apostles of Christ and God are rejected and despised as They are.  This is the tell-tale sign that one is a true child of God and a brother of Jesus.

Again, a word of warning: THE MOST RELIGIOUS WILL HATE THE DEEPEST.  No one hates Godliness more that the super-religious.  No one is more Godly than Jesus.  He tells us that the world hated Him and will hate His Very Elect even more.  What God calls “light” false Christians call “darkness.”  The counterfeit church does what the Lord warned she would do: she calls good evil and evil good.  Hang tough in the face of rejection; embrace “the peace of God that passes all understanding.”  Be God’s despised light in the darkness of this world.  There is a new day coming, and soon, when God’s true saints will live in perpetual light sent forth by the Father and the Son in New Jerusalem.  L.J.