Passage Read: John 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:1-4
Thought
Jesus just warned His disciples that the world would hate them and persecute them, and the Holy Spirit would come and together He and they would testify about Jesus. He told them this so that they would not go astray. Because the day would come when the world would try to kill them and even succeed. Even those who led or attended the synagogue would think that killing them was serving God! People like Saul. They think they know God but they kill His true servants because they don't actually know God. Things would go hard for the disciples and they would be tempted to question their faith in Jesus, so He told them ahead of time so they would be prepared and be able to look back on this and on Jesus' own murder at the religious leaders' hands, and they would be able to put their doubts to rest.
Application
They were few in number compared to the rest of their countrymen who studied God's Word but didn't believe in Jesus. It would be easy to think maybe they had it all wrong when most everyone else refused to believe in Jesus and persecuted them for blasphemy. If Jesus had not risen from the dead and proven His holiness and power, they surely would have abandoned Jesus. But they saw Him die and saw Him raised to life again, so when many refused to believe their testimony and even seek to kill them, they stood firm. When I'm tempted to think I'm misunderstanding God's Word because most everyone else ignores or denies an apparently clear teaching, I too need to remember these things. It is not what church leaders say but what God's Word clearly says that is true. Religious people get things wrong, churches can turn away from the truth, especially when they want the approval of the world rather than God, especially when they love the power to rule and control others. Unbelievers will hate the truth, even religious people will hate the faithful, but those who are tender towards God will accept the truth and agree with it. I need courage to trust God's Word and teach according to it, and trust that I'm pleasing to God even if church leaders denounce me. Yet be sensitive to correction where I might actually be wrong. What is clear, I need to hold fast and repeat clearly; what is uncertain, I need to wait for certainty before I insist on it.