Lesson 9: The Spirit & The Ministry Of Jesus (Part 2)

Getting started: what do you think Jesus meant by His statement in Matthew 28.20, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”?

In a previous lesson we noted how in the Old Testament, when the Lord promised that He was with someone that meant more than God was favorably inclined toward the individual; no, He was actually with that person. In the case of Moses, the Lord was with him (Exodus 3.10) and that was evident by the signs Moses could perform (Exodus 4.1-9) and the Lord giving him words to speak (Exodus 4.12). As we learn later, the Spirit was on Moses (see Numbers 11.17).

When Jesus issued the great commission in Matthew 28.18-20, He promised to be with His disciples always. He was not promising to be favorably inclined toward His disciples, He was promising to be with them. In this lesson we want to explore what the gospels teach about this promise.

Jesus Has The Spirit, Can Give The Spirit

Recall that when Jesus was baptized the Spirit descended “from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him” (John 1.32). Significantly, in the very next verse John the Baptist stated how the Lord revealed to him that “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1.33). The Son of God would be one who not only received the Spirit, but could give the Spirit. The Lord took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and gave it to the seventy elders (Numbers 11), but Jesus would Himself give the Spirit to His followers!

John the Baptist gave further testimony for Jesus in John 3.32-36. Note his words in vs. 34: “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.” Israel’s leaders had been granted the Spirit (see Numbers 27.18; Judges 6.34; 1Samuel 16.13; 2Peter 1.21), but only Jesus was granted the Spirit “without measure”. That fact lies behind Jesus’ words in John 6.63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” His words are Spirit, because He is full of Spirit.

Finally, consider Jesus’ words in John 7.37-39. Vincent shares this background on what occurred during the last day of the Feast of Booths: “It was called the Day of the Great Hosanna, because a circuit was made seven times round the altar with ‘Hosanna’… Every morning, after the sacrifice, the people, led by a priest, repaired to the Fountain of Siloam, where the priest filled a golden pitcher, and brought it back to the temple amid music and joyful shouts. Advancing to the altar of burnt-offering, at the cry of the people, ‘Lift up thy hand!’ he emptied the pitcher toward the west, and toward the east a cup of wine, while the people chanted, ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’” Jesus chose this time to declare that “if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7.37). Jesus wasn’t being metaphorical, He was declaring that He would fulfill the Lord’s promise to the prophets that a fountain would be opened which would “cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13.1). The fountain that would be opened would be “the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive” (John 7.39).

Jesus With His Apostles

Let’s consider what Jesus’ words in Matthew 28.18-20 meant for the apostles. Like Moses, they were being sent to lead people out of captivity and to the Lord; that’s what making disciples for Jesus is all about. And Jesus would be with His apostles just as the Lord had been with Moses. First, the apostles were empowered with great signs that would confirm the message of the gospel: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.” (Mark 16:19–20, ESV) These signs were given through the Holy Spirit (see Hebrews 2.4).

Second, just as Moses would not need to worry about the words he was to speak (Exodus 4.12), the apostles would know what to say because the Spirit was with them.

• The Spirit would be “another Helper”, i.e. an advocate or counselor like Jesus (John 14.16-17).
• The Spirit would “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14.26).
• The Spirit would “bear witness about” Jesus (John 15.26).
• The Spirit would guide the apostles “into all the truth” (John 16.13).

Jesus was not going to leave His apostles alone “as orphans” (John 14.18); He was going to be with the apostles through the Spirit.

Jesus With Us

But what does Jesus’ promise to be “with you always, to the end of the age” mean for us? Jesus’ primary audience may have been the apostles, but His extending the promise “to the end of the age” brings in all disciples because the “end of the age” has not yet occurred (see Matthew 13.39). Once again, Jesus’ ability to give Spirit would seem to be how this promise is fulfilled.

John 17 records a prayer of Jesus where He first prayed for Himself (vss. 1-5), then His apostles (vss. 6-19) and then concluded with praying for “those who will believe in me through their word” (vss. 20-26); Jesus prayed for us! And in that prayer Jesus asked the Father that “they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (vs. 21). Jesus had said something similar to the apostles in John 15: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit in itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (vss. 4-5). Jesus had just told them that He would be leaving them and that where He was going they could not follow (John 13.33), yet they would still be in Him and He would be in them! How could that be possible? The Spirit is the answer.

John records several of Jesus’ teachings which point to the ongoing role of the Spirit in the lives of His people.

• Those who are part of the Kingdom are those who are born of the Spirit. And those who are born of the Spirit ARE spirit (John 3.5-6).
• Jesus declared that His words “are spirit and life” (John 6.63). Significantly, to have Jesus abide in us is to have His words abide in us (John 15.7).
• Jesus promised the Samaritan woman that He has water that “will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4.14). Later, we learn that promise was in reference to the Spirit whom believers are to receive (John 7.37-39).
• Finally, when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, John records this: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22, ESV) A new creation was beginning (compare with Genesis 2.7), one in which the sins of His people would be forgiven (vs. 23) and they would receive His Spirit.

The “end of the age” has not yet occurred, but the Lord is still with us; His Spirit is still with us. And the rest of this study will seek to unpack exactly what that means.