John 15:26-27 Jesus now turns to the Holy Spirit, referring to Him as
'helper'. The Holy Spirt will come from the Father, and will testify of Jesus,
and the testimony that He gives the disciples, they will in turn give to those
to whom they speak. The reason is because Jesus’ disciples have been with Him from the
beginning. These are not Johnny-come-lately’s. They have seen His entire ministry from His
first call to them to follow Him up to the present time, when they will be
witnesses of His passion. So they will testify of all that He said and did
during His life, and of His death and resurrection (except they do not
understand the resurrection part yet).
John 16:1-4 Jesus repeats His warning. His disciples will be hated
on His account, and those who kill them will believe they are serving God by
doing so. This is because they do not know the Father. Why is He telling them
this now, but never before? They had seen Him in bitter disputes with the
priests, scribes, and Pharisees. Perhaps
they would have abandoned Him if they knew the price. He knew that after His
departure the Holy Spirit would strengthen them to face the trials and
persecution. He did not want them to turn away for the wrong reason. Earlier
many had left Him because his teachings were hard. He did nothing to prevent
them from leaving for that reason. (John 6:66-67) So the next section deals
with the work of the Holy Spirit.
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