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25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. ~ John 14:25-31
Just a few hours before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus was concerned for the faith and peace of His followers. According to v.25-26, the Holy Spirit would be sent by the Father to teach and remind the disciples of the many things the Lord Jesus had taught them. But, He had to die a brutal death before the Holy Spirit would be sent.
At the earliest, the disciples wrote of the things the Lord Jesus did and said was ten years after the events. In the case of John, it was up to fifty years later before he got around to writing these things down. This would result in the compilation of the New Testament, thus bolstering the faith of His followers, for it is always His word that creates faith in the believer.
It is through a bolstered faith that the believer accesses the peace of the Lord Jesus. If our faith is weak or misdirected, His peace will not reign in our lives.
In v.27, the Lord Jesus said, "My peace I give to you." You and I can access His peace under any circumstance, because He does not give "as the world gives." The world's peace wears off and we find ourselves right back where we were before. The world's peace is escapism, off to the mountains, watching a ball game or getting wrapped up in some activity.
His peace, on the other hand, "passes all understanding." It is internal, produced not by us or our circumstances. It is not subject to the external. Produced by Him, He imparts to the believer a consciousness that the One who indwells us is able to handle our problems and we are at peace because of that.
At the end of v.28 we read, "the Father is greater than I. From all eternity the Father has been the one who is behind the Son. This means His nature has an “exact imprint” in the Son. As a result, the Father and the Son are equally God, of the same divine nature, but different in roles, and the Lord Jesus says that because of the Father’s unique role He is greater.
In essence, in v.28-29, the Lord Jesus is saying, "You ought to rejoice that I go back to the Father because my limitations will be over. At that moment, I will do what I have always wanted to do. When the Spirit comes, I will be able to do what I never could do in the days of my flesh."
In v.30-31, the Lord Jesus is serving the disciples' faith. This is what enables the disciple to access His peace. The Lord Jesus is anticipating the most terrible power clash ever, when He will confront the enemy of humanity head-on and deal with the shame, humiliation and weakness of sin and death. Because of this, He can give us His peace, because He Himself will have conquered the ruler of this world, sin and death.
At the end of v.30, we read, “He has no hold over me.” Literally, He is saying, “he has nothing on me.” That is, "he can accuse me of no sin." With that said, "He who had never been guilty of sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
As a result, Satan is really not the explanation behind the cross, the obedience of the Lord Jesus explains the cross. In v.31, we read, “so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” The Lord Jesus is saying, "I am not controlled by the lies of the devil, I am controlled by my love for my Father."
The cross was not at root the coercion of evil; it was the compliance of the love of the Lord Jesus for the Father. The roots of the cross reach back before creation into the eternal Godhead where God the Son has always infinitely loved God the Father. He loved the Father therefore He loved us. And, as a result, we love Him.
For the believer in Christ this life of faith is so contrary to what is natural for us. In fact, it can be down right hard. It is so hard that we want to give up and go back to the pleasures of our old life. But, we know our old life isn't worth the investment. No, we press on in our walk with the Lord Jesus. Only then will we experience His peace in the context of all of the hardships which come as servants to us in our walk with the Lord.
Perfect peace comes when our focus is off the problem, and increasingly on the Lord Jesus. As Isaiah 26:3 reads, "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You."
