J Philip Bible Readings

The third aspect of the Spirit's work mentioned by our Lord concerns judgment (11). The meaning of the words has been interpreted variously; it may refer to condemnation, in the sense of bringing the reality of eternity and judgment to the hearts of men, and of being an unequivocal assurance that all evil will be brought to the bar of God, since the cross was Christ's victory over Satan. This means that the authority of Satan has been overturned, and that evil has therefore lost the initiative in the world. The coming of the Spirit is 'a true restoration by which all things are reformed, when Christ alone holds the kingdom, having subdued and triumphed over Satan.... Having vanquished the prince of wickedness, Christ restores to order, those things which formerly were torn and decayed' (Calvin) i.e. when the Spirit is come, He will establish the divine order in his Church and in the world. We could also, however, put it like this: From the human standpoint, the death of Jesus was the failure of a mission (to use a common phrase); it was the end of the road, and this undoubtedly is how the disciples originally thought of Christ's crucifixion. For them, it was a disaster that knocked the bottom out of their world. But the Holy Spirit informed their minds and hearts that that death was not a disaster but a triumph, and that, in that death, the prince of this world was judged and brought down. This was, in fact, the full significance of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost for the disciples. For then, they realised that His rising from the dead was not simply a return on His part to the status quo obtaining before the crucifixion, but something infinitely more wonderful, and that He had been raised from the dead to die no more - i.e., that death itself had been vanquished, and the long reign of darkness was forever over. Have we really allowed the Spirit to teach us this glorious truth, in the deep places of our experience?