John 14:17 – the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.
Jesus spoke about the things of the spiritual world in parables because the people in this world before His death and resurrection had no way to comprehend the things of the Spirit of God. Before we were born again spiritual truth made no sense to any of us. Only when Christ came into our lives did we begin to grasp the hidden things of God. In today’s verse Jesus says something that can be quite offensive. If you think about it, a lot He had to say was offensive. But this statement, “the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive”, could be considered crossing the line. He didn’t say they wouldn’t receive Him but He said that they couldn’t receive Him; big difference. Why would He say something like this? Because the natural man has no comprehension of His spiritual condition and without the intervention of God and His grace he cannot receive the Holy Spirit. This is the mysterious work of God. That’s why Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you”. Now you see what I mean, those words could be taken as quite offensive. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this passage.
“It is the misery of those who are unshakably devoted to the world that they cannot receive the Spirit of truth. Where the spirit of the world is dominant, the Spirit of God is excluded. People cannot receive the Spirit of truth because they see him not, neither know him. The comforts of the Spirit are foolishness to them, as much as the cross of Christ was. If you speak to the children of this world about the activity of the Spirit, it is as if you are speaking a foreign language to them.”
This makes me go back to my conversion and how the Lord was drawing me in, wooing me by His Spirit, bringing me to that place where I could say yes. He revealed His love for me by making the death of Christ very real and personal to me. He then poured His Spirit, the love of God on me. All I can say now is what I couldn’t do before, receive Him, became what I would call irresistible. How could I say no to His love. He had captured my heart with His great love.
