John 16:12-15   12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

This passage points us to all three persons of the God who is Three-in-One, the only true God. Jesus, the God-man who is physically present with the disciples, speaks to them about both the Father and the Holy Spirit. He had promised earlier (14:26) that the Spirit would remind them of all He taught while He was with them. He will help them understand and believe, including things that had to do with the future. (16:13). Jesus reveals some of the intimate connection between the three persons of the one true God when he says that the Spirit will not speak on His own. What the Spirit reveals comes from the Son, and all that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son. There is a unity, an interconnection.

The message that the Spirit brings to us from the Father and the Son is that God can and indeed does forgive us. The Spirit guides us into all truth, truth that turns our grief into joy. We learn about our wonderful Triune God, the Father who made us, the Son who died in our place to pay for our sins, the Spirit who is at work to make us holy and keep us that way. The Spirit wants us to know the truth that God is good! Our Father loved this world that He made so much that He gave His Son to be our Savior from death. The death of Jesus in our place is your assurance that your sins are forgiven. Your faith connects you to Him in such a way that God will not hold you accountable.

I read about a young nun who claimed to have had a vision of Jesus. Her bishop decided to test her truthfulness. He ordered that the next time she had a vision, she should ask Christ what the bishop’s primary sin had been before he became a bishop. Some months later, the nun returned and the bishop asked if she had asked Christ the question. She said that she had. The bishop was a bit apprehensive when he asked, “What did Christ say was my primary sin?” The young nun replied, “Christ said, ‘I don’t remember.’”  That is the beauty of the forgiveness that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. We have the assurance that God forgives and forgets. He said, “I will remember your sins no more.”

That is our certainty as believers. We have this message from God Himself in His Word.

On a cold winter night little Bobby and his father were slowly walking down a dark path to a neighboring farmhouse. Bobby was afraid, even though He was with his father and his father had a lantern. He was concerned because he saw that the light of the lantern reached only a short distance down the path. But his father reassured him that if they kept on walking, the light would keep on shining to the end of the road. That’s how it is with the Word of God, revealed to us in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. His Word is truth, it is the lamp for our feet and the light for our path. If we keep walking in the light of His promises, we will be sustained through this life all the way to the end.

There is nothing like the truth of God’s Word to take away our guilt, our fears, our sadness, our grief. It assures us that God is in control, that He loves us and wants the best for His children. Jesus did not leave us alone, but sent His Spirit, who comes to us in Word and Sacraments, assuring us of God’s love, forgiveness and presence. That is reason to rejoice. It is why we come together as the church. We believe and rejoice together in the mercy and grace that our Triune God has shown to us. That is why we, the church, gather together to worship and praise our Triune God.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)