But when *he* is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming.
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He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce [it] to you.
Jesus tells His disciples what the Helper will do when He comes: the Spirit will make much of Christ, not of Himself. That raises two questions — what does the Spirit take from Christ, and how do we know when He is really at work?
The Spirit reveals truth, speaks what He hears, and shows things to come. All of it serves one purpose.
William Kelly"He will glorify me," says the Lord. Here the main purpose now becomes clearest — whether He is revealing the truth, speaking what He hears, or showing things to come. This is the centre around which all His roles and all His work find their full operation… We never read of the government or rule of the Holy Spirit. The reason seems to be that the Spirit is making good the lordship of Christ: He is exalting Him, not glorifying Himself. So He acts among the saints to exalt Christ before our eyes.
The Spirit does not invent. He takes what already belongs to Christ, and the next verse says how much that is: everything the Father has.
James McBroomWhat are "the things" that "are Mine"? We have spoken of Him in His varied glories, but this surpasses them all. Think of His days on earth, or of Him raised to heaven. Think of His moral glory, His official glory, or His glory as Mediator. This goes beyond them all, to the things that are His together with the Father, in the deep blessedness of the full glory of God… It does not say, "All that I have is the Father's," but "All that the Father has is mine."
The Father and the Son hold all things in common. So hearing what belongs to Christ is never less than hearing what belongs to the Father.
J. N. DarbyHe says the Spirit takes "what is mine". This shared possession, as in everything else, is the very blessing of the Church. If it were not so, then in receiving or hearing Christ's things we might not have known or received the Father's. But when we know His things spiritually, we know the Father's.
The showing is present tense. Believers are not left waiting for heaven before they can know where Christ is and what is His.
The Christian's FriendWe already know, by the Holy Spirit, the things that belong to Jesus where He is now… We do not wait until we are glorified to know where Christ is today, what things are His, and our part in them. May we know more and more of the resources of Christ, for by the Spirit all the riches of God's glory are available to faith!
The Spirit's object is Christ. That gives us a test for anyone who claims to speak by Him.
William KellyFor what does the Spirit do? He is glorifying Christ. This is always the true test. The power of a thing is not the test of it. Suppose a man talked a great deal about the Spirit, and at the same time was serving sin and not Christ. Who could trust him? … A man may make the most extravagant claims that the Holy Spirit's power is at work in him or in the church. But how am I to know the claim is real? … The great criterion is just this — the Holy Spirit always exalts Christ. The object is not to make much of the Church or a minister.
The reverse also follows. Where little is said of Christ, something has gone wrong.
J. T. MawsonThis shortage of the ministry of Christ is clear proof that the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched. And nothing grieves and quenches Him more than making Him and His work the main subject of ministry instead of Christ.
This ministry shows itself in an appetite for Christ. And it works through a definite means.
Samuel RidoutIs Christ the food of your soul? Is He precious? Then you know to whose gracious ministry this is due. "He will take what is mine and declare it to you." May nothing hinder the blessed Spirit in His holy work of feeding our souls with the things of Christ. I might remark in passing that the word of God is the treasure house of all this wealth. The Spirit uses that to bring home to our hearts the things of Christ.
- Aim. The Spirit's whole ministry has one centre — making Christ great. He exalts Him, not Himself.
- Source. He takes what is Christ's; He does not invent it. And what He takes has no limit, because everything the Father has belongs to the Son.
- Reach. Knowing Christ's things means knowing the Father's things too — the two are held in common, so nothing is lost to us.
- Test. Any claim to the Spirit's power is measured here: does it exalt Christ, or a man, or a church? Power alone proves nothing.
- Result. Christ becomes food for the soul, and Scripture is the treasure house the Spirit draws from to feed us.