Power over Your Tongue Is Available in Jesus
David W Palmer
(John 14:28 MSG) “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.”
Jesus had already told his apprentices/friends that he was going to the Father—to prepare a place for them (See: John 14:1-3 etc.). He had also said that he would be asking his Father to send them the Holy Spirit, the “Comforter.” Now, after assuring them of his abiding peace, he is taking them back to the topic of his return to his Father.
Jesus obviously didn’t want his friends to see his death as a loss, but as a great victory. He wanted them to be “glad” about this, because what he was about to set up for their future would be superior to what they had experienced so far (John 16:7); and he wanted them to be happy for him because this will be his promotion:
(Philippians 2:8–9 NKJV) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. {9} Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.
The Master was delegating his current role to his apprentices, while he moved into his new position as Head of the Church, etc. From his exalted position at God’s right hand, he would still be directing operations in partnership with the omnipresent all-powerful Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would now be the member of the Godhead who would be “in” them and “with” them—everywhere and at all times. Wow! This really was going to be an amazing multiplication.
In his capacity as a prophet, the Lord declared ahead of time what would happen to him—his death, his resurrection, and his return to his Father’s side. He explained that he foretold this to help his disciples in their belief:
(John 14:29–31 MSG) “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail. Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”
Next he said, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30 NKJV). The “ruler of this world” is Satan, the wicked one; he has sway over the whole world system:
(1 John 5:19 NKJV) We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
Satan and his whole world kingdom hated Jesus; they wanted him dead because he is the greatest threat to the continuation of their kingdom. Jesus said that because of Satan’s imminent hateful attack, he wouldn’t be saying a whole lot more at that time. Up till that time, he was able to say of Satan, “He has nothing on me, no claim on me.” Jesus wanted to keep it that way. You see, Satan’s only hope of getting any claim or plausible accusation on Jesus, would be to get him to say something out of step with his Father. So, he was planning to put Jesus under the greatest pressure he could to try to force him to utter deadly words. Remember …
(Proverbs 18:21 NKJV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
From that time, Jesus totally restricted the use of his tongue. He still conversed with his disciples until his arrest, and he prayed to his Father in Gethsemane as recorded in John 17. But his declarations were restricted to statements of absolute faith in the face of torture, ridicule, mockery, denial, betrayal, and death. For example, he said:
(John 17:11 NKJV) “Now I am no longer in the world …”
(John 18:37 ESV) Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this
