"The Last Words of Jesus"
Four Bible Readings in John's Gospel (Chapters 14-7)
These four chapters are amongst the most profound and wonderful chapters in the whole Bible. They are often called the "Upper Room Chapters" of John's Gospel, or the "Farewell Discourse" of Jesus. Neither title is very accurate, since it is possible that not all these words were spoken in the Upper Room (cf ch. 14:31). Also. the 17th chapter is not a discourse of the disciples, but a prayer to the Father. They do, however, form a unit, both because of the occasion which produced them, and because of the content of their teaching.
The occasion of these chapters is of course the prospect of the suffering, death and departure of Jesus. Such a prospect fills the disciples with great perplexity and foreboding, which in turn fills the heart of Jesus with a very deep and tender care for them. Apparently under some restraint while Judas was still with them, Jesus no (13:31) opens His heart to His own, and to the Father. The instruction of chapters 14-16, and the Highly Priestly Prayer of chapter 17 are the ministry of Jesus for such weak, fearful and discouraged disciples. That ministry is timeless, and is as relevant for us in the 1970's as it was in the first century.
1. In CHAPTER 14, the Lord is instructing the disciples in the secret of knowing the peace of God in days of crisis and perplexity.
2. In CHAPTER 15 verses 1-17, the Lord is instructing the disciples concerning their relationship with Him, with the Father, and with each other.
3. In CHAPTER 15 v. 18-CHAPTER 16 v. 33, the Lord is instructing His disciples concerning their relationship with the world, and concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
4. In CHAPTER 17, the Lord is in prayer before His Father, concerning Himself (vv.1-5), His disciples (vv. 6-19), and future believers in the Church Universal (vv. 20-26).
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Eric J Alexander has been ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland for over fifty years. He studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating Master of Arts in 1954 and Bachelor of Divinity in 1958. Thereafter he spent 4 years as an Assistant at St David's Knightswood Chuch in the West end of Glasgow. In 1961 he was married to Greta Connell and they have a daughter and a son.
It was in 1962 that he was called to the parish of Loudoun East Church, in the Covenanting district of Ayrshire, in the village of Newmilns. After 15 years there, in 1977, he was aware of God's call to the city centre church of St George's Tron, in Glasgow, where he served as senior minister for 20 years, until his retirement in 1997. During these 20 years, large congregations, of all ages, gathered, both morning and evening, to listen to expository sermons from both Old and New Testaments
Throughout his ministry, and in his retirement years, he has spoken regularly at conferences such as the Keswick Convention, the great Urbana convention arranged triennially in Illinois by InterVarsity, and the Philadelphia Conference in Reformed Theology. He has travelled in Europe, the Far East, South Africa,and widely in Canada and the United States. He has spoken to students at many seminaries and at the General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in America.