The Spirit as Comforter Encourages the Church (15:18—16:4) - part 4 of 5

The world is spiritually ignorant and blind (15:21).

If you asked the religious leaders in Jerusalem whether they knew the God they were looking for to defend, they would have said, "Yes, we know Him! Israel has known the true God for centuries!" But Jesus said they did not know the Father and therefore could not know the Son (John 16:3). The religious leaders knew a great deal about Jehovah God and could quote chapter and verse to defend their doctrines, but they did not know God personally.

The issue was not a new subject for our Lord to speak about, as He had already spoken of it to the religious leaders who opposed Him. “Ye neither know Me, nor My Father: if ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also.” (John 8:19). "But ye have not known Him: but I know Him" (John 8:55). Jesus had taught them the Word and demonstrated His deity by signs and a godly walk, yet the religious leaders of the nation were blind to His identity: the world knew Him not (John 1:10).

The religious world today says it knows God, but it prefers to avoid bowing to Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Savior of the world. Satan has blinded their minds (2 Cor. 4:3-4), and sin has blinded their hearts (Eph. 4:17-19). They are so convinced that their "religion" and "righteousness" are satisfactory, like Saul of Tarsus, that they persecute God's people in the name of that religion!