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 purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

(Matthew 26:63–64 NKJV) But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” {64} Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus mostly “kept silent.” But when he occasionally open his mouth, he truly maintained a “good confession”; and he did it under the most extreme pressure that could be put on a man to release the words his flesh and demonic powers were no doubt trying to force out through his lips.

(1 Timothy 6:13 NKJV) … Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate.

The Holy Spirit wrote this in the context of urging us to do with our own words what Jesus did with his. This is our “fight of faith”:

(1 Timothy 6:12–13 NKJV) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. {13} I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate.

The good news for us in this is that the same strength of character, absolute resolve, and force of holiness that Jesus called on to maintain his perfect confession, is now available to us in him. God’s gracious power that Jesus accessed in the Garden of Gethsemane is waiting for us. We too can come boldly to God’s throne of grace in Jesus name to find the grace we need in our hour of pressure, and in the trying of our faith.

Today, I encourage you to realize afresh what our wonderful Lord Jesus did for us, and what he made available to us in the awesome new covenant he provided by shedding his innocent blood in faith.

Our situation is just like what Jesus faced: now, “the chief of this godless world is about to attack” us. Jesus confirmed this by saying … in as definite language as he could use:

(John 16:33 NKJV) “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

“In the world you will have tribulation.” Sadly, we cannot pray this off; it will come. Thankfully, Jesus’s very next word was “but”: “but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” By accessing the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will be able to imitate his ability to keep your mouth from words of death; you will be able to finish your assignment declaring Jesus’s confession: “But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me.”