The Holy Spirit’s ministry of remembrance

John 2:20-22 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. To the unbelieving, the church of Jesus Christ is an absurdity. Notice that the Jews were mocking, scorning, and taunting Him. They were reproaching Him. They couldn’t understand what He meant by saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” But before we judge them too harshly, let’s notice that His disciples didn’t get it until after His resurrection. When they became the sign, they remembered His words and believed. I take some encouragement from this. Many times, I have read God’s word and didn’t understand it until days or even years later. I’m sure that as I meditate, pray, and write on these verses, I don’t get all that is being said here. How about you? I bet you’ve experienced the same. Yet that does not render us useless. God is so patient and enduring. His steadfast love is everlasting. He loves us, and there is a time to come when, if He so wills, He will bring to our remembrance what He has said, and it will make sense. In John 14:26, Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” His disciples experienced this ministry of the Holy Spirit, of which these verses testify, and so do we. How many times have you been blessed by the Holy Spirit’s ministry to you? When you needed it, He reminded you of some verse of Scripture that was perfect for the moment. That’s happening to me now as I write, and the Holy Spirit connected John 1:22 and John 14:26. I had never noticed that connection before. So the encouragement today is that as we live to love with Jesus, we may expect the Holy Spirit to bring Scripture to mind so that we and others may believe in Him. That’s a great motivation to us to live in and by His Word—read it, meditate on it, memorize it, and pray it. May the Holy Spirit fill us with His Word as we live to love with Him.