During the Son’s suffering, His disciples were scattered, leaving Him alone (v. 32). But He was not alone, because the Father was with Him. Even at the time of the Son’s suffering, the Father was with Him. His disciples left Him, but the Father did not.
We have peace in the Lord (v. 33). Although the Lord died and has been resurrected, we remain in the world where there is no peace. In this world we shall have only trouble. But the Lord Himself will be our peace, and we can have peace in Him. No matter how much this world troubles and persecutes us, the Lord has overcome the world. We do not need to worry; neither do we need to fear the world. Let the world persecute and trouble us. The Lord is our peace. He has overcome the world.
We need to review what is revealed in John 14 through 16. Chapter fourteen is on the mutual abode, chapter fifteen is on the organism, and chapter sixteen is a supplement to chapters fourteen and fifteen. In this supplementary chapter we have the work of the Spirit unto the mingling of divinity with humanity. This means that the work of the Spirit results in the mingling of divinity with humanity. We saw this mingling already in chapter fourteen where the mingling eventually became the mutual abode. This mutual abode is an organism, the Body of Christ, with Christ growing in the divine life to express the Father. This is the organism revealed in chapter fifteen. Chapter sixteen tells us how the mingling of divinity with humanity can take place. It happens through the work of the Holy Spirit. First, this work of the Spirit is to convict sinners that they may believe in Christ and be translated out of Adam into Christ. Second, it is to reveal Christ with the fullness of the Father to all of these translated believers that they might be edified, built up, with all the fullness of the Godhead in order to express the Triune God and to glorify the Son with the Father. Please remember these points: chapter fourteen is on the mutual abode; chapter fifteen, on the organism; and chapter sixteen, on the work of the Spirit to convict the world and to edify the saints with the fullness of the Godhead that the church may glorify the Son with the Father.
I need to add a brief word on the matter of the organism. Not one human society is an organism. They all are organizations. Only the proper and genuine church is an organism. There is no life in any of the social organizations, for there is nothing organic in them. The church, however, contains the divine life and is organic. In chapter fifteen we saw that the vine tree is the organism of the Triune God. The Triune God has wrought Himself into this organism and is now growing within it. The life, nature, substance, essence, and all the fullness of the Triune God have been wrought into the vine tree. Hence, the vine is not a lifeless organization; it is an organism which is full of life and which grows, functions, expresses the Father, fulfills His purpose, and accomplishes His economy. Praise the Lord that there is such a living organism in the universe! The Father is the source, substance, essence, nature, and life of this organism; the Son is the embodiment and expression of this organism; and the Spirit is the reality and the realization of this organism. The church today is the Body of this organism. The Son is the Head of the Body and the root of the tree which grows with the divine life and which expresses the divine riches to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. This is the organism which accomplishes the divine economy. Hallelujah for this divine mystery!