---

I. TO CHRIST'S MIND NO INFORMATION CAN BE IMPARTED. When He says "ask," He accommodates Himself to human phraseology. Christ's is the infinite mind — to its perceptions there is no end! This is —

1. Consolatory to the good: they can never pass the region of Christ's knowledge, whether in fiery furnace or lions' den.

2. Terrifying to the ungodly: they cannot commit sin except under the eye of the Being to whom it is infinitely hateful: there is no secret spot on which they can outrage the laws of purity. Not a leaf stirs, not a pulse beats, without attracting the notice of the Divine eye.

II. CHRIST'S MIND IS THE HIGHEST SOURCE OF MENTAL ILLUMINATION.

1. "Many things" are in Christ's possession. The phrase is simple, but who can measure its comprehensiveness? What imagination can conceive the number of the "many things"? All that we know of truth, holiness, destiny, we know directly or indirectly from Christ.

2. It follows, therefore, that companionship with Christ must ensure the highest mental attainment. "Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" walking with Him we must reach the highest altitudes of knowledge.

3. The mission of the Spirit is to take of the things of Christ and show them to the Church (ver. 13).

III. CHRIST'S MIND REVEALS ITSELF ACCORDING TO OUR MENTAL CAPACITY. Mark here the true majesty of Christ. "Ye cannot bear them," I can; your intellect is not strong enough — Mine is. For a time these many things must dwell in My own mind. As ye grow in capacity ye shall grow in knowledge. God does not pour His glory on the world in one dazzling blaze, He precedes the splendour of noontide by the ray of dawn. The passage has a bearing —

1. On our individual experience. There are many things in the future which we could not bear in our present state. Suppose that God should certify every man of the exact time and precise circumstance of his death, society would be paralyzed. Be thankful for Christ's forbearance.

2. On the inscrutable mysteries of faith. God has not taken man into His secret counsels.

3. On the perplexities of moral government. I cannot explain why Dives should be in the mansion and Lazarus at the gate. "What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter." By and by we shall know enough. Let us calmly wait until it shall please Him to explain. We shall then say, "It is well."

(J. Parker, D. D.)

---

---

KJV: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

WEB: "I have yet many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now.