In keeping with our subject and
thought concerning the promise of Christ from John’s gospel chapter 14, of the
giving of the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,”(John 14:26) we’ll now
continue on.
We see that Jesus has absolute
confidence and trust in the statement of His promise, that His Father will most
certainly “GIVE YOU ANOTHER COMFORTER” (John 14:16). Jesus knows that the answer
to His request will be given from the Father; He has absolute confidence in the
eternal plan that is even now unfolding with the full assurance in the ability
of the Holy Spirit to care for His own children which were given to Him from
long before the foundation of the world.
And we can see the confidence
that Jesus has in His Father’s decree of that divine covenant which included His
own impending death on Calvary’s cruel cross to redeem His elect people for
Himself, and that His Father would send the Holy Ghost to give eternal life to
all that the Father given to the Son. And that the Holy Ghost would come and
care for those who are among the redeemed who…as His disciples, obey Him,
keeping all that He had commanded them. And that He moved with confidence so
much so that He willingly entrusted these who are His disciples to the care and
presence of the Holy Spirit.
It was for the PROMISE that He
made to them of the coming “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” that came for
His sake. And the “Comforter” came for the care of those who are Christ’s, and
far beyond that work in the here and now, He had that same certainty that the
“Comforter” would care for all of those who would come and follow after Him by
faith.
The disciples then, as it is
with us today, NEED the gift of the “Comforter” in our lives. With the truth of
the gospel revealing to us our sinful condition and our inability to recover
ourselves, that is to say, “get ourselves right with God.” Living through the
new birth with two natures, the first; in our flesh, which the Apostle Paul
tells us “dwelleth no good thing,” Rom. 7:18, which sins daily. And the
second, our inner man, which has been “born of God” and does “not commit sin;
for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God,”
1 John 3:9. This brings about a conflict within us, “the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the
one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal 5:17).
Now the “Comforter” comes to the
Church revealing the truth of what Jesus has done of us so that we no longer
have the need to improve on what cannot be improved on, that’s our flesh, but we
can and ought to wholly depend on the complete and finished work and
righteousness of our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. That even though we sin, the
“Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” brings us comfort through the gospel of
the truth in Christ Jesus. And what a joy we have in the knowledge that we are
cared for today by the Holy Spirit as our “Comforter” in and through out our
every day lives. Jesus described the work of the Holy Ghost in the calling of
men and woman when He said, “And when He is come, He will reprove the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not
on Me; Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of
judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,” John 16:8-11. The
Holy Ghost would come to and convict His redeemed people of their sin, and seek
and save the lost sheep of the family of God. They had lost their way in the
world, and He would give them eternal life in the new birth, and lead them to
the Son, WITHOUT THE LOSS OF EVEN ONE OF THEM THAT THE SON HAD DIED FOR!!! How
many? They number the stars of the heaven and the grains sand of the seashore in
multitude! (See Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Rev 7:9). And He would do this work alone
and unseen by human eyes or unaided by any and all human agencies! He would come
to them just as the wind blows, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:8. And that He as
the Comforter “whom the Father will send in My name…shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you,’ John 14:26.
We can only imagine how the
disciples must have reacted to the words of Jesus when He said to them, “Yet
a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me.” Listen to Peter and you can
almost hear the alarm in his voice, he asked Jesus, “Whither goest thou?”
Peter wanted to follow after Him right then! What? Do you mean to say that Jesus
was everything to them, and now He is saying that He is leaving them? Listen
again to the concern and fear of being left alone in Peter’s words, “Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now?” John 13:36-37. They had been with Him for three
years, walking along those long and dusty trails, talking with Him and hearing
His words of wisdom. They saw Him open the eyes of the blind. They saw Him cause
the lame to receive strength and walk again. They had seen Him cause the deaf to
hear. And yes, they had even been witnesses to His raising up the dead back to
life! And now their hearts were filled with fear and anxiety, for the love of
their Master, even as they continued to listen to His words, even as He Himself
addressing their concerns in His love for them, Jesus answered Peter and said, “Whither
I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” He
was saying, “No Peter, not right now, but you will follow Me later on.”
I know that they didn’t
understand, but the precise language used to describe the divine “Comforter”
that He would send to them in His place would answer the fears that they had. As
Jesus described the Characteristics of the Holy Ghost He made it absolutely
clear that He was not sending His disciples anyone less than God than they had
with Him who was “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Col. 2:9).
They would receive no less than a full inner presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
who would not only be with them, but would be in them. The Lord chose His words
carefully as He spoke to them. Let's look at the wording of His promise:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that He
may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” (John 14:16-17).
Let's take out some time now to carefully consider the full impact of the Lord’s
words. Look at the word “ANOTHER.” As a general rule, some words and parts of
speech give weight to the meaning of a text. That’s the reason we almost always
tend to focus our attention to the nouns and verbs in sentences. Verbs show the
action of any statement, and the nouns give and receive the action. So look at
how the word “ANOTHER” takes a dominant role in how we understand this passage
of Scripture. We have an adjective, which describes a person, place, or thing,
giving clarity to the text.
The word another is found 233
times in the New Testament, but it is not always the same Greek word. There are
two Greek words that are translated another. One of these words is heteros
(het'-er-os), which means another of a different kind. That’s were we get such
words as heterosexual, which refers to that of a different sex, i.e. men and
women, or heterogeneous, which refers to something containing dissimilar parts.
We find the word heteros used in 2 Cor 11:4 and in Gal 1:6 speaking of
“another gospel,” which is another of a different from the one that was just
referred to, i.e. the true gospel as opposed to a false gospel, and again in
Acts 17:7 it’s used to distinguish “another king, one Jesus” from another of a
different sort, i.e. Caesar. And so we can clearly see in each instance, it is
describing that which is distinctive and different from what it is compared to.
And we see that in John 14:16,
that heteros is not the word Jesus used to describe the promise of the
Holy Ghost. Here Jesus uses the word allos (al'-los), which means just
the opposite of heteros. Allos means “another of the same kind.”
When Jesus used this word, He is making a bold promise that the “Comforter” that
He was sending would be His perfect “Substitute.” One who is His co-equal,
co-eternal nature, the Holy Spirit would NOT be different in being, but He would
be “another” just like Jesus Himself!
This very same word Allos is the word used in John 13:34, “A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that
ye also love one another.” This as well as other “one another” statements of the
New Testament ought to encourage us to befriend other true believers--those who
are just like ourselves in our imperfect flesh, and in our relationship to
Christ. Our trouble is that we often, even though we are like one another in
sharing the same imperfect flesh, don't really like to admit it! We will
sometimes disagree with, disregard, and condemn those who are just like us. But
this isn’t true when we are speaking of the Spirit’s relationship to the Son and
the Father. The members of the Godhead are always in perfect harmony with one
another. The Holy Ghost is always in perfect step with the desires and
affections that Christ our Saviour has for us.
The Holy Spirit cares for us
with the same love, the same concern, the same grace, the same compassion, the
same truth, the same justice, the same holiness, and the same power that the
disciples saw in the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry during the three years He
shared with them. But not all of our understanding of the Spirit comes from the
word “another.” Take a look at the word that it modifies; “Comforter.” This is
“another of a like kind” besides Jesus is a wonderful promise! But another what?
Here our Lord used the word paraclete (par-a-kl-eet,) which is a very
descriptive word that would have been familiar to the disciples. We use this
word in many different ways in our modern language today. We see it used in a
legal sense to describe a paralegal or legal assistant, an advocate, or one who
pleads another’s cause. This is the perfect word to describe the Person and work
of the Holy Spirit, who is our Intercessor and Advocate with the Father; just
like Jesus is our Great High Priest and Mediator!
And when we are considerin’
John’s gospel and his letters to the churches it’s clear to see that He dealt
with the idea of dual Intercessors and Advocates. But we must understand when we
say that John dealt with “dual Intercessors and Advocates” we’re not making a
division in the person of God, but we’re saying that there’s more than one
office, with each member of the Godhead in complete and perfect harmony
fulfillin’ their role, remember when the Apostle Philip said to the Jesus, “Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” To which Jesus replied, “Have
I’ [Jesus] ‘been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the
Father? Jesus is illustratin’ His nature of as God the Son, as the “fullness
of the Godhead” in human flesh or “bodily.” He goes on to say, “Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the
works” (John 14:8-10). John writes that the Holy Ghost is our “Comforter” in
John fourteen, as well as Jesus being our Advocate in 1 John 2:1, “My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” And Jesus
tells us in John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
We see this very same nature between God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, Jesus
prays to the Father and the Father sends us the “Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost,” and the says that HE, HIMSELF will come to us! Oh, what a wonderful God
that we worship! But when does Jesus come to us? Well, Jesus gives us the answer
to that question in Matt. 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
But why two Advocates? Because
we are given to understand that we have an Advocate who is present with the
Father “and yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom 8:34). And we know that we
have an Advocate and Comforter that is present with us here and now (see John
14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7; Rom 8:27; 1 John 2:1).
And what does the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost do for us in the here and now? Well, one of the things
that He does for us is found in Romans 8:26, “the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
We see that the Holy Ghost acting as our Advocate praying for us when we are
unable to pray the way that our hearts desire to do! It’s clear that these two
ministries of advocacy are one in purpose.
As our Advocate, Christ defends
us before the Father to keeping us eternally secure. In John 6:37, Jesus gives
us the promise that “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him
that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Christ Himself serves as our
Defender. He doesn't defend us because of our works, which are sinful, flawed
and faulty. No, dear child of grace, His defense of us is based on His perfect
and completed work. Oh, what a rich and wonderful promise!
Jesus Christ, died for us, and
redeemed us. He gave Himself as the perfect payment required as an answer to a
just and holy God. And because of the finished work of the Son, the Holy Ghost
as our Comforter works within us giving us the new birth and declares to us the
abiding presence of the Living God in our lives. The Apostle Paul wrote to us in
Romans 8: 14-16, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
What the Son has done in our
redemption, and the Holy Ghost has done for us in the new birth! We can have
here and now, in this present world, God the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. We
are able now to pray to the Father through His Son and ask Him to reveal Himself
through the Holy Ghost! Paul says it this way, “For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom 8:18-19). We have the
Comforter how is ever with us to assure us of the wonderful position that is
ours as the children of the living God! And we read that we have been
“sealed” by God the Father and that He has given us “the earnest of the Spirit
in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:22; and 5:5).
And I will close for now by
adding here that it is through the Holy Spirit that we now trust after that we
heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation: “in whom also after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14).
And finally let us prayerfully
consider the promise of Christ Jesus concerning the Holy Ghost and “give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip” (Heb 2:1).
