Kneeling Man Receiving the Spirit of ChristBible World
14:16John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Spoken to the eleven alone after Judas left to calm their sorrow at losing their Master, Jesus promised to intercede with the Father for them to receive a lasting Helper to remain with them. That Helper is another in His place, an equivalent for His visible presence, given because His departure in humanity would make His presence universal and nearer through His successor. He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and Christ's own Spirit, fully divine as one of the three living persons of the Godhead and not a mere influence. He is Christ's representative on earth, Christ Himself apart from humanity, so that believers are never left comfortless or orphaned. He stays with believers forever, is received only by those who love Christ by keeping His commandments while the world cannot receive Him, and brings comfort, truth, conviction, new life, and power for witness to every believer to the end.
Setting and Occasion
The promise was made to the eleven alone in the upper chamber after Judas had departed, as Christ prepared to offer Himself as the sacrifice and to leave them by crucifixion and return to the Father. It belongs to His farewell discourse in John 13-17, opening with the call not to let the heart be troubled, and to His fuller teaching in John 14-16. Before the crucifixion He told the sorrowing disciples that He would ask the Father to give them another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, to take His place and abide with them forever. That Helper had been moving on human hearts from the beginning of redemption, but they would feel their need of Him when Christ was no longer bodily with them, and through Him as representative and successor Christ would be accessible to all, no longer limited by humanity to one place but nearer than before.
It was spoken with divine love and tenderest sympathy to comfort them in losing their Master, since a cruel death was near and He thought not of His own terrible ordeal but of them. It was meant to give courage, hope, strength, assurance, faith, cheerfulness, gratitude and joy, so they would not live as comfortless and unsupported but would know they were not left alone in hardship, loss, perplexity, loneliness or danger. He knew the hatred, opposition, affliction and temptation to lose faith that awaited them, and how severely their faith and courage would be tried through unconverted believers in the church, and these words were to prepare them to meet opposition faithfully and to stand fast without failing in the most trying hour. Though simple enough for even children to understand, they ran contrary to the disciples' wishes and could not then be comprehended, yet they impart strength and assurance to every true believer as long as time shall last.
Prayer and Gracious Gift
Jesus himself prays, asks and intercedes with the Father, and in answer the Father gives and sends another Comforter to abide forever with those who love him by knowing and keeping his commandments. The promise is sure, decided and positive, and because he commands obedience, keeping his commandments as the evidence of love is possible. As Advocate and great High Priest passed into the heavens, he pleads his disciples' cause before the Father's throne, places his virtues to their account, acknowledges his merits before the Father, and as Friend at court pleads for his co-laborers and workers. His name is the key that unlocks heaven's storehouse and draws from the divine treasury, he joins his petition to theirs, he himself bestows what is sought in his name, and all is done that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Prayers asked in his name are as acceptable as Solomon's prayer for wisdom and will be done, so everyone who sincerely seeks God may come boldly to the throne of grace and to the footstool of mercy, believe the Lord hears and answers, unite in prayer in faith with deep interest in souls, and be comforted with forgiveness for past unbelief.
Another Comforter means a successor who takes Christ's place, acts in his stead and continues his ministry, as his representative on earth and the equivalent of his visible presence. The Spirit had already been moving upon human hearts from the beginning of the work of redemption, but after Christ offered himself as the sacrifice and ascended to the Father the Father would give and send the Spirit to remain forever, to dwell with believers and be in them, and to minister still through God in Christ in representing God's character and revealing power constantly exercised for human good. It was altogether for the disciples' advantage that he should leave and go to his Father, for cumbered with humanity he could not be in every place personally and was limited by his human body and by location to one place. Through the Spirit as Christ himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, the Saviour is made accessible to everyone, present in all places as the Omnipresent, no longer confined to one place though unseen, and therefore nearer to his followers than before, so they are not left comfortless or orphaned.
The gift is essential, heaven's richest gift, God's own choice of blessing greater than any inferior good men would have chosen, beyond measure and computation, and when received it satisfies every need. Through him the boundless resources of grace and of divine grace are brought within reach, the promise points to a mighty work to be done and to resisting by divine power the evil accumulated for centuries, and Christ is waiting to pour out his mighty power upon his people. Receiving the promised Spirit brings all other blessings with it, strengthens spiritual work, makes preaching convincing, leads to conversion, and is given liberally to be claimed by faith rather than by relying on human effort or expecting only a small measure of help, for God offers the Spirit's riches without restriction to all who are willing according to capacity.
Identity of Comforter
The Comforter promised is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, Christ's own Spirit and the Spirit of Christ. He is fully divine as one of the three living persons of the Godhead with the Father and the Son, a living divine person and not an impersonal influence or earthly likeness. The next verse identifies Him as the Spirit of truth who remains forever, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees nor knows Him. Those who love Christ know Him, for He dwells with them and shall be in them, and the promise stands in the setting of loving Christ and keeping His commandments.
He is Christ's representative and successor on earth, the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, by whom Christ is present in all places and continues His ministry and work after His departure. Having already moved upon human hearts from the beginning of redemption, He was to make the Saviour accessible to everyone when Christ was no longer physically with them, so that Christ's presence would no longer be limited by His human body or by location and would be nearer than before. Because Christ encumbered with humanity could not be in every place personally, it was for the disciples' advantage that He should leave, go to the Father, and send the Holy Spirit appointed as His representative and successor among men. He is Christ Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, by whom Christ represents Himself as present in all places as the Omnipresent, enlightening minds, leading to prayer, purifying hearts, helping to discern Christ's love, so believers are not left lonely, comfortless, or orphaned but Christ comes to them.
The verse identifies the Spirit's work and omnipresent abiding without revealing His nature clearly enough to define or explain it. That nature is not fully revealed and need not be defined. What is revealed is that the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, given by the Father at Christ's request to abide forever, with believers and in them as the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ.
The world cannot receive or know Him because it neither sees nor knows Him, while disciples know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them. He is with and in believers, known by faith though not appearing in human form. This knowing belongs to those who love Christ and keep His commandments, joined to Christ's assurance that He will come to His disciples and manifest Himself to them.
Abiding Forever Presence
The promise is that after Jesus' departure the Father gives another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to remain with obedient believers forever, always and continually, never leaving them. It is a sure, decided and positive pledge to all who know and do His commandments as evidence of love, and because He commands obedience, keeping them is possible. Though absent Himself, He prays the Father, and He will not leave His followers comfortless or orphaned but comes to them, as He came to the disciples after His humiliation and death and remains with them always even to the end of the world. The Spirit provides divine help when human strength is inadequate, strengthening hope and assurance, illuminating the mind, purifying the heart, giving comfort and hope and courage and peace every hour, satisfying longing for His peace with His care and love and guardianship. No sorrow, affliction, fear, loneliness, distance, separation, persecution, imprisonment, exile, danger, hardship, loss or perplexity can separate believers from this heavenly help at their side, for the Comforter is near, teaches them, and Christ's presence, guardianship and saving power abide with them to do His will and to overcome.
The world cannot receive or know Him because it does not see or know Him, but disciples know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them. Though the world sees Him no more, believers see Him by faith, and because He lives they shall live also, and at that day they shall know that He is in the Father and they are in Him and He is in them. He who has light in regard to the binding claims of the law of God and keeps His commandments is he who loves Him, shall be loved by the Father, and to whom Jesus will manifest Himself, with Father and Son making their abode with him. Doubting because of feeling, complaining, anxiety, questioning and distrust is unbelief and sin that dishonors God, limits the Holy One of Israel, grieves the Spirit, and separates the soul from assurance. Believers must appropriate the promises regardless of feeling, believe and rejoice and be doers of the words, and then they have the Light of life and do not walk in darkness, for grasping these words by faith and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which are spirit and life and the condition of salvation.
The promise was not confined to the first disciples nor exhausted at Pentecost when, after the ascension, the disciples were endued with power from on high; its fulfillment provides for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, even in its special manifestations, to all coming time, always even to the end of the world, as long as mercy invites men to accept pardoning love. It belongs to every converted person who has confessed Christ and is part of His body, to all who believe in Christ, to every consecrated worker in whatever place, in every age and to every race, to Christ's followers and successors, and to believers now as surely as then. The Spirit makes His dwelling in every place where people come humbly to God and seek to do His work, and continues as God's divine teacher and representative, giving instruction no longer received through personal communion with the Maker as in innocence, especially needed as the church faces the perils of the last days. God gives this gift liberally without restriction, to strengthen spiritual work, make preaching convincing, and lead to conversion, and all who are willing may be filled according to capacity by claiming it by faith rather than relying on their own efforts or expecting only a small measure.
Receiving this abiding Comforter is the privilege and assurance of believers, joined to loving Christ and keeping His commandments and words, with obedience through trial as the test of love and the condition under which the assurance is received and known. They need not live as though they had no comfort, courage, faith or joy, need not mourn or feel disappointed or live as comfortless, joyless, mourning or disappointed after Christ's ascension, but by faith accepting and practicing His teachings may have His peace, comfort, courage, faith, joy, confidence, and reliance on His abiding presence. The Spirit was sent to strengthen them to endure reproach, imprisonment and even death, and seeing the full glory of Christ's ascent would have overwhelmed the disciples and left them less able to value and receive that help.
Love and Obedience Condition
The gift is given to those who love by having the commandments and keeping them and keeping the words, and keeping them is possible because He commands it. Love proved by obedience is the test of loyalty that divides all people into only two classes, those who obey the law and those who violate it, which are the two classes recognized in the Judgment, and failure to keep His sayings proves lack of love while keeping them is plain evidence to the world. Those who so love will be loved by the Father and loved by Christ, will have Christ manifest Himself to them, will abide in His love even as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love, and will have Father and Son make their abode with them. The promise belongs in this setting of loving and keeping, showing He will not leave followers comfortless but will come to them as He came to the disciples after humiliation and death and remains always even to the end of the world, so that though the world sees Him no more believers see Him by faith and because He lives they shall live, knowing He is in the Father and they in Him and He in them. It belongs to every converted person who has confessed Him and is part of His body, giving comfort and hope and courage and peace every hour and satisfying longing for peace with care and love and guardianship. Doubting because of feeling, complaining, anxiety, questioning and distrust is unbelief and sin that dishonors God and limits the Holy One and grieves the Spirit and separates from assurance, so the promises must be appropriated regardless of feeling with belief and rejoicing and doing of the words, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son, spirit and life and the condition of salvation and having the Light of life so as not to walk in darkness.
The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know Him, does not desire truth, follows its own way and will, sees nothing to desire in Him, loves darkness because its deeds are evil, and is claimed by darkness where Satan has set up his seat. As the natural man it counts spiritual things foolishness and cannot spiritually discern them, being without connection with God and leagued against truth because it does not desire to obey it. Thus those who do not know Him cannot rightly recognize truth or appreciate those who love God and keep the commandments, nor rightly judge duty, and one who perceives truth must not close eyes and heart to its saving power, refuse light, or bind with darkness and disobedience because neighbors, relations and friends choose darkness rather than light. Believers form the opposite class who know Him because He lives with them and will be in them, and His abiding presence is revealed in a life of faithful service. The promise belongs to the chosen little flock who love and keep amid moral darkness though unpopular, and strict obedience in simple faith and unquestioning obedience is the path by which character attains perfection and reaches the high standard required for salvation.
The promise is claimed by standing under His banner and asking anything in His name, since His name is the key that unlocks heaven's storehouse and draws from the divine treasury with His merits acknowledged before the Father, and He not only presents petitions and intercedes but Himself bestows what is sought for the Father's glory in the Son. It is spoken directly to each believer to be received personally, believed and acted on with childlike simplicity and full assurance that God will supply need from His riches and goodness and love, teaching servants today how to pray for what they need with assurance that prayers asked in His name are as acceptable as Solomon's prayer for wisdom and will be done. This calls for united prayer in faith with deep interest in souls for whom He gave His life, awakening devotion and encouraging faith, with surrender to divine guidance and control, humble waiting, emptying of self, and keeping truth and commandments. For those entering the baptismal covenant and uniting in faith, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are pledged to help and protect, while the world holding the spirit of the world cannot receive Him but can receive Him by accepting Christ.
Work and Blessing Given
He is the Spirit of truth who never frames falsehood to deceive, for there is no comfort in error or a lie but only satisfaction and freedom in truth. He teaches all things, brings Christ's words to remembrance, guides into all truth, shows things to come, and glorifies Jesus while leaving Christ's peace. The same office exposes error by Scripture, reproves the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, gives understanding, and enlightens minds to discern evil plainly and distinguish God's Word from false teaching even at cost rather than concealing truth to avoid displeasing others. By faith accepting and practicing Christ's teachings through Him, disciples need not mourn or feel disappointed.
He reproves of sin, righteousness and judgment, convicts of cherished sin, awakens conscience, produces godly sorrow unto repentance, and inspires faith. He converts, regenerates, sanctifies, purifies the heart, restores the divine image, and forms Christ's character, love, faith, hope and oneness with the Father in believers so they become living, working agencies witnessing by words, spirit, courtesy, influence and every action. His inward work makes believers conscious of God's power and quickens spiritual faculties to decisive action, deep and thorough though unseen by the world, needed every day to bring Christ's converting and transforming grace for living as Christians.
He comforts, counsels, guides, strengthens, supports, sustains, upholds and cheers in sorrow, affliction, perplexity, helplessness and loneliness wherever believers are. He strengthens hope and assurance, illuminates the mind, purifies the heart, gives rest, peace, quietness and calm, and helps in every strait and emergency where human strength and resources are inadequate. He stands with believers in conflict against Satan to grow them into Christ's likeness rather than leaving them to fight in their own strength, and with Father and Son is pledged to aid unselfish efforts to turn men from unrighteousness and darkness to righteousness and light. Those in soul-distress are to carry troubles and perplexities directly to Jesus in prayer instead of going to any human being, telling Him difficulties and asking for wisdom, which He gives liberally with rest and help without calling them foolish, and His presence means they are not left comfortless while truth sanctifies heart and life. Sealed servants for gospel work receive this divine help through the abiding Comforter who remains forever.
He empowers witness and ministry, giving divine counsel and sufficiency in Christ to be sought by faith instead of trusting alone in human counsel. He supplies power for the work through human agents as they cooperate with God, without which ministry cannot succeed if this divine agency is left out or its power not sought. He moves hearts, gives ministers converting power, enables believers to testify of Christ and bear testimony to the truth of the mercy, goodness and love of the crucified and risen Saviour, and equips them to serve God, win others to Christ, strengthen others and lead them to truth. To this end He gives wisdom and arguments to meet opposition, power for mighty signs and wonders and languages, and effectiveness to preaching to convict and convert.
Through Him the boundless resources of grace and divine help are brought within reach, acting in Christ's place as His representative to do a mighty work and resist accumulated evil by divine power. Believers receive supernatural strength for victory over sin, light, life, joy, freedom and oneness with Christ, abiding in Him, drawing faith and strength from Him, growing in character, overcoming temptation and bearing fruit unto eternal life. There is no joyless religion here but positive joy in obedience, with the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing upon the obedient and those wearing Christ's yoke walking cheerfully and bravely bearing the cross as partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption. Made one with Christ in this present life to be one with Him eternally, having the Saviour's life in them and hidden with Christ in God unto resurrection and more abundant life now, they share Christ's consolation with the suffering.
He dwells in the heart as Advocate standing beside believers, presenting their prayers to the Father fragrant with Christ's merits so even the humblest petition and thank offering is accepted with grace and blessing. He speaks to the individual mind, will and conscience, giving moral independence, and works constantly as pleader, judge, guide, counselor, sanctifier and witness, teaching, reminding, testifying, coming to the soul as divine Comforter and convicting of sin. Received as personal Saviour's gift, He abides in the believer as Counselor, Sanctifier, Guide and Witness, and a closer walk with God makes witness clearer and more powerful with deepening love for the Saviour and esteem for God's Word. His promise is a spiritual manifestation, not an outward visible manifestation, constantly pleading that spiritual power be given to overcome spiritual foes by One mightier than all enemies of God and man, giving encouragement and comfort for sore trial so faith is not lost, with the inward life fragrant with obedient love imparting experiential knowledge of God and Christ unto completion to the day of Christ Jesus.
Fulfilled and Still Promised
The promise was fulfilled after the ascension on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples obeyed the direction to wait in Jerusalem, stayed together in prayer, searched heart and surrendered, and set aside bitterness and division. Then they were endued with power from on high, the Spirit came upon them and filled the house where they were gathered, with fullness of joy and copious power by which mighty signs and wonders are wrought. That coming opened blinded eyes and removed the scales that keep people from seeing, and those who by faith grasp the atoning sacrifice and acknowledge Christ as Redeemer still receive the baptism of the Spirit to speak other languages, to prophesy, and to act as missionaries. The fulfillment was not confined to that occasion nor exhausted there, but provides for the operation of the Spirit in the church, even in special manifestations, to all coming time to the end of the world, as long as mercy invites men to accept pardoning love.
The promise belongs to believers now as surely as to the first disciples, and the passing of time does not alter it. It is not to be put off to some future time or reserved for some future time, but is to be expected and claimed in fullness now as the latter rain, for divine power awaits asking and reception. God offers the riches of the gift without restriction, godlike and liberal, and all who are willing may be filled according to capacity to receive. When claimed by faith it strengthens spiritual work, makes preaching convincing to convict and convert, guides and controls by abiding principles that keep in the truth, and brings all other blessings with it.
When the promise is not fulfilled in experience as fully as it might be, the cause is that it is not valued as it should be. Where its need is neglected and the blessing is dropped out, the sure result is spiritual drought, darkness, decline and death, with preaching reproached and spirituality feeble and dwarfed. Without the Spirit even learning, talent and eloquence cannot touch hearts, while even poor and uneducated disciples joined to Christ and given the gifts of the Spirit can influence hearts. Resting content with meager dew and small blessings, expecting only scanty showers and relying on human effort, disqualifies for the work and brings receiving little because expecting little, whereas valuing, comprehending and seeking its fullness without resistance gives strength to overcome, light for souls in darkness, power to present truth, and growth and prosperity to the church with other blessings in its train.
Receiving and Living It
The promise is to be taken personally, received with childlike simplicity and full assurance of faith that God will supply every need from His riches and goodness and love to glorify the Father in the Son. Doubt arising from feeling, complaint, anxiety, questioning and distrust dishonors God, limits the Holy One, grieves the Spirit and separates the soul from assurance, so believers must appropriate the promises regardless of feeling, believe and rejoice and do the words, and then they possess the light of life and do not walk in darkness. When discouraged or in soul-distress they are not to depend on human beings for help but to go directly to God in prayer, carrying troubles and perplexities to Jesus, asking in His name for help in difficulty, wisdom, and strength to resist temptation, and He gives rest, help and wisdom liberally without reproaching them for lack of understanding. It is a word to open and read when in trouble and hardly knowing what to do, to be read at family worship and so presented that children's minds can comprehend it, to be believed as God's Word, laid hold of and presented to family members, bringing peace, hope and rejoicing even in discouragement as proved true by experience. Grasping these words by faith and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which are spirit and life and the condition of salvation.
Receiving requires daily emptying the heart of self and preparing it for His presence, for the Spirit is a blessing needed every day and may be asked for to bring Christ's converting and transforming grace and enable a Christian life. He is to be known and welcomed as a heavenly Guest and personal Comforter, the door of the heart opened to receive Him, the heart humbled, time devoted to prayer, guidance watched for, and the whole being surrendered to divine guidance and control in humble waiting upon God. Those who love and keep the commandments have the Spirit of God and Christ abiding with and in them, enabling them to do His will, to watch, to pray, and to act in harmony with His words, thus cooperating with divine agencies. Losing dependence on Him and ceasing to press petitions to the throne of grace leaves the soul open to satanic agencies to effect separation from the Lord, and the blessing when claimed by faith brings all other blessings with it according to each person's capacity to receive.
The indwelling Comforter is with those who look to Jesus and draw knowledge, strength and grace from Him, and what is thus received is to be passed on as His consolation to suffering people. Christ gives through His human servants a comfort the world does not know, speaking through missionaries in unselfish love to the sick, the unfortunate and those possessed of evil spirits. The missionary relieves physical suffering and leads the sinner to the great Physician who cleanses the soul from the leprosy of sin, and love shown in such ministry melts hearts hardened under reproof and reforms the wrongdoer more effectively than sword or court of justice.
John 14 with John 6, 13, 15, 16 and 17 is God's plainly expressed will, holding part of the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world and teaching the great process by which believers are made one with Christ in this life to be one with Him through eternity, having the Saviour's life in them and hidden with Christ in God unto eternal life and resurrection and more abundant life now. Its meaning is understood as the Holy Spirit applies the Word to the heart rather than by mere reading, and when the heart receives the Word and cooperates with divine power its life-giving principles transform character and deepen understanding. Christ abiding in the heart by faith reconciles human wills to God's will and produces love for the brethren, a love principle extending outward from the home to become a working power in church, neighborhood, community, nations and kingdoms. The Comforter as divine endowment makes believers one with Christ their Leader and qualifies them to work in His lines, so that living His life they become living working agencies possessing His character, love, faith, hope and oneness with the Father, leaning on Him as only staff and sufficiency and witnessing by word, spirit, courtesy, influence and action as laborers together with God. Receiving His grace in living faith requires coming to Him in faith and cooperating with God, for He has made every provision for spiritual growth, and when people draw near to God He draws near to them and Jesus advances toward everyone who takes a step toward Him, His nearness through the Spirit softening and subduing hearts.
Christ as great High Priest passed into the heavens prays the Father and as Advocate pleads the case of His co-laborers, and in answer the Holy Spirit descends upon His workers so that every sincere seeker finds God and many souls are saved unto eternal life. The Comforter abides forever with consecrated laborers in every locality who in humble dependence seek to advance the cause, giving wisdom to know each country's education and distinction of character, to adapt to peculiar ideas, to meet necessities and wants, and to introduce the germ of truth. The promise gives encouragement to come boldly to the throne of grace and footstool of mercy believing the Lord hears and answers, moving every hour in humble dependence on the Captain of salvation rather than putting man in God's place as guide and counselor. God promises the aid of the Spirit's heavenly influence for the special work entrusted to His people, which must not be diverted by departing from Christ's path, and His words are not heeded where unkind, judgmental speech continues that needs cleansing and purifying.
Spoken to the eleven alone after Judas left to calm their sorrow at losing their Master, Jesus promised to intercede with the Father for them to receive a lasting Helper to remain with them. That Helper is another in His place, an equivalent for His visible presence, given because His departure in humanity would make His presence universal and nearer through His successor. He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and Christ's own Spirit, fully divine as one of the three living persons of the Godhead and not a mere influence. He is Christ's representative on earth, Christ Himself apart from humanity, so that believers are never left comfortless or orphaned. He stays with believers forever, is received only by those who love Christ by keeping His commandments while the world cannot receive Him, and brings comfort, truth, conviction, new life, and power for witness to every believer to the end.
Setting and Occasion
The promise was made to the eleven alone in the upper chamber after Judas had departed, as Christ prepared to offer Himself as the sacrifice and to leave them by crucifixion and return to the Father. It belongs to His farewell discourse in John 13-17, opening with the call not to let the heart be troubled, and to His fuller teaching in John 14-16. Before the crucifixion He told the sorrowing disciples that He would ask the Father to give them another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, to take His place and abide with them forever. That Helper had been moving on human hearts from the beginning of redemption, but they would feel their need of Him when Christ was no longer bodily with them, and through Him as representative and successor Christ would be accessible to all, no longer limited by humanity to one place but nearer than before.
It was spoken with divine love and tenderest sympathy to comfort them in losing their Master, since a cruel death was near and He thought not of His own terrible ordeal but of them. It was meant to give courage, hope, strength, assurance, faith, cheerfulness, gratitude and joy, so they would not live as comfortless and unsupported but would know they were not left alone in hardship, loss, perplexity, loneliness or danger. He knew the hatred, opposition, affliction and temptation to lose faith that awaited them, and how severely their faith and courage would be tried through unconverted believers in the church, and these words were to prepare them to meet opposition faithfully and to stand fast without failing in the most trying hour. Though simple enough for even children to understand, they ran contrary to the disciples' wishes and could not then be comprehended, yet they impart strength and assurance to every true believer as long as time shall last.
Prayer and Gracious Gift
Jesus himself prays, asks and intercedes with the Father, and in answer the Father gives and sends another Comforter to abide forever with those who love him by knowing and keeping his commandments. The promise is sure, decided and positive, and because he commands obedience, keeping his commandments as the evidence of love is possible. As Advocate and great High Priest passed into the heavens, he pleads his disciples' cause before the Father's throne, places his virtues to their account, acknowledges his merits before the Father, and as Friend at court pleads for his co-laborers and workers. His name is the key that unlocks heaven's storehouse and draws from the divine treasury, he joins his petition to theirs, he himself bestows what is sought in his name, and all is done that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Prayers asked in his name are as acceptable as Solomon's prayer for wisdom and will be done, so everyone who sincerely seeks God may come boldly to the throne of grace and to the footstool of mercy, believe the Lord hears and answers, unite in prayer in faith with deep interest in souls, and be comforted with forgiveness for past unbelief.
Another Comforter means a successor who takes Christ's place, acts in his stead and continues his ministry, as his representative on earth and the equivalent of his visible presence. The Spirit had already been moving upon human hearts from the beginning of the work of redemption, but after Christ offered himself as the sacrifice and ascended to the Father the Father would give and send the Spirit to remain forever, to dwell with believers and be in them, and to minister still through God in Christ in representing God's character and revealing power constantly exercised for human good. It was altogether for the disciples' advantage that he should leave and go to his Father, for cumbered with humanity he could not be in every place personally and was limited by his human body and by location to one place. Through the Spirit as Christ himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, the Saviour is made accessible to everyone, present in all places as the Omnipresent, no longer confined to one place though unseen, and therefore nearer to his followers than before, so they are not left comfortless or orphaned.
The gift is essential, heaven's richest gift, God's own choice of blessing greater than any inferior good men would have chosen, beyond measure and computation, and when received it satisfies every need. Through him the boundless resources of grace and of divine grace are brought within reach, the promise points to a mighty work to be done and to resisting by divine power the evil accumulated for centuries, and Christ is waiting to pour out his mighty power upon his people. Receiving the promised Spirit brings all other blessings with it, strengthens spiritual work, makes preaching convincing, leads to conversion, and is given liberally to be claimed by faith rather than by relying on human effort or expecting only a small measure of help, for God offers the Spirit's riches without restriction to all who are willing according to capacity.
Identity of Comforter
The Comforter promised is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, Christ's own Spirit and the Spirit of Christ. He is fully divine as one of the three living persons of the Godhead with the Father and the Son, a living divine person and not an impersonal influence or earthly likeness. The next verse identifies Him as the Spirit of truth who remains forever, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees nor knows Him. Those who love Christ know Him, for He dwells with them and shall be in them, and the promise stands in the setting of loving Christ and keeping His commandments.
He is Christ's representative and successor on earth, the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, by whom Christ is present in all places and continues His ministry and work after His departure. Having already moved upon human hearts from the beginning of redemption, He was to make the Saviour accessible to everyone when Christ was no longer physically with them, so that Christ's presence would no longer be limited by His human body or by location and would be nearer than before. Because Christ encumbered with humanity could not be in every place personally, it was for the disciples' advantage that He should leave, go to the Father, and send the Holy Spirit appointed as His representative and successor among men. He is Christ Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, by whom Christ represents Himself as present in all places as the Omnipresent, enlightening minds, leading to prayer, purifying hearts, helping to discern Christ's love, so believers are not left lonely, comfortless, or orphaned but Christ comes to them.
The verse identifies the Spirit's work and omnipresent abiding without revealing His nature clearly enough to define or explain it. That nature is not fully revealed and need not be defined. What is revealed is that the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, given by the Father at Christ's request to abide forever, with believers and in them as the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ.
The world cannot receive or know Him because it neither sees nor knows Him, while disciples know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them. He is with and in believers, known by faith though not appearing in human form. This knowing belongs to those who love Christ and keep His commandments, joined to Christ's assurance that He will come to His disciples and manifest Himself to them.
Abiding Forever Presence
The promise is that after Jesus' departure the Father gives another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to remain with obedient believers forever, always and continually, never leaving them. It is a sure, decided and positive pledge to all who know and do His commandments as evidence of love, and because He commands obedience, keeping them is possible. Though absent Himself, He prays the Father, and He will not leave His followers comfortless or orphaned but comes to them, as He came to the disciples after His humiliation and death and remains with them always even to the end of the world. The Spirit provides divine help when human strength is inadequate, strengthening hope and assurance, illuminating the mind, purifying the heart, giving comfort and hope and courage and peace every hour, satisfying longing for His peace with His care and love and guardianship. No sorrow, affliction, fear, loneliness, distance, separation, persecution, imprisonment, exile, danger, hardship, loss or perplexity can separate believers from this heavenly help at their side, for the Comforter is near, teaches them, and Christ's presence, guardianship and saving power abide with them to do His will and to overcome.
The world cannot receive or know Him because it does not see or know Him, but disciples know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them. Though the world sees Him no more, believers see Him by faith, and because He lives they shall live also, and at that day they shall know that He is in the Father and they are in Him and He is in them. He who has light in regard to the binding claims of the law of God and keeps His commandments is he who loves Him, shall be loved by the Father, and to whom Jesus will manifest Himself, with Father and Son making their abode with him. Doubting because of feeling, complaining, anxiety, questioning and distrust is unbelief and sin that dishonors God, limits the Holy One of Israel, grieves the Spirit, and separates the soul from assurance. Believers must appropriate the promises regardless of feeling, believe and rejoice and be doers of the words, and then they have the Light of life and do not walk in darkness, for grasping these words by faith and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which are spirit and life and the condition of salvation.
The promise was not confined to the first disciples nor exhausted at Pentecost when, after the ascension, the disciples were endued with power from on high; its fulfillment provides for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, even in its special manifestations, to all coming time, always even to the end of the world, as long as mercy invites men to accept pardoning love. It belongs to every converted person who has confessed Christ and is part of His body, to all who believe in Christ, to every consecrated worker in whatever place, in every age and to every race, to Christ's followers and successors, and to believers now as surely as then. The Spirit makes His dwelling in every place where people come humbly to God and seek to do His work, and continues as God's divine teacher and representative, giving instruction no longer received through personal communion with the Maker as in innocence, especially needed as the church faces the perils of the last days. God gives this gift liberally without restriction, to strengthen spiritual work, make preaching convincing, and lead to conversion, and all who are willing may be filled according to capacity by claiming it by faith rather than relying on their own efforts or expecting only a small measure.
Receiving this abiding Comforter is the privilege and assurance of believers, joined to loving Christ and keeping His commandments and words, with obedience through trial as the test of love and the condition under which the assurance is received and known. They need not live as though they had no comfort, courage, faith or joy, need not mourn or feel disappointed or live as comfortless, joyless, mourning or disappointed after Christ's ascension, but by faith accepting and practicing His teachings may have His peace, comfort, courage, faith, joy, confidence, and reliance on His abiding presence. The Spirit was sent to strengthen them to endure reproach, imprisonment and even death, and seeing the full glory of Christ's ascent would have overwhelmed the disciples and left them less able to value and receive that help.
Love and Obedience Condition
The gift is given to those who love by having the commandments and keeping them and keeping the words, and keeping them is possible because He commands it. Love proved by obedience is the test of loyalty that divides all people into only two classes, those who obey the law and those who violate it, which are the two classes recognized in the Judgment, and failure to keep His sayings proves lack of love while keeping them is plain evidence to the world. Those who so love will be loved by the Father and loved by Christ, will have Christ manifest Himself to them, will abide in His love even as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love, and will have Father and Son make their abode with them. The promise belongs in this setting of loving and keeping, showing He will not leave followers comfortless but will come to them as He came to the disciples after humiliation and death and remains always even to the end of the world, so that though the world sees Him no more believers see Him by faith and because He lives they shall live, knowing He is in the Father and they in Him and He in them. It belongs to every converted person who has confessed Him and is part of His body, giving comfort and hope and courage and peace every hour and satisfying longing for peace with care and love and guardianship. Doubting because of feeling, complaining, anxiety, questioning and distrust is unbelief and sin that dishonors God and limits the Holy One and grieves the Spirit and separates from assurance, so the promises must be appropriated regardless of feeling with belief and rejoicing and doing of the words, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son, spirit and life and the condition of salvation and having the Light of life so as not to walk in darkness.
The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know Him, does not desire truth, follows its own way and will, sees nothing to desire in Him, loves darkness because its deeds are evil, and is claimed by darkness where Satan has set up his seat. As the natural man it counts spiritual things foolishness and cannot spiritually discern them, being without connection with God and leagued against truth because it does not desire to obey it. Thus those who do not know Him cannot rightly recognize truth or appreciate those who love God and keep the commandments, nor rightly judge duty, and one who perceives truth must not close eyes and heart to its saving power, refuse light, or bind with darkness and disobedience because neighbors, relations and friends choose darkness rather than light. Believers form the opposite class who know Him because He lives with them and will be in them, and His abiding presence is revealed in a life of faithful service. The promise belongs to the chosen little flock who love and keep amid moral darkness though unpopular, and strict obedience in simple faith and unquestioning obedience is the path by which character attains perfection and reaches the high standard required for salvation.
The promise is claimed by standing under His banner and asking anything in His name, since His name is the key that unlocks heaven's storehouse and draws from the divine treasury with His merits acknowledged before the Father, and He not only presents petitions and intercedes but Himself bestows what is sought for the Father's glory in the Son. It is spoken directly to each believer to be received personally, believed and acted on with childlike simplicity and full assurance that God will supply need from His riches and goodness and love, teaching servants today how to pray for what they need with assurance that prayers asked in His name are as acceptable as Solomon's prayer for wisdom and will be done. This calls for united prayer in faith with deep interest in souls for whom He gave His life, awakening devotion and encouraging faith, with surrender to divine guidance and control, humble waiting, emptying of self, and keeping truth and commandments. For those entering the baptismal covenant and uniting in faith, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are pledged to help and protect, while the world holding the spirit of the world cannot receive Him but can receive Him by accepting Christ.
Work and Blessing Given
He is the Spirit of truth who never frames falsehood to deceive, for there is no comfort in error or a lie but only satisfaction and freedom in truth. He teaches all things, brings Christ's words to remembrance, guides into all truth, shows things to come, and glorifies Jesus while leaving Christ's peace. The same office exposes error by Scripture, reproves the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, gives understanding, and enlightens minds to discern evil plainly and distinguish God's Word from false teaching even at cost rather than concealing truth to avoid displeasing others. By faith accepting and practicing Christ's teachings through Him, disciples need not mourn or feel disappointed.
He reproves of sin, righteousness and judgment, convicts of cherished sin, awakens conscience, produces godly sorrow unto repentance, and inspires faith. He converts, regenerates, sanctifies, purifies the heart, restores the divine image, and forms Christ's character, love, faith, hope and oneness with the Father in believers so they become living, working agencies witnessing by words, spirit, courtesy, influence and every action. His inward work makes believers conscious of God's power and quickens spiritual faculties to decisive action, deep and thorough though unseen by the world, needed every day to bring Christ's converting and transforming grace for living as Christians.
He comforts, counsels, guides, strengthens, supports, sustains, upholds and cheers in sorrow, affliction, perplexity, helplessness and loneliness wherever believers are. He strengthens hope and assurance, illuminates the mind, purifies the heart, gives rest, peace, quietness and calm, and helps in every strait and emergency where human strength and resources are inadequate. He stands with believers in conflict against Satan to grow them into Christ's likeness rather than leaving them to fight in their own strength, and with Father and Son is pledged to aid unselfish efforts to turn men from unrighteousness and darkness to righteousness and light. Those in soul-distress are to carry troubles and perplexities directly to Jesus in prayer instead of going to any human being, telling Him difficulties and asking for wisdom, which He gives liberally with rest and help without calling them foolish, and His presence means they are not left comfortless while truth sanctifies heart and life. Sealed servants for gospel work receive this divine help through the abiding Comforter who remains forever.
He empowers witness and ministry, giving divine counsel and sufficiency in Christ to be sought by faith instead of trusting alone in human counsel. He supplies power for the work through human agents as they cooperate with God, without which ministry cannot succeed if this divine agency is left out or its power not sought. He moves hearts, gives ministers converting power, enables believers to testify of Christ and bear testimony to the truth of the mercy, goodness and love of the crucified and risen Saviour, and equips them to serve God, win others to Christ, strengthen others and lead them to truth. To this end He gives wisdom and arguments to meet opposition, power for mighty signs and wonders and languages, and effectiveness to preaching to convict and convert.
Through Him the boundless resources of grace and divine help are brought within reach, acting in Christ's place as His representative to do a mighty work and resist accumulated evil by divine power. Believers receive supernatural strength for victory over sin, light, life, joy, freedom and oneness with Christ, abiding in Him, drawing faith and strength from Him, growing in character, overcoming temptation and bearing fruit unto eternal life. There is no joyless religion here but positive joy in obedience, with the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing upon the obedient and those wearing Christ's yoke walking cheerfully and bravely bearing the cross as partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption. Made one with Christ in this present life to be one with Him eternally, having the Saviour's life in them and hidden with Christ in God unto resurrection and more abundant life now, they share Christ's consolation with the suffering.
He dwells in the heart as Advocate standing beside believers, presenting their prayers to the Father fragrant with Christ's merits so even the humblest petition and thank offering is accepted with grace and blessing. He speaks to the individual mind, will and conscience, giving moral independence, and works constantly as pleader, judge, guide, counselor, sanctifier and witness, teaching, reminding, testifying, coming to the soul as divine Comforter and convicting of sin. Received as personal Saviour's gift, He abides in the believer as Counselor, Sanctifier, Guide and Witness, and a closer walk with God makes witness clearer and more powerful with deepening love for the Saviour and esteem for God's Word. His promise is a spiritual manifestation, not an outward visible manifestation, constantly pleading that spiritual power be given to overcome spiritual foes by One mightier than all enemies of God and man, giving encouragement and comfort for sore trial so faith is not lost, with the inward life fragrant with obedient love imparting experiential knowledge of God and Christ unto completion to the day of Christ Jesus.
Fulfilled and Still Promised
The promise was fulfilled after the ascension on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples obeyed the direction to wait in Jerusalem, stayed together in prayer, searched heart and surrendered, and set aside bitterness and division. Then they were endued with power from on high, the Spirit came upon them and filled the house where they were gathered, with fullness of joy and copious power by which mighty signs and wonders are wrought. That coming opened blinded eyes and removed the scales that keep people from seeing, and those who by faith grasp the atoning sacrifice and acknowledge Christ as Redeemer still receive the baptism of the Spirit to speak other languages, to prophesy, and to act as missionaries. The fulfillment was not confined to that occasion nor exhausted there, but provides for the operation of the Spirit in the church, even in special manifestations, to all coming time to the end of the world, as long as mercy invites men to accept pardoning love.
The promise belongs to believers now as surely as to the first disciples, and the passing of time does not alter it. It is not to be put off to some future time or reserved for some future time, but is to be expected and claimed in fullness now as the latter rain, for divine power awaits asking and reception. God offers the riches of the gift without restriction, godlike and liberal, and all who are willing may be filled according to capacity to receive. When claimed by faith it strengthens spiritual work, makes preaching convincing to convict and convert, guides and controls by abiding principles that keep in the truth, and brings all other blessings with it.
When the promise is not fulfilled in experience as fully as it might be, the cause is that it is not valued as it should be. Where its need is neglected and the blessing is dropped out, the sure result is spiritual drought, darkness, decline and death, with preaching reproached and spirituality feeble and dwarfed. Without the Spirit even learning, talent and eloquence cannot touch hearts, while even poor and uneducated disciples joined to Christ and given the gifts of the Spirit can influence hearts. Resting content with meager dew and small blessings, expecting only scanty showers and relying on human effort, disqualifies for the work and brings receiving little because expecting little, whereas valuing, comprehending and seeking its fullness without resistance gives strength to overcome, light for souls in darkness, power to present truth, and growth and prosperity to the church with other blessings in its train.
Receiving and Living It
The promise is to be taken personally, received with childlike simplicity and full assurance of faith that God will supply every need from His riches and goodness and love to glorify the Father in the Son. Doubt arising from feeling, complaint, anxiety, questioning and distrust dishonors God, limits the Holy One, grieves the Spirit and separates the soul from assurance, so believers must appropriate the promises regardless of feeling, believe and rejoice and do the words, and then they possess the light of life and do not walk in darkness. When discouraged or in soul-distress they are not to depend on human beings for help but to go directly to God in prayer, carrying troubles and perplexities to Jesus, asking in His name for help in difficulty, wisdom, and strength to resist temptation, and He gives rest, help and wisdom liberally without reproaching them for lack of understanding. It is a word to open and read when in trouble and hardly knowing what to do, to be read at family worship and so presented that children's minds can comprehend it, to be believed as God's Word, laid hold of and presented to family members, bringing peace, hope and rejoicing even in discouragement as proved true by experience. Grasping these words by faith and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which are spirit and life and the condition of salvation.
Receiving requires daily emptying the heart of self and preparing it for His presence, for the Spirit is a blessing needed every day and may be asked for to bring Christ's converting and transforming grace and enable a Christian life. He is to be known and welcomed as a heavenly Guest and personal Comforter, the door of the heart opened to receive Him, the heart humbled, time devoted to prayer, guidance watched for, and the whole being surrendered to divine guidance and control in humble waiting upon God. Those who love and keep the commandments have the Spirit of God and Christ abiding with and in them, enabling them to do His will, to watch, to pray, and to act in harmony with His words, thus cooperating with divine agencies. Losing dependence on Him and ceasing to press petitions to the throne of grace leaves the soul open to satanic agencies to effect separation from the Lord, and the blessing when claimed by faith brings all other blessings with it according to each person's capacity to receive.
The indwelling Comforter is with those who look to Jesus and draw knowledge, strength and grace from Him, and what is thus received is to be passed on as His consolation to suffering people. Christ gives through His human servants a comfort the world does not know, speaking through missionaries in unselfish love to the sick, the unfortunate and those possessed of evil spirits. The missionary relieves physical suffering and leads the sinner to the great Physician who cleanses the soul from the leprosy of sin, and love shown in such ministry melts hearts hardened under reproof and reforms the wrongdoer more effectively than sword or court of justice.
John 14 with John 6, 13, 15, 16 and 17 is God's plainly expressed will, holding part of the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world and teaching the great process by which believers are made one with Christ in this life to be one with Him through eternity, having the Saviour's life in them and hidden with Christ in God unto eternal life and resurrection and more abundant life now. Its meaning is understood as the Holy Spirit applies the Word to the heart rather than by mere reading, and when the heart receives the Word and cooperates with divine power its life-giving principles transform character and deepen understanding. Christ abiding in the heart by faith reconciles human wills to God's will and produces love for the brethren, a love principle extending outward from the home to become a working power in church, neighborhood, community, nations and kingdoms. The Comforter as divine endowment makes believers one with Christ their Leader and qualifies them to work in His lines, so that living His life they become living working agencies possessing His character, love, faith, hope and oneness with the Father, leaning on Him as only staff and sufficiency and witnessing by word, spirit, courtesy, influence and action as laborers together with God. Receiving His grace in living faith requires coming to Him in faith and cooperating with God, for He has made every provision for spiritual growth, and when people draw near to God He draws near to them and Jesus advances toward everyone who takes a step toward Him, His nearness through the Spirit softening and subduing hearts.
Christ as great High Priest passed into the heavens prays the Father and as Advocate pleads the case of His co-laborers, and in answer the Holy Spirit descends upon His workers so that every sincere seeker finds God and many souls are saved unto eternal life. The Comforter abides forever with consecrated laborers in every locality who in humble dependence seek to advance the cause, giving wisdom to know each country's education and distinction of character, to adapt to peculiar ideas, to meet necessities and wants, and to introduce the germ of truth. The promise gives encouragement to come boldly to the throne of grace and footstool of mercy believing the Lord hears and answers, moving every hour in humble dependence on the Captain of salvation rather than putting man in God's place as guide and counselor. God promises the aid of the Spirit's heavenly influence for the special work entrusted to His people, which must not be diverted by departing from Christ's path, and His words are not heeded where unkind, judgmental speech continues that needs cleansing and purifying.