John 14:26, commentary and pictures

The Father sends the Holy Spirit in Christ's name to teach all things and to bring back to mind everything Christ has said. After Christ ascended, the Spirit comes as His personal representative and successor, abiding forever, so that Christ divested of humanity is present everywhere by His Spirit. The promise was fulfilled at Pentecost but was not confined to the first disciples, for it belongs to the church in every age to the close of earth's history. He opens the Scriptures, stamps their truths on the mind and brings both old forgotten truth and new truth with fresh force, yet He never teaches contrary to the written Word but always leads to it. His reminding requires diligent storing of Christ's words beforehand, and then in trial, perplexity and witness He recalls at the right moment the very truths needed.

Setting and Occasion

Jesus spoke these words in the upper chamber after Judas had left, when He was alone with the eleven on the night just before His crucifixion and approaching separation from them. It was farewell teaching given as He prepared to leave them to face trials and conflicts, with the comfort, Let not your heart be troubled, and with words of courage to strengthen them for what lay ahead when a cruel death lay before Him. He spoke in answer to a disciple's question about how He would manifest Himself to His disciples and not to the world, promising that the Father would send the Holy Ghost as Comforter in His name to teach all things and bring back to remembrance everything He had said. That promise means God does not ask His people to do His work in their own strength but provides divine assistance for every emergency beyond human power, for without divine power their work would fail, their ministry must rest on Christ, and workers must seek the power God provides and cooperate with Him to uplift fallen humanity. Received and properly taken in, the truth brings eternal life, while the words remain not half comprehended by individuals, families, and church members through whom as God's family He would represent pure, unadulterated truth; the Spirit helps in every strait, strengthens hope and assurance, illuminates minds, purifies hearts, and guides, comforts and sustains God's people as the pledge of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to aid unselfish efforts to turn men from unrighteousness to righteousness and from darkness to the light of truth.

The verse belongs with John 13-17, and with John 6, as God's will plainly outlined and plainly expressed for His people and for those who minister in word and doctrine. God means just what He says in it, and those acquainted with present truth need to be converted to believe every verse in these chapters, with God's servants called to believe and live them out before fellow ministers in genuine missionary work. The chapters must be carefully studied and earnestly practiced by those who honor God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, and time given to unimportant matters while things of eternal consequence scarcely arrest attention and make only faint impression on the mind must not continue. The duties Christ as Substitute and Surety specifies there cannot be neglected, because they bear divine credentials to the world that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The instruction is meant to cure dissension, calling for Christ's unity and love to be lived out in practical life so that unity with one another and with Christ becomes a wall against Satan and enables standing the test in the shaking time, and living that instruction overcomes dissension and strengthens unity with Christ and one another. Receiving the gift taught there brings rest and peace, for the Holy Spirit is received as the heart is emptied of self, comes to teach and guide, and His coming as at Pentecost opens blinded eyes to what God desires to do for people.

The chapter's special teaching is keeping the commandments of God. It also teaches that He goes away to prepare mansions and will come again to receive His people to Himself that where He is they may be also, given to awaken expectation of the soon coming of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to reveal the love of God which passes knowledge. Studying these words of encouragement gives believers courage and assurance to stand firm in difficult times and in the trials ahead. They are to find hope and comfort in Christ's words near the close of His earthly ministry.

Identity of the Comforter

The Comforter is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, whom the Father sends in Christ's name to teach all things and to bring back to remembrance whatsoever Christ has said. He is the abiding Comforter who remains with believers, giving peace and reassurance when Christ is no longer visibly present, so troubled hearts need not fear or yield to doubt but trust and obey in practice. As believers prayerfully study the Bible the Spirit helps understanding and resolves difficulties, and truth thus received and taken in brings eternal life.

Sent after the ascension to the Father, He is Christ's own representative, successor, Advocate, another and second Comforter who abides forever, to whose guidance all may implicitly trust. Because cumbered with humanity Christ could not be personally in every place, it was to advantage that He leave, go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. That Spirit is Christ Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ, by whom Christ presents Himself as present in all places as the Omnipresent, just as near in one place as in another. Though not appearing in human form He is seen and recognized by faith, His influence is the life of Christ in the soul working in and through everyone who receives Christ, and those who know this indwelling reveal love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

His nature is a mystery not clearly revealed and not essential to define. He is not discerned in human form, though at times He comes as a person to protect and counsel, and He writes God's thoughts deeply in the heart, guiding seekers to ask wisdom and duty from God rather than relying on human agents.

He has part in the covenant of salvation alongside the Father as Father and the Son as Redeemer, as Counsellor and Sanctifier. He is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, one of three living persons of the heavenly trio — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in whose name those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, making manifest the power of divine grace, and these three great powers cooperate with obedient subjects of heaven in living the new life in Christ.

The verse gives the largest promise Christ could give when He left, the strongest consolation to do good after His departure, the greatest comfort for that departure, encompassing every other blessing. He chose this subject because it was most important for them, to uplift thought and enlarge expectation to grasp the highest conception of excellence, and His words about the Spirit are to be studied, the value of the gift appreciated, and its fullness sought without resisting its working even in the first presumptuous step. The Spirit is God's richest gift of heaven, the donation signalizing the enthronement of the Son in His mediatorial kingdom and demonstrating God's perfect reconciliation with men, free to all and beyond computation, bringing all other blessings with Him with spiritual strength and efficiency. As Christ's representative and constant helper He directs diligent search of the field of revelation for the unsearchable riches of Christ, uncovering truths buried under misinterpretation and maxims exalted above the Word, refusing to let the mind rest content in indolence with surface truths, awakening earnest desire for truth uncorrupted with error, rewarding the diligent seeker with celestial truth and still more valuable treasure, working from the heart outward to develop faith and a character God will approve, fulfilling Christ's promise never to leave nor forsake. Receiving Him is the all-powerful gift, yet capacity to receive rests with the human agent, and the greatest hindrance is failure to depend on His efficiency, while those who come humbly, willing and anxious to learn, must credit the pledged word and believe they are taught, led, guided and blessed without doubting, making even mistrust of self a subject of prayer. When the church neglects His influence spiritual drought follows, and it should not be content with meager spiritual life.

The promise provides for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church through all coming time while mercy invites men to accept pardoning love, not confined to Pentecost. As God's representative and divine Teacher He comes as Comforter and Guide to lead into all truth, so man is not left without instruction, and the promise is fulfilled through gifts placed in the church for edification and instruction to the end of time. That includes both ordinary and extraordinary operations needed especially in the perils of the last days, including a special last-day outpouring and the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy, and channels such as visions and dreams that enlighten understanding and guide steps.

Teaching and Reminding Work

The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in Christ's name after Jesus leaves, teaches the disciples all things and brings back to their remembrance everything Jesus has said, refreshing memory so His words remain imprinted on the heart to be shared with all nations. This teaching and reminding is Christ's comfort to them, with peace that leaves the heart untroubled and unafraid, and when received and practiced it gives peace rather than heaviness and mourning after the ascension. The promise gave assurance that lessons not understood or valued while Jesus was present would afterward be recalled and understood through the Spirit. As Guide, Advocate, and representative of Christ, the Spirit sustains faith even in severe trials, makes Christ's unseen presence real, helps His words to be understood as living truth, and gives spiritual power.

The Spirit continually teaches, reminds, and testifies to the soul, and also convicts of sin. He is the appointed Teacher who guides Christ's followers when perplexed and desiring to keep the Lord's way and do right, continuing after Christ leaves what Christ personally began while with the disciples. He is the infallible Guide who can work beyond human plans and transforms those who accept His gift into humble, spiritual worshipers devoted to God's glory. When He comes upon believers they testify of Christ, connecting them with heaven to communicate light to others, with truth received into the heart sanctifying the life. In connection with John 16:8, He reproves the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, giving God's testimony its living, forceful character, which ministers are to proclaim plainly rather than speaking smooth, deceptive things.

The Spirit reveals truths that have faded from the mind as well as truths entirely new to those who truly love God. He takes the things of Christ and of God and shows them to those who seek Him, and as they keep looking to Jesus He works until character is changed and Christ is formed within. He brings the truths of the plan of redemption vividly and often to mind, for without this work they would be forgotten and God's promises would lose effectiveness, while as He brings them hearts are warmed by Jesus and His love and moved to share the comforting assurances remembered. He presents not only new truth but old truth forgotten or buried with new clearness and force to bring to repentance, makes the neglected word a living, powerful influence, and works through people as they use God-given abilities to share truth and warn others. He takes truth from Scripture and stamps it on the mind.

The Spirit opens God's Word to Christ's servants, illuminates its teachings, and applies them to life. He reveals Christ the Lamb who takes away sin, opens the Scriptures to the convicted soul, makes salvation effective, draws to the meaning of Christ's sacrifice, and impresses God's truth leading to holiness and clear understanding of the way of life. He is present as Jesus' representative with those who search Scripture to know truth and revives the humble and contrite, writing and applying the Word in the heart with the cooperation of the human will, not by reading words alone, bringing comfort, peace, hope, encouragement, and deeper sense of God's love. The truth is one despite the world's many errors, and cherished in the heart it has sanctifying power, for true faith works by love and purifies the soul. The Spirit who inspired the Bible never teaches contrary to it nor supersedes it, but always leads to the written Word, which remains the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.

Help for First Disciples

While Jesus was with them the disciples could not bear or rightly understand many things He told them, because former teaching had molded their ideas and they misinterpreted, dimly comprehended, and forgot much of what He said, including mysteries of the kingdom and events to come. Their blindness and unbelief kept them from appreciating and valuing heavenly truth while He presented it to them. Confusion from their earlier religious education and the mistaken interpretations of Scripture by Jewish teachers, together with false teachings, selfish earthliness, worldly concerns, and expectation of a temporal kingdom, clouded their grasp of His lessons, including why He had to die to bear the penalty of human sin, His humiliation, rejection, suffering and crucifixion, and what He taught about future events. The promise assured them they would not be left alone amid iniquity, sorrow, persecution, trial, and rejection of their testimony, but would be sustained by the Holy Spirit guiding them into all truth as evidence of Christ's love, tender compassion, and condescension in making them depositaries of sacred truth, with sacred truth still to be revealed more fully.

After His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension the Holy Ghost brought Christ's words back to their minds with vividness and force greater than when first heard, as fresh revelation and pure truth, and this promise comforted them as they faced severe testing. The Spirit must be received before His lessons can be fully understood, for He teaches what needs to be known, prepares the heart to receive Christ, and enlightens the mind to grasp the truths represented in His words and in the sacramental service. Minds were opened to comprehend prophecies, miracles, and parables, to see that the ceremonial system presented Christ's atoning work and why He had to die for sin, so that dim lessons became clear, they awoke as from a dream, felt their littleness, remembered with joy, longed to understand what they had not grasped, and never wearied of rehearsing His words and works. As the Spirit of truth He gives spiritual understanding, opens truths they could not yet bear, enables accurate remembrance for witness after His death, and works through Scripture to impress truth on the heart, expose error, and drive it from the soul, so that truth brings comfort and peace while falsehood does not.

It would have been impossible for them by themselves to give an accurate account of so many important words for future generations, so by this teaching and reminding work holy men were inspired to write the words Christ had spoken, including the lesson of the vine to be repeated for the benefit of those who hear their words, and those words have come down in the New Testament. At Pentecost the Spirit enabled them to speak and fitted them to preserve and proclaim the sacred truths Jesus had entrusted to them, so the church could represent Christ, and when the apostles stood in their appointed places and began their entrusted work the Spirit made them mighty in word and deed. The apostles were enabled to write the Gospels, tracing with accuracy what they had seen with their own eyes, giving a true record of Christ's teachings and showing things to come, and the pens of the sacred historians were guided so the precious record of the sayings and works of Jesus would be presented to the world and brought to remembrance. The Spirit's work accompanies God's preservation of the written word through the ages and supports its preservation and study, keeping the witness for later fellowship.

The promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were endued with power from on high, but its fulfillment was not confined to Pentecost, for it provides for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, even in special manifestations, through all coming time while mercy invites men to accept the pardoning love of Christ. This work was not limited to the apostles or to the period when Scripture was being written, for the Spirit would continue throughout the gospel age, including after the biblical canon was complete, enlightening, warning, and comforting God's people in harmony with Scripture.

The Comforter was sent to strengthen their hearts to endure reproach, humiliation, imprisonment, and even death, and without the contrast of the ascension's heavenly glory they would not have appreciated or been strengthened by that help as they needed to carry out Christ's commission and keep His character and life before them as the pattern to copy. As they waited for the promised Spirit after Christ's death, they remembered His words more fully, understood their meaning better, and repeated to one another truths they had forgotten, which led them to recognize their unbelief, repent, and resolve to bear witness to Christ. When separated from Jesus and faced with opposition, tests, and trials after His departure, He would bring His teachings back to their remembrance, strengthening and encouraging them in conflict and sustaining them so faith would not fail, drawing on the truth Jesus had lived before them and taught them.

The Spirit had to guide them into all truth by bringing to remembrance all things Christ had said because when they heard His warnings they did not then fully understand them and could not understand why He connected the perils of the overthrow of Jerusalem with the perils of His second advent. They were left to study out the meaning afterward, with the Spirit helping them remember and understand His teaching, so those living in this age may understand the general warning and appropriate each part to the period where it belongs.

Promise for All Believers

The promise was spoken to the first disciples but belongs to the church in every age to the close of earth's history, and the assurance given to them is to be given to all who believe through the end of the world. The Comforter promised to them is also given to consecrated workers for God wherever they serve, and the promised Spirit belongs to believers now when they claim the promise by faith, not only to the first disciples or to some future church. When claimed, the gift brings spiritual strength and efficiency for the work, helping truth to convict and convert, while dependence on human effort alone leaves the church weak and unable to share light effectively.

The impartation of the Spirit is a blessing needed daily that may be asked for, and it comes with other blessings bringing the promised peace so hearts need not be troubled or afraid. The Spirit is to be received as the heart is emptied of self, bringing rest and peace, and the gift encompasses every other blessing. The capacity to receive rests with the human agent, and asking in Christ's name means asking with childlike trust and simplicity for what accords with His will, in full trust that God will give what is asked. He is freely given as teacher and guide to those who come to God in faith, and by His work in them they may know the will of God.

The Spirit does not reveal Himself in any specified precise way that people can mark out, but in God's order at unexpected times and in ways that honor His own name. Heaven purposes to impart power through Him to those who believe, and obedience is the first price for receiving Him. Unbelief prevents God from doing mighty works, so those who do not believe miss the richest endowment of grace that would make them wise unto salvation, patient and forbearing, quick of perception to appreciate heavenly ministrations, quick to discern Satan's devices, and strong to resist him. He is Comforter as well as Reprover, and those who rely on the promise do not present His service as joyless, unattractive and costly nor make the path gloomy by dwelling on trials, for to do so misrepresents God, while to resist His influence or treat Him as common for earthly pleasure interrupts the light and leaves people unable to discern it, a peril few among the young understand.

The Comforter sent in Christ's place to act in His stead is present with believers in every place and circumstance, and no distance or circumstance can separate them from Him. In sorrow, affliction, uncertainty, helplessness, bereavement and loneliness He answers the prayer of faith and comforts, supports, sustains, upholds, encourages and cheers with gentle words, so they are not alone and not left orphans. He abides with them as their appointed teacher of all things, assuring divine companionship and help on the way to God's city, reminding them of what was said and leading to higher action. He is given to make them strong so they need not bemoan weakness, presenting within reach the precious fruit from the tree of life, the blessings purchased, to pluck and eat and then guide others to eat, with angels waiting to cooperate so they become living agencies of blessing.

The promise is to be opened in the Bible in trouble and difficulty when hardly knowing what to do, to be believed as God's Word, laid hold of and presented to family members. It is to be read at family worship and presented so young minds comprehend its wonderful truth, giving peace and hope and rejoicing to the discouraged and disheartened because God will not leave His people comfortless, as proved true in experience. That enlightenment is received through daily committing the way to God in faith and learning continually of Christ, and through opening Scripture and asking for the Spirit's enlightenment, which will surely be given to carry the growing work forward in a time of intense action, unexpected opportunity, increasing difficulty and misunderstood movements.

Guidance in Studying Scripture

The Comforter sent by the Father in Christ's name is given as an aid, divine Teacher and heavenly Guest in studying the Bible, teaching all things and bringing Christ's words to remembrance so the true meaning is understood. Under His guidance teachers can teach the Word intelligently, difficulties are resolved, light shines on its teachings, and the deep things of God are searched. When the Bible is made the study book with earnest prayer for the Spirit's guidance and full surrender of heart to be sanctified through the truth, all that is promised is accomplished. Such study produces well-balanced minds with balanced development of physical, mental and moral powers, quickened understanding, aroused sensibilities, sensitive conscience, purified sympathies and sentiments, a better moral atmosphere, moral power, new strength and greater power to resist temptation, and makes teachers and students active and earnest in God's work. The same Teacher who instructed ancient Israel through the prophets and gave the apostles wisdom to write the New Testament enables believers through faith to receive the prophets' and apostles' writings as fresh and powerful testimony, to distinguish His teaching from false doctrines, to repeat God's words with authority, and to have Christ's words and works become real as if witnessed.

For the Spirit to recall Christ's teachings in peril, temptation, danger, need and great necessity, those teachings must first have been learned and stored in the mind through diligent study. Believers must not leave Bible study to the minister but treasure Scripture daily, learn Christ's teaching, strengthen faith by prayer, strive earnestly to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, serve God daily with undivided affection and devotion, compare verse with verse so that Scripture unlocks Scripture, and work with earnest persevering effort like a miner digging for hidden treasure and ore. Then difficulties are solved, they leave study wiser than when they began, the Lord quickens understanding to find truth, and knowledge so gained flashes into memory at the right time with power and efficiency to reach hearts and help resist temptation. Those who neglect Christ's words, have not learned them nor tested His grace in trial, cannot expect the Spirit to remind them of words they have not learned, and trashy reading blocks the work.

The office of the Spirit is to bring to mind in clear distinct lines the words and works of Christ, continually illuminating the minds of those who teach Scripture so they represent Christ with force and directness and their testimony does not become narrow, lifeless or repetitive. Sabbath-school officers and teachers need His guidance and instruction to be true educators, able to inspire thought, to bring to remembrance the things they have taught their pupils, and to have power to lift up Christ before the minds of their classes. His help is needed in all the arrangements of the Sabbath school, including the choosing of men and women of God to fill the responsible positions of superintendents, officers and teachers. The same divine Guide who instructed Christ's first co-workers instructs His co-workers in educational work today and can produce the same results in their work. This help is given to those who share with others the light they receive from Bible study and who visit families to read and explain the Bible, for as they impart grace they receive grace for grace and increase in knowledge, heavenly angels are commissioned to work with them and divine intelligences impress human hearts, and the Comforter refreshes their memory of what they have heard and learned to encourage those who do not know the truth and bless those who share the preciousness of Christ.

God's holy educating Spirit is in His Word, shining a new and precious light upon every page, revealing truth there and making words and sentences bright and appropriate for the occasion as the voice of God speaking. The Spirit loves to address children and discover to them the treasures and beauties of the Word of God. The promises spoken by the Great Teacher captivate the senses and animate the soul of the child with a divine spiritual power, growing a familiarity with divine things that stands as a barricade against the temptations of the enemy.

Help in Trial and Witness

When brought to trial for faith, no set speech is to be prepared beforehand and no weeks spent planning a defense, for the Spirit will recall at the right moment the very truths needed to reach hearts. Daily preparation instead is treasuring God's Word, learning Christ's teaching, diligent searching of Scripture, strengthening faith by prayer, earnestly striving to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, following Christ step by step, and serving with undivided devotion and affection while trusting Him. When arrested for obeying God rather than men, or rather than government action, no thought need be taken about the defense, because the Spirit supplies what to say in the moment. Knowledge so gained flashes into memory with power and efficiency, but those who have neglected Christ's words and have not proved His grace in trial cannot expect the Spirit to remind them of words they have not learned.

The Comforter stands with believers in spiritual conflict, helps them grow into Christ's likeness, and gives words when facing magistrates, lawyers, and prison. He is present as the heavenly Guest when the Word is preached, so that the Father sends words to speak and the speaker is surprised at what is given. Amid discouragement, searching Scripture lets remembered words replace darkness with light and give reason to rejoice in Christ. Help is needed not only to receive what is shown but to recall and relate it at the proper time and occasion, and the Spirit supplies Bible truths not previously thought of with clarity and force, strengthening in weakness and sustaining in sickness and overwork while writing by flashing heavenly light.

When one stands in God's name to give reproof and warning, God's power comes upon him, the Lord speaks in the night season and even while standing, flashing light, opening hidden sins, and giving instruction for the people. The Lord strengthens memory and brings to mind the words necessary for the occasion, the timely portion of His Word as food for the people, becoming tongue and utterance to faithful servants. The Spirit then makes the spoken word effective to convict and convert, so seed falls into good ground and bears fruit unto eternal life, and truth spoken under His dictation convicts even opposers so that many hardened ones believe. This large measure of the Spirit's influence and converting power must first be in ministers' own hearts to fit them to strengthen others, and the same promise guides men and women burdened to produce books to bless God's cause to seek counsel from God, believe for guidance in writing, and use any income to uplift truth where He directs.

While Christ is preached the Spirit awakens conscience and understanding and brings God's commandments to remembrance, even when they are not presented immediately or prominently, so sincere hearers see them clearly. The Lord causes remembrance of all things so a life is seen in its true bearing, clearing the beclouded moral sense to expose lurking guilt, idols, selfish plans to uplift self by pulling another down, and improper attention, calling to turn away, have the law written on the heart, and walk in heavenly purity. Bringing Christ's words and past words and deeds to mind awakens discernment of how conduct has harmed God's work and recalls defects of character seen in God's Word, leading to true repentance, restitution, and pure conduct.

In the Lord's ordinances the Holy Ghost sent by the Father in Christ's name teaches and brings Christ's words to remembrance, turning attention from past experiences and grievances toward Christ and His presence. In foot-washing He quickens spiritual understanding and convicts by bringing sins to mind with greater clarity, moving participants toward reconciliation with one another. So too He prepares the heart to receive Christ and enlightens the mind to grasp the truths represented in His words and in the sacramental service.

Transformed Life and Mission

Jesus sends the Spirit to change character into the image of Christ, and that change is sanctification. No human effort or power can work it by itself. It comes as sin-burdened souls look continually to Jesus and behold Him day by day, imperceptibly leaving their own ways and will for Christ's ways and will and the loveliness of His character, until the beholder is so like Him that one looking sees Christ's own character shining out as from a mirror reflecting the glory of the Lord. In that work the beholder becomes a partaker of the divine nature, learns in Christ's school, catches the spirit and mind of Jesus, and reflects the Lord's glory. The Spirit reveals Christ as the Lamb who takes away sin, opens the Scriptures to the convicted soul, draws minds to the meaning of His sacrifice, impresses God's truth on the soul, and makes salvation effective unto holiness and a clear understanding of the way of life. Received humbly, the truth thus unfolded transforms character, produces righteous character and the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith — replaces hatred with love, and equips for faithful service, so that when self is surrendered the Spirit of Christ fills the life and the believer minds spiritual things and bears fruit to God's glory and unto eternal life.

The Spirit breathes upon the soul that humbly rests on Christ, and like seed developing unseen from blade to full grain, faith grows by supernatural aid and makes the name of Jesus precious to the heart. He brings Christ's promises and words and works to remembrance, giving peace and a sweet sense of forgiveness. That remembrance gives hope, awakens continual praise and gratitude, and brings security, for as eyes are kept fixed on the Saviour and trust rests in His power, Christ's unfailing righteousness becomes the believer's by faith. Minds under the Spirit's control walk in humility and meekness and find peace in Christ, and this presence comforts believers in coming trial and disappointment and is essential to the forming of Christian character. Where His impressions are listened to and valued, the truths take root, spread through the church, and lead to revival, conversion, and service, while love of the world and unwillingness to yield to God hinder the work.

Keeping this promise continually in mind calls for diligent study of God's Word, eating the Word as the bread of heaven and making its divine principles part of life upon a firm foundation more valuable than human suppositions. So nourished, believers turn from looking on the dark side and talking unbelief and discouragement about difficult work, in contrast to fractious, self-pitying dwelling on infirmities and feelings that leaves weak and spiritless and an easy prey to Satan, and turn toward helping and building one another up in the most holy faith, finding the bright side, and talking matters over together in a humble, prayerful, consecrated spirit until light comes. The Spirit plants truth in mind, heart, and soul and brings Christ's words to bear on life, so that obeyed daily the truth changes the life and becomes a life-giving influence. Those who live that Word are baptized with the Holy Spirit so that dissension and lack of unity are gone and they are one as Christ is one with the Father, enabling parents brought into right relation to God to carry out Christ's Word before their children and bring them to Jesus with saving influence.

This help is given to those who share with others the light received from Bible study, for as they impart grace they receive grace for grace and increase in knowledge, with heavenly angels commissioned to work with them and divine intelligences impressing human hearts. The Comforter is the appointed infallible Teacher and Guide who continues Christ's personal teaching after He leaves, guiding followers when perplexed and desiring to keep the Lord's way and do what is right, transforming those who accept His gift into humble, spiritual worshipers devoted to God's glory. He gives the divine enlightenment needed, illuminating understanding and warming the heart through Christ's mediatorial work, which human wisdom and science cannot replace, so those who must lead others must seek His instruction rather than their own ideas, and God's Word rather than human comfort or reproof that may miss the mark supplies guidance suited to each seeker of truth. He brings to mind things otherwise unremembered, equipping workers to work with Christ and let light shine in good works that lead others to glorify the Father, and He instructs those undertaking God's work daily, guides the canvasser and missionary, works beside those sharing sacred truth to prepare the way, gives humble workers going to unentered fields a new living experience correcting pride, and calls teachers to give Him room rather than crowd out Bible study, meditation and prayer.

His office is to teach and remind by making every dark thing plain to human understanding, continuing Jesus' own way of dealing in plainness and openness, for only God Himself is veiled in unapproachable mystery. The verse therefore forbids hiding what is plain and simple under a guise of mystery in order to gain influence, and requires self-denial, simplicity, honesty, and rightly remembering Christ's words and presenting them in a true light to self and others. Fraud, dishonesty, extortion, and overcharge, as in physicians, stand condemned as contrary to Christ's order.

The Holy Ghost sent by the Father in Christ's name to teach all things and bring Christ's words to remembrance assures believers that they are adopted children of God forming characters here fit for entrance into the heavenly family, and remembering this adoption enables bearing present trials, for in heaven there will be no color line and all will be as white as Christ Himself, so believers can thank God for membership in the royal family. He draws near and softens hearts when people draw near to God and give themselves without reserve, and His presence felt in gatherings urges humbling, confession of sins, and renewed conversion. Yielded minds receive new spiritual insight and enlightenment to understand Christ's instruction, for Christ's teachings are lessons for every day, the more carefully and often studied the better understood.

God may use visions to teach those strayed from Bible truth and show errors, and to reject that teaching is to disregard God's words and resist the Holy Ghost, not merely criticize the human instrument, leaving refusers to their own mistaken course until too late they realize they rejected God's warning. The same Comforter brings needed help in specific duties, as promised to one stepping away from heavy school responsibilities. He enlightens the mind and enlarges comprehension so faith does not fail when long-cherished hopes are painfully disappointed, enabling recognition of strong temptations hard to recognize as temptations, and enabling disciples to see Christ's crucifixion as His true coronation instead of exaltation to David's throne, freed from conceptions of His kingdom limited to worldly aggrandizement and honor, even as words spoken by Jesus as Teacher sent from God in familiar conversation at tables in homes to sow seeds of truth were afterward brought to remembrance after humiliation, trial, rejection, condemnation, crucifixion, and resurrection as triumphant Conqueror.

The promise belongs with Christ going to the Father as Advocate to plead the cause and place His virtues to account, so that enlightened by the Spirit the disciples saw altogether differently and could speak the name of Jesus with assurance because He was pleading at the Father's throne in their behalf, comforting them with forgiveness and moving them to confess Him before the world. The Father sends the Holy Ghost in Christ's name to teach all things and bring all Christ's words to remembrance, even their emphasis and the love in His voice searched out in the Old Testament Scriptures and grasped by faith into life, and the Spirit is ready to cooperate with all who receive Him and are willing to be taught. Those who lay hold on truth and are sanctified through it are united with Christ to represent Him in word and action, having put on Christ with power to reveal truth to others, speaking words as choice as gold as they give the bread of life to those in transgression and sin, and enabled by His abiding presence to do Christ's will. This teaching is linked with loving Christ, keeping His words, and abiding in Him, so genuine conversion is shown by forsaking sin and obeying God's commandments, not by profession alone.