“Another
Comforter”! What could the
Master mean? Could anyone take
the Master’s place? Could
there be “another” who
would be to the disciples all
that the Master had been? Yet, in
that upper room meeting Jesus
told them of Someone to follow
Him who was to fill the place in
their lives that He had filed,
Someone empowered to act in His
stead.
A patient became
apprehensive when he learned that
his doctor would be away for six
months. “But you will be in
good hands,” the doctor said
with assurance. “My brother
and I went to medical college
together, we have practiced
together for twenty years, and we
have often counseled together
about your case. He knows as much
about you as I do. You need not
worry. My brother will be to you
as my second self.”
In sending this,
other Comforter Jesus in reality
sent His “second self.”
Of this Comforter Jesus said,
“He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.” John
14:17. The disciples had only
dimly understood how Jesus as
Emmanuel had been God with them,
but now He spoke of
“another” that was to
dwell in them. This was too
difficult for them to grasp as
yet. Indeed, they would have to
experience it in order to
understand.
In these words,
Jesus prepared the way for His
successor. He wanted His
disciples to receive the
Comforter as they would receive
Him. And who was this Person of
whom he spoke? None other than
the Third Person of the Godhead!
Only another member of the
Godhead could ever be to them all
that He had been to them.
Many had been
deceived into equating the Spirit
of God with an abstraction. They
speak of the Holy Spirit as
merely an influence. However,
while the Spirit has influence,
He is much more than an
influence-He is a Person, a
divine Person. To be sure, the
Holy Spirit has power, “the
power of the Highest.” (Luke
1:35), yet the Spirit is not
power in any abstract sense like
gravity or electricity.
In announcing His
personal representative and
successor, Jesus did not mean to
withdraw His affections from His
disciples. Jesus would be closer
to them by His Spirit that if He
had remained with them limited by
their flesh. The love of God
would still be shed abroad in
their hearts. Indeed, the Spirit
would be to them as Christ’s
personal presence. Having His
Spirit within them, His disciples
would feel as He felt, see things
as He saw them, love sinners as
He loved them, and become more
like Him that would have been
possible if Jesus had remained
with them. In dwelt by the Spirit
of Christ, they would be
privileged to know the real
Christ. They would have in them
the same Spirit that had indwelt
their Master. Thus they would
know the “inside”
Christ because the inside Christ
can be known only as the Hoy
Spirit reveals Him. (1
Corinthians 12:3.)
The baptismal
formula given by Jesus makes
plain the deity of the Holy
Spirit. “Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.” Matthew 28:19. The
apostolic benediction states this
truth somewhat differently”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost,
be with you all. Amen.” 2
Corinthians 13:14.
The Three Persons
of the Godhead are one in
essence, one in purpose, and one
in motive. The interrelationships
of the Holy Three can never be
grasped by finite minds. But we
do know Jesus, and He said,
“He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father.” John
14:9. So, to the extent
that we are acquainted with the
Son we are also acquainted with
the Father. Moreover, to the same
extent we will be acquainted with
the Holy Spirit.
The members of the
Godhead resemble a chain of three
links. The two outer links
represent the Father and the Son.
The center link, the one that
binds the two outer links
together, represents the Holy
Spirit. In one Scripture,
reference Paul called the Third
Person of the Godhead “the
Spirit of Christ” and
“the Spirit of God.”
(Romans 8:9.) In other words, the
Spirit belongs to the Son as much
as He does to the Father. He is
the middle link.
The Holy Spirit as
a divine Person exercises all the
prerogatives of Deity. He
had an important part in
man’s creation, and His role
in the work of recreation or
regeneration is just as
prominent. (Titus 3:5.) He is
present everywhere (psalm
139:7-10) and is not subject to
death, for He is called the
“eternal Spirit.”
(Hebrews 9:14).
Since the Holy
Spirit distributes spiritual
gifts ‘to every man
severally as he will” (1
Corinthians 12:11), He must
possess personality, for the
“will” is an essential
attribute of personality. The
Scriptures speak of “the
mind of the Spirit.” (Romans
8:27.) And they declare that He
knows what God knows: “The
things of God knoweth… the
Spirit of God.” 1
Corinthians 2:11. Moreover,
bible writers describe the Spirit
as a teacher (1 Corinthians
2:13), a witness (Romans 8:26), a
guide (John 16:13), an
administrator (Acts 20:28), and
one with whom we are to enjoy
fellowship (Philippians 2:1).
These functions indicate
personality.
Emotions also are
associated with personality. An
impersonal influence cannot
impart love. But “the love
of God is shed abroad (implanted)
in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost.” (Romans 5:5.) Can
anyone carry on a conversation
with vapor or mist? Can he lie to
the darkness? These do not have
personality. But Ananias and
Sapphira died because they lied
to the Holy Spirit. They had
“not lied unto men, but unto
God.” (Acts 5:3,4.)
In those precious
last moments that He had with His
disciples, Jesus explained as
much to His followers could
possibly understand about the One
who was to take His place. In
spite of the fact that the word
spirit in the Greek is neuter and
takes the pronoun “it,”
Christ used the masculine pronoun
“He” or “Him”
twenty-four times when referring
to the Holy Spirit during this
talk with them. (John 14-16.) The
Master wanted His disciples to
see the Spirit not as something
mystic, ethereal, or nebulous,
but as a real person. Those today
that understand this will be led
by impressions, phobias, quirks,
hunches, imaginings, and such.
Impressions may be, and very
often are, of our fallen nature.
Satan can give impressions.
However, the honest-hearted will
know the leadings of the Holy
Spirit because He never leads
anyone contrary to a “Thus
saith the Lord.”
Memory Verse:
Psalm 139:
7-10. “Whether shall I go
from thy spirit? Or whither shall
I flee from thy presence? If I
ascend up into heaven, thou art
there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold thou art there. If I take
the wings of the morning, and
dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea; Even there shall thy
hand lead me, and thy right hand
shall hold me.
