Another Helper

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We ⁽will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me ⁽does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here. John 14:16-31

First order of business for the ascended Christ: ask the Father to give the believers another Helper, to be with us forever. And He will. These details were already decreed, as indicated by Jesus’ explanation of Who this Helper would be and how He would help. He is identified as the Spirit of truth. He would be known only to born-again believers, because the world cannot perceive or receive Him. He is God the Holy Spirit. He is our contact with Jesus and the Father. He lives with us and in us. Jesus didn’t explain all the details of the baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to these men at this time, because they obviously were already suffering from information overload, and it had only just begun. It was sufficient at this time to assure them the Comforter was coming, and that after He came, they would understand.

This is another new operating asset for the Church age. In Old Testament times, and during Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit could and would temporarily empower the believers for certain works, under the authority of Jesus. Now, when Jesus is physically gone from us, the Holy Spirit permanently indwells every believer from the moment of salvation, to energize, inform and make intercession for us as we live and work. The world no longer sees Jesus. We believers see Him in each other, but especially in His Word. He continues to live, in His Church, through His written Word and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Because of the Holy Spirit’s help, we can see that the Father and Son are one, and we are in union with His eternal essence. This is the basis of our Christian dynamics—God’s grace provision in saving us, teaching us, and bringing us to maturity in the faith. Believers’ positive volition to Bible doctrine is the determining factor in spiritual growth and is the key to loving Jesus. That is our means of learning the techniques of the Christian Way of Life. Believers who ignore Bible doctrine really don’t come to know and Him much better than unbelievers; those believers are “flying by the seat of their pants” and judging their own spirituality by “feelings,” therefore they have no foundation for loving Him. Those who do know and love Him will have close communion with Him, because they are equipped to perceive His word and His will. The Father has decreed this close fellowship with those who obey the Son (v.21).

Jude was curious about the mechanics of the believers being able to see Jesus, but not the world. In verse 23, there’s that 3^rd class condition “if” again: “if a man loves me (and maybe he won’t, but if he does), he WILL guard My Word. It is a given. Loving Jesus = guarding, observing, practicing His Word, thereby growing in grace and being in fellowship with Him and the the Father. Very simple. If you don’t love Me, you won’t keep My word. This is evidence of our fellowship, or lack of fellowship with God. Well, the world certainly does not know or love Jesus, or have any reverence for His Word, and they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling/helping, therefore they cannot perceive Jesus. They make false assumptions based on some superficial readings of His message to the Jews, but they do not and cannot know Him. Faith comes first. Then understanding. Then love.

Jesus had to teach them about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and leadership while He was still with them, because His time was short. They didn’t grasp the information at that time, but He assured them that they would later. The Holy Spirit would bring these things to their remembrance after He became part of their lives, on the day of Pentecost. Jesus knew they were totally befuddled now, but later on, when they needed it, the stored knowledge would become clear. That was the Helper’s job. Jesus’ going to the Father was to their advantage, because the Father’s spiritual power would be more far-reaching than Jesus could be in His humanity.

He had told them beforehand, so they would understand when it happened, and believe in His deity. Now Satan was coming on the scene, and the showdown was about to begin. Jesus had nothing to fear from him, because he had no power over God the Son. It was just one more fact to deal with at that time.

Everything Jesus did was  in direct obedience to the Father. Things were about to change drastically. He was preparing the eleven as best those bewildered humans could be prepared, before the fact.

“OK, guys, let’s move on, now.”