Pentecost

Advocate

In this passage from John we hear that Jesus is sending a helper. The very thought that He is sending a helper leads us to believe that we will need help. “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Jn 15:26–Jn 16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Jesus then tells us why He gave us the instructions. First, to keep us from stumbling.

The New Revised Standard Version Chapter 16

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.

The New Revised Standard Version Chapter 16

But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

This passage seems to be like deja vu. Jesus tells us that He has said these things so that when we need to we will remember that He warned us of these things. Does anything that is going on today make you wonder if we aren’t living in these times now?

This may be one of the most important messages for someone seeking to know God. Jesus tells us that these people who seek to hurt you are the same people who hurt Him. They did not know Him or the Father. The key to this message is to receive the Holy Spirit. We did not want Jesus to go right? The disciples said never. (Peter) But Jesus tells us through John that it was to our benefit that He go. The Advocate, when He comes, will provide information that will prove the world wrong. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Jn 16:12–15). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

What should we take home today? The Holy Spirit has come to speak the truth. Jesus ascended to the Father so that He could send the Helper (Advocate). 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jn 16:10–11). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.