Parting Words- Part 3- The Coming Comforter

Introduction- John 14:15-24

Today we return to this conversation between Jesus and His disciples in the final hours leading up to His arrest.

Thus far Jesus has spoken to His disciples to encourage them to trust Him that their fears and anxieties might be relieved.

Last week we saw how that Jesus spoke to them with regard to revelation concerning Himself.

It was Jesus intent to help the disciples to fully understand who He is and the significance of their relationship with Him.

He told them that in the future they would do greater works than He Himself had done and that they would have the privilege of asking for and receiving anything so long as they asked in His name and that what was requested would bring glory to God.

In the passage before us today, Jesus begins a lengthy discussion concerning the comforter which would come once He had gone.

He is referred to as “another Comforter” as “the Spirit of truth” and it is said of Him that He would dwell in them.

There can be no doubt that Jesus is here speaking of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 KJV 1900

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Over the next few weeks we will explore the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer as Jesus explains it to His disciples before His departure.

Love and Obedience (Vs. 15)

Jesus begins this portion of the conversation with a simple statement that will serve to frame the discussion.

He simply says to His disciples that if they love Him, and certainly all of them would claim that they did, then they would keep His commandments.

This simply expresses the truth that the evidence of our love for Jesus is our obedience.

1 John 5:2–3 KJV 1900

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

It would be foolish to insist that we love Jesus and then to display no desire or intention to do what He has said.

Yet the truth is that in our flesh we do not alone have the capacity, the strength, nor wisdom to obey Christ.

One might say “I love Jesus Christ and I want to obey Him and yet so often I fail to follow His commandments.”

This leads to the topic of the Holy Spirit and and the role that He plays in the life of the believer.

The Promise of Another Comforter (Vs. 16-18)

Up to this point the disciples have had the awesome privilege of walking with Jesus as their guide, their teacher, their counselor and helper.

Yet in the very near future Jesus would be taken and killed and they would no longer enjoy His bodily presence with them.

Jesus tells them that He will make request to the Father and that in answer He will give them “another Comforter”.

It is important that we recognize what is meant here by the word comforter.

This does not mean someone who will only console and offer their condolences to the disciples at the loss of their leader.

The word comforter here means much more, it is literally one who is called alongside of another to help or to assist them and has the implication of providing strength to continue on.

When Jesus says “another” comforter He is referring to another of the same kind.

In simple terms the Holy Spirit is going to take the place of Jesus in the lives of His disciples.

The leadership, the help, the guidance, the counsel, etc.. that they once received from Jesus they will in the future receive from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus also promises them that this “Comforter” will abide with them for ever. He will not be with them only temporarily as was the case with Jesus but He will be with them for the remainder of their lives.

He is called the “Spirit of Truth” because just as Jesus professed to be the emodiment of truth in John 14:6 the Spirit will then lead in the revelation of truth to the disciples.

Jesus tells them that the world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know Him. This is because one can only see or know the Spirit by faith and the world has rejected Jesus and refused to believe on Him.

Yet because the disciples have believed and have demonstrated faith they know Him, this being a reference to their knowledge and belief in Jesus as He has dwelt with them, but Jesus promises that the comforter of whom He speaks will soon be in them.

This marks a striking development. Up to this point the Spirit of God would come upon men or would move in their midst but Jesus speaks of a future time, which is still in effect today, when the Spirit would dwell in men.

This is the new spiritual economy inaugurated after Jesus ascension back to the Father on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God would at this future time take up residence in every believer dwelling in them.

Jesus assures them that they will not be left alone or without one to help them, but that He will come to them, this being a reference to His coming in the form of the Spirit of God to reside in them.

The disciples must have been fearful of how they would be able to carry on without Jesus there to lead them but Jesus promised them that He would not leave them alone but that He would return to them.

In the most immediate sense Jesus would come to them and dwell with them through the person of the Holy Spirit and in the future sense He would ultimately return in bodily form to receive them unto Himself.

The Future Manifestation of Jesus (Vs. 19-24)

Jesus now tells His disciples that in a short time the world will see Him no more.

Yet He also tells His disciples that they will see Him again.

This would ultimately come to pass. Jesus would be cruficified and the world would see Him no more but He would appear to His disciples and spend time teaching and fellowshipping with them after His resurrection.

This was an encouraging revelation because His resurrection served as the guarantee of their own future resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:20–23 KJV 1900

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

In verse 20 He turns their attention back to the day of the coming of the comforter that He has promised would come.

The coming of the Holy Spirit would ultimately provide understanding to the disciples of the mysterious relationships that Jesus is speaking about.

When the Spirit came they would finally be able to fully understand all that Jesus had been telling them.

They would know that Jesus was in the Father for they had watched His ascension, they would have full assurance that they were in Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit and they would know that He was in them as they witnessed the power and presence of the Spirit of God now dwelling within them.

Jesus then speaks once more of the connection between their love for Him and their desire to know and to do what He has said.

He also promises that those who love Him shall be loved of the Father and will enjoy the manifest presence of Jesus.

The disciples apparently still struggled to understand how Jesus could manifest Himself to them and the world not see, but this is exactly what takes place even still today as the Spirit of God reveals Jesus to us even though the world does not see Him.

When you demonstrate your love for Jesus through your obedience to Him, then He will come to you and abide with you and you will enjoy His manifest presence.

Conclusion

We ought to pay careful attention to the teaching of Jesus in this passage.

This will help us to understand the significance of our obedience to Christ as the demonstration of our love for Him.

It is when we are willing to love and obey Him that we will have the opportunity to enjoy His manifest presence in our lives.

We do not have the capacity to obey on our own and this is precisely why the Spirit of God now dwells within us.

It is He who will show us what we should do and who will also enable us to do it.

Today we should long for the manifest presence of Jesus in our lives. This is what makes the Christian life worth living and it is this alone that will allow us to make an impact in this world for Christ.

Let us love and obey Him as we seek to know and to do His will through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

If you do not know Christ, you have not entered into relationship with Him can I challenge you today to come and trust Him as savior.?

He died for you and rose again. If you will only believe on Him today He will come to dwell in you and I promise you He will transform your life and make it worth living!