“HE SHALL GIVE YOU ANOTHER COMFORTER.”
-APRIL 30.-JOHN
14:15-27.-
CONTINUING his
discourse to his troubled disciples at the time of his instituting the Memorial
of his own death, our Lord not only promised to come again and receive them to
himself in due time, but additionally he promised the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit, during the interim of his absence. Since he was about to lay down the
human nature he could no longer be with them as the man Christ Jesus-in his
resurrection he would become again a spirit being like unto the Father, and
could no more be seen by his disciples than the Father could be seen by them,
until the time would come when the entire Church, complete, would be “changed,”
made “like him” (and like the Father) and see him, and be with him, and share
his glory. His resurrection “change” made necessary either the leaving of his
disciples alone, without any help or aid during the Gospel age, or else that
help be granted them in some other manner. The few occasions on which our Lord
appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, for a few moments each, were
miraculous manifestations, simply for the purpose of assuring them that he was
no longer dead, and that having risen from the dead he was no longer controlled
by human conditions. Hence, as a part of the lesson, the flesh bodies in which
he manifested himself appeared miraculously and disappeared likewise-he came
and went as the wind.-John 3:8; Luke 24:26,31; Acts 1:3,4.
The holy spirit would be another Comforter, but the comfort would be of
the same kind. Indeed, our word “comfort” does not properly represent the
thought of the text, which rather is, to strengthen, to sustain: the holy
spirit would not be merely a consoler of woes, a soother of fears, in the sense
of our word comfort, but it would quicken their understandings, strengthen
their zeal, and energize them for doing and enduring such things as divine
providence might permit to come upon them for their correction in righteousness,
and in order to make them “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”
The holy spirit or holy influence that should come to the Church and abide
with it through the age, to supervise and direct in the interest of the
faithful, was to be a representative of both the Father and the Son. Indeed,
the thought that the holy spirit is the representative of the Lord Jesus with
the Church is so strongly put that sometimes the Lord himself and his spirit or
influence are spoken of interchangeably; as for instance, when he said to them,
“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20.) And
again, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you [through the holy
spirit].” And again, “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye
in me, and I [through the holy spirit] in you, ...and I will manifest myself to
him [through the holy spirit]....And we [the Father and the Son] will come unto
him, and make our abode with him [through the holy spirit].”-Vss. 18,20,23.
Thus it is that those who receive the holy spirit, the spirit of the
truth, the spirit of love, the spirit of the Father, the spirit of Christ, are
enabled to see Jesus, and have a new life begun in them. (Vs. 19.) They
see with the eyes of their understanding, and do not walk in darkness.
They hear the voice of the Lord, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in
it.” They taste the good Word of God, and realize that he is very
gracious. They feel the love of God shed abroad in their hearts,
producing in them love for the brethren and all the good fruits of the
spirit-meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly-kindness,
love.-Isa. 30:21; 1 Pet. 2:3; Rom. 5:5; Col. 3:12,13.
These experiences, however, are promised conditionally-they are not promised
to those who have never heard of the grace of God, but to those who have heard,
to “as many as the Lord our God shall call,” who, hearing his commandments, are
moved by responsive love to do them. Such have the Father’s love, such have
the love of the Son, and such shall have the fellowship both of the Father and
the Son through the medium or channel of the holy spirit. This is declared in
the 15th and 16th verses, and again in the 21st, 23d and 24th. Not only are
faith and obedience of the heart necessary, before any can come into the
spirit-begotten condition, but a continuance and growth in faith and in
obedience are necessary in order to a continuance and growth in the spirit of
holiness, or the holy spirit, the spirit of fellowship with the Father and with
the Son.
It is one thing to have a begetting of the spirit, and quite another
matter to attain to that condition urged by the Apostle, saying, “Be ye filled
with the spirit.” (Eph. 5:18.) The measure of our
filling will correspond with the measure of our emptying of the spirit of
selfwill, and filling with the spirit of faith and obedience. And altho the
obedience cannot do otherwise than manifest itself in the daily life,
nevertheless it is the obedience of the intention, of the will, of
the heart, that the Lord regards in his consecrated people, and not
merely the control of the earthen vessel. Hence, some whose hearts are thoroughly loyal to the Lord may be pleasing to him, while
not the most pleasing to some of those with whom they come in contact; while
others, “highly esteemed amongst men” because of outward moralities, may be an
“abomination” in the sight of God, because of coldness or dishonesty of heart.
(Luke 16:15.) Nevertheless, he that hath the new hope
in him, and the new spirit, will seek to purify himself, not only in his
thoughts, but also in his words and deeds and all his affairs, inward and
outward.-1 John 3:3.
It should not be overlooked that, altho the holy spirit, like all other
favors, is of the Father, it, like all others of his gifts, comes to us through
the Son, and not by any direct relationship between the Father and us. As we
saw in our previous lesson that our prayers addressed to the Father are to be
answered by the Son,-“Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son: If ye shall ask anything in my name I
will do it;”-so we see in this lesson that the gift of the holy spirit comes to
us, not because of any direct relationship between the Father and us, but at
the instance of our Lord Jesus. “I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another comforter”-at my request and my account the Father will do
this for you. (Vs. 16.) The same thought is again expressed in vs. 26, “The
holy spirit whom the Father will send in my name.”
The lesson to us here is, that our only standing before the Father as yet
is a reckoned one-in Christ, as members of his body,-our Lord Jesus
represents the Father to us and represents us to the Father. The comfort and
strength of the holy spirit imparted to us is the Father’s, the spirit of
truth, all of which emanates from the Father: it reaches us not directly, but
only through our Lord and Head, Jesus. In a word, we have no standing whatever
with the Father, and will not have any, until by his grace, through our Lord
Jesus, we shall have been “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in
light,” and by the “change” of the first resurrection shall be perfected in his
likeness, which is the divine likeness: then and thereafter, being actually
perfect, and not merely reckonedly perfect, we may have an individual standing
with the Father, but not before.
Hence it is that if any one lose his relationship to Christ through the
loss of his faith in the precious blood, or through the loss of the holy
spirit, through wilful sin, such an one falls out of the protection, the care,
the covering of Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant,-and falls into the
hands of the living God,-which means a judgment according to facts and works; and
to all imperfect creatures this means death. (Heb. 10:31.) Hence also the
exhortation of the Scriptures, that we abide in him, that we remain under the
blood of sprinkling, that we abide in his love.-John 15:4,6,10; 1 John 2:24-29.
Our Lord pointedly declares that he who does not seek to please him by
conforming to his instructions, thereby manifests that he does not love him.
(Vss. 23,24.) Surely there can be no better test of love than devotion, and no
better test of devotion than obedience. Our enlightened consciences render
hearty assent to the Master’s words, and with the Apostle we exclaim, “The love
of Christ constraineth us, for we thus judge that, if one died for all, then
all were dead, and that he died for all, that they who live [justified and
begotten to newness of life] should henceforth not live unto themselves, but
unto him who died for us, and rose again.”-2 Cor. 5:14,15.
The Master pointed out to us distinctly that in keeping his sayings we are
not merely pleasing and obeying him, but that he is in all this matter the
mouthpiece of Jehovah, the Father, and consequently that in pleasing and
obeying him we are pleasing and obeying the Father. This much he could tell
them while still with them, but he had many things that he desired to make
known to them, and that were necessary for them to know, but that they could
not receive as yet, because the holy spirit had not yet come upon them, and
could not until after the ransom sacrifice had been made at Calvary and offered
in the Holy of Holies, after he ascended up on high, there to appear in the
presence of God for us.-John 7:39; Heb. 9:24.
Our Lord’s assurance is that this Comforter or strengthener, the holy
spirit of the Father, sent on account of and at the instance of Jesus our
Redeemer, Mediator and Head, will be our instructor-using various
instrumentalities for bringing the instruction to us-the Word of truth, the
writings of the apostles, and the various helps and agencies which the Lord,
through the holy spirit, has and shall from time to time, as needed, provide to
his flock.
How beautiful, how consoling to their troubled hearts, and how refreshing
to ours, is the legacy of love and peace left to us by our dear Redeemer, as
expressed in the 27th verse! “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid.” This peace and joy which surpasseth human
understanding, was not given to the world, nor is it given to the nominal Christian
professor, nor to the formalist and ritualist, however zealous they may be. It
is intended for and can be had only by those who receive riches of grace
through the holy spirit-those who by obedience to the truth and its spirit grow
up into Christ their living Head in all things. Such have peace, deep and
abiding, and ever increasing proportionately as they come to comprehend with
all saints through faith and obedience the riches of divine grace-the lengths
and breadths and heights and depths of the love of God.
This is not worldly peace, not the peace of
indifference and carelessness, not the peace of sloth, not the peace of
self-indulgence, not the peace of fatalism; but it is the peace of Christ-“my
peace.” Looking back we can see that the Master preserved his peace with God
under all conditions. It is a peace which implicitly trusts to the divine
wisdom, love, justice and power, a peace which remembers the gracious promise
made to the Lord’s faithful-that nothing shall by any means hurt his faithful,
and that all things shall work together for good to them that love God. This
peace can accept by faith whatever divine providence permits, and can look
through its tears with joyful expectancy for the ultimate blessings which the
Master has promised, and of which the present peace and joy are merely
foretastes.