Jesus’ Gift to You
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:13-15)
Jesus was taking His last stroll with His disciples before His betrayal. Knowing the trauma that was imminent and the travail that would ensue, He spoke words of caution and comfort. He related principles that would bring joy, peace, hope, and happiness to His followers.
In our carnal and corrupt society we need a supernatural Helper to guide us. In a cartoon a very contemporary college student is pictured talking with a missionary. You know it is a missionary because he is depicted wearing shorts and a pit helmet. The student asks, “What do you do when you can’t stand the superstition, violence, and savagery any longer?” The missionary replied, “It is simple, I just get back on the plane and go back to the mission field.”
We need a Helper to guide us through the maze of superstition, violence, and savagery. Christ gave us the Holy Spirit for just such a purpose.
Having spoken of the expediency of faith in order to have happiness, He moved quickly to assert obedience was an absolute essential. The root word for faith and obedience is the same. If we have faith we obey God’s Word and will.
To help stabilize them and us He spoke of a Companion, a Helper, the Comforter, Who will abide with all His followers of all ages, giving greater cause for happiness.
Having said He was going away for their good, He then said, “…if I do not go away the Helper will not come…” “The Helper…!” That is what we need.
In John 14: 16 Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” The expression “another” means another of the same kind. The mysteries of the Trinity and Holy Spirit are challenging. We can better understand the Trinity if we use the term Tri-Unity, that is three-in-one. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It helps our understanding if we properly conceive of the Holy Spirit as being Christ’s Spirit with us. Christ was here on earth physically. In saying it was good that He go away, He promised the gift of the Spirit. Thus, when He went away bodily He sent His Spirit in order to be with all people everywhere at once.
Walking along that rocky path from Mount Zion through the Kedron it would have been easy to stumble. Knowing Jesus’ capacity for seizing the moment to teach perhaps one of the disciples did stumble and Jesus found it to be a teachable moment. He said, “I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble.” (Vs. 1)
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, was to be given to help prevent believers from stumbling. When we stumble physically it is always a surprise and a shock. He didn’t want them caught off guard by what was about to happen and the consequences. We need to exercise the same caution.
Such a God can relate to you in your perplexity and pain.
If you are a Christian you have the gift of the Holy Spirit, so don’t go around feeling like a second class Christian. Better still, don’t act like one. You are an empowered Child of the King. Be loyal to the royal blood that flows in your veins.
When Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer,
The Holy Spirit is imparted to the believer.
The Spirit is not given because of our attainment,
But because of Christ’s atonement.
The giving of the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ birthday gift to every believer at the moment of new birth. If you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit. Now let the Holy Spirit have you. Biblically we are charged to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That means to be controlled by Christ.