The Holy Spirit: Another helper
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever (John 14:16).
In promising the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus involves the whole of the Trinity. In John 14:16 it is God the Son who asks God the Father to send God the Spirit. This verse demonstrates the care that the Lord has for His people. He had been a constant help and comfort to the disciples in their lives, but He was about to go back to heaven. However, He was to leave them another Helper. The name ‘Helper’ or ‘Consoler’ is the Hebrew name given to the Messiah, and shows the closeness of the work of the Son of God and the Spirit of God.
The Lord speaks of “another Helper”. Someone who would care for them as He had. The Father would send another Helper who would be with them in the future, just like the Lord had been with them on earth. And the relationship between the people of God and the Spirit of God was eternal. “He will abide with you forever.” Once we are born of the Spirit, we are linked with Him forever.
Jesus then gives the Holy Spirit another name, “the Spirit of truth”. At the beginning of chapter 14 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the way, and it is the Spirit who leads us to Christ. Jesus is the truth, and the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Jesus is the life, and we are born of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is entirely consistent with the work of Christ. However, the Spirit is only received and known by those who are Christ’s. Of course, the Spirit has a powerful effect upon the world as we shall see, but here the Lord is explaining the relationship the people of God have with the Spirit of God. It is a twofold relationship. First, the Spirit of truth dwells with the whole of Christ’s people, rather like the cloud and fire of God’s presence in the Old Testament, which was with Israel as they travelled through the wilderness. But for the Christian, there is something else. The Spirit of truth also dwells in each one of us individually. This was what Jesus spoke of in John 7:38-39: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” This relationship between the Spirit of God and Christians was entirely new. It happened at Pentecost when the promised Spirit was sent in fulfilment of Christ’s words in John 14:17.
In John 14:18 you can sense the love of Christ when He says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” Orphans are very dear to God’s heart. God made provision for the special care of widows and orphans, in both the Old
and New Testaments. Orphans suggest those who, for whatever reason, were abandoned. It is incredibly touching to know that Jesus, who was about to be abandoned at the Cross when He sacrificed Himself for our sins, promises never to abandon us: “I will come to you.” By this He meant that, through the indwelling Spirit of God, Christ would always be with us. We are assured of the Lord: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
