what did jesus say about the holy spirit

A great additional comfort and boon was to be bestowed upon them, blessings of which they were to be the depositaries, as heaven was of Him. "Keep my commandments"; this is the way I shall recognise you; and "I will ask the Father, and he will give you" (from Him it was to come forth, for we know now our fellowship with the Father) "another Comforter, which shall abide with you for ever." "He will give." It is from the Father, as we have seen; but the subject of the gift is the Comforter Himself; as God otherwise gave His Son, whom now in bodily presence deprived of; but this should not be thus taken away. He gave it that it should abide with them for ever; that is, the Holy Ghost to be in the place of Christ, but here designated as "the Spirit of truth." This is His first grand character.

The Gospel of John (in John 14 - 16) affords direct proof, that it is not merely an immense power and privilege, "an unction from the Holy One," but the Holy Spirit personally given and sent. How momentous for faith is this fact! The Lord Himself has made it clear and certain. For He calls Him "another Advocate" (John 14:16) given that He may abide with them for ever; and He says that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, should teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance all that He had told them. It is therefore, not merely a gift, but a Giver, a Divine Agent personally present and active (ver. 26). In John 15:26-27, this is made still more emphatically evident: "But when the Advocate shall have come, whom I will send to you from my Father, the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, He shall bear witness concerning me; and ye too bear witness because ye are with me from the beginning." More explicit if possible is John 16:7-8: "For if I go not away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And having come, he will convince" (or, afford proof), etc. Again (in vers. 13, 14), "But when he shall have come, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak from himself, but whatsoever things he shall hear, he will speak; and he will announce to you the things to come. He will glorify me, because he will receive of mine, and will announce [it] to you." The proof of personal presence and action is abundant and conclusive. What can be more precious or comforting?

348 And now to the statements of the New Testament on the subject. That the presence of the Comforter is the distinguishing truth of this dispensation, founded on the work of Christ, I ought not to be obliged to insist on. Suffice it to say, that it is on the fact of this presence that the Lord grounds the advantage of His going away. "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away, I will send him unto you." And all the blessing, communion, and testimony (save the personal testimony of the disciples as living with Him, and that was by His bringing all to their remembrance), is founded on the presence, personal presence, of this other Comforter. This is evidently of the last importance. Here it is well to remark on the force of this word 'Comforter.' He was One who, by being down here, was to take the place of Jesus when He went away; and was to take up and carry on the cause of the disciples as Christ had done, only more powerfully in a certain way because of Christ's work and exaltation. It is the same word as is said of Christ, "we have an advocate with the Father" — one who is charged with and maintains our cause. This the Holy Ghost was to do, and to guide, comfort, sustain, direct the disciples as Jesus had done, with the difference noted. And further, He was not to leave them as Christ had; He was to abide with them for ever. This name of One come down to take Christ's place, and abiding for ever, is of all moment in this case; for the Holy Ghost, come as the Paraclete in place of Christ, was to be amongst them as Christ was. Christ had acted among, and for, and by, them too — not they merely by Him; though, no doubt, what they did when sent out was by His power, as in His name. Now, they were to have another Paraclete, who was to be among them in His stead (though glorifying Him), and to act among and for, and by them; and lead, and guide, and correct, and direct, and sustain them, and to be with them for ever. This was not merely natural qualities sanctified by grace, and man acting by the Spirit; it was a living divine Person acting for them, and by them. That, He being grieved (and withal in the sovereign counsels of God), much of that in which He shewed His power is lost, is true; but to say, because man has abused this grace, and feebleness has followed, because God has not honoured those who did not honour Him, or because the flesh has abused the doctrine, that He does not dwell amongst us, is merely that kind of unbelief hateful to God, which is called in Scripture "tempting God." The place was called Massah and Meribah, "because there they tempted God, saying, Is the Lord amongst us or no?" And here I will remark on the "with us," and "in us." The distinction is perfectly scriptural. The Lord said (John 14:25), "These things I have said unto you, being yet present with you" — the exact phrase in Greek which is used concerning the Holy Ghost, translated, "He dwelleth with you." Christ was yet dwelling with them, but another Comforter was to come whom they would know (though the world would not, because it did not see Him) because He dwelt with them; and then He adds, as to the manner (which was not so of Jesus come in the flesh) a new thing, and therefore put in the future tense, "He shall be in you." This new Paraclete was to be thus their Counsellor, Guide, Orderer (as Jesus had been), manage their cause and affairs as dwelling with them. Hence we see the importance of distinguishing this living presence and acting of a Comforter from a man's using his talents in a sanctified way by grace.

Moreover the Lord speaks of the Comforter as another Comforter, thus comparing the One who was coming with Himself, for had He not been with them supporting, encouraging and comforting them? Further the Lord not only compares, but contrasts the Comforter with Himself. The Lord had only dwelt with them a few brief years, whereas the Comforter who was coming would abide with them for ever. Many an Old Testament Scripture had spoken of the Holy Spirit coming upon certain men and for a time controlling them for some special purpose, but that a divine Person should come to abide for ever was something entirely new.

That is the great truth in the Acts of the Apostles, that from the day of Pentecost onwards, the Holy Ghost had taken up His abode on earth in the Church. Our Lord announced this wondrous fact in John 14, saying, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (ver. 16). He came to do two things — to reveal the glory of Christ, and to minister blessing to those who believe; and in spite of the sin of the Church of God, the Spirit of God is here now. Sometimes people say to me, Why do you not pray, that the Spirit may come? Because I know that He is here. I pray that I may not grieve Him (Eph. 4:30); I pray that He may not be quenched in the assembly (1 Thess. 5:19-20); but I never ask — and I hope if you have done it hitherto, you will never do it again — for the Holy Ghost to come. He is here, and I will further add, that I believe the crying sin of Christendom is infidelity as to the presence of the Holy Ghost. That, however, is by the way.

How well the Lord knew the terrible character of the world and its relentless hatred, for had not the storm of its enmity broken in its full fury upon Him? He knew well, too, the weakness of those who loved Him and had followed Him, for was not Peter going to deny Him, and all forsake Him? How well He knew that left to themselves, they would never be able to maintain any testimony for Him, when He had left them for the glory. Knowing the wickedness of the world and the weakness of the disciples He says, "I will send" to you the Comforter "from the Father even the Spirit of truth," and the Lord adds "He shall testify of Me." However weak the disciples may be, however strong the world may be, "He shall testify of Me." However much the disciples may fail, however much the world may persecute, "He shall testify of Me." He will testify on earth of the glory of the Son in heaven. The world will crucify Him in the lowest place on earth, heaven will crown Him in the highest place in glory, and the Holy Spirit would come to bear witness of His glory. The Son had come from the Father to bear witness of the Father: the Holy Spirit was coming from the Father to bear witness to the Son.

Here the Holy Spirit is viewed as sent by the ascended Christ from the Father, and consequently as witness of His heavenly glory. This is an advance on what we saw in the preceding chapter, where Christ asks and the Father gives the Paraclete to be with them for ever, sending Him in the Son's name. Here the Son Himself sends, though of course from the Father. The Spirit of Truth is thus the suited testifier of Christ as He is above; the disciples also testify, as His companions and so chosen from the beginning. For the first time it is said, "When the Paraclete is come," not merely given or sent. He is a Divine Person in the fullest sense, not only to abide, teach, and recall to remembrance, but to testify concerning Christ, and that which the chosen companions, the Apostles, of the Lord could not testify. For they as such could not go beyond what they had seen and heard — at any rate, what fell within the range of their being with Him from the beginning. The Spirit of Truth which proceeds out from the Father would not merely strengthen them to do perfectly that task, but add quite another testimony of hitherto unknown blessedness, as sent by Christ personally from the Father.

But now we must take note of the seventh occurrence of this wonderful phrase, which occurs in John 14:26, for here we see the impelling Power, that lies behind the other six occurrences of the words. The main announcement of this farewell discourse is the coming of the Comforter, the Spirit of God, and here the Lord states that the Father will send Him "in My name;" that is, as My great Representative, to maintain My interests. This is a remarkable statement, and the force of it may be more clearly seen, if we place it alongside another statement of our Lord, "I am come in My Father's name" (John 5:43). He came as representing His Father, concerned with His interests, and now that He is departing, the Holy Spirit comes to represent Him and concern Himself with His interests.

We read in verse 26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name". We have often noticed that in John 14 the Father sends the Spirit; in John 15 the Son sends Him, and in John 16 He comes of His own volition. This again shows how divine Persons work together. Here it is the Father who sends Him, but He sends Him in the interests of the Son, "in My Name". "He (emphatic) shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you". The Lord said to them, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now". There were things that could not be made known until the Son was in glory; but whether it was what did come out in His life down here, or that which is administered from the glory, the Spirit brings "all things" to our remembrance, as divine enlightenment.

(1.) "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26.) What the Master Himself had done or had said, but which could not then be communicated in power to the heart, and precious, and beautiful, and full of divine import as it was, was often unheeded or forgotten, because its significance was wanting to their souls, should all come back in mighty volume and enhanced blessedness, every word melodious, and every act fragrant with the virtue and the value of His atoning work and glorified person, now disclosed to faith, and ministered by the Holy Ghost, that other Comforter. For an instance of this character, compare John 7:39 with John 12:16.