John 14:16-26
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Introduction
Knowing He is about to leave His disciples, Jesus offers them hope when He says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Their fears are about to become manifest in the murder of their teacher and Lord, the Christ. They will see Him betrayed, tried, beaten, and killed among two criminals. Then they will turn to one another and despair.
But they remember this promise – a promise that He keeps at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends on the believers and causes them to speak of the mighty deeds of God in foreign tongues (Acts 2:1-11).
The Advocate
Prior to Jesus’ advent, the Pharisaical Jewish establishment was unitarian. That is, they believed in a single person in the Godhead. But the Pharisees were not the only Jewish sect of the first century. Many others believed in multiple persons within the Godhead. Labeled as heretics by the Pharisees, these groups were said to believe in “two powers in heaven.” They justified this belief with Old Testament verses like Genesis 1:26, Genesis 19:24, and Exodus 23:21. Some even pointed to the Shekihnah as a distinct person within the Godhead.
And while most of these early believers only identified two divine persons, some spotted a third in the Spirit of God who descended on the prophets. It is He Jesus talks about when He tells them the Father will send an advocate. But His function in the Church is fundamentally different from His function with the prophets in some key ways.
First, and perhaps the most obvious, is that the Spirit only came upon the prophets for definite periods of time and then departed. He indwells believers indefinitely (Romans 8:9). In fact, in this very passage Jesus tells the disciples, “He abides with you and will be in you.” Another key difference is that when the Spirit came upon the prophets, He did so to call the nation to repentance. His indwelling of believers, however, is refining in nature. And that is where the term “Advocate” comes into play.
Not all translations use “Advocate.” The ESV calls Him a “Helper,” and the KJV calls Him “Comforter.” RC Sproul has an excellent and easy to follow video where he talks about the background of the Greek word, but I believe we can discern from these translations what sort of function the Spirit plays in our lives. The advocate, helper, and comforter does just those things: He advocates for us before the Father, helps us in our struggle against sin, and comforts us in our distress. He is the One who stands by us and for us, making certain that all those who remain in Jesus face no condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Who loves Jesus?
The Spirit is the One who empowers us to press forward when the way seems impassable. He is the One who urges us ahead and into the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:30). All those who are indwelt by the Spirit will necessarily be refined by Him (2 Peter 1:5-11). That is why Jesus tells His disciples that only those who keep His commandments are those who love Him. That is why He equates obedience with knowing the Father.
It is not that our obedience causes us to become accepted by God, but that our acceptance from God causes our obedience. We do as He did because we are His and we love Him. Remember this and bring it to mind when you are urged by the Spirit. He does not convict you for nothing, but to draw you closer to the loving arms of Christ.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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