Another Comforter

A certain well known preacher/teacher/writer in presenting a series on the Holy Spirit had this to say: “He [Christ] went back to heaven and sat down. . .He finished what He came to do. Ten days later He sent the Holy Spirit to take up where He left off. We sing, “Just when I need Him most, Jesus is near to comfort and cheer.” NO, the Holy Spirit is our comforter today. We also sing, “Jesus led me all the way.” NO, today, we are to be “led by the Spirit of God.” This is the Holy Spirit’s day. We must stop asking the Lord Jesus to do what He sent the Holy Spirit to do and let Him do it!” ( ) Note paragraph to follow.

The train’s locomotive appears to have veered off the track! Somehow we get the impression that Christ has lost the pre-eminence when we follow this line of thinking.

Another Comforter, (allos, Gr., “else” different, one more, some other) called along side us with the “Other Comforter.” It certainly does not speak of an elimination of the first; a replacement thereof! The Holy Spirit is an ambassador, a representative, a witness in behalf of the Lord Jesus. While He is the third Person of the Triune Godhead, His testimony nonetheless must compare to that of Christ with the Father: “I can of mine own self do nothing. [He is not independently self-willed.] I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father [in this case, the will of the Father and of the Son] which hath sent me]. John 5:30.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” John 14:26. Immediately following this verse identifying the Holy Ghost as the Comforter sent from the Father, Jesus proclaims: “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” John 14:27. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me?” Psalm 23:4.

“He shall teach you, bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever things I have said unto you.” One dare not read the comparison of the Gospels and suppose that they are the product of human reasoning or interpretation. Might the four writers, upon attempting to pen their thoughts have convened to compare. . .? No, it happened as Jesus said: they, as it were, took (individual) dictation from the Spirit of God!

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Stop asking the Lord Jesus to do what He sent the Holy Spirit to do and let Him do it? “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by the Holy Spirit?” Why does the scripture say, by Christ Jesus? All we have or will ever receive is ‘through the blood of the everlasting covenant’, through our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep’ Heb. 13:20. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.Let us therefore come [by Divine invitation!] boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” Heb. 4:14-16. What we receive is without any merit of our own, but it is through the merits of Christ and His atoning blood of the everlasting covenant: in that, it is ‘merited favor’.

And immediately following the promise of the Spirit and of Christ’s indwelling Peace, our Lord challenges the disciples: “Abide in me, and I in you!” John 15:4. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” John 15:7. “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” John 14:13,14. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” John 14:11.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” I John 5:14,15. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” Phil. 4:13. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” Phil. 4:18.

“All proceeds from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.” THE HOLY SPIRIT, The Spirit Witnessing, A. W. Pink.

The Son glorifies the Father, the Father glorifies the Son, the Spirit glorifies both Father and Son. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, [Christ] and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” I John 5:7,8. Notice, the Holy Spirit bears witness in heaven and earth. He is representative of God to man; He is representative of man [regenerated] to God.

The Holy Spirit is administrator of the things of Christ, He is ambassador in behalf of Christ. He is the eternal witness from before the foundation of the world. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” John 15:26.

Our Lord had just healed an impotent man beside the pool of Bethesda: “And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day“. . .said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever things he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. . .I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” John 5:16,18b,19,30. I know I’m being repetitious, but these thoughts bear repeating: Just as Christ was sent from the Father, even so, the Spirit, “another Comforter,” was sent of Christ from the Father; proceedeth from the Father” John 15:26. Is the Spirit of God and of Christ self-willed? Does He operate independently of the Father and the Son? God forbid! His testimony must parallel that of the Son: “I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge. . .because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” “It is the Spirit that quickeneth” John 6:62a. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” Rom. 8:14. Pray tell, where does the Spirit lead us? Is it not to Christ? If we quote the 23rd Psalm: do we say, “The Holy Spirit is my shepherd. . .He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. . .Thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me?” Is it not the will of the Father and the work of the Spirit to glorify the Son?

“for as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. . .” I Cor. 12:12,13a. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” Gal. 2:20.

If our Lord sits now in heaven; His arms crossed, then a great number of songwriters have been misled! Writers like Fanny Crosby, Charles Gabriel, Charles Wesley, Charles Weigle, and others: for this is what has come forth from pen and heart!

“All the Way My Savior Leads Me”; “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us; He Leadeth Me O Blessed Tho’t. “Jesus Blessed Jesus” - There’s One who can comfort when all else fails. His arm is around us with keeping power.” “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus” - “Jesus placed His strong and loving arms about me, And He led me in the way I ought to go. Ev-’ry day He comes to me with new assurance, More and more I understand His words of love.”

“If Jesus Goes With Me, I’ll go anywhere.” “When we walk with the Lord. . .He abides with us still. . .Trust and Obey.” “Yield Not to Temptation: Ask the Saviour to help you.” “Follow! Follow! I would follow Jesus! Everywhere He leads me I would follow on!” “Close to Thee. . .All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.” “Brightly doth His Spirit shine Into this poor heart of mine; while He leads I cannot fall; Trusting Jesus, that is all.”

How does the Spirit comfort [com - fort, with strength] the believer?

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you” John 16:13-15.

“That he [the Father] would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love. . .And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” Ephesians 3:17,19.

Another Comforter? It is He, The Holy Spirit. Do we pray for the presence of His power? Better: Pray for the power of His Presence!