The Comforter: A Meditation on John 16 for Pentecost Sunday

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that

I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come

unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

As the disciples listened to Jesus explain that He was going away, they became distressed.  Soon they would see Jesus captured by the temple guards led by the traitor Judas, beaten and convicted in a mock trial by false witnesses, then hanging dead on a Roman cross.  Jesus was indeed going to leave them, and where He was going, they could not come now.  Jesus was heading for Calvary so that He might save His disciples—and the whole world—through His own sacrifice.  There was no person on earth who could do what He was about to do, because no person on earth was or ever shall be like Him:  The very Word of God made flesh.  Jesus was going away from His disciples, that He might enter the wrath of Almighty God, and having died for the sins of all mankind, to ascend unto the Father as the Eternal Advocate for us all.

Unable to fully comprehend what Jesus was leaving to accomplish on their behalf, the disciples were saddened by Jesus’ departure.  Likewise, as they stood watching Jesus ascend into heaven, the continuing doubts in their hearts seemingly answered by the visiting angels of Acts 1:  Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.  This lack of understanding of what to do in the absence of Jesus is something Christians have wrestled with throughout the centuries, and something that touches our hearts even today as we stand looking up into heaven, wondering why He ever left us.

First, we must remember, that Jesus doesn’t lie.  Though the whole world be caught up in the lies and deceptions of the evil one, Jesus is the very Truth of God.  When Jesus says to us that it is better for us that He should go away, we are called to believe Him, even if it seems to us a painful and difficult teaching.  Many Christians may be able to look back on the Gospel message and understand that it was better for us all that Jesus ascended His Holy Cross for our salvation, but how is it better for us that He has ascended into heaven?  The answer lies in the Book of Acts, and the continuing history of Christ’s Church through these last two millennia.

Jesus teaches His disciples that the Holy Spirit, who is also called the Spirit of Truth and the Comforter, will be sent to us after Jesus goes.  The Holy Spirit, fully God and proceeding from the Father and the Son, is sent into the world to bear witness to the saving work of Jesus.  Thus Jesus teaches them that the Spirit does not testify of Himself, nor does He come to glorify man, but rather:

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.

It is the Spirit whom the Son has sent unto us at Pentecost, who leads Jesus’ people into all truth, keeping the household of faith united in the saving work of Jesus Christ.  Shortly after Jesus’ Ascension, we read the history of Pentecost, where the disciples receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This gift is manifested in speaking the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many languages unknown to them, but which the gathering people could understand clearly.  The faith of the disciples was strengthened mightily, that they would boldly proclaim Jesus as the only Name given under heaven whereby men should be saved.  Their faith cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, stood before rulers, and testified in their spilt blood of martyrdom.  Such faith proclaimed the Word of God before all detractors and persecutors, and made them a spectacle before men and angels.  This great and heroic faith turned the world upside down, drawing people from every dark path of death into the eternal life of faith and repentance in Jesus.  The gift of the Holy Spirit at work in the disciples brought forth the New Testament as the fulfillment and continuation of the Old Testament, so that all people might have the written testimony of the Prophets and Apostles handed down in every age.

The Holy Spirit, at work in the world through the Word of God, bears witness to the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ.  And as He does this, He converts the hearts of men, giving them a new birth from above by Water and Spirit, so that they might abide in Jesus through faith in His Word.  As in the time of the Apostles, so too throughout the ages and into our own time, the Spirit working through the Word does miraculous and powerful things in His people.  The Spirit is no less capable of healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, standing before rulers, and faithfully enduring the pains of martyrdom today as He was since the beginning of time.  Today, all over the world and in our own back yard, the Spirit is at work by the Word of Christ in the people of Christ, doing all things for the glory of Jesus and the salvation of mankind.  This is the enduring gift of the Holy Spirit in the Church, working in diverse and mysterious ways, powerfully bringing eternal life where the darkness of death once reigned.

And on this Pentecost, where do you find your heart?  Has it cowered before the lies of modernity, and doubted the promises of Christ?  Has it doubted the Word Written, and thus doubted the Crucified and Risen Word?  Has it fallen into unbelief regarding the power of the Spirit of the Living God?  Hear the Word of the Lord.  It is good for us that He has sent us His Holy Spirit, that we may live in His power, mercy, forgiveness, and truth.  He has not left us orphans—rather, He has left us the very means by which we live, and move, and have our being in Him.  In this time of proclamation between Jesus’ first and second coming, we are empowered with His Holy Spirit that we might be His witnesses to ends of the earth, showing forth His mercy, forgiveness, grace and salvation in the almighty power of His Eternal Word.  Leave your timidity and fear behind in repentance, and rise up by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, that the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ might shine through you to a dark and despairing world.  Rise up, o saints of God, and meet the quaking enemy in with the omnipotent Word of Christ—for Holy Spirit dwells in you by that same Word, and before that Word and Spirit all darkness and evil must flee.  Rise up, o saints of God, and live!  Amen.