Anchor My Faith

Previous Lesson
Next Lesson
Author: Stephen Weller
557 words, 3 minutes read time

The Helper To Replace Jesus

Scripture: John 16:5-7

In the previous lesson we looked at the coming persecution to Jesus, his disciples, and us. In this lesson we will consider the advantage of Jesus leaving the disciples.

^{Jn 16:5} But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

With each lesson we write we get closer to the cross. We are so close that Jesus said to the disciples, “now I am going to him who sent me.” What he is saying is that there are only a few events left before he prays in Gethsemane before being arrested.

His next comment is puzzling when he says, “none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” because Peter did ask that exact question in John 13:36. The meaning would seem to be that the present tense of “ask” probably has the sense, “none of you at the present time are asking me.”

Jesus understands that his comments about his coming suffering and leaving them has filled their hearts with sorrow, but they needed to hear the truth so as to not be surprised when that time comes. He then points out that it would be to their advantage that he leaves them, to which I am sure they thought, “How can that possibly be?”

While on earth, Jesus could only be at one place at any given time, but if the Spirit were sent in his place, he could live in believers and carry out ministry throughout the world at all times. In God’s sovereign plan this cannot happen until after the death of Jesus on the cross to purchase our salvation. After that event of redemption and justification, the Father is then able to choose those who will believe and cause them to be born spiritually. As a new creature in Christ, they then become temples of the Spirit; people he comes to dwell in and makes holy with his presence.

Jesus speaks of him as a “Helper.” In John 14: 16 – 17, Jesus speaks of this “Helper” and explains that once he comes to dwell in a believer, he will stay forever. He is described as the Spirit of truth who cannot be received by one who is not born spiritually. Since those of the world cannot receive the Spirit and since he cannot be seen, they have no way to know him, but believers do because he lives within them and they experience him.

Conclusion

A Christian is unique in that he or she is spiritually alive and is a new creature in Christ designed to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Place behind the curtain, in the temple, that was torn at the death of Jesus, has been relocated to these new creatures in Christ. If we could grasp the significant of this it would radically change our priorities and how we live.