"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be
2. HELP
"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:16–18 ESV). When we first come to Christ, we may think that is the greater part – or even the totality – of our Christian journey. But we soon realize that in reality, coming to Christ is only the beginning of a journey with him that will continue to the end of our lives. We also learn quickly that this is not a journey we will be able to complete without his guidance, help, and support. Fortunately, that was all included in God's plan, and the "I will" promise of Jesus that we look at now speaks directly to our needs in walking with him. When Jesus said "I will come to you" (vs. 18), he did not mean that he would appear to us, of course, but that he would be present with us through the indwelling of the Spirit of God in our minds. This truth is seen in scriptures such as "No one has ever seen God; but ... [we] know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit" (1 John 4:12–13), and "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Unity of the Spirit In the promise of Jesus we examined in the first chapter of this book, we saw that connected but separate roles are played in the fulfillment of the promise by God the Father, Jesus himself, and by us. In the promise we are looking at here, however, we see that once a believer has come to Christ, there is an amazing unity in the roles of the Father and the Son:
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me" (John 15:26). "Christ lives within you ... The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you" (Romans 8:10-11 NLT). "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6 ESV). When we put these verses – and others like them – together, we see the Holy Spirit is called both the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son, and is said to be sent by both the Father and sent by Christ! This is, of course, because the Father and Son are one (John 10:30), and when we receive the Spirit of God we too are drawn into that unity: receiving the Spirit of Christ unites us to him so that "whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit." (1 Corinthians 6:17). This is what Jesus meant when he said "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." (John 14:20-21).
The Spirit of God unites us with God, makes us children of God (Romans 8:15), and gives us spiritual life – enabling our eventual entrance into the kingdom of God (John 3:5–8; Ephesians 1:13–14). The Spirit also aids us in our everyday Christian lives, and this was the purpose of Jesus' promise. The Helper When Jesus told his disciples he would send the Holy Spirit to aid them (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), the Greek word the New Testament uses is parakletos which means "one who is called to the side of another." The purpose of this calling alongside could be to assist, comfort, counsel, or support. That is why we find various Bible versions translate the word in different ways – as "Advocate" (NIV, NLT, etc.), "Comforter" (KJV, ASV, etc.), "Counselor" (CSB,
WEB, etc.), and "Helper" (ESV, BLB, ISV, NASB, NKJV, etc.). Of these various translations, "Helper" is perhaps the best because it is the broadest term and contains all the other ideas within it and is now used by the majority of English Bible versions. We can see the nature of the Helper in that Jesus said "another Helper" (John 14:16) meaning another helper like himself. During his earthly ministry Jesus had counseled, guided, comforted, corrected, and helped his followers on innumerable occasions. The Helper he promised would do exactly the same things because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7; Romans 8:10; etc.), as we saw above. Even though he is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Acts 7:55–56; etc.), Jesus is able to be with us through his Spirit. As he said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18) – and the purpose of his coming to us is to help us. The Help We Are Given The help Jesus promised to give us through his Spirit is astonishingly broad. Perhaps the best way we can grasp the amazing range of this promise is to simply list the ways in which we are told the Spirit works with us. These ways include (but are not limited to!) the fact that the Helper: 1) Makes us a part of the Church, giving us the encouragement of unity and fellowship with other believers (2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 1:11–12; Philippians 1:1–2). 2) Guides us into truth by helping us to understand and apply the word of God in our daily lives (1 Corinthians 2:12). 3) Is grieved when we sin (Ephesians 4:30) and helps us to repent – leading to forgiveness (John 16:8) and restoration (1 John 1:9).
4) Helps us to pray, interceding for us with God (Romans 8:26–27). 5) Empowers us to do God's will (Galatians 5:16) and to live righteously (Romans 8:14). 6) Produces the "fruits" of the Spirit – qualities of the character of God – in our lives (Galatians 5:22–23). 7) Gives spiritual "gifts" to us to help us serve God and his people (1 Corinthians 12:11). 8) Gives us peace, comforting us so that we are not troubled or afraid (John 14:27; Philippians 1:19). 9) Gives us the joy Jesus had and has now (John 15:11; Acts 13:52). 10) Gives us God's love, enabling us to love God and others more than we ever could by ourselves (John 15:9–10). Never-Failing Help We should not view these many attributes of the Helper in an abstract way – as simply a resume or c.v. of the Spirit of God. Rather, they are specific guarantees of personal help that Jesus promised every believer, which would always be available to us. In Old Testament times, the Spirit of God often came on individuals to accomplish specific things through them, then left them (Judges 3:10; etc.). But in the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit was sent to Jesus' followers, it was given to remain with them and to help them always, as long as we remain with Christ. As Jesus himself said, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Jesus knew he would be able to be with us through his Spirit and that was the basis for his promise of ongoing and never failing help.