278. The Work of the Promised Holy Spirit

John 16:5-16

Key Verse: "I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you."

John 16:7

We don't handle change well. Most of us relish the familiar. Dress shoes may be okay for when we are out in public, but when we get home, we love to put on our well-worn slippers and casual sweats for relaxation. The familiar is what we know; it's what we cling to for comfort.

Jesus is now talking even more boldly about change. He had mentioned earlier that He was going to the Father, but now He says very boldly that He is going away and that His leaving is for our good! How could anything be better than walking beside Jesus?

As a man, Jesus could only walk with one man, or a few. His ministry, as a man, is limited. The Holy Spirit, however, can live inside not just one man, or a few, but many. Not only can He live within many, but He will work with many to convict the world of its sin. Jesus will not be sending His disciples out to serve with the power of man, but with the power of God within.

How wonderful to know that we are not alone. Christ and His power are truly within us to complete His mission for us. The disciples, however, didn't understand this. We probably wouldn't have either. To them, Jesus' talk of going away probably created a sense of abandonment. They did not want this precious time with Him to end. They couldn't understand how anything could possibly be better than the way things were. A child in the womb would have a hard time believing that anything could possibly be better than the life it is experiencing at present, but those of us who have been born know that something better is coming. This is similar to what Jesus is talking about here. Having the Holy Spirit within us is even better than only having Jesus next to one of us at a time.

It is the Holy Spirit that will make us, all of us who receive, one with God, and one with each other. "When He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you." (John 16:13-14) How many times have we heard Jesus want to glorify His Father. Now, because of the Holy Spirit within us, communicating between us and Jesus and the Father, we can pray to give glory to Him through what we do as much as He prayed that His actions would glorify His, our Father, in heaven. This is further teaching of how we all, God and man, become One through the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Don't pull away. Believe in what He is telling us here. "We are the temple of the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor. 6:19) We are created for a purpose. (Ephesians 2:10) He is not just beside us, He is within us enabling us to do what He calls us to do. Praise God for His amazing power and blessing!

Hymn: "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh On Me"