When the Helper Comes

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning (John 15:26-27).

What is truth? The word Jesus used is alaythia. It refers to what is true; verity. But that really doesn’t help much in understanding what truth is. Webster says truth is the actual state of a matter; conformity with fact or reality. That’s the meaning behind Jesus’ use of the word. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth - He speaks the reality of things into our lives. The world is under the sway of Satan’s lies and deception, but the Christian comes to an understanding of God’s truth and the reality of Kingdom life in a world that opposes all things that are God.

“In an age of postmodern relativism and ambiguity, nothing is more needed than the clear presentation to the unbelieving world of God’s absolute truth, centering on the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be sure, this message will be generally met with hostility and opposition. Jesus Himself said it would be so. Yet, faithfulness to Christ demands that believers speak boldly and with conviction, being enabled to do so through the Spirit’s power” (John MacArthur). Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to us, to indwell us, and to teach us to understand and follow the reality of the Christian faith and life in a world that rejects Him, the Christian church, and the Christian faith.

It is notable that the role of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus Christ. This does not make Him subordinate to Jesus Christ, for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in essence, character, nature, will, and purpose. The Spirit will direct the mind, heart, and spirit of the person to Jesus and to the authority of His word - the truth of the Father spoken by and through Him. It is an interesting, but heretical development in some Christian churches that the Holy Spirit takes precedence over the authority of Jesus Christ. Even among some Christians there is the emphasis of the work, word, and ways of the Holy Spirit that are extra-Christ and extra-biblical. Just as Jesus said and did those things that were given to Him by the Father, so the Holy Spirit says and does things given to Him by the Son. His work and words are consistent with what Jesus has said and done in Scripture. This emphasizes the unity that exists in the Godhead, the holy Trinity.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to continue to exalt Jesus Christ among men and in the lives of Christians, and to further expand the work of the Lord’s Kingdom on earth until He comes again. All that the Father was to the Old Testament saints, and all that Jesus was to the New Testament saints, the Holy Spirit is to those who believe in and have received Jesus Christ post-New Testament. Jesus said (John 14:16), I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - ‘another’ (allon) of like kind, one and the same as Jesus Christ Himself. Amen.

Pastor Martin