When the Holy Spirit Comes

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you (John 14:26).

As was stated earlier, the Holy Spirit it not an ‘it’, a force, a non-entity. He is a Person and the 3rd Person of the divine Trinity. This is yet another example of the personality of the Holy Spirit in that He is able to teach all things, and bring to remembrance all things that Jesus has said. A force or non-entity cannot do that. Furthermore, the pronoun ‘He’ is masculine, not neuter, a further indication of personality. 

It John chapters 14 - 16, Jesus gives a fairly detailed description of the Holy Spirit and His work among us. Just as Jesus came by the authority of the Father, so the Holy Spirit came by the authority of Jesus Christ. He is, in fact, Jesus Christ in us as Jesus Christ was among the disciples before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1).
 
There has been some debate as to the meaning of He will teach you all things. This is not to be taken in an absolute sense. If the Apostles were to be taught all things without any qualification, they would be omniscient. Nor did Christ mean that the Holy Spirit would teach them all that was possible for finite humans to know; He would not make known to them all the secrets of the future, all the secrets regarding Satan, or all of the works of nature. Instead, the Holy Spirit would be instrumental in teaching the disciples all that was necessary for them to know for their ministries and spiritual well-being, and would bring to remembrance the truth Jesus told them and the spiritual principles involved in all that He did. The Holy Spirit would also interpret and make clear to them those sayings of Jesus they did not understand while with them.

Two examples are given in Scripture of this. John 2:19-22, Jesus . . . said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. John 12:12-16, The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. 

This same work of the Holy Spirit is given to Christians today. He gives counsel to those who ask, insight to those who read the Scriptures, and words to speak in times of witnessing, preaching, and teaching. Blessed be the great gift of the Holy Spirit to God’s people! Amen.

Pastor