The last lesson ended with John 14:15. This verse is actually the beginning of Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. Let’s start with verses 15-16. "If you really love Me, then you’ll obey the things I’ve been telling you. And I’ll ask the Father, and He’ll send another Comforter – Who will remain with you forever.”
Verse 16 has the words "another Comforter". This is allos used with parakletos, and describes both Who the Holy Spirit is, and what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus uses the word allos to describe someone who is the same as or equal to Himself. The Holy Spirit is God, just like Jesus is God. Then Jesus says the Holy Spirit is parakletos, a verbal adjective that literally means, "he who has been called to help". And notice what Jesus says at the end of verse 16; that this Comforter will remain forever. The Holy Spirit will always be on the earth, through the tribulation, during the Millennium and then throughout all eternity.
“He is the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because He is unseen and they cannot recognize Him. But you know and understand Him (because you have experienced Him), for He dwells with you and soon will be in you. I will not leave you alone and helpless in the world; and I will come back to you." (Verses 17-18)
Paul explains Jesus’ statement in verse 17 about the world not receiving the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 2:14. “But the natural man does not receive the things (instruction) of the Spirit of God, they are meaningless nonsense to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man only understands what he sees with his eyes, hears with his ears or perceives through his own fleshly thoughts.
Now we have to take a closer look at the last part of verse 17. Jesus tells the disciples the Holy Spirit is with them, but soon will be in them. “With” is from para, beside or alongside. That the Holy Spirit was with the disciples at certain times is obvious (see Matthew 10:1-13, 20 for an example). On the other hand, it has also been just as obvious from past examples we have discussed regarding their inability to understand things Jesus had taught them and their contentiousness, the Holy Spirit was not with them. Then we see the last part of verse 17 where He says the Holy Spirit will soon be in them. This was predicted by Jesus in John 7:37-39. In about 50 days from this point we see the fulfillment of this in Acts 2 at Pentecost. We will look at this important event later, when we examine the lives of the apostles following Jesus’ ascension to the Father.
For now let’s look at the word “in”. This is from en, to be in union with. When you have the Holy Spirit “in” you, it implies a common purpose (the will of the Father). There is an example of this back in verses 10-11, where Jesus says He is en the Father and the Father is en Him (and remember all those references from John in the last lesson illustrating Jesus’ submission and obedience to the Father). That same common purpose is the basis of our union with the Holy Spirit.
And I have to explain that purpose at this point. The purpose of the Father is to redeem us from our fallen state by conforming us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) through a process of His personal involvement in our lives by His Spirit to reveal to us the character and nature of Christ giving us the opportunity to agree with Him and make decisions in our lives that reject our human nature and cling to Him. Salvation or deliverance is not a one-time decision, but a lifetime of submission, obedience and loyalty to God (Matthew 10:22, 24:13) and a rejection of this world for the world that is to come for those who love Him and are heirs of His promises (Romans 8:13-17).
Then in verse 18 Jesus tells the disciples He will not leave them alone and helpless. The KJV has “comfortless”. This is from orphanos, orphans (used only here and in James 1:27). In the culture of Jesus’ day disciples of a particular teacher were called his children (remember, Jesus called His disciples children in John 13:33). And when that teacher died, they were considered orphans. Here, Jesus is promising another teacher will take His place – the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
In approximately 20 hours from now Jesus will be taken down from the cross and buried. Then He will be resurrected and His resurrection will become the believer’s promise of a future resurrection (read verse 19). Then, when that day comes, the disciples will know and understand the reality of Jesus’ statement in verse 20, “I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you”. Again, we have the preposition en used to show union. What a fantastic promise!
But again, to show that all of God’s promises are conditional, this is verse 21. “He that has My commandments and keeps them is the one who really loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and make Myself real to him.” The verbs “has”, “keeps” and “loves” are all present participles indicating continuous, repeated action. Salvation or deliverance is not a one-time mental assent, but a continuous lifestyle of submission and obedience to Christ that changes us from who we are into Who He is – that’s how He makes Himself real to us.