The Comforter
Just hours before Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, He told His disciples:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you (John 14:16-18).
His disciples were troubled (John 14:1) and He wanted them to understand that He had a plan that would comfort them. After studying John 14:1-31, I believe that He had a plan to not only Comfort them but Comfort us as well:
- Heaven will be our home and He will receive us there (John 14:1-4).
- To know that He is God and through Him, and only Him, we will make it (John 14:5-12).
- While on earth we have, in His name only, the power of prayer (John 14:13-14).
- We will reciprocate His love for us by keeping His commandments (John 14:15).
- After He was crucified, He replaced Himself with the Comforter, the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) (John 14:16-18).
- We will always be comforted by the Holy Ghost and the instructions that the Holy Ghost gives us (John 14:19-26).
- After His departure all of humanity will be able to have peace in the Holy Ghost, so there is no need to be troubled or afraid (John 14:27).
- Reminds us that He is God and we will believe that after we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (John 14:28-29).
True Yesterday - True Today
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). This plan worked for the disciples and it works for us as well.
Heaven Will be Our Home
How can we not be comforted by His plan to get us to heaven?
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
We live in the end times. We need to be ready to be caught up and meet the Lord in the air.
None Other Name
Jesus is God and there is no other name that can save us:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
On the day of Pentecost, over three thousand lost souls, including all of Jesus' disciples and His mother, Mary (Acts 1:13,14,15), were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, just like the Apostle Peter preached that very same day:
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).
And we read in Acts 8:12,16, Acts 10:48 and Acts 19: 5, the lost were saved by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Nowhere in the Bible, was one soul saved by being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Go to the Narrow Gate for a complete account of baptisms in the Bible. For the historical records regarding baptism, go to In the Name of Jesus.
Power of Prayer in His Name
We must always be comforted by Jesus' promise that whatever we ask Him, in His name, He will do it (John 14:13-14). Shortly after the day of Pentecost, Peter invoked the name of Jesus and the lame man at gate Beautiful (Acts 3:2) was healed:
Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God (Acts 3:6-8).
The Apostle Paul used the name of Jesus to rebuke demonic spirits:
And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour (Acts 16:18).
Paul knew that praying in the name of the Lord Jesus works, so of course, he preached that as well:
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Colossians 3:17).
The Comforter hears us when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Reciprocate God's Love
We reciprocate God's love for us by keeping His commandments:
If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).
Jesus is basically saying that if we do not obey Him we can say, until we are blue in the face, that we love Him but if there is no congruity between what we say and how we live our lives, He knows that we do not love Him.
Go to Reciprocate God's Love, to read more about loving God.
The Comforter Comes
Immediately preceding Christ's ascension to heaven, the Apostle Luke records:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts 1:4-5). .... And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
About ten days later, God poured out the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost:
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).
So Jesus' promise to the disciples that He would replace Himself with the Comforter, the Holy Ghost (John 14:16-18) was fulfilled. Thank God, nothing has changed! When we are born again, the Comforter takes residence in us as we read in Romans 5:5, 8:11; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16, 6:19.
Instructions from the Comforter
We are always comforted by the Holy Ghost and the instructions that the Holy Ghost gives us (John 14:19-26). When we read Romans 8:1-31 we clearly see how the Comforter, through guidance and love, comforts us.
We also see in Scripture how the Comforter led Peter and Paul to tremendous revivals. Peter was led by the Spirit to go to Cornelius' house (Acts 10:19-24), where the Holy Ghost was first poured out on Gentiles (Acts 10:44-48). Paul was led by the Spirit when he was forbidden to go to Asia (Acts 16:6) but instead to Macedonia to preach the gospel (Acts 16:9), where the great revival in Europe began.
Peace in the Comforter
Isaiah described Jesus as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus told us that in Him we would have peace (John 16:33). Little wonder that we will find peace in the Comforter. The Apostle Paul tells us that not only will we have peace in the Comforter, but we will have righteousness and joy (Romans 14:7) and that the God of love and peace shall be with us (2 Corinthians 13:11).
Jesus is God
Jesus told His disciples that after He leaves them that He will come again as the Comforter as we have already discussed. But He also tells them that they should rejoice because He is God and that when they receive the Comforter, they might finally believe that is true:
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe (John 14:28-29).
We know the Apostle Peter and the disciples truly got that He was God when Peter preached Acts 2:38. I say that because Peter didn't say be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19), but said be baptized in the name of Jesus and the other disciples did not contradict him. They did believe that He is the Father, He is the Son and, He is the Holy Ghost; that He is the One and Only God and that God is One. Hallelujah!
From Comforter to Rest in Jesus
From Comforter to the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)
From Comforter to Obeying the Gospel
