WEDNESDAY 19th
John 14:15-31
NIV (v16) – ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—’
ESV (v16) – ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever . . .’
This fourteenth chapter of John contains two promises that gave the disciples hope, the first as we saw yesterday was of a future home, here in this section was the promise of a present helper. The disciple having spent three years with Jesus, watching and learning are told he was about to leave them, but not without promising that he would ask the Father to send them the Holy Spirit who would come alongside them to help them, or as the KJV puts it to be a comforter.
I know this is a poor illustration, but it does in some way show a similar lesson. When I left school, I went into the motor trade to learn to be a panel beater and car sprayer. I was privileged to learn from one of the best, as the man who I was going to be working alongside and learning from had spent several years in the Rolls Royce factory. One day after I had enjoyed learning from him for a couple of years he announced he was going to be leaving, he had decided to retire, but then he added, don’t worry (or words to that effect) someone else is coming to take my place and he will continue to train you.
The disciples had spent three years learning from Jesus, but there was still so much more they needed to know, and when Jesus announced he was leaving them he said (my paraphrase) ‘Don’t worry someone else is going to be coming to take my place and he will continue to train you’. We read it in verse 29, ‘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 that I have said to you.’
The present helper was to be none other than the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, and we know that a few weeks after the ascension of Jesus he arrived to come alongside the disciples to help them, to empower them, to strengthen and enable them for the task in hand. And he is still here, as he came alongside the disciples, so he is wanting and willing to come alongside us to be with us, to be our helper, to be our comforter, to enable, equip and empower us for the task in hand.