THE HOLY SPIRIT

I bet most of us would give anything to be able to go back in time and be one of Jesus’ disciples. Without a doubt all of us imagine that nothing could be greater than having Jesus physically with us and having Him be there to help. But did you know that Jesus actually taught the opposite? He said that it was to our advantage for Him to go away and not to be with us physically!

John 16:5-7
5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

When Jesus told His disciples that He was going away, back to His Father they were very sad. The past 3 and a half years of their life had undoubtedly been the best years of their life so far. They had experienced life, light, love, peace, joy, prosperity, purpose and power like nothing they had ever imagined. Their lives had absolutely changed for the better and their future with Jesus looked bright. They knew they had a good thing going here.

They had left everything to follow Jesus. They had put their full trust in Him and relied on Him to be their provider in every area of life. All of their hopes and dreams were in Him. He had become their life. So for Jesus to tell them He was about to leave them was indeed very saddening to them.

THE ADVANTAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

And yet after delivering this ‘bad’ news, He delivered an even bigger shocker. He told them that it was to their advantage for Him to leave. He said that their lives would be better off, that everything would get even better! And He emphasized that He was telling the truth!

Can you imagine what was going on in their minds? If someone else had said that it would have been considered blasphemy. How could you say that Jesus leaving His disciples would be advantageous? How could His leaving be better for them?

The answer is in one name, THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The reason it was to their advantage for Him to leave was that the Holy Spirit would then come. As long as He was with them the Holy Spirit couldn’t come, but if He left, He would send the Holy Spirit to them.

So He said to them in verse 7 “…for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

Well, that brings us to the next obvious question;
How is the departure of Jesus and arrival of the Holy Spirit advantageous to us?

To answer this properly, we need to look back to an earlier conversation and see what Jesus had said about the Holy Spirit.

another helper

John14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever…”

Jesus had promised His disciples that He would ask the Father to give them ‘another helper’. This was an interesting way for Jesus to refer to the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is ‘another helper’ there must be an original helper that He is like. The use of the word ‘another’ means that there was a first one. Who is this original helper? Jesus Himself.

Let us take an in-depth look at this concept;

Jn14:16-17 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; 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.”

‘another’

There were two different Greek words that are used in the New Testament to translate the word “another.” One is ‘heteros’ and the other is ‘allos.’

‘heteros’ means ‘another of a different kind.’ It is the root for English words like heterosexual which is someone who is attracted to another (human being) of a different kind (of sex).

‘allos’ means ‘another of the same kind.’
It means someone or something that is an exact representation, an exact duplicate, or even a twin. This is the one Jesus used when He referred to the Holy Spirit as “another Helper!”

JESUS’ TWIN

Jesus was saying that the Holy Spirit who was coming was exactly like Him, He was the same kind of person, He behaved the same way, thought the same way, treated people the same way, loved people the same way and would be an exact representation, copy, duplicate of Jesus. Basically His twin.

This means that anything we saw Jesus doing for His disciples while He was on the earth is exactly what the Holy Spirit is does for His disciples today. The Holy Spirit is to us today who Jesus was to His disciples!

So for us to understand the Holy Spirit and His relationship to us and the world we just need to observe Jesus and His relationship to His disciples and the people.

Jesus loved His disciples and He loved people dearly. The Holy Spirit loves us and He loves people dearly.
Jesus was always teaching, ministering, healing, setting free, protecting, and loving people. This is what the Holy Spirit is also doing today in and through us.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one and the Holy Spirit has picked up where Jesus left off and is continuing His works.

So, how is having the Holy Spirit an advantage to us over the disciples who had Jesus?

The answer is quite simple actually. The Holy Spirit lives in us and is not limited by a physical body while Jesus lived with them and was limited to a physical body.

Jesus because He was in a physical body could only minister to so many people at a time. Fellowship and communion with Him was limited. Sometimes He was tired and went to rest, other times He went away to pray and so forth while the Holy Spirit does not have any of these limitations.

Whenever you want the Holy Spirit, He is right there. Wherever you go He is right there. If you want healing, you simply connect with Him, you don’t have to press through some crowd to touch the hem of His garment.

If you want wisdom and counsel for a situation, you simply ask and He gives you. If you want help you simply ask and He gives. He is always there with everything you need.
All you have to do is look inside and draw from the rivers of living water that are on the inside of you!

This is why it is far better to have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you than to have Jesus physically living with you. The Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us, and He can heal one of us, give another revelation knowledge, and help someone else make the right decision all at the same time.

The Holy Spirit living inside you is the same as having Jesus living inside of you instead of outside with you. This is why it is much better. He is the advantage.

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