December 6, 2020 -- John 16:7 -- The Helper, the Holy Spirit

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 go, I will send him to you.

John 16:7 English Standard Version

Jesus’ departure—His betrayal, trial, being whipped, mocked, beaten, and crucified, death, resurrection and appearances to His disciples and finally His ascension into heaven are all part of His departure—is to the advantage of His disciples. By this the Father has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of the Son He loves. Now Jesus tells of more blessing yet in store.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is given to believers. What a fitting title for the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps Christians to understand Scripture. The Holy Spirit shows believers the condition of their hearts revealing all that needs to be confessed, helping believers to seek to be cleansed in Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in the followers of Jesus so that they can be kept safe by Him through any and every storm—especially the persecutions Christians will suffer at the hands of authorities. The Holy Spirit is for believers the deposit, guaranteeing the salvation of believers. Jesus, when He walked the earth, received the Holy Spirit without measure, without limit. The Spirit of God filled Jesus’ humanity so that Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father. This same Spirit, the Helper, enables believers to resist the sin that lingers in their hearts and so that they are able to fight sin and live in the grace won in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity Who is Mighty, sustains the weary Christian, who feels bruised and unable to carry on in the fight for faith.

No wonder Jesus claimed it is to the advantage of His disciples, to the advantage of His followers through out past generations and for our advantage that Jesus went and faced the cross and death and then rose up. What a glorious Savior. What great blessing is given by the Father, through Jesus, such that believers are filled with the Helper, the Holy Spirit!

The prayer-reading is directly from Isaiah 11. The “shoot from the stump of Jesse” is Jesus Christ. The work of the Spirit in Jesus’ life (and consequently in the life of believers) is described. Then the tumult of the world now being brought into full submission to Jesus the High King of Heaven is revealed, showing believers why they need the Helper more than ever.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 11:1-5 ESV

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