Jesus’ Promise of the Holy Ghost - Part I

Jesus’ Promise of the Holy Ghost – Part II

In keeping with our subject and thought concerning the promise of Christ from John’s gospel chapter 14, of the giving of the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,”(John 14:26) we’ll now continue on.

We see that Jesus has absolute confidence and trust in the statement of His promise, that His Father will most certainly “GIVE YOU ANOTHER COMFORTER” (John 14:16). Jesus knows that the answer to His request will be given from the Father; He has absolute confidence in the eternal plan that is even now unfolding with the full assurance in the ability of the Holy Spirit to care for His own children which were given to Him from long before the foundation of the world.

And we can see the confidence that Jesus has in His Father’s decree of that divine covenant which included His own impending death on Calvary’s cruel cross to redeem His elect people for Himself, and that His Father would send the Holy Ghost to give eternal life to all that the Father given to the Son. And that the Holy Ghost would come and care for those who are among the redeemed who…as His disciples, obey Him, keeping all that He had commanded them. And that He moved with confidence so much so that He willingly entrusted these who are His disciples to the care and presence of the Holy Spirit.

It was for the PROMISE that He made to them of the coming “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” that came for His sake. And the “Comforter” came for the care of those who are Christ’s, and far beyond that work in the here and now, He had that same certainty that the “Comforter” would care for all of those who would come and follow after Him by faith.

The disciples then, as it is with us today, NEED the gift of the “Comforter” in our lives. With the truth of the gospel revealing to us our sinful condition and our inability to recover ourselves, that is to say, “get ourselves right with God.” Living through the new birth with two natures, the first; in our flesh, which the Apostle Paul tells us “dwelleth no good thing,” Rom. 7:18, which sins daily. And the second, our inner man, which has been “born of God” and does “not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God,” 1 John 3:9. This brings about a conflict within us, “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal 5:17).

Now the “Comforter” comes to the Church revealing the truth of what Jesus has done of us so that we no longer have the need to improve on what cannot be improved on, that’s our flesh, but we can and ought to wholly depend on the complete and finished work and righteousness of our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. That even though we sin, the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” brings us comfort through the gospel of the truth in Christ Jesus. And what a joy we have in the knowledge that we are cared for today by the Holy Spirit as our “Comforter” in and through out our every day lives. Jesus described the work of the Holy Ghost in the calling of men and woman when He said, “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me; Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,” John 16:8-11. The Holy Ghost would come to and convict His redeemed people of their sin, and seek and save the lost sheep of the family of God. They had lost their way in the world, and He would give them eternal life in the new birth, and lead them to the Son, WITHOUT THE LOSS OF EVEN ONE OF THEM THAT THE SON HAD DIED FOR!!! How many? They number the stars of the heaven and the grains sand of the seashore in multitude! (See Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Rev 7:9). And He would do this work alone and unseen by human eyes or unaided by any and all human agencies! He would come to them just as the wind blows, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:8. And that He as the Comforter “whom the Father will send in My name…shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you,’ John 14:26.

We can only imagine how the disciples must have reacted to the words of Jesus when He said to them, “Yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me.” Listen to Peter and you can almost hear the alarm in his voice, he asked Jesus, “Whither goest thou?” Peter wanted to follow after Him right then! What? Do you mean to say that Jesus was everything to them, and now He is saying that He is leaving them? Listen again to the concern and fear of being left alone in Peter’s words, “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now?” John 13:36-37. They had been with Him for three years, walking along those long and dusty trails, talking with Him and hearing His words of wisdom. They saw Him open the eyes of the blind. They saw Him cause the lame to receive strength and walk again. They had seen Him cause the deaf to hear. And yes, they had even been witnesses to His raising up the dead back to life! And now their hearts were filled with fear and anxiety, for the love of their Master, even as they continued to listen to His words, even as He Himself addressing their concerns in His love for them, Jesus answered Peter and said, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” He was saying, “No Peter, not right now, but you will follow Me later on.”

I know that they didn’t understand, but the precise language used to describe the divine “Comforter” that He would send to them in His place would answer the fears that they had. As Jesus described the Characteristics of the Holy Ghost He made it absolutely clear that He was not sending His disciples anyone less than God than they had with Him who was “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Col. 2:9). They would receive no less than a full inner presence of the Lord Jesus Christ who would not only be with them, but would be in them. The Lord chose His words carefully as He spoke to them. Let's look at the wording of His promise:

“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,” (John 14:16-17).

Let's take out some time now to carefully consider the full impact of the Lord’s words. Look at the word “ANOTHER.” As a general rule, some words and parts of speech give weight to the meaning of a text. That’s the reason we almost always tend to focus our attention to the nouns and verbs in sentences. Verbs show the action of any statement, and the nouns give and receive the action. So look at how the word “ANOTHER” takes a dominant role in how we understand this passage of Scripture. We have an adjective, which describes a person, place, or thing, giving clarity to the text.

The word another is found 233 times in the New Testament, but it is not always the same Greek word. There are two Greek words that are translated another. One of these words is heteros (het'-er-os), which means another of a different kind. That’s were we get such words as heterosexual, which refers to that of a different sex, i.e. men and women, or heterogeneous, which refers to something containing dissimilar parts. We find the word heteros used in 2 Cor 11:4 and in Gal 1:6 speaking of “another gospel,” which is another of a different from the one that was just referred to, i.e. the true gospel as opposed to a false gospel, and again in Acts 17:7 it’s used to distinguish “another king, one Jesus” from another of a different sort, i.e. Caesar. And so we can clearly see in each instance, it is describing that which is distinctive and different from what it is compared to.

And we see that in John 14:16, that heteros is not the word Jesus used to describe the promise of the Holy Ghost. Here Jesus uses the word allos (al'-los), which means just the opposite of heteros. Allos means “another of the same kind.” When Jesus used this word, He is making a bold promise that the “Comforter” that He was sending would be His perfect “Substitute.” One who is His co-equal, co-eternal nature, the Holy Spirit would NOT be different in being, but He would be “another” just like Jesus Himself!
This very same word Allos is the word used in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” This as well as other “one another” statements of the New Testament ought to encourage us to befriend other true believers--those who are just like ourselves in our imperfect flesh, and in our relationship to Christ. Our trouble is that we often, even though we are like one another in sharing the same imperfect flesh, don't really like to admit it! We will sometimes disagree with, disregard, and condemn those who are just like us. But this isn’t true when we are speaking of the Spirit’s relationship to the Son and the Father. The members of the Godhead are always in perfect harmony with one another. The Holy Ghost is always in perfect step with the desires and affections that Christ our Saviour has for us.

The Holy Spirit cares for us with the same love, the same concern, the same grace, the same compassion, the same truth, the same justice, the same holiness, and the same power that the disciples saw in the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry during the three years He shared with them. But not all of our understanding of the Spirit comes from the word “another.” Take a look at the word that it modifies; “Comforter.” This is “another of a like kind” besides Jesus is a wonderful promise! But another what? Here our Lord used the word paraclete (par-a-kl-eet,) which is a very descriptive word that would have been familiar to the disciples. We use this word in many different ways in our modern language today. We see it used in a legal sense to describe a paralegal or legal assistant, an advocate, or one who pleads another’s cause. This is the perfect word to describe the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, who is our Intercessor and Advocate with the Father; just like Jesus is our Great High Priest and Mediator!

And when we are considerin’ John’s gospel and his letters to the churches it’s clear to see that He dealt with the idea of dual Intercessors and Advocates. But we must understand when we say that John dealt with “dual Intercessors and Advocates” we’re not making a division in the person of God, but we’re saying that there’s more than one office, with each member of the Godhead in complete and perfect harmony fulfillin’ their role, remember when the Apostle Philip said to the Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” To which Jesus replied, “Have I’ [Jesus] ‘been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Jesus is illustratin’ His nature of as God the Son, as the “fullness of the Godhead” in human flesh or “bodily.” He goes on to say, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works” (John 14:8-10). John writes that the Holy Ghost is our “Comforter” in John fourteen, as well as Jesus being our Advocate in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” And Jesus tells us in John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” We see this very same nature between God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, Jesus prays to the Father and the Father sends us the “Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” and the says that HE, HIMSELF will come to us! Oh, what a wonderful God that we worship! But when does Jesus come to us? Well, Jesus gives us the answer to that question in Matt. 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

But why two Advocates? Because we are given to understand that we have an Advocate who is present with the Father “and yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom 8:34). And we know that we have an Advocate and Comforter that is present with us here and now (see John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7; Rom 8:27; 1 John 2:1).

And what does the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost do for us in the here and now? Well, one of the things that He does for us is found in Romans 8:26, “the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We see that the Holy Ghost acting as our Advocate praying for us when we are unable to pray the way that our hearts desire to do! It’s clear that these two ministries of advocacy are one in purpose.

As our Advocate, Christ defends us before the Father to keeping us eternally secure. In John 6:37, Jesus gives us the promise that “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Christ Himself serves as our Defender. He doesn't defend us because of our works, which are sinful, flawed and faulty. No, dear child of grace, His defense of us is based on His perfect and completed work. Oh, what a rich and wonderful promise!

Jesus Christ, died for us, and redeemed us. He gave Himself as the perfect payment required as an answer to a just and holy God. And because of the finished work of the Son, the Holy Ghost as our Comforter works within us giving us the new birth and declares to us the abiding presence of the Living God in our lives. The Apostle Paul wrote to us in Romans 8: 14-16, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

What the Son has done in our redemption, and the Holy Ghost has done for us in the new birth! We can have here and now, in this present world, God the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. We are able now to pray to the Father through His Son and ask Him to reveal Himself through the Holy Ghost! Paul says it this way, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom 8:18-19). We have the Comforter how is ever with us to assure us of the wonderful position that is ours as the children of the living God!  And we read that we have been “sealed” by God the Father and that He has given us “the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:22; and 5:5).

And I will close for now by adding here that it is through the Holy Spirit that we now trust after that we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation: “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14).

And finally let us prayerfully consider the promise of Christ Jesus concerning the Holy Ghost and “give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Heb 2:1).

Elder Thomas McDonald                                                           Part III


Spiritual Death

Maybe you’ve heard this term used from the pulpit, or read it in an article about Adam, but it seems to be occurring more and more and it’s a subject that needs to be rightly divided. Perhaps we are all saying the same thing, but using different terms. We need to be careful. If you ask me if I believe in predestination and I reply “absolutely!” I could cause confusion, while my intention was only to express my firm belief in God’s sovereign grace. I’m not sure if it is laziness or a failure to rightly divide the word of truth but in the past year, but many Old Baptists are contending the death that occurred to Adam in the fall was a Spiritual Death. While this is the position of the majority of the religious world, it bears careful examination to see what the scriptures will allow.

A recent widely circulated article makes some persuasive points. The author asks rhetorical questions about Adam before the fall, such as:

“Did Adam Love God?”
“Was Adam perfect in holiness? “
“Was Adam a perfectly righteous person?”

The writer insisted in every case the answer must be “yes.”

That’s compelling, but the scriptures won’t support it.

Adam was perfect, in the image of God, after his likeness. We understand Adam was made perfect, and usually add the qualification “able to stand, liable to fall.” This means Adam had the capacity to obey, but the will to choose otherwise.

If Adam died a spiritual death, by reason he would have to have had a spiritual life. Life always precedes action, even if that action is death. But we have no evidence of a spiritual life in Adam.

The contention made by those who say Adam died a spiritual death in the garden is often a way to make sense of God’s words: Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die..” There is no problem reckoning time here: we appreciate Adam died to the things of God in that very same hour, and that he cast his progeny -- all who would follow into a death in trespasses and sins. Everyone born into this world, from the first, Cain – until the last child this earth will allow has been or will be brought into life a sinner, thanks to Adam. But Adam also physically died in the same day he sinned – at least in the day of the Lord. One day is a thousand years, and a thousand years a day.

Those who can’t understand these things look at the eating of the tree and are conflicted. See: Adam sinned and didn’t die. They too buy Satan’s lie. So to keep their faith from falling apart, they attempt to explain it away as an invisible death – a spiritual death.

A spiritual death is problematic. Did Adam exhibit the evidence we all look for when we gauge a child of God? Were the fruits of the Spirit present? If so, do we not understand that eternal life is present as well? Life precedes action. Isn’t that what we teach?

If Adam can die a spiritual death, so can we.

But Adam didn’t lose eternal life, because he did not have it. Adam didn’t lose his spiritual life because he did not have it. Adam had not partaken of the tree of life.

Did Adam love God? The scriptures don’t tell us. If we conclude Adam had a spiritual life that he could lose??? – then we must also conclude that eventually, in time – he would come to a knowledge of his love for God. We do hear from the scriptures that Adam loved Eve. Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Was Adam holy? No. Was Adam righteous, serving God? Probably not. Now don’t misunderstand – Adam was a special circumstance and a creation of God, but he had a natural mind, not a spiritual one. If he had enjoyed the presence of the spirit we get in the new birth, he would have had greater conflict when Eve presented him the fruit.

If he had spiritual life, he had eternal life. If he had eternal life, he could not have fallen. If he had spiritual life, HOW DID HE OBTAIN IT? Was he born again BEFORE the FALL? Nonsense. Did he partake of the Tree of Life? NO!

We know he was granted the new birth when God spoke to him evidenced by the sacrifice of animals to make coats of skin. Was Adam a child of God? Absolutely. But Adam enjoys the same new birth we did, and for the same reasons. His name had been penned in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. It may be the first name written down, but it’s in the Book.

Was Adam restored to his original state after regeneration? No. He was restored to better. Now he has eternal life – now he has been carried through the tree of life – (as have we). But he’s not restored to the Garden, and he’s not restored to sinless perfection.

This is the state of Adam in the day that he was formed from the dust of the earth. He was sinless. He was perfect. He was human and given the capability to obey or disobey. He might have appreciated God as the creator and had great understanding of his own condition, but we have no proof he loved God, or understood holiness and righteousness. He did not fear God, so we might consider he lacked some necessary wisdom. After the fall, he was afraid. His eyes had indeed been opened, but now he’s looking at God through sinful eyes and the relationship has changed.

We can draw better evidence from Adam of righteousness after the fall than before. (Remember the offerings Cain and Abel made before the Lord? Someone had to teach them the time, manner and proper sacrifice to make.)
How long until Adam and Eve were born again? Probably the same day they ate of the forbidden tree. You might think that a strange statement, but consider, (speaking of God) Hab 1:13 [Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, [and] holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth [the man that is] more righteous than he? God very soon returns to the garden to address Adam, condemn his act, curse the serpent, declare the future, and provide animal skins for the pair. As they were the only humans on earth, the blood shed from the foundation of the world was rapidly applied here. Satan does his best to wreck God’s human creation, God answers instantly with the pre-ordained solution.

But a spiritual death? Wrong terminology.

Spiritual death. Think about this for a minute. When we die, these bodies go to the dust of the earth, the way of Adam, to await the redemption. The spirit returns to God. We’re told these details about Rebecca’s death for a reason: Gen 35:18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. When she died, her soul departed – to where? To God who gave it. .. Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

The spirit that dwells in you is God. Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Now consider this bold statement: There is no such thing as spiritual death for a child of God. The Spirit is from God, the Spirit is God, the Spirit IS eternal life and the Spirit cannot die.

Who gets a spiritual death? The non-elect. When they die, both body and soul go to the grave to await their one resurrection and their second death.

Brother Royce Ellis