01/15/2008
John 14:16 - 17 (HCSB)
16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.”
John 14:25 - 26 (HCSB)
25“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”
As they gathered at “the last supper”, Jesus told his disciples that He would soon die. This was difficult for them to understand. They still expected a Messiah who would be a political and spiritual leader. If Jesus were to die, then how could he be a political leader?
Jesus tells them of the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is described as a Counselor and Spirit of Truth.
Remember that God, the Father, is entirely holy and cannot co-exist with sin. Therefore He sent the Son, Jesus to fulfill the penalty for sin (that is, death), and then provided us the Holy Spirit as an abiding companion.
It was necessary for Jesus to die so that we could have direct communication with God through the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, this Holy Spirit guides us in truth. Those who have this spirit become aware of what is truth and what is not. But this is something that we must nurture. We hone this ability by spending time in His word and in prayer.
We should be thankful that we have a God who values righteousness. A god who did not value goodness would be a terror to us all. But since He is a good God, we needed a way to communicate directly with Him. For this reason, He provided both the payment for our sin debt as well as an ever-present companion go guide us.
Take time today to thank God for His goodness, love, and providence.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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