And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. JOHN 14:16
HOW MUCH of the majesty of Christ shines in these words! What a divine
sweetness breathes in them! He knows his own mind, he knows the mind of
his Father, he knows the mind of the Spirit, and, therefore, he speaks with a holy certainty. I will pray the Father shall give, the Spirit will abide with you for ever. We should receive His words with the same sweet certainty as that with which they were spoken.
1. Observe what Christ will do. "I will pray the Father." This shows that Christ is not dead. He was dead, but He is now alive for evermore. The dead do not pray; the lips that are sealed in death are silent lips. But Jesus says, "I will pray the Father". He looks beyond his agony in the garden, and on the cross; He looks beyond His rocky sepulchre; and, as if He had nothing to do but to step into the presence of his Father, He says, "I will pray the Father".
Again, this shows the constancy of Christ's love. When a friend is going away to a far land - an "inner friend" – a praying friend, we say to him we are going to the ship, "Now you will never forget us", and he says, "No I never will, I will pray for you". O! such a friend is Christ. He is one born for adversity, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. At times we are cast down when we think of His glory, and our meanness; of His being the very Sun of heaven, and we a vile worm on the earth; but be not faithless but believing. I will never forget you, He says, even when I am at the right hand of the Father I will pray for you.
2. Observe what the Father will do. "He shall give you another Comforter". We learn from these words the certainty of the gift of the Holy Spirit. How confidently Jesus speaks, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him". If an angel had come and said, the "Father shall give you another Comforter", we might have doubted; for, how does an angel know what the Father will give? But Jesus is "the true and faithful Witness", He had "come from God, and went to God"; and He says with a divine boldness, "The Father shall give". Ah! how many Christians seem never to have received the Comforter. How many have no sweet sense of forgiveness. How many have no close walk with God. Ministers constantly bless their flocks, saying, "The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all". How few seem really to possess it. Why is this? It is because of unbelief. You do not fully realize this truth, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" - You do not believe that the Father delights to give the Spirit, in answer to the prayer of his Son. You do not live upon that promise, Isaiah 49:8, "In an acceptable time have I heard thee".
Again, observe that word, "another Comforter". Jesus was the first Comforter. He came "to comfort all that mourn"; His words were all "good words, and comfortable words"; His blood was peace-speaking blood. He had comforted the disciples by the way, by the well, and on the stormy sea. But now He must go His way to Him that sent Him. He leaves this word behind, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter)). "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not With him, also, freely give us all things." Enter into this argument, O my soul! He that gave the first Comforter for sinners will surely give the second Comforter to His dear children.
3. Observe what the Comforter will do. "Abide with you for ever." Jesus and His Spirit are one. He knew what is the mind of the Spirit. He also knew what is in man - the unbelieving, inconstant, unholy heart of man, and yet he says the Comforter shall abide with you for ever. Sometimes a young believer is cast down by this thought, "How do I know that my faith shall not fail me; the vail of unbelief may cover my heart again, perhaps in the hour of temptation, perhaps in a dying hour". Here is the answer, Jesus will pray, the Father will give, and the Comforter will abide with you for ever. Observe this in a singular instance, Luke 22:31. "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Be not afraid, only believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He that was the Author will be the Finisher of your faith.
Sometimes a young believer is sadly cast down by a discovery of the plague of his own heart. When he looks into the smoking volcano that is in his own bosom, he begins to tremble lest after all he become a cast-away. Take these two directions: (i) Be humbled in the dust under your body of sin and death, but do not despair. Paul had the same, and all true Christians have the same. Make this resolution your own, "Resolved never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be". (ii) Believe in the Comforter. Keep your eye fixed on Christ, on His wounds out of which the blood flowed, that cleanseth from all sin; on His lips that pray so sweetly for His own (Song 5:16). Wait for "that holy Spirit of promise". He alone can make you holy; and He will do it, for faithful is He that promised.