Another Comforter

Our Lord in view of leaving this earth to return to the Father, from whence He came, said to His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). By the use of the word, “another,” our Lord intimated He would not cease to be our Comforter, and Advocate, in heaven, but that He would send a Successor to earth, putting the one to be sent on the same level as Himself, even a Divine Person in the unity of the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If the One sent were only an influence, an emanation from God, as some falsely teach, our Lord would not have put the One to be sent on a level with Himself. That the Comforter sent would be a Divine Person in the full sense of the word, our Lord leaves us in no doubt, “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name. He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you” (John 1:26).

When the High Priest entered the Holiest of All to sprinkle the blood of the sin-offering upon the mercy-seat, the sound of the golden bells, attached to his garments, should signify to the anxious listeners outside, that the High Priest was alive carrying out his high-priestly functions with all their wealth of typical and prophetical meaning. On similar lines the sound “as of a rushing mighty wind,” filling the room where the expectant disciples of our Lord were assembled on the great Day of Pentecost, signified that the dispensation of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God had arrived upon earth, coinciding with the birthday of the church of God (Acts 2:1-15). This surely was a wonderful and outstanding day in the history of the world, linking up each believer with their glorified Head in heaven, and to each other on earth, thus forming them into the one body of Christ. We read, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).