THE SERVICE OF THE COMFORTER

THE SERVICE OF THE COMFORTER

John 14:15 - 26; John 15:26,27; John 16:7 - 15

JT The Lord will help us, I believe, in considering the great subject of the Holy Spirit as presented under the title of the Comforter. It is only in these chapters He is so called; four times He is predicated by the word ‘Comforter’, and we shall see, I believe, that it is the Spirit in relation to our dispensation, but seen as given to saints; not in the sense in which a believer is sealed by Him, or even indwelt by Him individually, but as given to the saints viewed collectively, to be with them as Jesus was with His disciples, so He is called “another Comforter”. The early part of the gospel contemplates the Spirit as operative in believers viewed severally, sometimes in a figurative way, as under the titles of ‘dove’, ‘wind’, ‘water’; it is always a substantial thought, that the Spirit is here in a substantial sense, not in a merely theoretical sense. So that it is said by the evangelist that the Spirit “was not yet” as it reads literally, “because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39). In the early part He is contemplated as coming from the glorified Christ and operating in believers in the sense of new birth or water for drink, or, earlier, as a dove, symbolising Him as He came on Christ. In all that we have the dispensation presented characteristically, that is in relation to the Father, the Father being the title under which God is known in this dispensation specially, so as to stress the familiarity into which God has come, as it were, in nearness to us; and also that judgment is not stressed: “Neither does the Father judge any one”, it says (John 5:22). In this section of John we have the Spirit under the title of Comforter, as we have said, but given to the saints viewed collectively, not simply sent, as later, but given, and given not simply because Christ is glorified, but because He asks for Him. That is out of consideration for the saints, the Lord as leaving them would provide for them in this way by giving another Comforter, so that we have a divine Person here given to the saints collectively under this title, which signifies that He is near us and with us, as in meetings like this, and looking after, not only God’s rights down here, but our affairs spiritually. In chapter 14 it is the inner side of the position. These chapters really present phases of our position as having the Comforter; first the inner side, then the public testimony in relation to fruit, in ministry, and then conflict, in chapter 16. That is the general thought.

FW Would you tell us where the first section closes and the second one begins?

JT Well, chapter 14 commences the subject on hand; the first section runs on to verse 24. Then, “These things I have said to you, abiding with you” begins the second phase of the subject. First, He is given to the saints in answer to request by the Lord; then He is sent by the Father in the name of the Son; that is the second phase. Then, in the end of chapter 15 He is sent by the Son, and the Lord adds that He “goes forth”. He says, “Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father”, that is He is now viewed as having been there with the Father, sent by the Son, so that He testifies of Him according to the thoughts of the Father as to Him. Then finally He is sent by the Son again in chapter 16 in relation to the conflict, to bring demonstration to the world, involving ^[p. 169] its guilt.

HMG Would you say we have to learn these declarations, starting at the first one, the inner position?

JT I think that is the way the truth has to be learnt, the saints regarding themselves in a collective way; according to chapter 13, we are set together in love, having love among ourselves. The Comforter is come to us thus as loving the Lord Jesus; love is the basic thought in us, loving Him and keeping His commandments. There is a moral reason for His asking for Him for a company who love Him and keep His commandments. So that the first part of our subject throws us, as it were, in our mind towards one another, having such an One as this with us to care for us.

Ques What would be involved in keeping His commandments?

JT Well, whatever He has directed. The thought would widen out from what it was when He spoke these words. The gospel was written after the whole truth of christianity was unfolded, including Paul’s ministry, so the commandment would be very wide, including particularly the Corinthian epistles; all the Lord had said embodied in the gospels would be included. It is well to bear in mind, I think, that the gospels were written as the truth was all unfolded and confirmed in the world among saints. The gospels would be to present the truth in its fulness as set out in principle in the Lord’s own ministry. There had been an opening up of what the Lord had said, that is on the principle of fulness, through apostolic ministry, and also through the work of the Spirit in the saints; the gospels were intended to confirm all that.

ELM Would chapter 14 assure that nothing that the Lord gave when here can be lost; chapter 15 bringing our hearts into the light of what is now true ^[p. 170] of the Lord, and chapter 16 having reference to what is future?

JT That, I think, is helpful. Chapter 14:26 shows that the presence of the Spirit brings to remembrance, brings in that thought, so that there is nothing lost, you mean?

ELM Yes. They had not to trust their memories, as we have expressed in prayer.

JT Verse 26 fits in, I believe, with our times. Verses 15 to 20 present the Spirit in relation to normal conditions at the outset from Pentecost on, that is, whilst conditions remained normal; and then the Lord brings up the thought of an individual loving Him, that is, one who had His commandments and kept them. The commandments are supposed to have been there; any individual who had them and kept them showed his love. From that verse to the end of verse 24 there is, I think, the idea of broken days, when the saints should be tested by the commandments, keeping the commandments and keeping the word of Christ, and, in view of that, the idea of things being brought to our remembrance, for much had been beclouded; if we look at it from the standpoint of the history of the assembly, much had been obscured and lost, and the Spirit would bring all out into clarity in the minds of the saints; and, not only that, but as the Lord says, “He shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”. “He shall teach” being emphatic would mean that others failed in that; the teaching in christendom had failed in that, so that the thought of His teaching and bringing to our remembrance is brought in in verse 26 as a provision for these times.

FW Were you thinking that verse 26 would particularly apply to the last century?

JT Well, it seems so to me, for He is sent by the Father in Christ’s name, that having reference,

^[p. 171] I think, to other names that had been adapted by christians; and the teaching of the Spirit referring to the degenerating teaching that had come in, so that we have the name of Christ which is alluded to in the address to Philadelphia, “Thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8). That would all fit in here, I think.

ELM Would Haggai have any bearing on what you suggest, where it says, “The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you: fear ye not” (Haggai 2:5)?

JT That is a good scripture. “The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you: fear ye not”. The two things remained with them; that fits in; what God had covenanted in Christ and the Holy Spirit remain in us. What is your thought?

EJMcB I wondered whether the Spirit has taken the place of teaching in relation to the defective teaching in christendom.

JT That is what I was thinking; I do not think it strains the passage to say so, for undoubtedly the defection is alluded to by the Lord in verse 21, where He says, “He that has my commandments and keeps them”. He had already said to them, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”, it is the matter of the gift of the Spirit primarily, but now it is an individual, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me”, as if there were some not doing that. The Lord is stressing individual love for Himself, it points to John’s way of speaking of 2 Timothy times. Then, when it is questioned as to how the Lord should manifest Himself to them and not to the world, Jesus again says, “If any one love me”. It is not ‘us’ any more, or ‘you’, but individuals. We are tested in that way whether we love Him by keeping His commandments or keeping ^[p. 172] His word. And then the Spirit being sent by the Father in His name would, as it were, be the Father providing for the name here in which divine operations are carried on, for it was challenged and obscured; things were being done, and are being done today, in other names, but the Spirit was here in Christ’s name, sent by the Father, and He teaches all things. Moreover, He is called the “Holy Spirit” in verse 26, and He teaches all things, “and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”. So that He is here in these times to teach and bring all things to remembrance, so that nothing is allowed to slip; we are taught as to all things and our memories are refreshed by Him as to all things.

Rem Things are put in a conditional way as to whether we get the good and gain of it.

JT From the outset it is so; the ‘if’ is a conditional thought. It seems to me that this point as to the Spirit’s teaching us as to all things and bringing all things to our remembrance is the explanation of these latter-day revivals. The truth has come up again in its entirety; it is not only that attention has been called to it, but the Spirit is teaching, making it intelligible to us, and then the actual words of Christ are brought back, as He says, “He ... will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”. It seems as if the Lord by the Spirit is stressing details of the truth, all the things that He said, making each thing to stand out in its own import, not allowing anything to be regarded as a non-essential.

Rem So Paul says, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Would that link up with the thought of the Spirit?

JT Well, that has often been alluded to, you only get it in that particular passage, the Spirit reminding them of it. A most precious word, too.

^[p. 173] Ques With regard to the Spirit teaching all things, is that what John refers to in his first epistle where he says, “Ye have the unction from the holy one” (chapter 2:20); it is not simply that you have an unction, but you have it from the Holy One, and “ye know all things”.

JJ Then he says, “These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray” (chapter 2:26). Would that be in accord with what you are saying?

JT I think so. The antichrist is contemplated. “It is the last hour” (chapter 2:18), the apostle says; that does not mean the last hour of the dispensation, it means the whole dispensation, that it is the great testing hour of the history of time. And antichrist should come, “Ye have heard that antichrist comes”; it is a great general thought Paul and others had taught, but that there were many antichrists was what was not, perhaps, observed, and that brings in, in that passage, the peculiar title of the Spirit, “the unction”. It is not that He is called the unction exactly, it is “Ye have the unction from the holy one”, the Holy One, I suppose, alluding to God in the Spirit, the unction is from Him and teaches all things. It is a remarkable word and alludes evidently to dignity and feeling in the teaching. It is alluded to in verse 27, “Yourselves, the unction which ye have received from him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you; but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true”. This matter of the teaching and bringing to our remembrance is to be specially noted, for it is the guarantee for us against the degenerated teaching that is in christendom and the beclouding of the truth. It is the bringing of everything to light as it was at the beginning.

Ques Is that not very encouraging, a guarantee that everything that came out at the outset is for ^[p. 174] us?

JT I think that is the way it should be looked at especially by young christians, for the passage alluded to in John’s epistle is addressed to the little children in verse 18, and in verse 20 it says, “Ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things”. That is, now they are accredited, as having the unction, with knowing all things. And then in verse 27, “And yourselves, the unction which ye have received from him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you; but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him”.

Ques Does the thought of energy come in in connection with the unction?

JT I think it does. I think it should mark our meetings such as this, that those who minister are energetic in presenting things to the saints, and thorough in what they are presenting; they are not leaving anything out or counting anything as a non-essential. David, we are told, established his dominion on the Euphrates (1 Chronicles 18:3) meaning that the utmost border of the inheritance is secured; it might have been thought of little account as so far away, but David established his dominion there. And I believe that is how the matter stands, that those who are with God are concerned about all these things that belong to the great heritage of truth which has come to us. And then the thoroughness and the bringing to remembrance, our minds, as mentioned in prayer, are leaky and weak, but the spirit brings things to remembrance, and there is no doubt that the thought can be linked on with the Lord’s supper, which is a sort of objective reminder of Christ. The Spirit brings to our remembrance what the Lord said.

M Would one special feature of that be the way the Lord has helped us in the understanding of His words, as to “My Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20:17)?

JT I think the Lord is on those lines, for we are very prone to say two things are the same when they are not, when there are distinctions to be made. And in this verse the Spirit makes distinctions and causes every word the Lord uses to stand out in its own import; so “My Father and your Father” means one thing; “my God and your God” means another thing.

Ques Does John 14:16 link the Spirit on with the whole scope of truth, but verse 26 imply conditions for the reception of these thoughts?

JT Yes, I think that is good. The word ‘Holy’ being added — “Holy Spirit” — would, I think, point to unholy influences that had been at work in the defection down through the ages, corrupting things. “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (1 Corinthians 3:17). Those things would be in mind, no doubt, when the Lord changes the title to “Holy Spirit” instead of “Spirit of truth”.

FW Would you connect holiness with an ecclesiastical setting rather than a worldly setting?

JT I think that is the idea; I believe that is in mind in the Spirit’s coming to the company.

Ques Have you the same thought of safeguarding the thing in detail by the Lord in Matthew 5, where He says, “one iota or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all come to pass”?

JT Very good; that surely can be applied to the truths of christianity, what the Lord Himself said, for that is the principle of christianity; He is the Word. John begins his gospel with that thought, meaning that the Lord Jesus has unfolded all the thoughts of God to us, and every word is to be held in its own value.

^[p. 176] Rem And Paul says in 2 Timothy 3 that “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching”.

JT Just so.

Ques We have a number of the written words of the Lord, but the last few words in this particular gospel say, that if all was written, the world itself could not contain the books, so it is essential we get the Holy Spirit, is it not?

JT So that John had an immense thought of the ministry of Christ; he begins with Him as God, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. So that what He says must be infinite in its bearing, and no doubt that is what he refers to, that the world could not contain the books. But then another Person has come down, has provided for everything and brings everything to our remembrance. It is marvellous that we are so provided for in these days; He comes in His name, that is over against other names that have come in in christendom.

F Spiritual things must be communicated by spiritual means.

JT Just so. I wonder if the brethren are clear as to the first two references; if so we could go on to the third.

Ques Are the actual words spoken of in connection with the remembrance of the words of the Lord here, for the apostle Paul refers to only a few words of the Lord Jesus?

JT Well, the point in words is to unfold a thought. Actual words, of course, where we have them, are to be treasured, but the idea of the word, logos, is to convey thoughts. The apostle says, “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14:37). That ^[p. 177] would embody what the Lord had said, in principle at least, as down here.

T The first two names mentioned in 2 Timothy are spoken of as those who turned away from Paul; they had given up Paul’s teaching, had they not?

JT Quite so, and evidently on personal grounds; the opposition was to him personally, and would discredit what he said.

JJ Would not the addresses to the seven churches have a very large place in what you are saying, in what the Lord says and what the Spirit says?

JT I think they illustrate what we are saying; what the Lord says is given in so many words, but what the Spirit says is left open; it is indefinite, and infinite indeed!

Ques How are you connecting fruit-bearing with testimony?

JT Well, I thought the third reference comes in at the end of chapter 15, and the chapter teaches us as to fruit-bearing; it is another phase of the position, not sequential, but a collateral phase of chapter 14. The Lord is said to be the true vine, and the disciples the branches, so that the chapter contemplates that side, but our subject, of course, does not permit of our going into that. What the two verses have in mind is that the Spirit is sent by Christ. The disciples are viewed in chapter 15 as His friends, and He makes much of love and the kind of love, the Father’s love, and His love, and their love. We are on an exalted plane in regard of love, and the saints are viewed as His friends, because He has communicated to them all that the Father says, a remarkable thing, “All things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you”. And I think that the chapter suggests to us the component parts ^[p. 178] of the bride, the assembly, viewed in that way. Friendship and confidence necessarily precede the wifely relationship of the saints to Christ, and I believe that the Lord has all that in mind when He says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me”. I think the Lord has in mind in sending the Spirit that the saints should become conversant with the Father’s thoughts about Him. The Spirit is with the Father and He goes forth; He is sent by the Son, but still He goes forth Himself, as from with the Father, carrying all that the Father thought about the Son, as Abraham’s servant would carry to Rebecca all that Abraham thought about Isaac, and how concerned he was as to the one to be companion for Isaac! The Spirit, as sent by Christ in that sense, goes forth from with the Father, He is thoroughly conversant with the Father’s thoughts, and He will be occupied now in testifying to Christ as known up there, not as known down here. For the point in Genesis 24 is Isaac up there; Isaac is in the land, he did not go down to Beer-sheba with the young men. So I think the Father, having this in mind, sent the Spirit to testify to Him, and it would include Paul’s ministry.

EJMcB When the Son went into the presence of the Father with these peculiar affections and relationships, the Spirit comes down to form those relationships and affections in the saints.

JT I think we are quite entitled to speak of the Spirit in that way reverentially, making full place for the fact that He is a divine Person. The saints saw His glory, they contemplated it. What did the Spirit see up there? How infinitely able He was to contemplate all that went on, for divine Persons have come into an economy near us and allow us to speak of Them in that way. He had been with the ^[p. 179] Father and now He comes forth from with Him, as if the Lord sends Him to tell all that down here.

Ques That would make the ten days very wonderful, would it not, when the Lord was on high with the Father and the Spirit had not come? They were ten days without either divine Person.

JT What history was made in heaven during those ten days; what was visible there!

FW As coming from the Father, is it to bring us into the full light of the revelation involving the bride, the assembly, the city, the world to come, and the eternal conditions, the universe of God; is all that connected with the thought of the Father?

JT Quite so, but this particular allusion is to the Spirit being conversant with things. The Lord says, “when the Comforter is come ... the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father”. It is quite apparent the Lord is alluding to what we are saying, what transpired there during those ten days, how was the Son regarded there? Who but the Spirit could rightly apprehend what transpired there as He ascended up? Luke 24:51 says He “was carried up”, Paul says He was “received up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16); but the Spirit coming out, what He would convey to us! what He is conveying to us! as to what the Father thinks of the Son, what is suitable to the Son; for Abraham makes a great deal of the person who should be suitable to Isaac. The Holy Spirit has, I believe, for a long time been pressing on us the dignity of the assembly as of Christ, “Both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). So that it would seem as if the apostle Paul’s ministry would be included in this verse, “He shall bear witness concerning me”; He says, that is what He would be up there; “and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from the beginning”.

EJMcB Would Paul have that somewhat in his mind when he referred to the Father of glory?

JT I think he would. I think Ephesians is all the opening up of what we are speaking of.

Ques Would it answer to the prayer in Ephesians 3, “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”?

JT I think so. I think both prayers would have this in mind.

Ques Would it cover Peter’s ministry too? He speaks of the “Holy Spirit, sent from heaven” in the first chapter of his first epistle; the testimony of the glad tidings lies in the hands of the Spirit.

JT I believe it would include that. “To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven”. So the glad tidings really is a question of the glorified Christ, and that leads on to the truth of the assembly.

Ques “He shall bear witness concerning me”, would that be confined to the Holy Scriptures?

JT Part of it is included in the Holy Scriptures now, so Peter says, “according as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; among which some things are hard to be understood” (2 Peter 3:15,16), as if Paul’s ministry was, in Peter’s mind, part of the Scriptures, was it not? And Paul says too that his ministry completed the word of God (Colossians 1:25), not that it was the completion of the scriptures, for this very gospel, I suppose, was written after Paul’s epistles, but the word of God was completed in Paul’s ministry; the mystery would be that.

Ques Would it imply our getting first-hand knowledge in that way of the Father’s thoughts of the ^[p. 181] Son, and thus being formed in them? The testimony would flow out of that.

JT I think that is one thought in it, as in the type the servant of Abraham was said to be over all his house; he was the chief of his house, one who was conversant with Abraham’s mind and over all his goods. So that he was fully furnished in going out to seek Rebecca.

Ques Is it brought in here as over against the way the Son and the Father have been treated in this world?

JT Well, it is; the Lord says, “They have both seen and hated both me and my Father” (chapter 15:24); the Father and the Son were presented in Him. John 1:14 says, “We have contemplated his glory”, they valued what was there, but the world hated it, a terrible thing that that wonderful testimony was both seen and hated. So what goes on in heaven is all over against that: heaven’s delight in the Son, the Father’s delight in Him, and the Spirit here to make all that known.

Ques You were speaking of the great thought of remembrance being brought in at the Supper; would this be helpful in relation to what comes in consequent on it, the Father’s thoughts of the Son?

JT I think that is what comes out. The Supper is an objective thing, “This do in remembrance of me”; aside from the Spirit it could not be much to us. As a matter of fact there is nothing said about the Lord’s supper being celebrated during the ten days, there is not a word said about its being celebrated till the Holy Spirit comes down; it is the Holy Spirit who gives it its fulness.

B Christendom has turned away from the Scriptures, but the teaching of the Spirit has led us back to the Scriptures. Would you say that the teaching of the Spirit is within the scope ^[p. 182] of the Scriptures?

JT Well, the teaching of the Spirit added to the Scriptures; what the Lord alludes to here as written in Paul’s epistles and the gospels was all by the Spirit; it added to the Scriptures. Paul said his ministry completed the word of God, that is, the whole word of God is out, but it does not say he completed the Scriptures, there were more Scriptures after that.

Ques Does not the Spirit give the Scriptures their fulness?

JT That is right, so that the ministry of the Spirit today would not add to Scripture, it would be within the limits of Scripture. “To the law and the testimony!” (Isaiah 8:20), the Scriptures must always be the test of what is said now, but when Paul wrote, the Spirit inditing what he wrote, he added to the Scriptures. Now, of course, the Scriptures are complete, and they are the test of all ministry.

Ques Would it be right to apply the pot which the widow had in 2 Kings 4, to the Spirit? She said, “Thy handmaid has not any thing at all in the house but a pot of oil”.

JT Well, she was to get vessels, not a few. The Scriptures are not the abode of the Spirit, the saints are that; the saints are the vessel in which the Spirit is.

Rem The widow had the pot for the oil, and, had she realised what was in the house, everything would have been met. I was thinking too of the period of the church’s history some fifteen hundred years ago, when apparently the Spirit was silent and the Scriptures were shut up.

JT Quite so. But then there is another thing that we must take account of, those in whom the Spirit is, the woman herself, we must make something of her.

Rem Yes, the woman had it there, but was not taking account of ^[p. 183] it.

JT So the figure would not be an unconverted person with a Bible on the shelf, but the vessel is the person. I think that comes out in the gospel. The woman of Samaria brought her vessel to draw water, but she went back to the city without it, understanding what the Lord said, that she herself was a vessel. There are many like that, they have the Spirit, but they do not make room for Him. I believe the “vessels; let it not be few”, would be adding to what was there in the sense of capacity, so the oil was not stayed till the vessels were all filled.

Ques Is the Spirit seen in identification with the vessels in the scripture you have read, the Spirit bearing witness, and “Ye too bear witness”, the saints with the Spirit in the place of witness?

JT Well, “Ye too bear witness” is over against the Spirit there. The Lord is distinguishing between the testimony of the Spirit in Its Pauline service and the twelve as having learnt from Christ before the Spirit came. All that they learnt, of course, would be made effective in them by the Spirit, but they are viewed rather as having been with Him from the beginning, that is, there is qualification for witnessing in this particular passage, whereas the Spirit is viewed as witnessing distinct from them. I suppose it is the new departure in Paul that is alluded to. They, of course, witnessed by the Spirit too, but that is not the point here, it is to bring out the witness of the Spirit as come down, proceeding from the Father and sent by the Son.

EJMcB To go back for one moment, the widow hardly represents the public position as having the pot; it is rather the suggestion that would be applicable to any case.

JT Yes, it is rather an individual position, she was in debt.

EJMcB There are certain figures that clearly imply the public ^[p. 184] position.

JT What is to be noted here is that the Lord does not stress that the Spirit should use the saints. We know that in coming here the Spirit did use the saints, He works in a vessel, but the Lord is not stressing that here, but that He was with the Father and He proceeded forth from with the Father, and that the Son sent Him, and that He should testify; how He should do it is not the point. The twelve are also in addition to that. Chapter 16 is the battlefield, and the Lord shows how the Comforter exposes the world. It is an immense thing in conflict that the enemy’s position is exposed; you know just where he is; that is, the Spirit “will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”. This is a side we cannot ignore, it is most essential we should understand how the Comforter is looking after us in this public conflict. What comes out in these conflicts we have in a little way now to go through, is that the Lord, by the Spirit, exposes where the enemy is; you see just what he is aiming at.

Ques Is the believer the vessel of the Spirit for testimony, or is the assembly the vessel?

JT Strictly speaking, the assembly is the vessel, “Ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22), it is a collective thought. Then we see individuals, like Paul or Stephen, preaching or teaching, or whatever it may be, in the power of the Spirit. Stephen was said to be full of the Holy Spirit; it was not that he had the Spirit in him as Christ had; he could only participate in It, but it is the same Spirit as is in the assembly. So He is seen in 1 Corinthians as operating; in chapter 12 the Spirit is seen first, then the Lord, and then God. “There are distinctions of gifts but the same Spirit” (verse 4). The gifts are given, and exercised by individuals, but it is the ^[p. 185] one Spirit.

EJMcB So that, in John 16, it is not so much the demonstrator as the power of demonstration.

JT Yes, it is another side of the position that in conflict the Comforter will expose the enemy’s position. That is an immense thing in conflict, because the battle is won really when you see what is at stake; the issue is clear.

Ques Is that why He is called the Spirit of truth, because of the exposure?

JT Well, you can see how that fits in here. “I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you”. We see from that and the following verses that there was much in the Lord’s mind He could not unfold then, but it would be unfolded when the Spirit came. We do not get teaching here; it is not the point; the point is guiding, guiding “into all the truth” (verse 13). One said that the prophet told the king of Israel the words that the king of Syria spoke in his bedchamber. I think that is the principle of the Spirit here; He brings demonstration to the world of sin; see what that is! And of righteousness; see what that is! And of judgment; see what that is!

Ques Does that pave the way for this more sensitive matter, “but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming”?

JT I think it does. He is here in this capacity as our Paraclete, but He is always in relation to heaven, receiving communications and guiding us into all the truth. I suppose, in a meeting like this, you begin with something, and the Spirit being here, He is looking after our affairs, and He keeps us right. We may easily be swerved, but He uses one and another to keep things right amongst us; He is guiding.

^[p. 186] Ques In the first instance, is the demonstration, in the heart of the believer and through the believer, in that way a demonstration to the world? Does the force of it come home to the saint?

JT I think that is right. I think the saint alone can understand what has happened, but if we follow the history after Pentecost, we can see how what was in Jerusalem was exposed. The Holy Spirit took charge of things, coming down and operating, so as to bring out what was among the Jews; the whole thing came into evidence.

Rem It was said that they were the men that had turned the world upside down.

JT Quite so. If you take the first item here, “Having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin”. Demonstration is evidently public; it is to the world. “Of sin” is the first thing, and the Lord explains that by saying, “Of sin, because they do not believe on me”. That came out in the wonderful testimony of the twelve at Jerusalem by the power of the Spirit that the people generally, the leaders, refused to believe on Christ. That was clear, they were exposed; it was the ground of wrath coming upon them to the utmost. Later I suppose the thought would be that those who did believe the testimony of the twelve would be clear of the thing; they would judge it and it would be a great help to them in leaving the thing. Then “of righteousness”, I suppose the presence of the Spirit here would be the testimony to righteousness and that Jesus was with the Father. “I go away to my Father”; there is nothing in the world could be more righteous than that that blessed Man should go up there; He went to the Father. Then, “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”. I believe these demonstrations are intended to deliver us, to enable us to see what we have to do with and to abandon ^[p. 187] it.

Ques Would the testimony of Stephen be a demonstration?

JT The whole of Stephen’s speech brought into evidence the position. It is, you might say, the summing up of this. Who could stay in judaism after that, if he loved Jesus?

Ques Going back a little, “He shall bear witness concerning me”, is that the thought of the character of the ministry today?

JT I think it is. Of course, as I said, it really alludes to the unfolding of the mystery in Paul, but in character it is the same thing. The Lord goes on here to say, “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming”. Notice, it is not ‘teaching’, but ‘guiding’ and ‘announcing’, having perfect knowledge of everything, as He hears and sees He lets it be known to us.

Ques The thought of “he shall bear witness concerning me” I thought was very inclusive of the Spirit’s ministry today. Is that right?

JT Quite so. That is the thing for us this afternoon to see, that we have a divine Person here in a meeting like this. One speaks of it humbly and reverently, but it is the truth; not simply He teaches, but He guides. It is not only what one says, but the Holy Spirit is in all; that is the principle, so the truth is confirmed and comes out amongst us.

JJ “He will announce to you what is coming”, is that true now?

JT I think in the principle of it the passage ought to be taken as bearing on the beginning, what the Spirit will do in this demonstration, but, as we were saying, it goes on. In every conflict that comes up, if we wait on Him, viewed as the Comforter, the ^[p. 188] issue will become clear; the battleground will be selected by Him, and He gives us every advantage. It is a great thing to get hold of the thought of the Comforter, for it alludes to Him as looking after things in relation to the position as a whole.

Ques Would the demonstration, as far as the saints are concerned, correspond with the unction that the saints have received?

JT It would. The unction is not so wide a thought as this; the unction alludes to the way the Spirit operates in teaching us. The point is not that He is a teacher, but He is in the saints in that capacity as teaching. So the apostle goes so far as to say, You know all things, you know the truth by His presence in the unction. And it especially bears on young christians, for that part is to the little children. But here He is in us, and He is with us. The Father, says the Lord, will give Him to them, and He shall be in them. And the primary thought is He is given in love to abide with us for ever.

JJ Is it not striking that in 1 John 2 the word is the same as the word Comforter, “If any one sin, we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”; “of righteousness, because I go away to my Father”; the One who manages our affairs.

JT Quite so. The word ‘Comforter’ is applied to the Lord up there. He is looking after our affairs up there, and the Spirit is here.