THE COMFORTER HAS COME
[p. 217] THE COMFORTER HAS COME
CAC It might be helpful if some brother who was present last time world give a brief outline of what came before the brethren.
JEB We looked at the subject in a general way, reference being made to chapter 4 in connection with the water springing up, and to chapter 7 in connection with the Spirit not being yet come; then we went on to chapter 14 where the Lord spoke about the Comforter being sent. We dwelt on the importance of what the Lord said as to the Holy Spirit; reference was also made as to how the Spirit came in a bodily form identifying Himself with a holy Man on earth and showing the kind of Man the Spirit can identify Himself with.
LM It was said that He should baptise with the Holy Spirit, and there must be a suitable vessel for that. I world like to ask a question as to chapter 14; we read in verse 26, “the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”. Would the apostles or those He was speaking to, be capable of receiving all the sayings of Jesus and not lose one?
CAC There is very much more than there is in Scripture.
LM How we should sit at the feet of such persons! Having the Spirit they received things by the Spirit and could impart to those who were listeners to them.
CAC In chapter 14 it says, “whom the world cannot receive”, which implies that the Lord had a company who were capable of receiving the Spirit. It is the reception side not the gift side, “whom the world cannot receive”.
[p. 218] Ques What made them capable to receive what the world could not receive?
CAC In a certain sense you have begun the consideration of the subject from the top, and it is not a bad Way of considering divine things.
JEB It is the right approach.
CAC The divine way is to begin with the greatest and best, God has begun with the very best in bringing in His beloved Son; nothing can surpass or reach up to what God has begun with.
Ques “Ye are already clean by reason of the word”; is that the capacity?
CAC I thought the Lord had before Him a company of persons who were born of God; it is because they were born of God that they have received the Spirit. The Lord could say of them, “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world”.
HB Is that the reason why John speaks so much more of the Spirit than do the other three gospels?
CAC We have a company of persons who are capable of knowing the Spirit. The Lord speaks in chapter 14 of their knowing the Spirit. What a wonderful thing to know a divine Person, not in heaven but here on earth.
HB Is it not more the Spirit coming to be with the saints, not indwelling?
CAC The Spirit is looked at as a divine Person with the saints collectively. You get certain light as to it in Acts 15 where they write a letter and say, “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”; the “us” was the apostles, but there was another Witness — the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was here as witness and also the apostles. If we are to get a proper sense as to these Scriptures about the Comforter we must see it as realised in the apostles. They are not spoken of as apostles in John but as disciples, but they were with the Lord as apostles; it was those persons. They had been with [p. 219] the Son from the beginning of His ministry. We have never been with the Son; the Spirit cannot bring to our remembrance in that sense.
HJ Is that why when they were choosing another apostle in Acts 1 they said, “It is necessary that ... one of these should be a witness with us”?
CAC That is just what I mean. It was necessary that for a witness there must be one who had companied with the eleven from the beginning of the Lord’s ministry. It is very important to take right measurements of these wonderful statements. The Lord had those who had been His companions and heard His words, thousands of times more than what is in the Bible. He had around Him those who were given Him of the Father — His companions; they had heard all His words and seen all His works. The Holy Spirit brought it to their remembrance. The life of the Son of God here was cherished in their hearts, every bit of it. They heard from the lips of the Son of God Himself. There was no feebleness or failure or limited character about it; it was all spoken by the Son and brought back to their remembrance by the Spirit. They did not remember merely by their natural memory, but the Lord sent the Comforter that not a word might be lost. What a wonderful idea it gives of the assembly! Our getting the gain of it depends on our giving full place to the Comforter.
LM Paul world have heard some of it when he was with Peter.
CAC Yes, it was a wonderful time for Paul; he spent 15 days with Peter and he world have heard what Peter could tell him of the Lord on earth.
LM They world probably have had sleepless nights too!
CAC I do not doubt it. How they world go over it all with the sense that the One who did and said these things was now in heaven and glorified; they were the acts and [p. 220] words of One who was now glorified. That is the only way to read the gospels. When Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote their gospels by the Spirit, it was long after Jesus was glorified. They must have thought as they wrote each sentence down, He is now in glory. We know what Jesus is there by learning what He was here; there is no other way of learning it.
HB Is it right to think that the Spirit brings to us things that are not in Scripture?
CAC We are limited in a way to Scripture because God has been pleased to make a certain selection of the words and acts of His Son when here on earth; it is a divine selection so that there is enough to give us a sense of that Person and His glory. In our present condition we do not need to add to what is in Scripture. It is quite likely that Peter told Paul that the Lord had said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. The four gospels are a pamphlet which is easily read in a day, but think of the amazing character of what came out, of the words and deeds of Jesus done in the presence of His disciples! Heaven is enriched by what the disciples saw and heard and it will never be forgotten; it will be told to their brethren in eternity. It is like the five loaves and two fishes; the Holy Spirit can magnify it. There are some verses in Scripture that have been preached and spoken of for over 1,900 years. Take Luke 15: I have heard hundreds of sermons on it but I have never heard it spoken of but that there has been something I have never heard before! We have little idea of the resources that lie in the Spirit; all the unrecorded acts and words of Jesus are known to the Spirit.
HB Would you say a little of what is involved in the Spirit of truth?
CAC The substance of truth is in Christ but the spirit of truth is in the Holy Spirit. The whole substance of truth is in a risen and glorified Man; He is the truth but [p. 221] the Comforter is the Spirit of truth, the spirit of it all.
HB Is the truth a different thought from the Spirit of truth?
CAC The full truth shines in Jesus glorified; the Holy Spirit is a divine Person who is equal to it all, but He takes a place of subjection and subordination in coming down to be in the saints. The Son took a subject place in becoming Man; the Spirit has taken a subject place without becoming incarnate. It is possible for us to get the gain of the Comforter.
LM Whatsoever Christ had said they were to have brought to their minds, and the Comforter was to take of His and show it to them. Would you limit that to them?
CAC I think they were a representative company; they represented to the Lord the whole church company, but they had this immense privilege of being with Him in the days of His flesh, which we have not. The same Spirit who brought things to their remembrance is still with the assembly and dwelling in the saints, so there is an unlimited supply of truth; the whole truth is opened up. “All the truth” would include Paul’s ministry and that was additional to what the twelve had: Paul’s ministry is connected with Christ in glory and His body here.
LM Could you give Paul anything he did not know?
CAC Paul could give me a great deal I do not know! The teaching of John comes in to fill up Paul’s ministry; it came in to enrich the assembly long after Paul had departed to be with Christ. The ministry of John is to fill with vital power the truth that came out through Paul. John brings in vitality when the church was in danger of slipping away from Paul’s ministry. John brings in restoration in a vital way by bringing in what was true in the Son of God and maintained here in the power of the Comforter. He brings in the greatest things of all. Take the truth that comes out in John’s gospel, i.e. eternal life. It is all connected for us now with Paul’s ministry, for it supposes that Jesus is glorified; the realisation of it depends on that.
Ques All believers who have succeeded the twelve, are they not included in, “I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word”?
CAC Yes; John has in view Paul’s ministry. We read in chapter 10, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold: those also I must bring ... and there shall be one flock, one shepherd” — that is Paul’s line. Caiaphas’ prophecy was John’s way of putting Paul’s ministry. John goes right through to the end.
HB The Lord always brings in the Spirit in connection with the Father, not in connection with God.
CAC Yes, it is a striking thing. The Spirit is connected with the Father — “I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter”. It is a great thing that John speaks of children who are born into the family and have a nature; they belong to that sphere in nature. He does not speak so much of sonship but of nature in which sonship can be enjoyed.
LM There are fathomless depths in the last verse of John 17. We are brought to a marvellous place, loved as the Lord Jesus is loved and He in us. That world not be limited to the twelve.
CAC The twelve in John’s sense are not separated from the whole church company. Those around the Lord at the Supper table were representative under His eye of the whole church company. We come into that wonderful company as disciples; we can all come in there.
JEB What is the idea of John 14:26, “whom the Father will send in my name”?
CAC The Comforter is sent on behalf of the Son; He is sent by the Father so that nothing shall be lost. The wonderful character of the Lord’s words and acts is secured from being lost by sending the Comforter; it is all secured to [p. 223] their remembrance. It is all treasured; nothing that came out in the Son shall be lost; it is too precious to the Father to allow a single word or act to be lost.
LM There is a sense in which the Spirit brings home the present activities and words of the Lord in glory.
CAC Yes, I think so. The Spirit comes as having heard certain things from the Father. It is wonderful the place the Comforter has taken; He does not speak from Himself, but what He hears He speaks. He does not take the place of giving His own testimony in this verse (chapter 16:13) but of speaking of what the Father shall give to Him.
HB If He is the Spirit of truth and guides into all the truth, that involves what the Lord did on earth and His present position as glorified.
CAC Yes. It is what the Father says to the Spirit; there are wonderful things coming.
LM When the truth of headship was given to J.N.D. was that the Spirit’s voice from glory?
CAC I think it was receiving of His and making it known. There are certain things that belong to the Father and Son in common. It is wonderful that we are brought to know of things that the Father and Son have in common that are going to be brought out in display shortly. The Comforter shows the saints all that character of things. All that is coming is known in the assembly so that the Father and Son are praised in the light of what is coming in shortly. There is a wonderful system of things connected with the Father and the Son; the Father is revealed in the Son and the Comforter is given to the saints. What a wonderful system of divine affections! It is soon going to be brought into display and the world will know that the Father sent the Son, and that He loves the saints as He loves the Son. The world and all who have rejected Christ will be made to know that He is the One whom the Father sent and that the Father was with Him in all He said and did. The more you think of the Father and [p. 224] the Son, the more surprising it is to think that the saints should be brought into wonderful relation with divine Persons.