God’s love for us shows through Jesus’ actions and death. When Jesus died, the final piece of the trinity was released. Hello Holy Spirit! Holy Spirit is known by several names; comforter, counselor, Advocate, Spirit of truth, helper, guide, author of scripture, revealer, power, and teacher, to name a few.
Jesus Explains Holy Spirit
In John chapters 14-16, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death. He tells them many things that they find upsetting, but throughout his conversation, he assures them they will not be left alone:
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-16 NIV)
If we love Jesus and walk in his ways, we will not be left to figure things out for ourselves. Instead, we will have a counselor. The word counselor comes from the Greek word parakletos which means counselor, intercessor, helper, one who encourages and comforts. In the New Testament, it refers to Holy Spirit and Jesus. Counselor is also a legal term defined as “one who speaks in defense.” Wow! That’s a lot of great stuff for us! Jesus continues in verse 26:
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (NIV)
Jesus is leaving them and us with a spiritual teacher that also brings to mind things we need to remember. John 16:13-15 tells us that he is sending Holy Spirit to guide us in truth and speak to us. But Holy Spirit only says what Jesus says, and Jesus only says what he hears God say. Nevertheless, he can bring us revelation of future events that we need to know. Although it may or may not be a world event, the Holy Spirit is here to guide us in our personal lives se we can move in the plans and purposes that God has set before us.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” (John 16:13-15 NIV)
Jesus loves us by leaving a helper to guide us through life!
The Release of Holy Spirit
Jesus tells his disciples that for Holy Spirit to show up, he must go away:
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16: 7 NIV)
Did you notice he said go away and not die? That always seemed strange to me. We know how the story goes; he’s going to die, BUT, after he died, he was resurrected and stayed with his disciples for forty days (Acts 1:3). When those forty days ended, he went into heaven. The Passion Translation says that he “floated off the ground and into the sky, ascending into heaven before their very eyes!” (Luke 24:51 TPT) Whoa! I would have loved to have seen that!
During those forty days, Jesus instructed them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for Holy Spirit. They were disciples that were about to become apostles through a massive boost in the power of God by way of the Holy Spirit.
“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NIV)
“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5).
This brings us to the day of Pentecost.
Pentecost
Holy Spirit doesn’t show up until a day that we call Pentecost, which means “fiftieth” in Greek. The “fiftieth” is the number of days from Passover to Pentecost. Although the Christian church refers to this day as Pentecost, the Jews call it Shavuot. Shavuot is the Feast of Weeks, which occurs seven weeks after Passover when the first harvest of the spring grains begins. It is also the day Moses gave the Torah at Mt. Sinai. To summarize, the first time God counted off fifty days, the world ended up with Torah, and the next time it ended up with Holy Spirit. God gave the word first, followed by the Spirit of Truth:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)
Viola! Holy Spirit arrived and gave them great power. Jesus received Holy Spirit when John baptized him, and now that he had returned to the Father, he could release a new form of power to believers on the earth. Instead of Jesus being the only one to preach the Good News, teach, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons, he released the same power to any believer willing to take it. On that day, Peter’s preaching added three thousand people to their numbers.
Jesus loves us and released Holy Spirit as a multiplication of himself to reach the ends of the earth!
Until next time under the palm, be blessed!
