The Spirit Glorifying Christ — John Murray

The Gospel according to John, Chapter Sixteen, at verse seven. John, Chapter Sixteen, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.

Pentecost and the Promise of the Holy Spirit

But if I depart, I will send him unto you. Earlier in this Gospel, we read that Jesus, on the last day, the great day of the feast, stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.

He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And the evangelist comments at that point, This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

For the Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And perhaps we have sometimes wondered what could be meant by saying, The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

No, that text does not mean that the Holy Spirit was not present and active in the world prior to the glorification of Christ. We must remember that Jesus Himself was begotten in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We must remember that on the occasion of His baptism at Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove and lighted upon Him. We must remember that it was by the Holy Spirit that He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

And when Jesus went to Nazareth and went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read from the prophecy of Isaiah, He read, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

And Jesus said later, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And the Holy Spirit was, of course, active in the people of God from the was by the Holy Spirit that people were born again, that they were translated into the kingdom of God.

The Spirit Given in Fullness at Pentecost

For Jesus said, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And of course, people were entering into the kingdom of God before Jesus ascended upon Him. When we read on that occasion that the Spirit was not yet—for that is the way it is in the original—the Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified, the reference is to Pentecost.

Because it was then, on the occasion of Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit was given in fullness and of power, in that world the impressions might bring to fruition the promise that had been given to Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and also the promise that God the Father gave to His own Son, I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession.

Jesus died upon the accursed tree, then He broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, so that there was no longer Jew nor Gentile, born nor free, but that Christ was all and in all.

In certification of this breaking down of the middle wall of partition accomplished by Jesus in His death, and in fulfillment of the great promises that were given from the very beginning to the people of God, that all the nations of the world would come to serve God, the Holy Spirit was poured forth in rich abundance, so that He might be active in the whole world among all the nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, without any distinction or significance of Jesus' death and resurrection, until the remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all, beginning at Jerusalem.

And this is the significance of Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit was given in order to bring to fruition that which was accomplished once for all by Christ. We must appreciate the place that Pentecost occupies in the redemptive plan of God.

Christ’s Departure in God’s Redemptive Plan

You know that in God's redemptive plan there is the work of the Father, there is the work of the Son, and there is the work of the Holy Spirit. There is, therefore, an arrangement, an economy devised in accordance with God's infallible wisdom and grace.

That particular fact, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, that Jesus is reflecting in this particular instance when He says, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Jesus brings to our attention the importance and the necessity of this particular departure on His part in order to bring about the coming of the Holy Spirit. By this statement, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

Consequently, when Jesus wanted to enforce some particular statement and impress its truth upon us, He would say, verily, verily, I say unto you. But on this instance, He uses something that is to the same effect, and He puts it in this form, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

And He is enforcing this great pronouncement of His in the latter part of this verse by that introduction. And it is well brought up to pay attention to what Jesus wanted to enforce by saying, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

What Jesus is emphasizing is the necessity of His departure which had been devised in the grace and wisdom and counsel of God. It was necessary, it was absolutely necessary that He Himself, that is, Jesus Himself, should go to the Father, that He should enter into the holy places not made with man, that He might there be made manifest in the presence of God for us, that He might be seated at the right hand of the power of God in the throne of the majesty in the heavens, that He should be given all authority in heaven and in earth, that He should exercise this universal dominion from the throne of His glory to the end of subduing all enemies unto Himself and to the end of perfecting His body, the church, because He gave Himself for the church that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water, by the word that He might present it to Himself a glorious church.

And in accord with the infallible wisdom and goodness and grace of God, it was necessary that He should exercise that dominion from in order thereby to bring to fruition God's redemptive promise, the prerogative of Christ from His exalted glory on the throne of the majesty in heaven, to do two things with reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in this gospel.

The Father and the Son Send the Comforter

The first thing that was His prerogative in order to the coming of the Holy Spirit, that the Father's prerogative don't function to the realization of this end, that the Father would send, we read in the 14th chapter of this gospel, I will pray the Father that He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, because He dwelleth with you and shall be in you.

And the second aspect of Christ's prerogative and function in connection with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was that He Himself should send the Holy Spirit. And He had to send the Holy Spirit in the act of prerogative that is His to the wife in the throne of the majesty in heaven.

It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you. You see the distinction? It was necessary that He should pray the Father, that the Father, and then it was necessary that He Himself also should send the Holy Spirit.

And hereby we are introduced into the mystery and glory of the counsel of God. And it is well for us to ponder these, but the patience of staying with one to the other in pretensions in order to enforce this great truth upon us, He says, nevertheless I tell you the truth.

It is a truth in which we should be intensely interested. For these are the mysteries of God's eternal counsel, respecting the salvation of man and the accomplishment of His saving purpose in connection with the world.

The Holy Spirit as Comforter and Advocate

Now we have to ask this question in connection with this text, in what capacity is the Holy Spirit sent? Jesus says here, it is therefore in that particular capacity that He has been sent, and that He came.

In another passage, as I quoted already, Jesus said, I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter. When He says another comforter, He implied that there were at least two. You cannot speak of another unless you presuppose someone else in that very same capacity.

So when Jesus says another comforter, He implies that He Himself had acted in that very same capacity, that He had acted in reference to His disciples in that very capacity of comforter. Otherwise the Holy Spirit would not be another comforter.

In that particular office, while He wasn't present, in that particular function. In the first epistle of John, if any man sin, we have a lad who came with the Father, Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins.

And it is the very same term that is used in that instance, as is used here when we render by this word, respect. That Jesus is the advocate in heaven, in the court of heaven, of believers. The Holy Spirit is the advocate that was sent by Jesus Himself and sent by the Father in order that He might be the advocate with the people of God upon earth.

That variant in the translation, translated here, comforter, and in the first epistle of John, advocate, draws our attention to the fact that this term, comforter, doesn't adequately bring out all that is involved in this particular title.

Particular title really means is not simply comforter, that's only one aspect of His activity. It means that He is the helper, that He is the pleader, that He is the idol comforter, who is the helper and who is an advocate.

They are all associated with this particular expression. And what Jesus is saying is this, that when the Spirit is sent forth, as He would be on the day of Pentecost, He would come in that particular capacity of helper, and by which Jesus here describes the Holy Spirit in this particular activity.

Plead the call sent into the world to bring to fruition. And that is the very precious thought that is here drawn to our attention in these very emphatic words of our Lord, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you.

He comes in this capacity of being an advocate. When you think of all that may be conducted against the people of God, when you think of all the ingenuity and the craftsmanship and the designs of the great arch enemy, how precious it is to realize that when the Lord, on the day of Pentecost, to the very end of the age, He will abide in His church and in the world to the end of the age, in that particular capacity that He is to plead on all occasions the cause of His people.

The Spirit of Truth and Apostolic Revelation

The subject that comes before us in this particular text is the function that the Holy Spirit is going to discharge in that particular capacity. The comforter is by default. In this particular chapter and in the corresponding chapters in this gospel, there are particularly two features of the Holy Spirit's function that are drawn to our attention.

First is this, as Jesus says, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, there shall He speak, and He will show you things to come.

And Jesus said in that very connection, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. And therefore He is drawn to this importance of many things that Jesus had to reveal unto His people that He could not reveal unto them while He was present with them on the earth.

You see, we are, after all, human, fully human at that. There were inhibited these that belonged to sins. Only Jesus said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. You see, we have to go through a process of learning.

That belongs to our very human nature. We cannot grasp everything at once. We have to grasp it in successive stages. And it was so with Jesus in relation to His disciples. But, He says, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.

And Jesus now, when He makes that statement, is thinking particularly of His disciples, that they were to be the organs of revelation. In speaking, they spoke, and by the authority of Christ. The Holy Spirit is said as the Spirit of the Father and as the Spirit of Christ.

And it is in that particular capacity, as the adulterer of the Son, that He reveals the truth unto the disciples, and they are, therefore, the instruments whereby that truth which Christ had to reveal unto His people, unto His disciples and unto His church, was communicated.

Sometimes you will hear people trying to set up a contrast between Christ and the Apostles. And perhaps you'll find them trying to set up a contrast between the four Gospels and the other parts of the New Testament.

As if there's more authority attached to the words of Christ that were spoken by Christ Himself than attaches to the words of the Apostles themselves. And very often, people are liable to set up a contrast, therefore, between the authority of Jesus' own words, as recorded in the four Gospels, and the authority of the Gospels themselves, and the authority of the Epistles, or the other books of the New Testament.

You see, it is just this promise of Jesus that obliterates, in the matter of truth and authority, any distinction between Jesus Himself's words, later on written by Christ Himself. They were given that particular place, that particular authority, in the institution of Christ.

And their words are after all, not simply the words of Paul and Peter and John, but they are the words of Christ Himself. They are the revelation of Christ Himself, given by Him. And therefore, they bear the infirmity of the Holy Spirit, and they bear the infirmity of Christ, because He said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

But when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. Jesus said on this occasion, all truth, He made it rather definite, He said, all the truth. That is to say, all that God has been pleased to reveal unto His Church, the summation of His redemptive purpose, comes to us through the instrumentality of those particular ways by the Holy Spirit.

And we must remember that all the truth that is necessary for us to know is provided for us in the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. And when Jesus said, all the truth, He meant that all the truth that was to be communicated unto His Church and was to be the depository of revelation for His Church to the end of time, would be communicated through the instrumentality of those who are thus in this particular way endued with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit Glorifying Christ

There is another function that Jesus reflects upon in this very same chapter, respecting the activity of the Holy Spirit. He says, respecting the Holy Spirit, He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you.

He claims that the call of heart were Mine, therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you. The particular function and prerogative is to glorify the Holy Spirit of equal in power and glory.

This is here speaking particularly of the activity of the Holy Spirit when He will come. And this is what He says, He shall glorify Me. You see the dignity of station and honor that that particular, speaks for Christ.

There are, of course, those very express statements which refer to Jesus' deity, to His Supreme Lordship. He is given all authority in heaven and in earth. He is given the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There are these many express statements which accord supreme dignity and honor to Christ. But it is well for us to take notice also of those instances where there is the most express reference to this dignity and honor, even when there is, even when we would perhaps least suspect.

Here is one of those unsuspecting places where Jesus claims for Himself supreme dignity and honor. For He says that when His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, will come in the exercise of this great function that is His, He shall glorify Me.

Now the apostle John had prepared us for that in this particular gospel. You remember when he begins his gospel? He begins his gospel with these words,. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Then he goes on,. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glorious of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Then he continues,. No man hath seen God at any time. The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed. And Jesus Himself hath prepared His disciples, as recorded in this very gospel, for this extraordinary pronouncement that He makes on this particular occasion with reference to the Holy Spirit.

You remember where you read in the fifth chapter of this gospel, at the twenty-second verse,. For the Father judges no man that hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father who hath sent Him. Think of it. Jesus Himself claims an honor equivalent to the honor that must be afforded to God the Father, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

And then He continues,. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.

So Jesus hath prepared His disciples for this extraordinary assessment of His own fact, given in this instance when He says with reference to the Holy Spirit, He shall glorify Me. And that is for this reason, that all things were committed to Jesus by the God.

He Himself is the image of the invisible God. He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person and the express image of His being. It is in Christ that the glory of God is preeminently manifested.

So Jesus said, All things are delivered unto Me of My Father, and no one knoweth who the Father is but the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son willeth to be. And it is just because all things were delivered into the hand of Christ for the purpose of revelation, that when the Holy Spirit comes, it is Christ that He glorifies.

The Completed Gift of Pentecost

Now, these are all important truths with respect to the particular place of the Holy Spirit in the economy of salvation and in the accomplishment of God's saving design. Now it's the God, it's us. The significance of this doctrine respecting the Holy Spirit as leading into all truth and as glorifying Christ here in this particular situation, in this particular time in the history of God's church.

A few lessons, but it is necessary for us to keep in mind, and they are lessons that bear very directly upon the function and upon the propagative of the Holy Spirit. One that I would like to bring to your attention is this, that the Holy Spirit has been given.

You know, you hear people that we need a new Pentecost. We need a Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That's a mistake in notion. Pentecost is something in the past. It is certainly true that we need to pray increased influence and the walking of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, in our lives, in our community, in the church of God.

We certainly need to pray that the Holy Spirit would be more abundant in us, in our families, in the church, and in the nations of the world. The Holy Spirit has been given. Jesus said to his disciples, remember, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.

There is to be no repetition of Pentecost. Pentecost was itself in the unfolding of Christ, and there is no any more than half Christ's death upon the resurrection from the dead, or his exaltation to the right hand of God.

That is the particular significance that belongs to Pentecost, that it is an event, just as Christ, and as his resurrection, as his ascension to the right hand of God was an event. The Holy Spirit has been given, and he has continued to be active in accordance with that Pentecostal event in the history of the church.

You say there isn't very much manifestation. There isn't very much manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church. There isn't very much evidence of that Pentecostal power that was manifest on the day of Pentecost.

No. You may say that, but the Holy Spirit is still active. And if there is a church of God to the very ends of the earth, if there is a proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth, it is just because the Holy Spirit came forth on the day of Pentecost and endued His instruments, the instruments, the emissaries of the gospel, with His action so that they might go into all the world and the church as it exists to the very ends of the earth.

And the proclamation of the gospel in all its fullness to the very ends of the earth are the evidences that the Holy Spirit has not departed and that the Holy Spirit is still active in the world and in the church in pursuance of His coming on the day of Pentecost.

The Church’s Responsibility to Honor the Spirit

There is another lesson in connection with this particular subject that is very relevant to us, and it is the responsibility that devolves in connection with this fact, this fact that the Holy Spirit is present in the world and in the church, and permanently so.

We will not be at all beyond His activity in the church and in the world. It is something that bears upon our responsibility, and it bears upon our responsibility in numerous respects, but I'll just mention one, and that is that a great deal of the desolation that has overtaken the Church of Christ and a great deal of the violence that has characterized the Church of Christ is due to the fact that we have failed in the Church of Christ to do honor to the Holy Spirit.

We have failed to realize the resources that reside in the Holy Spirit. We have failed to live upon the promises that are implicit in this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which occurred fifty days after Jesus was alive.

We have relied to such an extent upon our own arms, upon our own arm of flesh, upon carnal weapons. We have done dishonor to the Holy Spirit. Let us realize that as Jesus was present with His disciples, so the Holy Spirit, in a mysterious way, not being coronated in the flesh, but nevertheless in reality, is present with this Church in accordance with Christ's promise, and we ought to be profoundly conscious of the implications for us by way of grace, by way of power, and by way of confidence of that presence of the Holy Spirit in this Church.

Christ’s Glory as the Evidence of the Spirit’s Work

And the third lesson that I want to mention in this connection is this, that if Christ's glory has captivated our hearts and minds, it is just because the Holy Spirit has been glorifying Christ that we ask this question, is Christ supremely precious?

As you contemplate the issues of life and death, of time and eternity, is Christ in His finished work, in His heavenly appearance, the only thing that comes between you and eternal damnation? Is Christ so indispensable to you, so precious to you, that you are constantly to place Him between yourself and the damnation which is in you itself?

Then God, the Holy Spirit, has been glorifying Christ in you, lovers, and He has been making Him precious to you as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. O my friends, let us earnestly pray that we will be imbued with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of His glory, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to those who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ.

When He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, come, O brethren, before the face of the Holy Spirit, and let us implore the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us implore the great head of the Church, that we shall be imbued, that we shall be imbued with that Holy Spirit's wisdom, that Holy Spirit's truth, so that we, that we may be furnished unto every good work by that Holy Spirit, whose pathology we follow, to lead us by His inhuman work.

Christ in our hearts, in our lives, and in the Church of God, let us pray. O Lord, our God, we pray that Thou wouldst work effectually in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, unveiling to us the unsearchable riches of Christ, and His unsearchable glories, so that we may be transformed, and that we may be prepared for the inheritance of the saints into heaven.

In Jesus' name, and for His sake. Amen.