John 14:16, Another helper/Comforter.
At the end of his ministry, Yeshua promised his disciples to send them his Holy Spirit or Comforter after he had left earth (John 14:16). He declares that his Holy Spirit would dwell in them (John 14:17), would testify of him (John 15:26), would convict the world of sin (or Torahlessess, John 16:8), would guide them into all truth (i.e. Torah, see Ps 119:142,151), would tell them things to come (John 16:13), and would glorify the Son and speak to them on behalf of the Son (John 16:14).
How, therefore, does the Spirit of Elohim interact with man? Man is a three-part being: body, soul and spirit (1 Thess 5:23). The body is the physical part of man, the soul is the personality or beingness of man (his mind, will and emotions), and his spirit is the part of man that points him God-ward, and that, once spiritually regenerated and enlightened by the Spirit of Elohim, connects us to Elohim. Man must come to the Father by way of his spirit (John 4:23–24). The Father reveals his spiritual mysteries to man by his Holy Spirit to the spiritually regenerated spirit in man (2 Cor 2:6–16).
There are numerous scriptures that attest to the fact that at the time of our spiritual rebirth (a.k.a. conversion, regeneration, redemption or salvation), YHVH activates our spirit with his Spirit, thus allowing us to enter into a spiritual relationship or communion with him. This is important to know, since man can’t properly obey Elohim out of his soul (the mind, the will and the emotions) alone without the leading of his spirit. Taken to the next step, man can’t have faith in or properly love Elohim without the leading of the Spirit of Elohim as it empowers and directs man. I will discuss this more later. Here are some scriptures that show how the spirit of man is activated by the Spirit of Elohim at the time of the new birth:
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)
But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. (Job 32:8)
The spirit of man is the candle of YHVH, searching all the inward parts of the belly. (Prov 20:27)
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of Elohim. (Rom 8:16)
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. (Eph 3:16)
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.…But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:20, 27)
But Elohim hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of Elohim. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of Elohim knoweth no man, but the Spirit of Elohim. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of Elohim; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of Elohim. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Elohim: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:10-14, emphasis added on all)
We learned above that the Holy Spirit that Yeshua promised to send would guide his disciples into all truth (John 16:13), and that by biblical definition, the Torah of Elohim is truth (Ps 119:142,151). Yeshua, as the Living Word or Living Torah of Elohim made flesh is also the truth (John 14:6). The Written and Living Torah are indivisible and are two sides of the same coin. The Spirit of Elohim came to reveal to man the truth of both the Written and the Living Torah-Word of Elohim.
That same Holy Spirit is at the center of one of the greatest prophecies of the Bible. The writer of Hebrews quoting from the prophet Jeremiah declares,
Behold, the days come, saith YHVH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith YHVH; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them an Elohim, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHVH: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (see Heb 8:8–11 quoting Jer 31:31–34).
Here, we clearly see that the Holy Spirit will be an internal aid to the people of Elohim helping them to keep his Torah. This a beautiful picture of a tender-hearted Father aiding along his struggling children to walk in love and harmony with him in accordance with his instructions in righteousness—the Torah.
I have walked with the lord over 60 years. He has snatched out of trouble and filled my cup with so much it runs over. Ive had a couple of things to work though. ! Had a hard time understanding the trinity, how Jesus was God. I started following him when I was 5 at vacation bible school, in 1956. But when I was 22 i came to my understanding of who Jesus was. A secular college SOU, Ed Psych Evaluation. We studied the teaching of the whole child, the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. That’s the trinity, the image of GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON AND GOD THE WHOLY SPIRIT.
That’s why Jesus could give us a new commandment . Love one and other, as I have loved you. There were two before Jesus was revealed as messiah. “Love your God with all your heart, and all your mind and all your strength, and love your Neibor as thy self.” We didn’t know how to love so God came and show us how. So God became a man and made one law out of the two. “Love one and other, as I have loved you.” He became one of us. So he could have fellowship with us and teach us to love each other, him too.
May we deal with others remembering his love.
If we SINCERELY dedicate our life to Elohim, He will reveal to us more and more about Himself through His Holy Spirit. However, we must be open to it but also use discernment, so that we don’t get deceived by the adversary.
Sonja