“Is the Holy Spirit a person we can know and see as Lord Jesus teaches in the Gospel of John chapters 14; 15; and 16?”
In the Gospel of John, chapters 14, 15 and 16, Jesus refers to one he calls “the Comforter”, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, whom he said the Father would send in his Name at the appointed time: “He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.”
The clues to who this person is are contained in these references. Lets take a look…
“He who shall not eat my flesh and drink my blood has not life in him” (John 6:53). What is it? His flesh is the Word, and his blood is the Holy Spirit. He who has received these has food and he has drink and clothing…”
Jesus, The Gospel of Philip :17, Nag Hammadi Library
Jesus spoke in Parables
The Spirit of Truth is seen and heard by some but not others. Why did Jesus speak in parables?
“I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘By hearing ye shall hear, but shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, but shall not perceive:
Jesus – The Gospel of Matthew 13:13-17
For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”
If you diligently seek for the Truth, you will find the Truth. If you love the LORD your God and seek Him with all your heart, He will be found of you.
“Thomas said to him, Lord, we don’t know where you go; and how can we know the way?
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by [way of] me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it will suffice us.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been so long time with you and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, He does the works.”
The Gospel of John 14:5-10
The Comforter – The Spirit of Truth
“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and 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 does not see him, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you and shall be in you…
At that Day … He that has my commandments, and keeps them, it is he that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said to him, not Iscariot, ‘Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?’
Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that does not love me does not keep my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things I have spoken to you, being yet present with you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
The Gospel of John 14:15-26
The Comforter Testifies
“But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, ‘They hated me without a cause’. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me: And you also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”
Jesus – The Gospel of John 15:25-27
The Spirit of the LORD
“Jesus came and as was his custom, he went into the Temple on the Sabbath Day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach/teach the gospel/good tidings to the poor/meek; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord…”
He closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the congregation were fastened on him. and he began to say to them, ‘This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.’
The Gospel of Luke 4:16-21
The Prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn…”
Isaiah 61:1-2
As you can see, Jesus left off after, ‘the acceptable year of the LORD…’ Leaving one to come who would finish the sentence and the fulfillment of this prophecy at the appointed time. The one who would ‘proclaim ‘the vengeance of our God; and to comfort all that mourn…’
The ‘Holy Spirit’ is the ‘Pure Breath’ of God. It is the ‘anointing oil’ of God’s Word. The word ‘Christ’ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word, ‘Messiah’ which means ‘Anointed One.’ In the Law, the High Priest and the King were both anointed with holy oil in their respective offices. To this day, the kings and queens of the United Kingdom are seated upon Jacob’s ‘Stone of Destiny’ and anointed with oil at their coronation.
The Comforter brings Judgment
“I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they do not believe on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince/archon/magistrate of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear/understand them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.”
Jesus – Gospel of John 16:7-13
That Promised Prophet
“The LORD said to me, Moses, …I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him.
But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”
Deuteronomy 18:17-20
“…For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.”
Peter – Acts of the Apostles 3:22-24
“…Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before of the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the Father to the children, and the heart of the children to their Father, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4:4-6
That promised Prophet is the ‘Comforter’ prophesied to come at the time of the end or just prior to the Sabbath, to let us know what time it is. He is that one Anointed of God’s Holy Spirit and speaks the Words of God faithfully and truthfully. He brings all things to our remembrance, all which Jesus and the Word of God has said. He is a reflection of Jesus, as the moon is a reflection of the sun. And who was Jesus? He was the Word of God in the flesh. The Word was in him, and he is in the Word. And finally, he said,
“It is the Spirit that quickens/makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
Jesus – The Gospel of John 6:63
God made Two Great Lights
“…And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the Firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
Genesis 1:14-19
The Light of the World
“I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
Jesus – The Gospel of John 9:3-5
The Light of the Moon
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the Day that the LORD binds up the breach of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.”
Isaiah 30:26
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
The Book of Revelation 1:1-3
The Spirit is Poured Out
This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable Day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.
Peter – Acts of the Apostles 2:17-21