How Heaven Communicates with Earth – part 2
Word Study: parákletos (Greek)
From Strong's Greek Dictionary G3875:
παρ?κλητος parákletos, par-ak'-lay-tos;
an intercessor, consoler
KJV Translation(s):--advocate, comforter.
The KJV NT Used G3875 5 Times
From Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary:
ADVOCATE, n. [L. advocatus, from advoco, to call for, to plead for; of ad and voco, to call...
1. Advocate, in its primary sense, signifies, one who pleads the cause of another in a court of civil law...
intercessor: From part 1 of this study, we know that Christ is our intercessor (Rom8:34; Heb7:25).
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another[állos] [parákletos], that he may abide with you for ever;
John 14:26 But the [parákletos], which is the Holy Ghost[pneûma], 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.
John 15:26 But when the [parákletos], is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the [parákletos], will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an [parákletos], with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
John 14:6 ... no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -Jesus
What about that word another that Jesus used in John 14:16?
Compare “another Comforter” with “another form” in Mark 16:12 ¶ After that he[Christ] appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
Could it be that Jesus now appears to us in “another form” as the Comforter? Jesus said:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter[parákletos], that he may abide with you for ever; 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. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:16-18)
In verse 6, Jesus identified Himself as “truth”, so does it follow that the “Spirit of truth” would be the spirit of Jesus?
As we know, it was the disciple John who recorded the words of Jesus where He spoke of “another[állos] Comforter”. It is interesting to see how John used the Greek word állos in other places in his gospel:
John 18:15 ¶ And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another[állos] disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. 16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other[állos] disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.
John 20:2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other[állos] disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 ¶ Peter therefore went forth, and that other[állos] disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other[állos] disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. ... 8 Then went in also that other[állos] disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
What we see here is that, while using állos, John spoke of himself, “whom Jesus loved”, in 3rd-person language as if he(John) were another person. This is also know as illeism. Why did he do that? I don't know, but it is obvious that he did. Note: John positively identified himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in John 21:20-24.
Did Jesus ever obviously speak of himself in 3rd-person language? Yes, over 70 times – possibly 80. Here are some examples from the book of John, though we see this in all of the Gospel writings:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son...
John 5:19,25-27 … The Son can do nothing of himself... Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God... 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.
John 17:1-3 ... Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
In just these 8 verses, I count 13 times(bolded above) in which Jesus spoke of Himself in 3rd-person language, as if He were a different person. Likewise, He must have been doing the same thing when He spoke of the Comforter, of which He spoke these things to His disciples: ye know him; for he dwelleth with you... I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Still, some may wonder if maybe the Comforter was already with the disciples at this time. However, Jesus later-said, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter[parákletos], will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”(John 16:7).
Now, this statement begs the question: If the Comforter is a different being(separate from the Father & Son), how is it that Jesus had to go back to Heaven before the Comforter could be sent? Was the Comforter so busy up there that He couldn't come to Earth until Jesus arrived and relieved Him of His other responsibilities? (sarcasm) Or, does the Bible give us a clue?
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:38-39)
… the Comforter[parákletos], which is the Holy Ghost[pneûma]. (John 14:26).
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: ... I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:1,4,5)
[Jesus,] being assembled together with them[His disciples], commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence... But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:4-8)
( We will look at the fulfillment of “the promise of my Father” at Pentecost, and more in part 3...)
After the fulfillment, Peter said, “Therefore [Jesus] being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” (Peter at Pentecost, Acts 2:33). “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6) (… to be continued...)
Conclusion, so far...
In part 1, we saw the line of communication from Father Jehovah through His Son through the holy Angels to us, which also included the writers of the Bible, from which we read. This principle was first given to Jacob in a dream, which is most-commonly referred to as “Jacob's ladder”. Of course, it was not his ladder at all, but rather Father Jehovah's chosen method of communication with humans after sin destroyed(Is59:2) the previous face-to-face communication which Adam and Eve once enjoyed. In part 1, we saw this line of communication demonstrated in the first few verses of Revelation 1.
Starting in part 1 and continuing in part 2, we focused on the “ladder” which is Jesus Christ(Jn1:51). We saw Jesus claim to be the only way for humans to reach out to His Father(Jn14:6). With that in mind we saw Jesus as our only mediator, intercessor, advocate and truth. We also saw His Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, and the Holy Spirit. All of these are consistent with the ladder that stretches down from Father Jehovah in Heaven, all the way to us on this sin-filled planet.
But, what about the angels “ascending and descending upon” Jesus(Jn1:51)? We will dig deeper into this subject in part 3 of “How Heaven Communicates with Earth”.
Desiring to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Jehovah (Deut8:3; Mt4:4)
-Sid Nash: 10/12/2023. Latest version: http://sidnash.org/?HCE2
This was #2 of a 4 part study:
#1 => http://sidnash.org/?HCE1 - #3 => http://sidnash.org/?HCE3 - #4 => http://sidnash.org/?HCE4