“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 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 14:26, KJV).
To Comfort You…
We all want to be comforted: to feel comfortable in our own skin; to fit well in our own lives; to not have anxiety or be unsettled; to not feel awkward or experience prolonged, inconsolable sorrow or difficulty. Yet, as believers, we are called upon to endure long-suffering from without, and sometimes spiritual, mental or emotional, even physical, conflicts from within—things which are not, and cannot be, readily understood through mere human reason. While this may be fact, there is a balance to strike, found in overriding, everlasting truth, where we actually do arrive at “the joy of the Lord is my strength” regardless of the high tests we are set up to ultimately pass here (for God’s glory).
There is Victory, and there is Comfort—things which surpass our understanding. Christ did not so much “hate” the shame He endured on the cross (kataphronēsas), but demoted it in His heart affections, in His mind, and, rather, elevated His reasons for exposing His inner sufferings for mankind; His pain turned “inside out” for the world to see—His blood He exposed for the love of God and of us, which simply mattered more to Him than anything else He was asked to endure (Hebrews 12:2).
We have much to learn.
The goal for His followers—for you and I, is to arrive at a place of Peace and Comfort, and even Joy, in the midst of our journey to Heaven, no matter how challenging it is, or how many days it consists of, or the details that do not sit comfortably with our ideas. We are not to remain miserable saints because of this, because we are designed to arrive at the full measure of Light Jesus came to shine upon us.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit…bringing God’s ideas to Light over time, and through any circumstance.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 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 14:26, KJV).
Strong’s definitions allow us to perhaps interpret or expand the definitions of the original language of this verse as follows:
The sacred, Holy Spirit (the breath of God), is called to [your] aid, Who the Father will send through My Name, in My Authority, to Support My Cause [on the earth through you], [in order to] teach everyone everything [that all of you would learn all things], [and He will] cause you to remember all things to say [reminiscent/in direct line with/according to] all I have told you (Bible Hub).
Jesus repeats: “Panta, panta”: The Spirit of God will teach everyone, everything, or “all” of you, “all” things, I have said to you. All means all, and part of our rebellion is cringing in cowardice at the fear of this experiential education. This is only cured through a full belief that God will take care of us through it all, and heal us from everything. This is our COMFORT. God gives us double for our former shame; a hundred-fold return in this life; exponential rewards in our Eternal Life (Isaiah 61:7-8; Mark 10:29-30; Revelation 22:12-13). For our incomprehensible losses—injustices or turns-of-events that are so hard for us to understand—by belief, do, in fact, become actual gains of lasting truth, and this recompense is solely due to God's goodness, well-timed intervention, and supreme authority. "The Holy Spirit shall teach all of you, all things according to My Word..." As a believer, you are being used by God—that is the sense of it.
The Holy Spirit brings us revelation, and in the Truth of God, coming through the Word (Christ), we are made comfortable in our noble calling.
The Holy Spirit, or Parakletos, is the all-encompassing, all-permeating breath and Spirit of God, assuring God’s Presence is beside you, and within you, always (within and without), continually at work to Help you (i.e., “Helper”) with a Divine, all-powerful Help—merely part of His duties is to comfort you. He will also cause you to know Him better via all things you endure. Do not get tired in coming to know (yada) the Lord; He is with you in it all. Other people or even the best of earthly circumstances cannot comfort you as you experience this colossal education of good versus evil—they are frustrated in doing so.
“Miserable comforters are ye all” (Job, speaking of his human friends, in 16:2, when what Job needed was “comfort…[that would] bring him relief,” v. 5b). People cannot do it for us. It is God we crave. Job, likewise, desperately needed the Comfort that only comes from God… Job needed a Holy Rescue from the spiritual war that seized upon him.
Only the Holy Spirit of God can bring comfort to a human soul, by design (Exodus 20:3). This helps us to listen to the Voice of God—a great Comfort, Who consoles us in being who we are (who He created us to be, for His reasons, use, and purposes). In knowing Him better, we also come to know our authentic selves.
Jesus, Himself bringing the Light of God to us, like a Great Projector, paid for much of our personal pain. He ensured that you and I have this HOLY COMFORT of GOD readily available at all times: every one of us, in everything.
…”I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life” (John 8:12, AMPC).
Imagine lighting the whole world with Divine Illumination! You have that Holy Light! Think, for just a moment, what life would be like without the Light of Christ—we shudder at the thought.
Parakletos means: “(…pará, "from close-beside" and…kaléō, "make a call") – properly, a legal advocate who makes the right judgment-call because [He is] close enough to the situation [spiritual and natural]…[P]aráklētos ("advocate, advisor-helper") is the regular term in NT times of an attorney (lawyer) – i.e. someone giving evidence that stands up in court” (HELPS Word-Studies). The Name infers that God makes a call, on you, visits you wherever you are, in whatever condition, whatever spiritual state, with the desire and full intention to provide you with whatever you need to succeed in any version of spiritual war on earth… He stands at your door and knocks night and day (Revelation 3:20-21). When He enters, He lights your soul like a candle and keeps it lit as He walks you about the earth!
A “Comforter” is properly, “One who administers comfort or consolation; one who strengthens and supports the mind in distress or danger,“ specific to the Christian in consideration of the Name of God’s Holy Spirit, and a “Helper” is a “supernumerary servant” or “a person or thing beyond the number stated, or beyond what is necessary or usual” (Noah Webster, 1828). This means that the Holy Spirit, our Divine Comforter—God Himself, coming directly to us through the gate and the work of Jesus Christ, provides us with more than enough help for any situation, particularly adept and offering us comfort and healing in spite of those items that are inconsolable in any other way, and without Him are unbearable by the human being alone.
God cannot lose anyone, at anything.
Our great personal losses or failures are God taking hold of the greater situation. Remember, we are here for but a moment. God is master of the whole thing, and that eternal. God not only wants to comfort you, to console you, and provide you with all the help and grace you could ever need in this life, He is the only One Who can! He is full of compassion and power—a unique combination that works.
No matter how modern-minded we think we are, a human being cannot escape the necessity of belief; nor can one be a healthy, whole personality without the essentiality of depth of feeling, and the nobility of righteous convictions learned amidst biblical principles interwoven with life experiences. This is how God made us—it is economical not to fight our own design while making our life choices (Deuteronomy 30:19).
God is assured Victory, and endless Generosity.
Besides God giving His Son to the world and providing the Gift of Salvation, besides Jesus going willingly to the cross out of love and providing Light to everyone, the Holy Spirit wishes to, and owns the role to, reach you wherever you are and give you the gift of a comfortable life—this meaning you are Comfort-filled, Helper-filled, Holy Spirit-filled, and thereby, Comforted and Consoled in the holiest, most eternal way. We require the Holy Spirit of God. Through His Divine Comfort, you and I become good stewards of what and who God created us to be. Rather than fighting our own Salvation, we are honored by being selected as joint-heirs in the Eternal Family of Divine Royalty through Christ.
Your path is plainly lit.
Take great comfort and great joy in that!
Things here are not always as they seem, so lift your head to the Light, believe, walk, and be full of the Comfort and Joy and Strength of God as you do. Not only are you not alone, you are with, and filled with, the Holy Spirit of God Himself. I pray you are as conscious of this as He wills you to be in any given moment.
“Thus, for loved God the world that the Son, the only begotten, He gave so that everyone believing in Him should perish not, but should have life eternal” (John 3:16, Nestle 1904).
As a believer in Christ Jesus, you will not perish, for God has blessed you beyond your comprehension. It is His will to Comfort you...
PODCAST VERSION: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dawn-dyson/episodes/To-Comfort-You-Biblical-Exposition-of-John-1426-e2dnle2
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
(English Carol, 18th Century)
1 God rest you merry, gentlemen,
let nothing you dismay,
remember Christ our Savior
was born on Christmas Day
to save us all from Satan's pow'r
when we were gone astray.
Refrain:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.
2 From God our heav'nly Father
a blessed angel came
and unto certain shepherds
brought tidings of the same;
how that in Bethlehem was born
the Son of God by name. [Refrain]
3 "Fear not," then said the angel,
"Let nothing you affright;
this day is born a Savior
of a pure virgin bright,
to free all those who trust in Him
from Satan's pow'r and might." [Refrain]
4 The shepherds at those tidings
rejoiced much in mind,
and left their flocks afeeding,
in tempest, storm, and wind,
and went to Bethlehem straightway,
this blessed Babe to find. [Refrain]
5 Now to the Lord sing praises
all you within this place,
and with true love and brotherhood
each other new embrace;
this holy tide of Christmas
all other doth deface. [Refrain]
REFERENCES & NOTES:
Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. lockman.org
Bible Hub. John 14:26. Retrieved December 26, 2023 from https://biblehub.com/lexicon/john/14-26.htm
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. English Carol, 18th Century. https://hymnary.org/text/god_rest_ye_merry_gentlemen
HELPS Word Studies. Parakletos. Retrieved December 26, 2023 from https://biblehub.com/greek/3875.htm
King James, public domain.
Noah Webster’s 1828. Retrieved December 26, 2023 from
Comforter: “The title of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to comfort, and support the Christian,” Noah Webster writes in Slater, Rosalie, J., 1995, American Dictionary of the English Language, Foundation for American Christian Education, Chesapeake, VA.
The Names of God show us the character of God which the Holy Spirit directly provides to Christian believers today:
The Fruit of the Spirit show us all the inner work the Holy Spirit does inside of Christian believers today:
Learn more about the “Light” (phós) Christ brought to the earth, and directly to you and I:
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