By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo
John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” – NIV
Jesus had indictated that He was leaving them soon. The disciples were troubled. Then Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit Who would be with them, doing what His physical presence was doing. We should particularly note the way Jesus described the Holy Spirit using personal pronouns. He is a person, the third person in the Trinitarian God Head.
From Jesus’ words, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father. He is an advocate sent to help the believer. He is the Spirit of truth as differentiated from the deceptive spirits of error. Unlike Jesus Who came and would soon be away physically, the Holy Spirit would be with the disciples forever. He is only given to, and known by the believer who has voluntarily accepted Him. The world uses logic to accept things. The Holy Spirit is a spirit not physically seen. So the world rejects Him because they can’t see Him.
The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son. His presence is the presence the Father and the Son. He is God the Holy Spirit, having all the qualities of God. Some have wrongly referred to Him as an impersonal force using ‘it’. One cardinal role He plays is to ALWAYS lead people to the Father and the Son. Therefore, any spirit that claims to come from God, but leads people away from God or contradicts/distorts the Word of God isn’t the Holy Spirit. It is a counterfeit spirit.
1 John 4:1-3 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
Shalom children of God.