Sermonette: The Helper and the Angel of the Lord

Seeing Jesus Christ Clearly
#1492s-PM
David C. Grabbe
Given 09-Jun-19; 19 minutes

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We will begin today in John 16, if you would turn there. If you know your chapters, John 16 may seem like an unusual place for Pentecost, since it was given on Passover. But Christ’s discourse that evening includes the promise of the Holy Spirit, which was fulfilled 50-some days later, on Pentecost.

John 16:25 These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.

The term “these things” refers back to chapters 14 through 16. Jesus gives His audience a significant pointer that those chapters are not plain or easy to understand, but that they employ a great deal of figurative language.

This description by Jesus is vital to keep in mind, because John 14—16 contains Christ’s teaching on the Holy Spirit, and the language that Jesus uses is easily misunderstood. A great many people wind up seeing a third God being in these chapters. Trinitarians commonly grab proof-texts from these chapters, but when we examine all that Christ says here, as well as the rest of God’s word, we find that there is no reason to invent a third God being called “the Holy Spirit.” Jesus tells us the language is figurative so we will consider them more carefully, and so we don’t end up confusing ourselves.

If you would turn to chapter 14, we will look at some of the Holy Spirit verses. The trouble starts in John 14:16, where Jesus says, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” The word “Helper” in the Greek is Parakletos, and it can also mean “advocate,” “intercessor,” or “aide.” It basically means, “One who goes alongside of.” Now, because of the figurative language, it sounds like Christ is talking about something separate from Himself, and many people simply stop there. But Jesus continues in verse 17, and says that the disciples already know this Helper, the Spirit of Truth, and that He has been dwelling with them. That word “know” indicates they already had experience with this Helper—there was already a relationship. He wasn’t a stranger.

In verse 18, then, He explains a bit more when He says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” This is the second time He says He would come to them. Back in verse 3, He tells them that even though He was going away, He would come to them again. In verses 16-18, then, He explains how He would come to them. He would return to them as a Helper or Advocate or Aide who would actually be in them. Incidentally, the word “another” in verse 16 does not mean “something different.” Rather, it means, “another of the same kind.” Trinitarians see a third being here, but all this says is that when Christ came to them, it would be in a way and in role that was similar to what He had already done, but it would not be exactly the same. He would come to them spiritually. But this did not make sense to them until it actually happened on Pentecost.

Next, in verse 23, Jesus further expands the scope of what would happen:

John 14:23 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

So, it would not just be Jesus Christ dwelling within the disciples, but both the Father and the Son will make Their home with those who love Christ and keep His word.

Next, verse 26 mentions the Helper again—the Parakletos. However, this time Christ equates the Helper with the Holy Spirit, and because Jesus seems to be speaking about something or someone separate from Himself, mainstream Christianity sees three God beings here. However, when we let the Bible interpret itself, that mirage disappears.

I will give you a couple of definition verses that make this very clear. The first is in II Corinthians 3:17, where Paul says, “The Lord is the Spirit….” Paul explicitly equates the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ. Next, I John 2:1 says, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The word translated “Advocate” is Parakletos—the Helper. It is as though the apostle John knew that Christ’s words could be difficult, so when John wrote that epistle, he spelled out that the Parakletos IS Jesus Himself. We could add to this the letters to the 7 churches: Each one is from Jesus Christ, and each concludes with, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So, when a verse mentions the Holy Spirit in a way that indicates a personality, we can apply these verses and see that it is referring to Christ, and generally the Father as well. The Father is in Christ, and Christ is in the Father, and they operate as One.

Now, if you would turn to John 15:26:

John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Here we have the Parakletos again, as well as the Spirit of truth, which Christ said had been dwelling with the disciples. When we acknowledge the figurative language, we can easily grasp that Jesus is simply referring to Himself, though in a different form than the disciples had known. Whereas He had been with them in the flesh, after He went away, He would return to them in a way that there would be no physical constraint to His operations.

We will switch gears for a moment, and consider the verb “send.” Remember, in John 14:26, Jesus says that the Father would send the Parakletos in Christ’s name. Here, in John 15:26, Jesus says that He Himself would send the Parakletos. And if you look forward to John 16:7, Jesus again says that after He departs, He will send the Helper. Jesus sending Himself sounds odd enough that many just assume He is talking about a third being. This is why Christ summarized these chapters by saying, “This is figurative language. It is not plain.” In fact, Christ used this pattern of figurative language throughout the book of John.

The word translated “figurative” that we read in chapter 14 is only used in a couple of other places. One is in John 10, the Good Shepherd chapter. In John 10:6, it says, “Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.” The word translated “illustration” is the same word as “figurative” in John 16. In His illustration, Jesus identified Himself as both the door of the sheep, as well as the shepherd. He also said that the shepherd enters by the door. If we try to force the interpretation, it would mean that He entered the sheepfold by or through Himself. That sounds strange to our ears—perhaps even illogical. But when we grasp the essence of His teaching, we won’t stumble by trying to make something that is figurative match up precisely. We can allow Him to hold the positions of both door and shepherd at the same time, even though literally they are separate.

John 3 is another obviously figurative illustration. That is where Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. Poor Nicodemus tried to apply that literally, and he was well and truly confused. He missed the meaning and stumbled on the wording. And there are numerous other examples throughout the book of John.

So, even though Jesus sending Himself may sound odd, it does not negate the fact that He identifies Himself as the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and Paul and John say the same thing.

The word “send” can mean, “To cause to be conveyed or transmitted.” It can also mean, “To commission, authorize, or direct to act.” The fact that the Father also sends the Helper might stretch our minds a bit, because He is also sending Himself, since He is in Christ. But we can understand their sending of Themselves as an indication of their unified will that their people receive the divine indwelling to help them grow into the divine image. The Father and the Son both cause their spiritual essence to come into the minds of the elect, and they both make their home with us. The indwelling comes by their full authority—they both commissioned this indwelling.

Now, switching gears again, in addition to using figurative language, Jesus had another pattern of speech that is important to recognize, and that is His penchant for referring to Himself with a third-person title. That is, He frequently used the title “Son of Man.” For example, in Mark 8:38, Jesus says, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words . . . of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father . . . .”

If we only had that verse, it would sound like the Son of Man was separate from Christ. But we know from other places that the Son of Man is a reference to Himself in the third person. He just uses a title, or a description of a role. We might wonder why He didn’t use the word “I,” but He didn’t, and He had His reasons. In fact, He refers to Himself with that one title some 80 times. So, when He says He will send the Helper, yet He is the Helper, it is not so unusual after all. There is no need to invent another being to make it fit.

With all this in mind, we will look at another Pentecost curiosity. Please turn to Exodus 23, where we find the end of the giving of the law, which we believe was on Pentecost. Chapters 20-23 contain the law, and now notice Exodus 23:20:

Exodus 23:20-22 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

We know that the Angel of the Lord is the One who became Jesus Christ. He was the Messenger, the Spokesman, the One who acted on God’s behalf. And in verse 20, the One who spoke the law from Mt. Sinai told Israel He would send this Angel who had His name.

Now, this is where the question comes in: Who was it that gave the law and then said this? It sounds like the Supreme God spoke this. So, do these verses involve one God being, or two? This is not a minor question, because God records things to help us understand the way the God Family operates. If we confuse the roles that They reveal in Scripture, it can change our concept of God, and such a change can have drastic ramifications.

Church history demonstrates the gravity of a false concept of God. The faith of the first-century church was very badly damaged by Gnosticism, which originated from Greek philosophy. Gnosticism had many variations, even contradictory ones. Some flavors of Gnosticism were conservative to the point of asceticism, while others were liberal to the point of hedonism. But every form of Gnosticism distorted the truth about Jesus Christ in some way, and those ideas wreaked great havoc on the church. Any idea that takes away from Christ’s nature or role must be evaluated with extreme caution, because history shows such ideas can change and even destroy faith. It has happened before.

Now, consider just a portion of what would need to be reinterpreted if the Father was the Lord who spoke here, and interacted with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets. This matter was so important that John begins his gospel with a broadside against Gnosticism, by saying that not only was Jesus God, but He was the Word—the Spokesman, the Representative and Executor of the God Family—from the very beginning. That was His major role. John says He declared the Father. Jesus said He came to reveal the Father. He said Abraham never tried to kill Him, and Abraham rejoiced to see His day. He lamented at how often He wanted to gather Jerusalem’s children together. God’s word says 8 times—including twice by Jesus—that no one has seen the Father except for the Son.

The Son said that access to the Father only came through Him, but if the Old Testament characters spoke with the Father, saw the Father, ate with the Father, wrestled with the Father, then they had access without Christ. Either they interacted with someone else, or else Christ’s words cannot be trusted—perish the thought! Certainly, the Father was also God of Israel, and God of the patriarchs, because He is the God of all! Yet if the patriarchs and priests and prophets interacted with the Father without being reconciled through Christ, and the Father spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai, then Christ’s many statements, and indeed, His entire role, are called into question. The Savior starts to get blurry.

Now, remember the pattern we saw in John 14—16. Jesus said He would send the Helper, but He also explained that He is the Helper. He also said He would send the Helper in His Name, even as the Angel here was called by the Lord’s name. If Christ can send Himself to dwell in His people, the God of Israel can also send Himself as an Angel to go before His people. He refers to Himself with third-person titles regularly, and there is no need to insert another God. Because of this established pattern, when a verse or passage appears to describe two God beings, it is worth considering whether the Logos is just referring to Himself with another title, as we have seen. Notice verse 23, where there is a parallelism: “if you obey His voice, and do all that I speak….” It is like Jesus saying, “If you are ashamed of Me, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you.” It is like Jesus saying He would send the Helper, and He (Jesus) would come to them.

We will turn to a couple of verses to back this up. The first is in Judges 2:

Judges 2:1 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.

If we can receive it, it was the Angel of the Lord—the pre-incarnate Christ—who brought Israel from Egypt, brought them to the Promised Land, and then made the covenant. That is plain and direct—there is no figurative language there.

Next, turn to Acts 7:

Acts 7:38 “This is he [Moses] who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us

So, Stephen says it was the Angel who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, and gave Moses the living oracles. This is a key piece, because Exodus says the Lord, Yahweh, spoke. So, Stephen identifies the Angel as the One who said, “I am the Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

The statement about sending an Angel to go before them is easy to comprehend in view of Christ’s teaching on sending Himself as the Helper. The language may not be typical to us, but it is quite understandable when we take into account the rest of the Word of God.

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