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The Desire of Ages
Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, Christ sought for
the most essential and complete gift to bestow upon His followers,
a gift that would bring within their reach the boundless resources
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of grace. “I will pray the Father,” He said, “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 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 orphans: I will come to you.”
John 14:16-18
, margin.
Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very be-
ginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s
hearts. But while Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no
other helper. Not until they were deprived of His presence would they
feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.
The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the per-
sonality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with hu-
manity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was
for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit
to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage
because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the
Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would
be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.
“He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love
him, and will manifest Myself to him.” Jesus read the future of His
disciples. He saw one brought to the scaffold, one to the cross, one
to exile among the lonely rocks of the sea, others to persecution and
death. He encouraged them with the promise that in every trial He
would be with them. That promise has lost none of its force. The
Lord knows all about His faithful servants who for His sake are lying
in prison or who are banished to lonely islands. He comforts them
with His own presence. When for the truth’s sake the believer stands
at the bar of unrighteous tribunals, Christ stands by his side. All the
reproaches that fall upon him, fall upon Christ. Christ is condemned
over again in the person of His disciple. When one is incarcerated
in prison walls, Christ ravishes the heart with His love. When one
suffers death for His sake, Christ says, “I am He that liveth, and was
dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, ... and have the keys of hell