The Comforter

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, 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. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:16-23

Jesus speaks of this Comforter in the third person, but in describing who this Comforter was, Jesus said, “you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you,” Jesus, in a personal, physical way, was the “Comforter” that was with them. (“…for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:39) 

He was to continue to be their Comforter, but now instead of them being able to see Him with their eyes, and hear Him with their ears, He would be seen in their minds, He would be heard by them in their thoughts. He confirms this in the next verse; 18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you,” verse 20, “I in you,” and verse 23, “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

The Greek word used for Comforter in John 14 is parakletos, the same word used in 1 John 2:1, where it was translated Advocate and clearly refers to Christ.

Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. Thus, no one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Savior would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.