The hope they had been hitherto entertaining of earthly honour for their Lord, and the restoration of an earthly kingdom to His chosen people, would henceforth give place to a wider and better and further-reaching hope. If faith and spiritual affection are the life of the Church, it was for the advantage of the Church that Jesus should go away. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth,.... Christ was truth itself, and could say nothing else; but he makes use of this way of speaking, to raise the attention of his disciples, and to engage their belief of what he was about to say, and of which they were not easily persuaded; which was, that however overwhelmed they were with grief and sorrow, because of his going away from them, a greater truth he could not tell them, than that this would be to their real good and advantage: it is expedient for you that I go away; Christ's death here, as in many other places in these discourses of his, is signified by going away, a departure, taking a sort of a journey, such an one as indeed is common to all mankind; death is the way of all the earth, and which Christ took by agreement with his Father; a dark way is the valley of the shadow of death, and so it was to Christ, who went away in the dark, under the hidings of his Father's face; it is a man's going to his long home, and a long journey it is, till he returns in the resurrection morn; though it was a short one to Christ, who rose again the third day. John 7:39, “The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified;” Acts 2:33, “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this;” and it was the province of Jesus to send Him, not to call Him to Himself (whilst still on earth).— πρὸς ὑμᾶς) unto you, not unto the world, although the world shall feel His ‘reproof,’ John 16:8. The regenerating gift must in like manner consist, not in the annihilation of any of our natural faculties, but in the indwelling of a principle once inherent in Christ, and from Him transmitted to all who in Him are born of the Spirit—a principle which as it advances displaces its rival, as it retreats admits it; when it shall make us wholly its own, shall wholly dispossess it; when it deserts us, yields the heart once more and altogether to ruin. the Advocate will not come unto you. Nevertheless ... shows that this reference to the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-15) follows naturally the situation of sorrow and depression of the apostles. And yet, in the second place, nothing can be more plain than that the Holy Ghost came on the day of Pentecost, after a totally different fashion from any in which He had come before. And the strangeness is brought more home to us by that word of Paul’s in which we recognize the familiar tone of love that cannot face the thought of leaving a life’s work half done and dear ones unhelped. The nature of evil being the association of an accursed element with our nature, it surely would seem that it must, in accordance with all the intimations of Holy Writ, be met and counteracted by the introduction of an element of holiness really abiding as it is abiding, really distinct as it is distinct, the seed of eternal life as it is of death eternal. Without clear discovery of our guilt and danger, we never shall understand the value of Christ's salvation; but when brought to know ourselves aright, we begin to see the value of the Redeemer. 2. We gain wisdom and knowledge and experience by losses; and we unquestionably gain a very much clearer mental and spiritual vision. With a few great strokes He depicts all and every part of the ministry of the Divine Spirit in the world; His operation with reference to individuals as well as the mass, on believers and unbelievers alike.' Asking in Christ's name, is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God, and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. xix., p. 245. on chap. 2. 1909-1922. What is the idea of God which we gain from nature Courage, energy, and intelligence--nature certainly suggests these; but benevolence is in the back-ground of its suggestion respecting its author and its master. CHRIST’S PERSONAL RELATION TO US IS WHOLLY INDEPENDENT OF HIS BODILY PRESENCE. "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". CONNECT GOD DIRECTLY WITH EXPEDIENCY. This is twofold. Divinity would rise out of that manhood. This was sometimes an apparent loss. Christ gave Himself to be a sacrifice for human sin; the Spirit helps men to believe in, and rest upon, that sacrifice. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Copyright � Broadman Press 1932,33, Renewal 1960. It is no longer by fire that men are saved, nor by much tribulation that they enter into glory. So much higher, so much more blessed and glorious is the life of grace, that One who loved us men with the truest and purest affection, yet withdrew Himself, as on this day, from our sight in order to enable us, if we will, to live it. Godhead. Let us, who are believers in Christ, so reverence the Spirit as not to grieve Him or provoke Him.