John 15:26-27

²⁶"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. ²⁷And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning."

Jesus moves on to explain how He will continue to reveal Himself to mankind – as He had done while on earth – even after His departure. And so, for a third time, Jesus reminds them that He will send the Spirit. Yes, the world will hate them, persecute them, cast them out of the synagogues, and even kill them (as we’ll see in John 16:1-4); but they would be strengthened and comforted through it all by the Spirit of God who would dwell within them. He would bring to their minds what Jesus had taught, as they studied and reflected upon His word, and this would be exactly what they would need to persevere and finally to triumph. And so the case remains today. When we are persecuted, tempted, hard-pressed by doubts, fears, and indwelling sin, we must look to the word of God to be reminded of the love of God revealed in His Son; and the Spirit of God will cause our faith to grow through all opposition.

The Holy Spirit here is called the Counselor. Isn’t that appropriate, given the context? Jesus has spoken words to a vast audience of Jews (and some Gentiles too). But they, as a whole, have refused to appreciate those words. Thus, when a few are convinced of the truth of Jesus’ words, those few might struggle with the reality that they are indeed few in number. Why, if this is so clear to me, are so few people embracing the truth? We need a Counselor in circumstances such as these, the Holy Spirit to continue to testify to Jesus Christ in the face of opposition from the world in which we live, to encourage us to hold fast to the only Savior, Jesus Christ. And this is exactly who Jesus provides, One who would drive His people to Himself and keep them there. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says, “But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.” Calvin says, “This single witness powerfully drives away, scatters, and overturns, all that the world rears up to obscure or crush the truth of God. All who are endued with this Spirit are so far from being in danger of falling into despondency on account of the hatred or contempt of the world, that every one of them will obtain glorious victory over the whole world. Yet we must beware of relying on the good opinion of men; for so long as faith shall wonder in this manner, or rather, as soon as it shall have gone out of the sanctuary of God, it must become involved in miserable uncertainty. It must, therefore, be brought back to the inward and secret testimony of the Spirit, which, believers know, has been given to them from heaven.”

As they followed the example of Christ, they would find themselves walking the same path (v27), a path that passed through persecution but ended in victory. But, empowered by the Spirit, they would not waver, but instead would rejoice to share in the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings, knowing that they would also partake of the power of His resurrection life (Philippians 3:8-11). And the phrase, “for you have been with Me from the beginning,” is added as further confirmation of the truth of the gospel. There should be no doubt of who Jesus is, of what He is doing, and what will happen next. When we face doubt, we must return to the Word of God, guided by the Holy Spirit, our Counselor, and led into prayer for comfort, understanding, and empowering. John understood this well (see 1 John 1:1).