This document provides commentary on several passages from the Bible related to Jesus preparing his disciples for his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. It discusses Jesus' promises to send a "Comforter" or Helper to be with the disciples forever. It also examines Jesus' command to love him and keep his commandments. The document explores different perspectives on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and whether it is a separate experience from salvation. Throughout, it aims to clarify biblical teachings and warn against false teachings that have confused Christians.

1. Volume 1 Issue 9 OCTOBER 2017

2. THE BOMSHELL
‘Children, I am with you a
little while longer. You will
look for Me, and just as I told
the Jews, ‘Where I am going
you cannot come’”
-- John 13:33 (HCSB)
Now that’s quite an
announcement. Up to this
point the disciples seem to
be blissfully unaware of
what’s about to happen.
Only Peter starts connecting
the dots saying, “why can’t I
follow You now? I will lay
down my life for You!” (vs.
37). So, Jesus makes it plain
for them, “Your heart must
not be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in Me. In
My Father’s house are many
dwelling places; if not, I
would have told you. I am
going away to prepare a
place for you.” (14:1-2)
Their thoughts racing, they
must have wondered, “what
do you mean, ‘your heart
must not be troubled!?
You’re abandoning us!” But
then Jesus gives them even
more amazing news. “If you
know Me, you will also know
My Father.” (vs.7) Still
confused, Philip asks Him to
show them the Father, so
Jesus adds another layer, “I
assure you: The one who
believes in Me will also do
the works that I do. And he
will do even greater works
than these, because I am
going to the Father.” “If you
ask Me anything in My name,
I will do it.” (vs. 12, 14)
How do you digest all this?
We’ll do all He did? Without
Him here?
COMFORTER-HELPER
Jesus doesn’t leave them
guessing. “If you love Me,
you will keep my
commands, and I will ask
the Father, and He will
give you another
Comforter to be with you
forever.” (vs.15)
[paraklētos; an
intercessor, consoler]
I highlight “another”
because this emphasizes
Jesus’ encouraging words,
“I will not leave you as
orphans” (vs.18). It is
important also because it
tells us that this new
Comforter will work with
Christ’s disciples in the
same way Jesus Himself
had.
Just think of it! According
to John, we have
recorded less than a small
fraction of all the
wondrous things Jesus
said and did (John 21:25).
COMMANDMENT
CRITERIA
In this instance, I think it
better to understand this
as a roadmap than a
criterion. It isn’t about
qualification but the
pathway through. I do
want to anticipate certain
cautions you may face
down the road. Whether
your background is
conservative evangelical,
Reformed, charismatic or
Pentecostal, there are
certain pitfalls you need
to be aware of. You need
to be armed to withstand
the pressures that come
from a vengeful Satan
who does not want you
to grow in grace and
knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. “My people
are destroyed from lack
of knowledge” (Hosea
4:6). In this connection, I
would also mention lack
of knowledge of God’s
Word and lack of
knowledge of God’s ways.
If the Church is to see
God’s power in greater
measure, the Church has
some catch up work to
do. The first thing is the
reading of the Bible. No
devil wants you reading
your Bible, certainly not
for any period of time. To
understand the Bible you
must be on good terms
with the Holy Spirit. He
wrote the Bible (2nd
Timothy 3:15; 2nd
Peter
1:21). He alone can open
your mind to understand
His own Words.
Paul pleads with us in
Romans 12:2, “do not be
conformed to this world,
but be transformed by
the renewing of your
mind, so that you may
prove what the will of
God is”. It is this same
Holy Spirit who works in
you both to want to and
to do God’s Word
(Philippians 2:13).
Second, the only way
you can know someone’s
ways is to spend time
with them. You show
your esteem of a person
by how much time you
give them. How much do
you pray? Not the mindless
chatter we often use when we
are preoccupied with other
responsibilities. How much
time do you spend with just
you and Him? His first
disciples lived with Jesus more
than three years before
experiencing the anointing of
His Spirit. Too many have
been fooled into believing this
level of anointing comes on a
prayer and a touch of some
believer’s hand.
RECEIVING OR BAPTISING
Before leaving for Heaven,
Jesus “breathed on them and
said to them “Receive the Holy
Spirit” (John 20:24). I know
many who say this was only
preparatory to the baptism
that would come later. That
seems to me to be redundant.
This, I believe, was our risen
Savior imparting the gift of
salvation on the first believers.
More specifically, the gift of
eternal life. It is the
reinstatement of our “right
standing” with God which we
enjoyed at creation imparted
using the exact same method
(Genesis 2:7).
In John 14:17 Jesus
revealed the two places the
Holy Spirit fills by initially
abiding with us, then, as we
grow in knowledge of Him,
abiding within us.

3. “I will not leave you as
orphans; I will come to you.
After a little while the
world will no longer see
me; because I live, you will
live also. In that day you
will know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and
I in you. He who has my
commandments and keeps
them is the one who loves
Me; and he who loves Me
will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and will
disclose Myself to him.”
(John 14:18-21).
Eighteenth century evangelist
Jonathan Edwards was spot on in more
than one way. When the church is
revived, the devil comes against the
church to disrupt, discourage and disable
her. He instills confusion within the
church with false teachings and
imitations of God’s miraculous
manifestations. Every time the Holy
Spirit and His people unite, persecution
rises to silence Him.
Most will remember reading how
Pharaoh’s magicians produced cheap
imitations of the miraculous signs God
displayed through Moses. They were
very similar, but ultimately lacked the
power of the genuine. It is still the same
today. Cheap imitations of the genuine
workings of the Holy Spirit infiltrate
churches and create chaos and
confusion, ultimately discrediting the
work of the Holy Spirit and causing His
servants to withdraw.
But Jesus said, “I will disclose Myself
to you”. This is one time I prefer the KJV
translation, “manifest”. In the Greek it
was written “emphanizo”, which means
to exhibit to view. I make this point
because when Paul teaches on the gifts
of the Spirit in 1st
Corinthians 12, in verse
7 he writes, “but the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to everyman to profit
the whole”. As you probably guessed,
though one is a noun and the other a
verb, these two words have the same
Greek root. I don’t believe it is
coincidental, and I do believe Jesus is
keeping His promise to manifest Himself
to us by means of the gifts of His Holy
Spirit.
It has to be so disappointing to Jesus
that the very way He said he would
reveal Himself to those who believe in
and accept Him has been so clouded
with controversy and debate, most
Christians shun Him today. When the
Church most needs Him, the enemy has
successfully shut Him out.
That is something that must be
reversed. I know how pride can get in
the way, and God has a way of humbling
us. The best thing for us is to humble
ourselves first. Unless He needs to teach
you something pretty specific, God has
no need to publicly embarrass His
children. As we’ll see next, the
manifestations of the Spirit are only
given to strengthen the Church, and then
through those who are in a position to be
used, often by timing, willingness, where
you are in the congregation and so many
other considerations. That’s why we
leave it up to the Spirit to manifest
when, how and where He wants.
The 2nd
Experience?
Some denominations teach the baptism
of the Spirit as a second experience in
itself, and some teach the second
experience is a combination of the
baptism of the Spirit, but for the purpose
of absolute sanctification. That’s too
much to cover here, except to say that
Scripture does reveal that the baptism by
the Spirit is something separate from the
Spirit being upon someone for the
purpose of conviction and the indwelling
Spirit for salvation. Acts 18:24-19:7
detail two deliberate testimonies
concerning the baptism of the Spirit as a
second distinct experience separate from
salvation.
“When the church is revived, so is the
devil.”
Church on the Net
Journal
OCTOBER 2017
Vol.1 Issue 09
Edited by: D.L. Wyer
Church on the Net
Journal is published
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-Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

4. Another “beware” item is to reject so called
“extra-revelatory” teachings. Though this seems
an obvious one to ignore, many large religious
groups have accepted such instruction. These
generally follow a pattern of “the Spirit showed
me this is what the writer meant to say” and a
typical defense of these heresies is “you have to
achieve a certain high level of spiritual
awareness to understand”. 9.9 times out of 10
these are heretical teachings by those who
fellowship with demons through careless
participation in faulty, generally carnal,
meditations.
The majority of the time I will focus solely on
what the Scripture says. It is my belief that, if
we are to accept that the Scripture was inspired
by God, He surely had the foresight to word
things in such a way that His followers would not
have to obtain degrees in history, archeology
and or psychology in order to understand its
relevant teaching. One caveat would be the
benefit of having a basic familiarity with koine
Greek, the language of the Bible used by the
Apostles.
That being said, let’s look at what the Bible says
concerning these manifestations of Jesus Christ.
The Corinthian Manifestations
Generally known as the “gifts of the Spirit”, the
list of nine gifts in 1st
Corinthians
12 are often wrongly assumed to
be the totality of His
manifestations. Because there
are other gifts listed in other
books, we should understand
Paul is speaking in general terms
in his letter to the Corinthians.
“But to each one is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for
the common good. For to one is
given the word of wisdom
through the Spirit, and to
another the word of knowledge
according to the same Spirit; to
another faith by the same Spirit,
and to another gifts of healing by
the one Spirit, and to another
the effecting of miracles, and to
another prophecy, and to
another the distinguishing of
spirits, to another various kinds
of languages, and to another the
interpretation of languages.”
(adapted from 1st
Corinthians
12:7-11 NASB).
One of the founders of the
Charismatic movement claimed
extra-revelatory understanding
of what these gifts mean, but
these should be discarded in
favor of literal word definitions.
Then a manifestation of wisdom
is an inspired application of
knowledge. A manifestation of
knowledge is Jesus making
known any present or future
information. This is most
commonly found in conjunction
with prophecy. Prophecy is not
exclusively foretelling the future.
The literal definition of prophecy
is “speaking fragment of the
mind of God”. This includes
preaching, knowledge, and
application of knowledge
(wisdom). All these are self-
explanatory if we refrain from
over spiritualizing them.
I’ll continue this in depth in next
month’s Journal.
1
Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I do not want you to be
unaware. (1st
Corinthians 12:1)
There is only one description in the
Bible of how Jesus would disclose
or manifest Himself to His disciples
and that is found in the instruction
to the Corinthians in Paul’s first
letter to them. Some place
excessive import on the fact that
this detail is given to only one
church in all the New Testament,
insisting it was correction for an
isolated “Pentecostal” outbreak
among pagans. In order to arrive
at this conclusion you’re asked to
reach several conclusions not
evident in Scripture. In order to
correctly interpret this, they say,
you must consider the times,
customs and history surrounding
the Corinthians.
Indeed there are appropriate
times to do this for perspective,
but, considering the detail Paul
includes, this is not one of those
times. In order to make their
arguments we are called upon to
make far too many assumptions
that are not supported by any
known historical
or archaeological
evidence. A few
examples of this
would be making
the assumption
that Corinthians
associated with
women prophets
of low intelligence.
Did they exist?
Possibly. Do we
have any evidence
of their influence on church
leaders? None. So be very, very
cautious when asked to make
assumptions concerning scripture.
Ancient Corinth