A Helper Why Needed?

Anticipating his departure from earth, Jesus reassured his disciples: " I will request the Father and he will give you another helper to be wih you forever." And again: " Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth, It is for your benefit I am going away. For if I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to you; but if I do go my way, I will send him to you."- John 14:16, 17; 16:7.

Jesus gave his disciples a serious commission by instructing them: "Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19, 20) No easy task this, for it was to be accomplished in the face of opposition. - Matthew 10:22, 23.

Opposition from outside was to be accompanied by a degreed of friction from within the congregation. "Now I exhort you, brothers," Paul wrote Christians in Rome about 56 C.E., "to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them." (Romans 16:17, 18) This situation would grow worse once the apostles died. Paul warned: " I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves. - Acts 20:29, 30.

God's help was needed to couteract these obstacles. He did so through Jesus. After his resurrection, on the day of Pentecost 33 C.E., some 120 of his followers "all became filled with holy spirit." - Acts 1:15; 2:4.

The disciples recognized that the holy spirit poured out on this occasion was the help that Jesus promised. They undoubtedly now better understood the identification that Jesus had provided: "The helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things I told you." (John 14:26) He also called it "the helper, the spirit of the truth.' - John 15:26.

Next time: How Is The Spirit A Helper?