John 14:16 is where Jesus unveils the Big Surprise: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you ALLOS PARAKLETOS (another advocate) to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.”

It’s time for two very, very important Greek lessons. The first lesson is that “PARAKLETOS” is a very general word. It is a compound word – KLETOS means “to call” while PARA means “alongside” or “parallel to”. When you put them together, PARAKLETOS means “to call someone alongside.” The natural question is this: call someone alongside for what? It doesn’t say. It doesn’t intend to say. It could be for anything and everything you would ever need at any given time. It could be called alongside to be an advocate (which is the general word usually given as the English translation). It could be called alongside to be an intercessor, a comforter, an encourager, a teacher. All these are also used as English translations. It could be somebody to warn you. Somebody with more wisdom than you have. Somebody with more truth than you have. Somebody with more power. Somebody with more experience, more knowledge, more self-control. You name it. This is not somebody less than you. This is somebody infinitely more than you on every level of capability, skill and competence.

This is God.
This is GOD!
This is GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Dear Believer in Jesus, what do you need? Advice? Strength? Comfort? Courage? Hope? Joy? Peace? Self-Control? Love? What do you need? The Parakletos is all that – AND MORE!

Secondly, there are two words that could be translated as “another”. There’s HETEROS – which means “of a different kind” and there’s ALLOS which means “of the exact same kind.” The word in The Big Surprise is ALLOS. “I will give you ANOTHER ADVOCATE – exactly like I am! I’m going to send you ANOTHER HELPER – exactly like I’ve been! I helped you – He’ll help you. I taught you – He’ll teach you. I provided for you – He’ll provide for you.

This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is the reason Jesus explained it is to our advantage for Him to “go away”. He will be with us – not just for 3 years, or for 33 years, but forever! He’ll be your teacher. He’ll be your illuminator. He’ll be the one who warns you about temptation. He’ll draw you closer to God. He’ll teach you how to worship. He’ll do it all! Thank-You, Holy Spirit! Welcome to Home Church Langley!