Foreshadowing and Fellowship

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
The Fourth Sunday after Easter
May 2, 201

“Foreshadowing and Favor…”
John 16:7 “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.”

Allow me to have you consider one thought for today: foreshadowing. Foreshadowing, as you know from your English Literature classes, is to : “to represent, indicate, or typify beforehand : PREFIGURE.”

This is the major insight available to us today from the Word of God, taken from the Gospel of St. John, chapter 16. Jesus is discoursing on one the second greatest events soon to come to pass in the history of mankind. He is, in fact, foreshadowing its occurrence. What is this great happening, soon to burst upon the scene?

To answer that question, let us recall Christ’s words:”for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Some translations term this as “Helper”, rather than Comforter, but the meaning and intent is the same: Someone is coming who will help with our faith, our belief and our lives.

Once again, who is this Person? He is the One whom later Church doctors and theologians would call the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. He is the One for whom Christ would say: “John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

What this passage clearly shows us is the permanence of Emmanuel, God with us. God was not satisfied merely to come for a brief thirty-three years, accomplish Man’s salvation on the Cross, and then leave. No instead, God the Father willed, God the Son accomplished and God the Holy Spirit facilitated.
Said again, God was not content to come, save, and return to Glory. Rather than do this, He was true to His Word when He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Christ, in that glorious mystery that is the Holy Trinity, is with us always in the personhood of the Holy Ghost.

This has marvelous implications. As we spoke of last week, we are not alone in a cold, unresponsive universe, ruled only by the inflexible laws of Physics. Yes, these realities exist, as any NASA scientist will tell you. Being almost fatuous, no one can survive in space without the proper protection. Yet, behind that emptiness, that seeming void is Somebody. Not Something, but Somebody: eternal, loving, and giving.

At the moment, however, we are concerned with life on Earth and our relationship with God, here and now. That is why Christ’s foreshadowing of the coming of the Holy Ghost has such power, such promise, and such comfort.

Let us touch on comfort first. The first fact is the Christ’s own name for the Holy Spirit, Comforter, is so important. The Spirit’s first ministry to the Apostles was simply to comfort and sustain them after Christ’s sudden departure from Earth. They had just lost their Lord and Master. As we see at the end of the Gospel of John, Peter even returned to his old occupation, fishing, briefly and was joined by several other disciples: Nathaniel, Thomas, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and two other unnamed disciples. Apparently, this was fruitless, for we read in John 21 “that night they caught nothing”. Then Christ Himself appeared to them and commanded them to cast their net over the right side of the boat, whereupon they received a huge catch of fish. The symbolism couldn’t be plainer. When the disciples follow Jesus’ instructions, they receive the catch that they are supposed to have. As we know, this catch didn’t involve fishes any more, but the souls of men. Christ then ate and had fellowship with them. Also, He encouraged Peter to continue his ministry when He said, “Peter, do you love me?” When Peter answered him affirmatively, Christ said, “Feed my sheep.” Christ continued this conversation, asking him a total of three times to tend to the flock of God.

Thus, if it took the appearance of Christ Himself immediately after the Passion and Resurrection to maintain the people closest to Christ in the Way, what would it take to sustain the Church of God until Christ’s return? Simply, it would take the presence of God Himself, not in bodily form, but in the mysterious, spiritual form of the Holy Ghost.

Thus, other translations than the AV (KJV)) call the Holy Ghost the Helper. In the Greek, the word is “parakletos” {par-ak'-lay-tos}, which means the following: “1) summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid 1a) one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate.” It is clear that we need a Helper to keep us on the Way, too. Thankfully, it is just this helper to which Jesus points in this passage.

This Helper, this Advocate, this “one called to our side” will do at least three things, according to Christ. He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. First, He will convict of sin, because the World, outside of the Church, has rejected Christ. Next, the Holy Spirit will point out the righteousness of Christ as he returns to the Father. Only Christ, the Righteous One can truly ascend to the Father in such a way. Finally, the Holy Spirit will reprove the World of Judgment, since Satan has already been judged and condemned. The consummation of his judgment has not yet taken place, since it is not the Father’s pleasure to do so at this time. Yet, we know that it will occur on the Last Day, when the powers of Hell that have so plagued mankind will be cast down forever and the true Glory of God’s Creation will be revealed, free of sin.

Christ also foreshadows the final function of the Holy Spirit in this passage as He tells us that when He comes, the Spirit will not testify of Himself, but of the Father and the Son. Whatever he hears, he will speak it to the Church. The Holy Spirit will show the Church of coming things, most of them contained in the Spirit-inspired Word of God. That is, as we see events unfolding in the World around us; we are able to relate them to the various prophecies and statements contained in Scripture. For example, the current cultic prediction that the world would end yesterday is a direct violation of what Christ told us in Matthew 24:36: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” When we listen to the Word of God, allowing our souls to be illuminated by it through the power of the Holy Ghost, we have the truth at hand.

Continuing, Christ says,”He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you”

In the end, this foreshadows the greatest of all the Holy Spirit’s tasks: to glorify the Father and the Son. He will take of the Glory of Christ and show it unto the Church. He will bear witness to Christ’s statement that “All things that the Father hath are mine.” In short, he affirms and bears witness to the Unity of the Godhead. Christ and His Father are one. What the Father has, the Son has, all attested to by the Holy Spirit. The mention of all three Persons of the Holy Trinity here in this passage simply affirms what Christ said the Spirit will do: speak not of Himself, but of the Hoy Person of God.

Beloved, as we look forward to the next two major events in the Church year, Ascension and Pentecost, followed immediately by the third, Trinity Sunday, let us too glorify God in our hearts and souls. Christ is foreshadowing one of the great events in History, the coming of the Holy Ghost.
This is topped only by His coming to us.

Let us glorify God that we are not alone, ever, unless we want to be. True, we can be alone in human terms when we are solitary. Yet, in our hearts, we are never solitary if we have invited the Holy Spirit to make His abode there with us. If we invite Him, Christ said that He and His Father would come with us, live with us, and never leave us. Unless we willfully reject the Holy Ghost, either by outward word or continued sinful behavior, God will never leave us. Praise be to God! Jesus told us. He foreshadowed our glorious fellowship with God.

John 16:7 7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you”



In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

AMEN