The Helper

I’ve spent quite a bit of time recently reading and researching for my upcoming series on the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit. One of the books I’m reading is Elmer Towns’ excellent book, The Ultimate Guide to the Names of God. It is chock full of great thoughts. Three of Dr. Towns books have been combined into this Ultimate Guide: My Father’s Name, The Names of Jesus, and The Names of The Holy Spirit.

In the third book, I read this intriguing statement: “Jesus’ favorite name for the Holy Spirit was probably ‘Helper.’ Of all the things the Holy Spirit does, He helps us obtain the personal salvation that was accomplished for us on the cross.”[1]

Towns goes on to say, “I think it is Jesus’ favorite name because it best identifies what the Holy Spirit does.”[2] Look at these four verses where Jesus uses this name:

• John 14:16 – I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.
• John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
• John 15:26 – But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
• John 16:7 – Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

There are some beautiful thoughts in each of these verses:

• The Helper will never leave us (He will be with us forever);
• The Helper will teach us and help us remember the things of God;
• The Helper will teach us everything about Jesus and all that He has done and will do for us;
• The Helper has come from God the Father and God the Son to continue the ministry of God within us.

Jesus tells us what the Helper’s primary ministry is when He says:

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Tell me: Do you see the Helper at work in your life in any of these ways? If not, why not?

[1] Elmer L. Towns, The Ultimate Guide to the Names of God (Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition), p. 254.

[2] Ibid.