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[story-of-christ]

I urge our people to cease their criticism and evil speaking, and go to God in earnest prayer, asking him to help them to help the erring. Let them link up with one another and with Christ. Let them study the seventeenth of John, and learn how to pray and how to live the prayer of Christ. HE IS THE COMFORTER. He will abide in their hearts, making their joy full. His words will be to them as the bread of life, and in the strength thus gained they will be enabled to develop characters that will be an honor to God. Perfect Christian fellowship will exist among them. There will be seen in their lives the fruit that always appears as the result of obedience to the truth.

Let us make Christ's prayer the rule of our life, that we may form characters that will reveal to the world the power of the grace of God. Let there be less talk about petty differences, and a more diligent study of what the prayer of Christ means to those who believe on his name. We are to pray for union, and then live in such a way that God can answer our prayers.

Perfect oneness,—a union as close as the union existing between the Father and the Son,—this is what will give success to the efforts of God's workers. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me,” to bring about this union, this sanctified harmony. “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” It is this union that convinces the world that God has indeed sent his Son to save sinners. Christ gives to his true disciples the glory of his character, that his prayer may be answered. Through the impartation of his Spirit, he appears in their lives. . RH January 27, 1903, Art. A, par. 13-RH January 27, 1903, Art. A, par. 15

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Never can the cost of our redemption be realized until the redeemed shall stand with the Redeemer before the throne of God. Then as the glories of the eternal home burst upon our enraptured senses we shall remember that Jesus left all this for us, that He not only became an exile from the heavenly courts, but for us took the risk of failure and eternal loss. Then we shall cast our crowns at His feet, and raise the song, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.. DA 131.2

Who can estimate the value of a soul? Go to Gethsemane, and there watch with Jesus through those long hours of anguish when he sweat as it were great drops of blood; look upon the Saviour uplifted on the cross; hear that despairing cry, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Look upon that wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet. Remember that Christ risked all; “tempted like as we are,” he staked even his own eternal existence upon the issue of the conflict. Heaven itself was imperiled for our redemption. At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sinner Jesus would have yielded up his life, we may estimate the value of a soul.. GCB December 1, 1895, par. 23

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John 14:16-17 “he shall give you another [allos] COMFORTER [parakletos], that he may abide with you forever; 17 Even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH;”

John 14:26 “But the COMFORTER [parakletos], which is the Holy Ghost,”

John 15:26 “when the COMFORTER [parakletos] is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH,”

John 16:7 “if I go not away, the COMFORTER [parakletos] will not come unto you;”

John 16:13 “when he, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, is come, he will guide you into all truth:”

Note that EVERY verse is referring to the COMFORTER [Greek = parakletos] and SPIRIT OF TRUTH.

So who is the COMFORTER and SPIRIT OF TRUTH?

In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the truth” and by His Spirit He is the “Spirit of truth.” (John 14:17)

And in John 14:18 Jesus said, “I will not leave you

comfortless: I will come to you.”

It is Christ by “HIS” Spirit!

Many get confused because Jesus said he will send “another” Comforter not realizing that the “another” is HIS SPIRIT. The Greek word “allos” for “another” in John 14:16 means another of the exact same kind. Jesus was present with His disciples in physical form, but after His ascension He comes back in another form, that is, by His Spirit. Hence the “another” is His Spirit.

Because Christ's Spirit can function independently of Himself, it is like His Spirit is “another.” And because it is His Spirit, it is “another” of the same kind. If it was someone different, John would have used the Greek word “heteros” which means another of a different kind.

1 John 2:1 also reveals that Jesus is our “parakletos” (Comforter).

John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7 above and 1 John 2:1 below are the only verses that use this Greek word which means “ADVOCATE and COMFORTER.” So the Greek text also reveals that our COMFORTER and Advocate is JESUS CHRIST the righteous!

“If any man sin, we have an advocate [parakletos] (Comforter) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 2:1

And here is further proof from Ellen White who of course confirms that the COMFORTER and SPIRIT OF TRUTH is the HOLY SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

“This refers to the omnipresence of the SPIRIT of CHRIST, called the COMFORTER.” — (Ellen White, 14MR 179.2)

“Let them study the seventeenth of John, and learn how to pray and how to live the prayer of CHRIST. HE is THE COMFORTER. He will abide in their hearts, making their joy full.” — (E. G. White, Review and Herald, January 27, 1903)

“JESUS comes to you as the SPIRIT of TRUTH; study the mind of the Spirit, consult your Lord, follow His way.” — (Ellen White, 2MR 337.1)

“We cannot be with Christ in person, as were His first disciples, but HE has sent HIS Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, and through this power we too can bear witness for this Saviour. (John 16:13 quoted)” - (Ellen White, Ms30, June 18, 1900)

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Although our Lord ascended from earth to heaven, the Holy Spirit was appointed as HIS REPRESENTATIVE among men. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not,, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.” CUMBERED WITH HUMANITY, CHRIST COULD NOT BE IN EVERY PLACE PERSONALLY. therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His Father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HIMSELF, DIVESTED OF THE PERSONALITY OF HUMANITY, AND INDEPENDENT thereof. Christ would REPRESENT HIMSELF as present in all places by HIS HOLY SPIRIT, —as the Omnipresent. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall [although unseen by you] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. . . . Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; 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.”

Mrs. E. G. White..

PrT May 30, 1895, par. 6-PrT

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TAP HERE to LISTEN to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John combined into one narrative: “Gethsemane to “It Is Finished”

Short Version

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TAP HERE to READ Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John combined into one narrative: “Mary Anointed Jesus’ Head And Feet” to “Guard Report To the Jews.

Longer Version

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“Yet this glorious Being (Jesus) loved the poor sinner and took upon Himself the form of a servant, that He might suffer and die in man’s behalf. Jesus might have remained at His Father’s right hand, wearing His kingly crown and royal robes. But He chose to exchange all the riches, honor, and glory of heaven for the poverty of humanity, and His station of high command for the horrors of Gethsemane and the humiliation and agony of Calvary. He became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, that by His baptism of suffering and blood He might purify and redeem a guilty world. “Lo, I come,” was the joyful assent, “to do Thy will, O My God.” Psalm 40:7, 8.” Testimonies Treasures, Volume 1, page 481.

“The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He endured–the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face–speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life,–offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee. He, the Sin Bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes sin itself.” The Desire of Ages, page 755.

TAP HERE to READ or LISTEN to The Desire of Ages

Without a doubt, outside of the Bible, this Christian classic is one of the most in-depth and uplifting books ever written on the life of Christ.