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.Jesus shocked them with these words because He was saying that having the Holy Spirit with them was better than having Him there with them in His physical body. How could that be? Most Christians would prefer to have Jesus with them just as He was with the disciples.
Of course, what Jesus said was absolutely true. We have to defer to the Lord’s wisdom that it’s better to have the Holy Spirit with and in us than to have Jesus in His physical body. But it certainly doesn’t seem like that would be true. Obviously, we don’t understand and value the ministry of the Holy Spirit as Jesus does.
The Lord has given me ten reasons that the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is more advantageous than the physical presence of Jesus in His earthly body. Understanding this will hopefully bring us into agreement with Jesus that the present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit is actually better than the limited ministry of Jesus when He was physically present on the earth.
#1 The first reason is that having the Holy Spirit in us spreads God’s power to a greater extent.
While on earth, Jesus was limited by His physical body. He could only be in one place at a time, and therefore, He was not always with everyone who believed in Him. But as He was ascending back into heaven, He promised He would be with us to the end of the world (Matt. 28:20).
Now Jesus is constantly with each believer. He will never leave or forsake even one true Christian (Heb. 13:5).
When a person is born again, Jesus comes and lives inside them. Galatians 4:6 says, “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Some Christians have a hard time believing this because they can’t see or feel Jesus inside them. But Paul said in Romans 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Therefore, this is reality whether a person believes it or not. But in order to benefit fully from this truth, we must believe. We have to believe in order to receive (Heb. 4:2).
On the Resurrection morning, two of Jesus’ disciples were walking to Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13–32). They had heard reports that Jesus was raised from the dead, but they struggled to believe it. That’s why they were sad.
As they walked, the resurrected Jesus joined them and explained to them from Scripture how He had to die and be resurrected on the third day. They were walking and talking with Jesus and yet didn’t recognise Him. It wasn’t until they were breaking bread with Him that they realised who He really was (Luke 24:30–31).
If that could happen then, it’s even more so now that we can’t see Him. And likewise, it is only through fellowship with the risen Lord that we realise His presence with us now. The reality is that since the Resurrection, it’s possible to have Jesus with us in our spirits all the time, rather than His presence being limited to a physical experience.
#2 The second reason is that when we make Jesus our Lord and receive salvation, we are born again with an absolutely perfect spirit man living inside us.
There are three times in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus where Jesus expounded this truth. John 3:5–8 says,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.The Holy Spirit is the one who brings this new birth that Jesus speaks of to pass. This couldn’t happen while Jesus was on the earth before His death and Resurrection. At salvation, the Holy Spirit seals us so that when a Christian sins, it doesn’t penetrate the seal and contaminate our born-again spirit. Our spirits have eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), eternal salvation (Heb. 9:15), and are sanctified (Heb. 10:10) and perfected forever (Heb. 10:14) because of the preserving power of the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord!
I wish I had the space to explain all ten reasons why it’s better to have the Holy Spirit in us rather than to have Jesus physically present with us. I guarantee the full teaching would encourage you and be a blessing to you. I tell you, we just weren’t meant to get through this life without the Holy Spirit. To order the full teaching on 10 Reasons It’s Better to Have the Holy Spirit, visit awme.net/TenReasons or call my Helpline at +44 (0)1922 473300, or just fill out and return the enclosed form.
We love you,
Andrew and Jamie

10 Reasons It’s Better to Have the Holy Spirit
In his new teaching Ten Reasons It’s Better to Have the Holy Spirit, Andrew shares ten reasons why the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is actually better than the limited ministry of Jesus when He was physically present on the earth.
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