Question description

John 16:7, Jesus said, "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."

How's the Holy Spirit in us better than having Jesus Christ with us in this age/era?

Answer description

At first glance, your question makes much sense. The God of the universe was here among us and then returned to heaven so that He could be replaced by a Spirit that we would never be able to see or audibly hear. Not a good trade, right? God must have made a bad judgment or worse, a mistake. However, we know that is not possible. God can never be mistaken. So let's see why the indwelling of the Spirit is a greater blessing to us than Jesus' presence would have been.

I can find several reasons why this is true.

1. The Holy Spirit is everywhere, all the time. He indwells every believer. When Jesus was on earth He could not.
2. The Spirit of God will be with us eternally, Jesus was on this planet for only about 33 years.
3. The Holy Spirit clarifies and recalls Jesus' words for all believers through Scripture (John 14:26) Jesus did this only for His disciples.
4. The Holy Spirit will guide you wherever you are or need to go. This is true for every believer. Jesus' ministry was not this vast.
5. The Holy Spirit constantly intercedes with God the Father for us. For every need or prayer, the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father on our behalf.

But, even though all these advantages are true, the Holy Spirit is not better than Jesus. All three members of the Godhead have the same attributes. So none is any more able or powerful than any other. However, the Spirit's ministry is divinely prepared for us to use in the church age.

Today we love Jesus, believe in Jesus, and rejoice in Jesus, even though we cannot see Him. This is only possible through the work of the Spirit. In Jesus' walk on earth, comparatively few individuals could be with and learn from Him. Most people who saw the Savior during His ministry had no idea who He was. But in this current age, we all can learn, think about, and understand Jesus' words by divine inspiration. And this is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit living inside us. And unless Jesus had been resurrected, none of this would have been possible (John 16:7)

I came across a quote by J.D. Greer, which said, "The Spirit inside you is better than Jesus beside you." And for all the reasons stated above, we can see that there is much truth in this statement. We have so much more access to God and His powers because of the work of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. So, in the end, God did not make a mistake by taking Jesus from us. For in this case, the greater blessing came by Him going away so that the Spirit could be made available to us. Thus, we praise God for his amazingly perfect plan.

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