The Comfort of The Holy Spirit

 The Comfort of The Holy Spirit


The Holy Spirit is called the "Paraclete" in John's Gospel.  This word, as is well-known, may be translated in various ways, such as "Advocate," "One called alongside to help," or "Comforter."  For my purposes, in this paper, I want to camp on the "Comforter" theme.

 

The regenerate saints of the Church Militant (the church on earth), are the *only* ones who experience, or have any vital understanding of the comfort that is given us by the Holy Spirit.  Even the church in heaven, the Church Triumphant, no longer has, nor needs this special divine consolation.  But we true saints of the church on the earth definitely need it.  My desire is to flesh some of this comfort out for us, so that we both sense (or feel) it, and appreciate it.

 

One of the greatest comforts that the Holy Spirit gives God's people is a heartfelt assurance that He, the Holy Spirit Himself, has gathered to the Holy Trinity a church for God's glory.  And the true spiritual members of this ecclesia are all woven together by the Holy Spirit Himself.  We can "see" and sense the Holy Spirit within each other; and we instantly know that we are among our churched brothers and sisters.  This assurance is so great, that we even know, sense, (and certainly believe), that our sins are actually and really forgiven us in Jesus' blood atonement; and that there is no way that God will ever let go of us, or allow us to be lost.  It is granted, that this kind of comforting assurance does not come automatically to the saints, even upon their authentic experiences of being born again in Christ--but it is something we should seek to attain.  Also, the older we become, and the longer we have been in Christ, the deeper this sense of assurance and its resulting comfort resides in us.

 

The comfort of the Holy Spirit allows us to live boldly and confidently in this world.  We know there are dangers all around us; and we are fully aware that the devil's arrows are especially directed at us--and yet, we know and believe that our good and gracious God is with us, and that He protects us.  (Even when the Lord allows some of His saints to be slain, we understand that even this is for the church's good and benefit.)

 

The church's saints need comfort in this world, because there are many things that happen to us that are disheartening.  We are promised trial, tribulation, affliction, persecution, hardships, and brutal treatment from the world--and we get our fair share of all of these things.  But still, even in them, we experience an even greater comfort from the Holy Spirit, than the discomfort that troubles bring us.

 

Think about this: the only people in the world who get this supernatural heavenly comfort from "The Comforter," the Holy Spirit, are the Spirit-indwelt and -filled children of God.  No one else on earth knows anything about this comfort.  They are left to their own devices; and these can never deliver the needed consolation that every sinner craves.

 

The Comforter assures Christ's church that there is a God.  He makes known to us that God has His own (chosen) people, His church; and that we cannot be overthrown or destroyed.  The Spirit assures the hearts of the saints that God has provided His church ministers and other officers; and He seals our hearts together around the cardinal doctrines of our most holy faith.  In all these things we receive glorious comfort, from The Comforter.


In this world sometimes the saints feel the cold, clammy hand of Satan on our hearts. . . . But, following this, in God's good time, we also sense the warm embraces of our loving Heavenly Father, via the Person of the Holy Spirit, all as a result of the Son of God's sacrifice and victory on our behalf.

 

The Spirit's ministry of comfort is then interwoven into the life of the church.  This is beautifully demonstrated for us by Paul's words found in 2 Cor. 1:3-4, which say this: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God," (ESV).

 

Rev. Mark J. Henninger

Treatise #137

19 September 2026

 

https://theologicaltreatisesinretirement.blogspot.com

https://henningerdevotions.blogspot.com

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