¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

“Orphaned” is how Jesus described to His disciples their lives without Him. What a terrible thing to consider, life without the personal presence of God. For many people their religion views God only as “The Master.” To others He is the Great Omni-potentate who created all, and sits in the background, distant and uncaring for the most part. For still others, He is an impersonal force, or even a multiplicity of deities who have greater concerns than for us mere mortals. Only Christianity presents God as a personal Father, One whom we can address as, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6). What an absolutely wonderful and amazing thing. Not only do we have forgiveness and eternal life granted us by the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, we also have His presence in our lives. But what is even more astounding, His presence provides a fatherly, intimate, familial relationship that is at once, spiritual and mystical, tangible and real.

That Jesus is pictured (implied) here as a father image doesn’t confuse the roles of the Trinity. He at other times referred to the disciples as “children” (e.g. John 13:33). He even used the imagery of a mother hen and her chicks in relationship with the people of Israel (Matt 23:37). However, the unity of purpose with the Father would suggest that the Son is affirming that the Father would not leave them as orphans, but would provide a Fatherly presence for them. Praise God we as followers of Christ are never left as orphans.

This is all connected with Jesus’ coming back to them. However, this cannot refer to His post-resurrection appearances, for that would have been a short-lived presence, 40 days to be exact (Acts 1:3). And if that were an eschatological reference to His coming in the last days, as depicted in His return at the end of the tribulation period, that would leave the disciples (and us) orphaned for these past 2,000 years. Such an interpretation seems highly unlikely.

Rather Jesus, in keeping with the rest of His teaching in the Upper Room, teaches them that He will return to them spiritually. In this sense the coming presence of the Holy Spirit would be the same as the presence of Jesus. Indistinguishable. We today are not orphaned, without the presence of God, because we now have God’s presence, the Holy Spirit. And we can say, in the words of the Great Commission, that Jesus Christ, as God, is with us (Matt 28:20) through the presence of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity—to the end of this age.

Lord, thank You for being ever-present with me through Your Holy Spirit. I am unworthy, but am extremely blessed and thankful.