The indispensable Work of the Holy Ghost !
John 16:7
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.
John 14:26
But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
This passage is so often misapplied, that I'm very surprised that no-one has yet pointed out the very simple and obvious application of the words.
Here is the context which is always ignored, or not recognised.
Jn 15.26 ¶ But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
bear witness of me:
27 and ye also
bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
That is the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit: to
bear witness of Christ.
That is also the purpose of the disciples being sent out:
to bear witness of Christ.
It's a very romantic notion that we can bear witness to Christ today.
A witness testifies in court of that which he has, IN PERSON, seen, heard, or done. Anything else is hearsay and second or third hand, and inadmissible as evidence.
The disciples were first hand witnesses. They were present, and their testimony was admissible as valid evidence on Christ's behalf.
That is not the case with us. We were not there, and cannot act as 'witnesses'.
We can say what we believe, and in the 1st century they died for doing so, and even today in muslim countries this is going on. Such persons are not witnesses, but believers.
The second extremely important point, is that a 'witness' testifies
TO SOMEBODY.
So who were the Holy Spirit and the disciples going to witness to?
Jesus leaves us and them in no doubt whatsoever:
1 ¶ These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be made to stumble.
2 They shall put you
out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you
[as Saul and others like him did] shall think that he offereth service unto God.
3 And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
These are Jesus' words
to the Jews:
Joh 8:19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered,
Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
So the witness that the Holy Spirit and the disciples were going to make, was
to the Jews, not to the planet.