The Son’s sending of the Spirit is the initial item of the second section of God’s New Testament economy (see chart on pages 12 and 13). The verses included in the Scripture reading at the beginning of this chapter from John 14, 15, and 16 were prophecies or promises when they were spoken by the Lord. The fulfillment of these promises is in John 20. Thus, the disciples’ breathing in of the Spirit in John 20 was the initiation of the second section of God’s New Testament economy from Acts through Jude. In the first section of the four Gospels the disciples were with the Son. In the second section they began to be with the Spirit. The central Person in the four Gospels was the Son, who was with the Father and by the Spirit. After the disciples had received the Holy Spirit intrinsically as their essence, they began to be with the Spirit, as the Son, with the Father.
John 14, 15, and 16 are the contents of the last message given by the Lord while He was on this earth. These three chapters are profound, mysterious, and divine. No Bible student can exhaust the understanding of these chapters. All of the verses quoted from these chapters in the Scripture reading are concerning the Spirit. Also, these three chapters are structured with the divine Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
In John 14 the Lord Jesus revealed to His disciples that He and the Father are one (vv. 8-11). He as the Son was present with them. They all saw Him, they all were with Him, and they all could touch Him. However, they wanted to know the Father. Philip said to the Lord, “Show us the Father and it suffices us” (v. 8). Then the Lord unveiled to them that He and the Father were one. He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. He and the Father lived together, worked together, and spoke together. When the Son spoke outwardly, the Father worked inwardly (v. 10). There is no way to divide the Son from the Father. When you see the Son, you see the Father (v. 9).
Following this in 14:16, the Lord said, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever.” “Another Comforter” means that the Son was already there as the first Comforter. The Son was a Comforter, but the Son asked the Father to give the disciples another Comforter. This may sound like there are two Comforters. Actually, 14:16-20 show us that the other Comforter to be given was the reality of the Comforter who was asking the Father. The Comforter was there talking to the disciples and was there asking the Father to give them another Comforter. This other Comforter is the Spirit of reality. Verse 17 says, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” This verse reveals a great advancement because the original Comforter was only abiding with the disciples, but not in the disciples. By that time the Son was only able to be with the disciples, but He was unable to be in them. The other Comforter, however, would not only be with the disciples but would also be in the disciples.
In verse 18 the Lord continues, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” While the Lord was speaking, He was coming. His going was His coming. He had come to the disciples to be among them, but He could not be within them. He had come already to be with them, but He could not get into them, so He had to have a further coming to enter into them. Actually, the Lord’s going was really His coming into the disciples.
Verse 19 says, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.” This verse shows us that when the Lord would come further into the disciples, He would live in them to make them live in Him. In this verse the Lord was telling the disciples that they will behold Him because He will live in them to make them live in Him. Only the believers would have this privilege, but the world would not have it. The Lord would come into the disciples and live in the disciples that they might be in Him and live in Him. In verse 20 the Lord continues, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” “That day” was the day of resurrection. On the day of resurrection the disciples would know that the Lord was in the Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them. This is coinherence.
These verses also tell us that the Son of the Trinity was asking the Father of the Trinity to send the Spirit of the Trinity to be another Comforter that He could enter into the disciples. The disciples could live in Him as He could live within the disciples. Eventually, the disciples would realize that this other Comforter is just the original Comforter. They would also realize that they were in the Son, the Son was in the Father, and the Son with the Father was in them. These three parties are within one another and they all coinhere one with the other.