John 14:17,18 - I will not leave you as orphans

14:17

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He will not lie, but also He will not go along with the lies on which the world is based. Then we are told that the world cannot and will not accept Him. The world cannot receive Him, “because it neither sees Him nor knows Him”. Now this might seem a bit unfair. If they cannot see Him how can they be expected to receive Him? The reason they cannot see or receive Him is that they are in rebellion against God. A man or woman needs to be born again in order to receive Him. In contradiction to the world, the disciples are told that they do know Him. “He dwells with you and will be in you”. How did He dwell with them at this stage? Jesus dwelt with them! After Jesus ascended to the Father He would send the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would dwell within them. So we see the unity of the Son and the Spirit. There is one God who exists eternally as three persons.

14:18

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” When the Holy Spirit comes into someone's life Christ comes into that person’s life (as does the Father as we will read shortly). The disciples feared Jesus leaving them, for they had invested their lives in Him. But Jesus’ going away was actually a good thing, and also an essential thing. God was committed to them. “I will come to you” refers to the Holy Spirit. So just as if they saw Jesus then they saw the Father, if we receive the Spirit then we receive Jesus. All the gospels are trinitarian, but John’s gospel perhaps brings this out the most clearly. It should be noted that there are some who see “I will come to you” as referring to the resurrection when Jesus would meet them again.