Section I—God’s Communication System

Chapter 1—The Revealer and the Revealed

“The Helper will come—the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me” (John 15:26, TEV).MOL 2.1

The Gospel is not about Jesus; the Gospel is Jesus and what He taught. Teachings about Jesus provide the framework for proclaiming the “good news,” but Jesus Himself is the “good news.” Jesus and His teachings are not the prelude to the gospel, they are the gospel! ^{1“The gospel is glorious because it is made up of His righteousness. It is Christ unfolded, and Christ is the gospel embodied.... We are not to praise the gospel, but praise Christ. We are not to worship the gospel, but the Lord of the gospel.” Manuscript 44, 1898, cited in Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (SDABC), vol. 7, p. 907. That I May Know Him, 97.}MOL 2.2

The “good news” is that in the wonderful mind of God, One of the Godhead chose to come to this rebel planet with hands outstretched, inviting men and women everywhere to return to the family of God. The “good news” is that the God-who-became-man “gave” Himself to the human family forever, forever limited to time and space. For what purpose? To show us what God is like! (John 14:7.)MOL 2.3

As we will see, the Revealer we call “Jesus”: the Revealed we call “God”: and the Person through whom the Godhead chose to “reveal” the Revealer to the human race is the Holy Spirit.MOL 2.4

Jesus made this clear a few hours before Gethsemane: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God” (John 14:16, 17, TEV). Further, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you” (John 14:26, TEV).MOL 2.5

And to make sure that the point was clear: “The Helper will come—the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me” (John 15:26, TEV).MOL 2.6

Jesus said further: “When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come. He will give me glory, because he will take what I say and tell it to you. All that my Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit will take what I give him and tell it to you” (John 16:13-15, TEV).MOL 2.7

The Holy Spirit is our Lord’s counterpart. The Spirit will say and do exactly what Jesus would say and do if He were present today!MOL 2.8

How does all this work? The Holy Spirit gives to each Christian some special gift: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.... The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, TEV).MOL 2.9