The exposition of the identity of the Son of Man

John 14:15-17 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 14:25-26 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. (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.

John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me;

John 15:26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me;

John 16:7-15 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. (8) And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) Of sin, because they believe not on me; (10) Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (11) Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. (12) I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. (13) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (14) He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (15) All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Jesus could not be referring to Himself when He mentioned the Spirit of Truth or Comforter. It is generally agreed that here the Holy Spirit is meant. What is, however, not clear is how the Holy Spirit is to manifest. The conventional explanation is that He had already appeared when He descended on the disciples at Whitsuntide allowing them to speak in tongues. The fulfillment of the Comforter, of the Spirit of Truth that the verses above refer to according to present belief has already been achieved through the descent of the Power of the Holy Spirit two thousand years ago on the disciples.

If we look at these verses carefully, however, it is clear that this is not the case. Jesus here promised a personal fulfillment. He said that the Holy Ghost will teach us all things and will bring things to our remembrance. This looks very much like a personal fulfillment. It looks very much like the Holy Ghost will come personally to teach mankind and bring the Teachings of Jesus to our remembrance.

He went on to say that the ruler of this world is coming. Obviously here He could not be referring to Himself in the third person. He was referring to the same Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost according to this verse is not some amorphous power but a Personality. If He is the ruler of this world, then He must be Personal not some amorphous energy. He said that this ruler of this world, the Holy Ghost has no power over Him, which indicates that this Holy Ghost and Jesus are equals.

He also said that this Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Truth will bear witness to Him Jesus. It is obvious that to bear witness to Jesus has nothing to do with the interpretations which have become prevalent. This has nothing to do with human beings at all. We attach too much importance to our roles. It is easier for us to understand this verse if we accept that the Holy Ghost is a Personality. An amorphous energy cannot not bear witness to anyone. It is only a person who can do this. If therefore the Holy Ghost is a Personality, then it becomes clear that in fulfilling His Mission, this Holy Ghost will take of the Teaching of Jesus, will remind us of It and by so doing will bear witness to the authenticity of Jesus’ Message.

With His impending departure, He tried to assure His disciples to take heart. His departure will be painful for them and subsequent followers but He was not going to leave us alone. He was going to pray to God to give us another like Him Who will abide, stay with us forever. Jesus’ Mission was to be a short one and for us not to be abandoned to the whims of the darkness He was going to ask God for the Ruler of this World to be sent to us to remain with us for ever. This obviously if properly thought out will never be an impersonal fulfillment.

He continued that this Comforter will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and Judgment. This goes more than ever to show that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth is a Person Who will come to judge the world. Jesus used the pronoun he and obviously an amorphous energy cannot judge the world or reprove it of sin. It has to be someone who will come personally and carry out these duties. These duties which Jesus mentioned cannot be carried out through any other means than the appearance of an individual with the requisite qualities for these. He went on to say that he will guide us to all truth, he shall not speak of his own accord. This is clearly a person. He will guide, he will show and in the process he will glorify Jesus.

These are fulfillments for the end time when a Comforter will come for the Judgment. Hand in hand with this Judgment as Jesus has indicated is a remembrance of His Teachings. Jesus will be glorified and His Teachings will come to life once more. This Comforter will teach us all things. He will show us all things. He will take what is of Jesus and teach it to us. He will also hear things of His own accord and show it to us.

This is clearly the prediction by Jesus of an individual who will come personally and teach the world: a World Teacher. He will teach us all things. He will be able through His Teachings answer all our questions no matter what they are. He will also bring the Judgment and reprove the world of its sins. Jesus went on to say that He could tell us many things but we were too immature to understand them at that time but that when this World Teacher comes, everything will be revealed by Him.

He has identified this World Teacher as the Holy Ghost. But not the Holy Ghost as convention understands It. This indeed has been a tragedy of immense proportions. Jesus asked His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem and the spirit will be sent to them.

Matthew 24:49 “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Indeed it was and they were filled with power as never before and this allowed them to achieve things that had never before or since been achieved by human beings. This event, however, was the descent of the Power of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and not perhaps the descent of the Holy Spirit Itself. In fact this verse goes to prove contrary to popular belief that what the disciples received was not the promise of the Counsellor but that of power from the Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with the Coming of the Spirit of Truth which Christ promised for the end age. Not even Jesus used the word Holy Spirit; He used the expression “clothed with power.”

In the book “In the Light of Truth”, the Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin, the descent of the Power of the Holy Spirit is a yearly event in which the Holy Ghost pours down the Power for the renewal and sustenance of the whole of Creation and its creatures. Jesus knew about this specific day and time for this happening which had always been and still is until today. The momentous events surrounding the death of Jesus made the disciples especially open for this Power which otherwise would not have been so. Their spirits were open and they absorbed of this Power of God which worked miracles in them.

This event was an entirely different fulfillment and has nothing to do with the verses quoted above. The events at Whitsuntide did not reprove the world of sin, did not bring a new teaching that reminded us of Jesus, did not bring the Judgment. Nothing that Jesus said would happen happened after this event had taken place. Why do we then insist on placing Jesus’ predictions of the end time on the events at Whitsuntide? It is indeed baffling. It is lack of understanding and since the interpreters could not help themselves they demanded blind faith. Otherwise it is difficult to imagine that this mistake has gone on for this long.

This Comforter then brings the Judgment. Jesus, however, has also identified another Person with the judgment, the Son of Man. Are these Persons identical? Obviously Jesus as the Son of God could not at the same time be the Son of Man. The names are different and just like in the case of Jesus and Imanuel, these two Personalities, Son of Man and Son of God have been fused into One in the human mind. Whether the Holy Spirit and the Son of Man are identical is left for the individual to investigate for himself. Afterall these are the most important questions of existence and some effort also must be made on the part of the individual for his own spiritual progress.