But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

“He will bring to your remembrance…” We can know the whole Scripture by heart, we can have a large amount of information like a computer, but that’s not essential. We need the right information at the right time, and this information may be much useful or it can even save life. We need to project it on the screen of our mind. This reviving in the spiritual sphere is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said His words to the apostles but these words concern us too. His words are eternally true and binding both for the apostles and for us. These words are for life, eternal life. The Gospel of Christ is no human philosophy or human wisdom. The words of Jesus are the Spirit and life. They are simple and call for action. It is not enough to hear them and lead religious discussions. That’s too little. We need to actualize Jesus’ commandments. In conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks the parable of two men who built a house. One man built a house on the sand and the other on the rock. The man who built his house on the sand heard the words but did not do them. The man who built his house on the rock heard the words and did them.

“…He will teach you all things…” The apostles heard the words from the mouth of Christ. We have them written through the evangelists Matthew and John who heard them with their own ears, but that was not enough. We need the Holy Spirit to come and to teach us all things and to bring to our remembrance all things. It is not enough to receive the Holy Spirit like the apostles by being baptized with the Spirit. We need to walk in the Spirit. We must let Him guide us. Jesus gave us an example. He was baptized with the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him. Full of the Spirit, Jesus went into the wilderness and returned full of power. In the wilderness, He wrestled with the spirit of lies. Jesus conquered with the words: “Away with you, Satan!” Nowadays, Satan has seized power over the formerly Christian nations. So there must be someone who in the power of God and in the name of Christ will say the same: “Away with you, Satan!” Away with you and the whole mountain of demons! Demonic mountain, be taken up (cf. Mk 11:23)! The Church today lacks power. This is a great tragedy. Christians are unable to spiritually influence their environment. Why? The main problem is weak faith! And why is the faith weak? Because there is no personal prayer. And that’s why the Holy Spirit cannot bring to our remembrance the actual and living words and teach us how to live them either. So we must love Jesus by keeping His commandments. We must repent and follow Him. Then each of us will have the experience of God’s power, personal experience with Christ.

“The Father will send the Holy Spirit in My name…” If we read the four Gospels in one breath and underlined the expression “in the name of Christ”, we would find out that there are many expressions of this kind. There is a promise that in the name of Christ “you will cast out demons, heal the sick…”. But it doesn’t work in our lives, we cannot do such things. We have no experience of this promise “in the name of Christ”. We were baptized in the name of Christ. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:5)

In the Old Testament, name had a deeper meaning than it has today. It was something more than a means of identification. Name was like part of the soul, like a body manifesting the soul. Name contained something real, something of the nature of the person named. Something like this is expressed by the patronymic name in Russia up to this day. Example: Ivan Vladimirovich, Anna Vladimirovna. These siblings not only have life from their father but also part of spiritual or mental heritage. Name in the Old Testament had the same meaning as power. To be given a new name meant to receive new power and new blessing (e.g. a monk or a nun receives a new name when entering upon the new way of life).

The name of the Lord is an expression by which the Old Testament indicates the nature of God which features in the name. To know the very nature of God means to know His name (Psa 9:11; 91:14; Isa 52:6). When the sacred writers of the Old Testament speak about the presence of God, they use either the expression “face” (Psa 27:8; Psa 105:4 – it means: “Seek the Lord Himself!”) or “name” (Psa 75:2). To call on the name of the Lord means to appeal to His Person, to present our troubles directly before Him. To say that someone speaks in the name of the Lord means that he not only speaks with divine approval, or according to God’s will, but he speaks as the one who has power. He speaks in the power of God (Psa 118:10-12). Jesus said: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:18-20) The apostles and early Christians were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 2:38). Because baptism is connected with the reality of death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is also expressed by the old baptismal formula: “In the name of Jesus Christ.” (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 1Cor 1:13) A Christian is grafted on Christ like a branch on the vine. A Christian is the one who has the Spirit of Christ, is anointed by Him and is a true follower of his Lord Jesus Christ. So according to the original baptismal formula, people were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The later practice was to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both baptismal formulas are legitimate. This seeming obscurity reveals to us the mystery of the name of God. God revealed His name to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exo 3:14), i.e. “HE WHO IS”, “Almighty” (YHWH). The Slavonic languages translate is as “LORD”. However, the fullness of the divine name is revealed to us by the Son of God, Jesus Himself. “Father, I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:26)

LORD – YHWH – is salvation = Ye-ho-shu-a. This name is holy and it is the name of God. This name was given at God’s command: “You shall call His name JESUS (Hebrew: Yehoshua), for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21) “JESUS” is a Greek form of the Hebrew name “Yeshua”, which is a short form of “Yehoshua”. “You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Yehoshua (Iesus).” The name “Yehoshua” is the name of God fully received by Jesus. In this name is encompassed the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. LORD (YHWH) is salvation.

The name of God was partially revealed to Moses. Jesus reveals the nature, or fullness, of the divine name – HE WHO IS (YHWH) is salvation. Jesus is the Saviour, but the whole Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – participates in our salvation. If Jesus says: “I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known…” (Jn 17:26), this knowledge is connected with personal experience of the love with which the Father loves the Son and of the presence of God in us (“I in them”). No theological speculations can explain personal experience which Jesus gives us and the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance. Jesus makes the divine name (“Your name”) known, but this name was already given and the one who bears this name is Jesus Himself. He bears the full name: LORD is salvation. Not just LORD – YHWH. Even if we study all the Gospels, we will find out that Jesus revealed no other name for His Father. Moreover, He used the name “I AM WHO I AM” (YHWH) to refer to Himself. This was the reason why the Jews wanted to throw stones at Him (Jn 8:58). Jesus received the name “Yehoshua” from His Father (Mt 1:21). And this name is the name of the Father as well: “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which/whom You have given Me.” (Jn 17:11) We can understand it as a prayer that the Father should keep the apostles in His name, or “keep them in Your name, which (i.e. name) You have given Me”. The full name of God is “LORD (YHWH) is salvation” – “Yehoshua”. “While I was with them, I kept them in Your name which (or whom) You have given Me.” The name “Yehoshua” (LORD is salvation) is not only the revelation of who God is but who God is to us.

To believe in His name: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (Jn 1:12; Jn 2:23; Jn 3:18; 1Jn 3:23)

What is connected with the name “Yehoshua”? Miracles were performed in the name of Jesus, demons were cast out in the name of Jesus, the sick were healed in the name of Jesus (Mk 9:38f; 16:17; Lk 9:49; 10:17; Acts 3:16; 4:10). At the name of Jesus our knees bow with respect to His redemptive work (Phi 2:10), we give thanks to Him in His name (Eph 5:20), we ask Him in His name (Jn 14:13f; 15:16), we are justified in His name (1Cor 6:11), the sick are anointed with oil in His name (Jam 5:14).

Jesus says: “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30) “I am in the Father and the Father in Me.” (Jn 14:11) They are one in divinity, one in salvation, one in their love for us, one in name, but three persons. “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in My name” (i.e. in the name Yehoshua). (Jn 14:26) Jesus promises: “Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” (Jn 16:23) “Father, hallowed be Your name” (the prayer ‘Our Father’). “Father, glorify Your name.” (Jn 12:28) “You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (1Cor 6:11) Jesus is the Saviour, but the Father is the Saviour too: “They forgot God, their Saviour…” (Psa 106:21) “There is born to you this day in the city of David the Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk 2:11) “God Himself will come and save you” (Yehoshua). (Isa 35:4) On the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter cited the prophet Joel: “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) And he concludes his sermon with the words: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (2:38) So the name “LORD (YHWH) is salvation” is expressed in the name “Yehoshua”. This is the name which God gave to Jesus but which at the same time is His own name and the name of the whole Trinity.

Download: Reflection on Jn 14:26