The Holy Spirit is called “the Comforter” over and over again in the Scriptures. For example in John xiv. 26, we read, “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.” And in John xv. 26, “But when _the Comforter_ is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” (See also John xvi. 27.) The word translated “Comforter” in these passages means that, but it means much more beside. It is a word difficult of adequate translation into any one word in English. The translators of the Revised Version found difficulty in deciding with what word to render the Greek word so translated. They have suggested in the margin of the Revised Version “advocate” “helper” and a simple transference of the Greek word into English, “Paraclete.” The word translated “Comforter” means literally, “one called to another’s side,” the idea being, one right at hand to take another’s part. It is the same word that is translated “advocate” in 1 John ii. 1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have _an advocate_ with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” But “advocate,” as we now understand it, does not give the full force of the Greek word so rendered. Etymologically “advocate” means nearly the same thing. Advocate is Latin (“advocatus”) and it means “one called to another to take his part,” but in our modern usage, the word has acquired a restricted meaning. The Greek word translated “Comforter” (Parakleetos) means “one called alongside,” that is one called to stand constantly by one’s side and who is ever ready to stand by us and take our part in everything in which his help is needed. It is a wonderfully tender and expressive name for the Holy One. Sometimes when we think of _the Holy Spirit_, He seems to be so far away, but when we think of the Parakleetos, or in plain English our “Stand-byer” or our “part-taker,” how near He is. Up to the time that Jesus made this promise to the disciples, He Himself had been their Parakleetos. When they were in any emergency or difficulty they turned to Him. On one occasion, for example, the disciples were in doubt as to how to pray and they turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And the Lord taught them the wonderful prayer that has come down through the ages (Luke xi. 1-4). On another occasion, Peter was sinking in the waves of Galilee and he cried, “Lord, save me,” and immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him and saved him (Matt. xiv. 30, 31). In every extremity they turned to Him. Just so now that Jesus is gone to the Father, we have another Person, just as Divine as He is, just as wise as He, just as strong as He, just as loving as He, just as tender as He, just as ready and just as able to help, who is always right by our side. Yes, better yet, who dwells in our heart, who will take hold and help if we only trust Him to do it.
If the truth of the Holy Spirit as set forth in the name “Parakleetos” once gets into our heart and abides there, it will banish all loneliness forever; for how can we ever be lonely when this best of all Friends is ever with us? In the last eight years, I have been called upon to endure what would naturally be a very lonely life. Most of the time I am separated from wife and children by the calls of duty. For eighteen months consecutively, I was separated from almost all my family by many thousands of miles. The loneliness would have been unendurable were it not for the one all-sufficient Friend, who was always with me. I recall one night walking up and down the deck of a storm-tossed steamer in the South Seas. Most of my family were 18,000 miles away; the remaining member of my family was not with me. The officers were busy on the bridge, and I was pacing the deck alone, and the thought came to me, “Here you are all alone.” Then another thought came, “I am not alone; by my side as I walk this deck in the loneliness and the storm walks the Holy Spirit” and He was enough. I said something like this once at a Bible conference in St. Paul. A doctor came to me at the close of the meeting and gently said, “I want to thank you for that thought about the Holy Spirit always being with us. I am a doctor. Oftentimes I have to drive far out in the country in the night and storm to attend a case, and I have often been so lonely, but I will never be lonely again. I will always know that by my side in my doctor’s carriage, the Holy Spirit goes with me.”