As Jesus was preparing to leave the Earth, the Holy Spirit was preparing to come and live in the heart of every believer. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Jesus prophesied about and revealed the Holy Spirit and His functions. They include His reminding ministry, His reproving ministry, and His revealing ministry.

In John 15:26 and 27, Jesus reveals how the Holy Spirit will testify of Him. This Greek word for testify is “martureo” and it means “to be a witness” and to “bear record”. The Holy Spirit was going to remind Jesus’ disciples about Christ and His teachings.

Jesus continues to reveal more, important facts about the Holy Spirit that is to come. We find in John 16 the Spirit is called the Counselor or the Comforter. He is referred to by the Greek word “parakletos” and it also means “advocate”.

One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit, in John 16, is convicting the world of sin. Jesus told His followers that He would no longer be there to reprove them, but the Holy Spirit would continue His ministry to them. Not only did Jesus want to reveal more about the Holy Spirit, He wanted to comfort His followers. They were beginning to understand that He was leaving and some may have even understood that He was going to die, so they were inevitably worrying about their future, spiritual condition without Christ present. He wanted to give them some relief and assurance by telling them about the One who was going to come and help them.

Jesus also revealed the Holy Spirit as a person who would reveal the truth to them. He doesn’t warn them that the Holy Spirit will teach them strange or new things that would contradict His teachings. However, Jesus tells His disciples that the Spirit will “will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” These statements indicate how the Spirit would confirm the truth of the scriptures, which is God’s revealed will, and tell them what is to come for them, which is God’s personal will for them.