John 16:7

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 go, I will send him unto you.

Nevertheless ... shows that this reference to the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-15) follows naturally the situation of sorrow and depression of the apostles. The departure of the Lord would not be the total disaster they were thinking of, but was a necessary prelude to the sending of the Spirit. Allegations like that of Windisch that these references to the Spirit do not "fit" are erroneous and contrived, much like saying that the hump on a camel does not fit!

It is expedient for you ... These words suggest those of Caiaphas (John 11:50).

"The high lines of politics, said Caiaphas, is that we get rid of him. The high line of God's policy, said Jesus, is that I go. Thus all the folly and wickedness of man is at last resolved into harmony with the divine government. "It is expedient," said the politician; "It is expedient," said the King and Redeemer."[7]

I will send him unto you ... See under John 15:23,27. Jesus' sending of the Spirit was the same as the Father's sending him.

Note on the expedience of Jesus' departure out of this world: The establishment of a worldwide religion with benefits of salvation from sin and eternal life for all humanity would have been impossible if the head of it had remained on earth, limited by earthly conditions, physically present at only one place at a time, inaccessible unless approached through other men (as did the Greeks, John 12:21,22), dependent upon human systems of communication, and his every contact with humanity subjected to monitoring and interpretation by human aides with their inevitable taint of fallibility and bias. An earthly head of such a thing as the true church of Jesus Christ is an impossibility revealed by this verse. If the holy Head of our blessed faith had himself remained on earth, there would have been no Holy Spirit to guide and comfort. Jesus Christ is the one true head of the true church in heaven "and upon earth" (Matthew 28:18-20). Whatever any man, therefore, may be "head of," it is not the holy church of Christ.