The disciples fail to perceive from the perspective of victory; John 16:4-5; Psa 110.

Title: The disciples fail to perceive from the perspective of victory; John 16:4-5; Psa 110.

 

Announcements/opening prayer:

  

John 16:4 "But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

 

The disciples were not shock proof, so to tell them of His leaving and their persecution and that the kingdom wouldn’t be coming immediately would have only caused fear in them. It would be like telling a very young child about his inevitable death. It’s morbid.

 

The disciples apparently are still not shock proof, but there’s no more time. Again, the plan of God moves on with or without you. However, in a little more than a month they will have God the Holy Spirit who will lead them into all truth. They never thought to ask for the Spirit now even though Christ told them that they could ask Him for anything.

 

He was with them and therefore their protector and provider and advocate, but now that He would be gone He will give them and us the Holy Spirit.

 

And so, the meaning of And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

 

There was no need to cause them fear and no need to discuss God the Holy Spirit when they had Him as their personal advocate.

 

John 16:5 "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'

 

John 13:36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later."

 

Did He answer Peter’s question? No. Therefore, Peter should have repeated the question.

 

Did Peter ask for the Lord’s sake or his own? And why does Peter ask? He doesn’t ask because he is concerned about the location and the safety of Jesus, or where the place is at all [thinking it’s somewhere on the earth showing he didn’t metabolize ascension which the Lord stated several times] but only in a quest to be able to follow. It is more like, “where are you going so I can follow.”

 

Christ’s rebuke in 16:5 is some time later. In all this time, an hour at least, why hasn’t Peter or any of the others re-asked the question?

 

It is significant that Peter didn’t repeat the question and the reason he didn’t is because his eyes were on himself and not the Lord at all. In fact they are all concerned about themselves only and not the Lord.

 

The time has come for Him to go and no one is asking Him where He is going and sincerely desiring to know that place.

 

There are several Greek words for “ask” in the Koine Greek. The two most popular ones are interesting to contrast.

 

avite,w[aiteo - 70 times] means to ask from the position of a suppliant or someone in a lesser position. evrwta,w[erotao - 63 times] means to ask on equal footing and is the one used in John 16:5.

 

By only inquiring from Christ as to where He is going so that they may follow is to desire to know so that they won’t be lonely, they’ll have His protection, and they won’t be afraid. This is asking from a suppliant position like a child would ask a parent. But it is significant that Christ uses a word of requesting on equal ground as a king would ask another allied king about troop movement or a parent would ask another parent about their kids playing together. Asking from equal footing is an attempt to get information that is necessary without fear of reprisal or desire for acceptance.

 

Every time Jesus made request from the Father He never used aiteo and interestingly the only time it is used is for Him is by a misunderstanding Martha:

 

John 11:22

"Even now I know that whatever You ask [aiteo] of God, God will give You."

 

But Christ used erotao of His own requests of the Father showing that He was asking from equal ground, John 14:16; 16:26; 17:9,15,20.

 

The comparison of both words makes it clear that the believer who asks in prayer does so from a suppliant position [aiteo is always used].

 

But verse 5 isn’t a desire for them to pray, but a desire for them to ask a legitimate question about the meaning of His leaving and seating at the right hand of God - hence the intensification of the AC in the CA. It could be translated as “interrogates.”

 

And it is this victory that He is getting at, and wants to orient them to it as well as the fact that the kingdom isn’t coming just yet. If they had asked, and in so doing they would have shown their desire to orient to the program of God, Christ would have taught something like we find in Psa 110.

 

The psalm presents two pictures of Messiah from the past — His exaltation as King (vv. 1-3) and His consecration as Priest (v. 4) — and a third picture from the future, His victory over the enemies of God (vv. 5-7).

 

Ps 110:1 The Lord says to my Lord:

"Sit at My right hand,

Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet."

 

So important is this statement that it is repeated multiple times in the NT: Acts 2:33-34; 5:31; ROM 8:34; EPH 1:20,21; 4:10; COL 2:10; 3:1; Phil 2:9-11; HEB 1:3,13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22).

 

This is the statement of victory in the AC and this is what Jesus wishes the disciples would inquire about rather than why they’re going to be left all alone. They are immature and they have been taught enough doctrine not to be, but we are all like this.

 

We want things our way instead of God’s way and God has to break that self-will from us before we can enjoy the spoils of this victory.

 

Ps 110:2 The Lord will stretch forth Thy strong scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of Thine enemies."

 

Ps 110:3 Thy people will volunteer freely in the day of Thy power;

In holy array, from the womb of the dawn,

Thy youth are to Thee as the dew.

 

When the Son was exalted and enthroned at His ascension, the Father made three promises to him, that He would defeat His enemies (v. 1), extend His kingdom (v. 2), and give Him a victorious army (v. 3).

 

It is likely that this army in verse three is the Church since in Rev 19 we descend with Him to fight the enemies of God. Verse three says that they are in holy array - a word that means ornament, adornment, or glory - and we see the Church dressed in white in Rev 19, however, the Lord fights alone.  

 

Verse 4 describes Him as a priest.

 

A king, warrior and priest embodied in one man was unheard of in the OT. Jesus Christ is the only Unique One.

 

David has a throne and a priest forever. Jesus wasn’t qualified to be a priest since he was not born in the tribe of Levi, nor could He be a high priest since He was not born in Aaron’s line, yet He is qualified because He was born a king and a priest just like Melchizedek who is a type of Christ.

 

Ps 110:4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,

"Thou art a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek."

 

Therefore His throne at the right hand of God is forever and as our high priest He constantly interceded for us and we may always approach since it is a throne of grace.

 

HEB 4:14-15

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens [where are you going?], Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 

Because of His victory we have a glorious King and a sympathetic High Priest at the right hand of God forever.

 

Note that in verses 1-3, the key phrase is "I will," the Father speaking to the Son, but in verses 5-7, the key phrase is "he will," the psalmist speaking about the Son.

 

Now we have the victory of the priest King. So we would insert the Church-age between verses 4 and 5. The disciples are too self-absorbed to listen to any of this. That is why the Lord wished they had asked or interrogated Him concerning His session.

 

All of the "royal psalms" contain predictions about battles and victories for God's King (2:7-9,12; 18:16-19,31-34,37-42; 20:1-2,7-8; 21:8-12; 45:3-5; 61:3; 72:8-9; 89:22-23; 132:18).

 

The Lamb that was slaughtered is going to return as the roaring Lion and afterwards the Lion will lie down with the Lamb.

 

Ps 110:5 The Lord is at Thy right hand;

He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

 

Ps 110:6 He will judge among the nations,

He will fill them with corpses,

He will shatter the chief men [head -singular] over a broad country.

 

Ps 110:7 He will drink from the brook by the wayside;

Therefore He will lift up His head.

 

He will be refreshed with water after His victory and He will rule forever.

 

The message of this psalm would have been a good estimate of what Jesus would have taught them if they were ready to hear it.

 

Christ doesn’t get to teach this. It would have fallen on deaf ears since:

 

A believer cannot learn when he is self-absorbed. True learning occurs when the mental attitude is focused on God’s interests.

 

Matt 16:23

But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

 

Yet the change to these disciples over the next month, especially Peter, the one who asked Him where He was going only so that he could follow, was nothing less than dramatic and drastic.

 

Listen to the words of Peter in Jerusalem in the midst of all who wanted him dead as he spoke the message at Pentecost, the first day of the CA and the first day that any man, other than Christ Himself, was filled with the Spirit.

 

Acts 2:33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

 

Acts 2:34 "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:

'The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

 

Acts 2:35 Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet. "' 

 

Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ —  this Jesus whom you crucified."

 

Certainly the filling of the Spirit had a lot to do with this, but the F/HS is not productive without knowledge of doctrine. What happened to Peter from the night before the Lord’s death until this morning, 50 days after the Passover?

 

He cut of Malcus’ ear and was rebuked by Jesus. He fled. He denied He even knew Jesus after proclaiming for all the rest to hear that he would lay down his life for Jesus and on the third time he does so Jesus looks him straight in the eye. He wallows in self pity for three days. He runs to the empty tomb after he hears of the resurrection, but slows down on the way out of fear of seeing Jesus after his denial. Jesus appears to him and comforts him and reassures him that he must lead the others. Peter sees Jesus again on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and jumps into the water and swims to shore and spends some alone time with Jesus. When the rest pull in the boat and the net of fish they sit and eat and Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him three times in contrast to the denial three times. Peter took a crash course in grace and knowledge of doctrines of the strategic victory of Jesus Christ. Now couple that with the filling of the Spirit and Peter can now state loudly and confidently to thousands that Jesus is victorious and seated at the right hand of God as was prophesied by David a thousand years before.

 

Failure, confession, recovery through doctrine, and the filling of the Spirit gives tremendous confidence and loss of fear.