Gospel of John [16:16-24]. The Session - in My name. Joh 14:12-14; 28-29.

Title: Gospel of John [16:16-24]. The Session - "in My name." JOH 14:12-14; 28-29.

 

 

JOH 16:16 "A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."

 

JOH 16:17 Some of His disciples therefore said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?" 

 

JOH 16:18 And so they were saying, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about."

 

JOH 16:19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not behold Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?

 

JOH 16:20 "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep [loud weeping] and lament [weep in mourning], but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy.

 

 

The source of the disciple's weeping and mourning:

 

1. It was the loss of His personal presence. They felt that they would be sheep without a shepherd: orphans bereft of their best friend and helper.

 

What would you think if your best earthly friend was hurried away from you by a shameful death?

 

2. The world would be rejoicing because their Lord was gone. How bitter is the course laugh of an adversary that exults over your misery.

 

When already miserable it is grating like fingernails on a chalkboard to have your adversary laugh and celebrate your loss. Your tears seem to nourish these evil people. The Pharisees, Saducees, and scribes rejoiced and the KOD had no less rejoicing until they had seen Him risen, then their rejoicing was turned to anger and bitterness.

 

3. His death was for a time the disappointment of all their hopes. They at first had fondly looked for a temporal kingdom.

 

How can they be happy who have seen an end of their fairest life-dream? This is such an important principle to make a part of our very core. God's purpose seldom progresses the way that we envisioned it would. We may believe in the victory of life but the outworking of that deliverance usually does not proceed the way that we imagined it would and then disappointment envelopes the soul.

 

Had or has Israel envisioned this deliverance in the way that it will come? Yet it will come when our Lord comes.

 

4. Added to this was the sight which many of them had of their beloved Master in His agonies.

 

The world rejoiced over the death of Christ as a seeming defeat. And it's not like Christianity has been taken seriously in the world by anyone other than Christians. The world still rejoices over His death in that all that was said about its end and His return hasn't occurred and so much time has gone by since His death that it can hardly be taken seriously by the world. Man continues to plan and scheme as if He isn't going to return. They believe that they will evolve into even better creatures and fool themselves into thinking that they can make earth their own paradise of peace and safety. It's only a matter of time and the Father is patient so that many more sons will come to glory. He is not in time so it's not like He's taking a long time. He is calling out a family and fulfilling His promises to Abraham and his seed. Nothing will stop it.

 

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JOH 16:20 "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep [loud weeping] and lament [weep in mourning], but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy.

 

"will be turned" - gim,nomai[ginomai] - to become. Their sorrow isn't exchanged for joy but is transmuted into joy. This isn't substitution by transformation.

 

His illustration of birth pangs is, of course, perfect. They are always temporary and they are turned to joy when the child is born. The condition of pregnancy and pain are changed but not the circumstance as a whole. Christ has taken every curse and turned it into a blessing. When our faith is mixed with the reality of what He has finished then our birth pangs become the joy of a new-born child.

 

Perhaps you have had to bear a little persecution, hard words, and the cold shoulder. Do not fret, for all this is needful to make you have fellowship with Christ's sufferings that you may know more of Him, and may become more like Him.

 

You sometimes see the cause of Christ as it were dead, which was the experience of the disciples for the three days after His death. They were grieved and sometimes we are grieved. But every time the plan and purpose of God seems to rise again before our eyes and our sorrow is turned to joy. I think that in our fallen state, if we were to see the purpose of God to always reign in everything around us, we would get used to it and just take it for granted. When it seems to be gone and then appears like a surprise occasion we see its power and do not take it for granted.

 

JOH 16:21 "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world.

 

JOH 16:22 "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you.

 

As we have already noted, He is referencing His seeing them in heaven, however His resurrection appearance to them gave them great joy that would help their faith in their future and eternal presence with Him and so they had joy in time in the real hope of being with Him forever.

 

JOH 16:23 "And in that day you will ask Me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name.

 

The Father truly gives whatever is asked. We ask for things that we think will fulfill us or make us happy and God grants the request. However, that particular thing might not be the ticket to happiness and so He gives something else with happiness as the end goal. We may reject the "something else" and continue to pursue our idea of what will bring happiness. We must accept whatever is given graciously by God with thanksgiving.

 

Another thing that we often miss is the timing of the thing given. God answers all requests and if happiness is the intent, we'll use again as an example, then God will set into motion the things that will fulfill but it might take 5 or 10 years to accomplish it. In every prayer there is a desire and if something in particular is asked for, even something very specific, there is still a desire behind it.

 

We must have confidence that the Father will give all things asked for in Christ's name, and we must be willing to accept them in His way and His timing.

 

There is always the question of asking for something immediate, like a healing, success in a medical procedure, financial trouble, reconciliation of a relationship, etc. We find that sometimes it would seem that God said no to the request, but we have to ask ourselves if we know all the facts of what God did, allowed, altered, and for what reason? In these things we stand at the threshold of the infinite and admit that there are some things that we just don't know.