2 weeks ago as I sat in the office of my lawyer, he showed me a photocopy of a handwritten letter from Abraham Lincoln that was written to my lawyer’s great-great uncle. The uncle happened to be the president of the University of Pennsylvania at that time. He was involved in writing a pamphlet on the furtherance of this country. Lincoln commended the man for the pamphlet and thanked him for his great insight into the betterment of this country. What a privilege it was to see the actual handwriting of one of our greatest presidents.
When he was in his thirties, Abraham Lincoln went through some dark days. Instead of the personal and professional success he had hoped for, he was facing financial struggles. According to some, he even broke off a romantic relationship because of those difficulties.
On January 23rd, 1841, Lincoln wrote this to a friend, “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, it appears to me.” No doubt Lincoln would have said in 1841 that he had faced the hardest thing of his life, but within 20 years, he would confront the far more difficult days of leading a divided country at war.
We, too, can look back to hard days that we've experienced, but we don't know what lies ahead. How do we know what suffering is coming our way? We don't. But as we will see in John's writing and in Jesus's words, Jesus has already secured victory for us, no matter what we face. How privileged we are to have a Savior who has won the war for us. Prayer.
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Listen to this testimony of a young father. He says, “My wife has given birth twice, and I'd say witnessing a baby coming into the world might be the scariest thing I've ever seen. Both births were near death experiences for her. Both times, the tears of fear and pain turned into tears of joy. So, yes, witnessing a baby coming to the world might be the scariest thing I've ever seen, but it was also the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The concern, terror, and pain were replaced with the joy of new life.”
Jesus painted a similar picture for His disciples in John 16. He had told them he was leaving, but they had every reason to be joyful because of the victory He had won. Let's look at what Jesus said.
John 16: 19-22 - Jesus knew that they wanted to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you are not going to see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy!
**********21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one is going to take your joy away from you.
Jesus had told His disciples on multiple occasions that He would face death in Jerusalem, but they didn't understand what it would entail or what it would accomplish. Jesus was clear on one thing. His death would be painful for them. His death would break their hearts. But with Jesus, resurrection follows crucifixion. Reunion follows separation. Joy follows sorrow.
And that is the Gospel. Jesus’ joy was taken from Him so that our joy never can be taken from us. He was taken from His followers so His followers couldn't be taken from Him. He did the painful work so that we could be born to new life and so that our sorrow could turn to joy. What a mighty God we serve!
There's no doubt that for all of us, the death of Jesus must be sad. Not only was His death an awful brutal injustice, but we are the ones to blame. The prophet Isaiah said it this way
Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.”
For those who understand it, the cross represents sadness and pain. But thankfully, the cross was not the end of the story. The cross leads to new life. Look again what Jesus says.
John 16:19 - "in a little while, you will no longer see me; again in a little while, you will see me."
John 16:20 - "you will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy."
John 16:22 - "so you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again."
Can you see the hope that Jesus was giving his disciples? The disciples were not left without hope. And neither are we. And when we put our hope in Jesus, a change comes into our heart and into our minds.
John 16:27-28 – “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Christianity points us to the reality of two truths. 1. Jesus is from God, and 2. Jesus is in the world. If Jesus isn't God's son, then He has nothing to offer humanity. And let's face it, we all need to be able to escape God's judgment. If Jesus isn't the rescuer from God’s judgment, then He doesn't have the ability to die in our place and He doesn't have the power to rise from the dead. Jesus’ claim to be from the Father is no small thing.
In the same way, Jesus has to be in the world. If Jesus is from the Father but did not come into the world, he couldn't help us. If Jesus had not put on flesh and dwelt among us, though He has the power to cancel our sin, it would never be canceled. All of our hope rests in these two truths.
I have mentioned this before. John began his gospel with the incredible truth about Jesus. He said that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus now states that truth very clearly to his disciples. He said, I came from the Father and have come into the world.
But Jesus isn't through. He continued and said, again, “I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” Jesus’ return to God the Father gives us comfort for a number of reasons. One big comfort is the promise of heaven. Earlier, Jesus told His disciples He would be preparing a place for them. Jesus prepared a place for us through His work on the cross. His resurrection ensures we can have eternal life, and He will return to take us to our eternal home with Him. What a promise! What a Savior!
John 16:29-30 – “His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and are not using any figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and that You have no need for anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came forth from God.”
I hope that you can see that we needed Jesus to return to the Father and here is why. Earlier, Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit after he returned to His Father.
John 16:7 – “But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
And here is the most amazing thing. While on earth, Jesus could only be with those disciples who were physically in His presence, but the Holy Spirit would be in the heart of every believer wherever they are.
When Jesus returned to the Father, He began a new work on behalf of His people. Seated at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus intercedes for us. The writer of Hebrews said it like this:
Hebrews 7:25 – “Therefore He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Finally, Jesus returned to the Father to reign forever. Everything about our victory and how we live it out is because Jesus is from the Father and has returned to Him.
John 16:31-32 - Jesus replied to them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
I don't have any idea why you may need a conqueror at this specific moment, but I'm sure that you do. We all do. In a moment in verse 33 Jesus says, you will have suffering in this world. Jesus is telling us that in this world you will lose jobs. You will get cancer in this world. You will break bones, break promises, find new worries, and lose old friends. Suffering happens.
We all know that Jesus Himself was not immune to suffering. Even as He spoke these words, He was moments away from taking on the role of the suffering servant for our sake. Jesus faced suffering. He was abandoned by His disciples, His closest friends at the time of His arrest, but Jesus remained strong because the Father was with Him.
Think for a moment. Do you know someone that is suffering right now? It may be an illness, the loss of a loved one, or something along that line but you know someone that is suffering. The best thing you can give that person right now is a call or send a message encouraging them reminding them of the peace and the victory available to us all in Jesus Christ.
John 16:33 – “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
I have conquered the world. Jesus didn't say “maybe” or “hopefully.” He spoke very confidently as the Creator of the universe who knew it was impossible not to finish the job. Jesus is the conqueror of the world. If you have a relationship with God through Christ, he's your conqueror.
Jesus lived the perfect life, and it has meaning for us. He died a saving death for us. Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death itself, and He says to us, my victory is yours. We are conquerors because He is. We can have peace and live with courage because our victory is in Christ. Jesus won the battle. And now He says, “My victory is yours.”
I read a little story that goes along with what I'm trying to say. I'll close with this story. A man says, “My sister is a fantastic baker. What she bakes is both delicious and gorgeous. She recently sent a photo of a colorful cake made to look like a dog. The design was fun. The detail was amazing. I thought it was just another culinary show-and-tell from my gifted sister, but it turns out that this was a cake my nine-year-old niece made for a baking competition at her school. Parents were supposed to help, which explains why this cake looked ready for a magazine cover.”
That story makes me think of what Jesus said in verse 33. In this world we face suffering. We will have problems too big for us. We face pain too great for us to endure. We fight battles we don't know how to fight nor how to win. But Jesus knows.
He knows exactly what to do. That cake was the niece's cake, but her mom knew exactly what to do so that her daughter would succeed.
Can you see it? That's what Jesus does for us. He gives us the victory. Jesus can't lose and He says to us, “You can have my work and victory. Here, my child, you can take my masterpiece. It is yours.”
Jesus is telling us today that no matter what trial you may be going through at this moment, no matter how much you might be suffering from something that's going on in your life, no matter what tragedy is going on in this world right now, Jesus has overcome the world. He is our conqueror. He has won the battle. The victory is His and He hands it to us. I pray that you know Christ as your personal Savior so that you too can have this same victory.
