SORROW WILL TURN TO FULLNESS OF JOY.
John 16:16-24.
JOHN 16:16a. The sense of John 16:16 seems to be “A little while and ye do not behold Me…” This refers to the fact that within hours Jesus would be arrested, tried, crucified, and buried.
JOHN 16:16b. “again a little while, and ye shall see me” brings us to His resurrection, three days later.
JOHN 16:16c. “because I go to the Father” points forward to the ascension of Jesus. For forty days between His resurrection and ascension, Jesus conversed with His disciples. Then they would have assurance that He was well, and that He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them.
Thus in this one verse Jesus taught that He must die, that He must rise again, and that He will ascend to the Father.
Taking a wider view of the same verse, we might observe that the ascension took away once more the physical presence of Jesus. We do not “see” Him now with our physical eyes, but we do “behold” Him with the eyes of faith. We have the spiritual presence of Jesus ever abiding with us (cf. Matthew 28:20).
This is the age of the Spirit, the age of the Church, in which we are awaiting His physical return to gather His own to Himself. ‘And so shall we be ever with the Lord’ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17).
JOHN 16:17-19. We can be sure that, in all our discussions between ourselves, that Jesus is listening in. Thus He knew the perplexity of His disciples at His reference to “a little while” and His “going to the Father.” The same questions are being asked today, as we await His return: when is He coming back? How soon will be His soon-coming?
JOHN 16:20-22. Such inquiries as to times and seasons our Lord does not address. Rather He talks of our sorrow, and the joy that shall replace it when He shall see us again. “Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:22).
JOHN 16:23a. “And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing.” In John 16:19, Jesus had known that “they were desirous to ask Him” about what He had just said. Now he assures us that at His second coming we won’t need to ask Him such things, because we would be ‘no longer seeing through a glass darkly, but face to face; no longer knowing in part, but now knowing, even as we are known’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12).
JOHN 16:23b. “Verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.”
There are two entirely different words translated as “ask” in the two halves of this verse. Jesus has changed the subject from asking questions to asking in prayer.
If we ask the Father in the name of the Son, then our petitions will be in keeping with what we know to be His will. Which guarantees the response: “He will give it you.”
JOHN 16:24a. “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name.” This gives us permission to channel our petitions through the mediation of Jesus the Messiah.
JOHN 16:24b. “ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” That your joy may be filled up, or fulfilled. Amen.
