SORROW WILL TURN TO JOY.
John 16:16-22.
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).
