John 16:16-24
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“A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
In the first part of this sentence, Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death.
A little while, and you will no longer see me.
They will see Jesus be arrested.
They will see Jesus be beaten.
They will see him be mocked.
They will see him spat upon.
They will see him nailed to a cross, and hung up between two godless men.
They will see him die.
and then he will be taken away from them.
the time he is referencing here that they no longer will see him is the 3 day period where Jesus will be residing in the borrowed tomb of Jospeh of Aramethea.
There he will be sealed up. Guards placed at the tomb for “security” so that no one steals his body.
So in a very literal sense, a little while longer and they will not see him.
But he goes on...
But then, he prophecies that a little while longer and they will see him.
He prophecies that again.. a little while longer and they will see him.
e prophecies that a little while longer and they will see him.
I love this, and you should too.
That Christ is confident in THIS moment tells us a lot about him.
it shows us that he knows what is about to happen to him.
It shows that despite what everyone else may think, the crucifixion is not the end of the story, and Jesus knows this.
But His disciples don’t.
They don’t get it. Why should they at this point? This doesn’t make any sense at this point.
Look at what they say:
Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”
In other words, what are you talking about.
It seems to them that He is talking out of two sides of his mouth.
he saying you won’t see me and now they will see him.
Which is it?
What are you talking about?
A little while?
We don’t get it.
They are honestly trying to figure this thing out.
And here we see a couple of things about the disciples that we should take note of, because these are characteristics of us as well.
They don’t know everything. And they fail to trust the one who knows all things.
They don’t hold the future. They fail to entrust theirs to the one who does.
They don’t realize that what awaits them is best. They can’t understand why bad must happen to give them the best.
And these same characteristics are applicable to us.
We don’t know everything. The sooner we realize who does and begin trusting in him the better.
We don’t hold the future. You can’t guarantee a thing. We think we can.And wisely, we do try to insure, invest, plan, but realize there is one who holds you in His hand and it is not Allstate.
We don’t realize that what awaits us is best. We cling to this world with all we have because we think we have true joy here, when Paul says to live is Christ and to die is gain.
At times, we are just like these disciples, we don’t get it. I invite you to listen to the Words of the Sovereign Savior.
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 see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
Just as he knows the future, he knows whats on their minds. He knows whats on your mind.
And because he loves them, and he understands their angst and frustration, he seeks to encourage them despite their lack of knowledge.
He desires their faithfulness. He wants their trust. He speaks vaguely here about the details, but he assures them of the result. The question is: Will they trust Him with the result even if he doesn’t give them the details?
Will you?
Will you trust Christ with he result of your life and live faithfully to Him no matter what happens, good or bad?
Will you trust that he knows? Will you trust that he holds the future? Will you trust that he knows whats best?
This means surrendering to his knowledge . This means surrendering to His control. This means surrendering what you think is best and trusting in the good pleasure of His will toward you despite circumstances that may not be immediately desirable.
Look what he says in verse 20
“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
You will weep and lament.
You are about to go through the most difficult time of your life.
it will be miserable.
And while you are weeping, the world will rejoice.
He’s speaking of His death.
The death of Christ was a miserable time for the disciples, and while they wept because he wasn’t there with them any more, the world around them rejoiced at His absence.
During times like this, it is obvious to spot who are His.
for three years the crowd had followed Him, now that same crowd rejoices that He is gone.
I’m reminded of the past few weeks, where in New York, they voted for abortion to be available up to the baby’s birth for health reasons. An entire chamber of law makers clapped and rejoiced that they could continue and even further the Satanic act of abortion. Here is where I should remind you of Jesus’s words here. While we weep, the world rejoices at evil.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there.
He goes on in verse 20.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 16
you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
σύ
the disciples would grieve the death of Christ. This was their friend, their brother, their teacher and their God.
But on the third day, the resurrection of Christ assures them of their joy.
In fact, it transforms their grief into joy.
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
The morning of the resurrection for the disciples turned their grief into joy.
Grief and weeping for them was momentary.
The resurrection for the believer gives hope beyond the griefs and anguishes of this life.
In death, though we weep for a moment, we have eternal joy knowing that death is defeated and swallowed by Christ.
In sickness, we grief and we writhe with pain, but there is joy to be had in Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:4:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
This is where we apply the resurrection our own lives and to our world.
Your pain, Your grief, your heartache, will turn into joy because the resurrection of Christ.
The world’s rejoicing will one day silenced.
Those who scream cheer evil and rejoice over the spread and advancement of evil in this world will one day be judged in a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Their joy will turn into weeping.
But for the believer, Our weeping will turn into joy.
How? Because of the Savior who lives.
He compares this to a woman in labor.
“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.
This metaphor highlights the reality of intense suffering before the reward and the relief and the joy that comes when the baby is born.
All this to say:
There will be grief in this life.
This grief is momentary
There is a Savior who guarantees victory over it.
We mentioned this earlier.
He knows it.
He holds it together.
He knows what’s best.
And the joy he gives is unending joy.
The world cannot remove it from the genuine believer.
You say, “Im having a hard time finding joy in this world.”
You should be having a hard time. Joy is not found in the world. It is only found in Christ.
look in verse 22
“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
Look what produces the rejoicing.
Christ. And their seeing him produces rejoicing.
Yes they are grieved, but when they see him again after not having seen him for 2 days, they will now see Jesus not as one who has been defeated by death, but as the slain Lamb that stands and the conquering Lion of Revelation 5..
When they see Him:
He will have pleased the Father through His sacrifice.
He will have done ALL that is necessary to fulfill the righteous requirement of God.
He will conquered sin and death, and thereby have guaranteed their victory over it if they believe in him.
This is what causes their weeping to turn into joy and to never leave no matter what the world could do to them.
It isn’t that Jesus being alive now frees their lives of any pain or hardship. These men were tortured. They were killed for following Christ.
What it does mean is that now they will know, that this world cannot keep me down, because it couldn’t my Savior down.
When they see Christ after his resurrection,
They now
They will rejoice at the fact that they don’t know everything.
They will rejoice at the fact that they don’t control all thing.
They will understand that Jesus controls all things and will give them victory over the most undesirable circumstances.
They see all this when they see and understand the resurrected Christ for who He is.
I invite you to look upon the resurrected Christ today. The one who knows all, holds all, and gives us victory over all.
See him, trust in Him. Look at the promise if you do.
“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
On that day, all questions are answered.
The disciples will know.
Their joy will be full so long as they seek and receive all that Christ is.
