First, we see that when the Lord was living on earth in the flesh, He told His disciples that He would leave them, but the Comforter would come, and we discussed the matter of “remembering” Jesus’ words. Second, the Comforter is the Holy Spirit of truth, who comes to lead us into all truth and to glorify Jesus. Third, the Lord told His disciples that He must die and be resurrected from the dead, and then the disciples would turn from grief to joy. Finally, on that day, we will be able to ask the Father in the name of the Lord and receive. The Lord also promises to leave us His peace and emphasizes that He has overcome the world.
1. The promise that the Comforter will come only after He leaves
““These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”(John 16:1-11)
Regarding “they have not known the Father or Me,” the Bible clearly states, “…the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.”(John 9:22) Jesus also said, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father; …”(John 14:9) which means “I and the Father are one.”(John 10:30) How could they know the Father if they did not know Jesus? He had predicted long ago that the Jews would kill them because this was how the Jews thought they should serve God. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.”(John 13:16) Jesus was crucified and died, so how could the Jews not think of killing them?
He actually made many prophecies, and they would not be able to “remember” Jesus’ words until the time came. For example, Peter said in the case of Cornelius, “Then I remembered the word of the Lord, which he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. ‘”(Acts 11:16) Of course, there are many other examples of “remembering”, so I won’t go into details. In short, as we have discussed in the past, Christians need to look back to the past in order to truly know how God is working in them. We must know that, ““The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, …”(Deuteronomy 29:29) Many things were originally secret, and only when those things happened and became visible do we know God’s thoughts at the time! Therefore, looking back on the past is not to linger on the past, but to learn to know God’s thoughts. This is very important. Really don’t harden your heart. Even if you look back on the past, you might not believe or wrongly interpret what happened and continue to follow your old self and fail to see God’s will at that time!
For example, Jesus clearly stated this prophecy, “…if I do not go away, the Helper (the Spirit of truth, the Comforter) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”(John 16:7) At that time the Holy Spirit had not yet descended, and the disciples really did not know what He was saying. This was a prophecy, and only when the time came would they “remember” Jesus’ words. He did exactly what the verse says, “…These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”(John 16:4) He knew very well that His hour had come, darkness had taken over, and He could no longer be with them on the earth. (See Luke 22:53)
He was not demonstrating His prophetic power. He made His purpose clear at the beginning, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”(John 16:1) Satan does not have the ability to prophesy. If he could have foreseen what will happen, he would not have intervened in Jesus’ crucifixion and helped to accomplish the plan of salvation. At most, Satan’s predictions are like weather forecasts, which may be quite accurate in the near future but definitely not in the long term. But we have to admit that basically its predictions should be more accurate than ours because it has more information than we do.
Let’s look at another prophecy about the Holy Spirit. When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples, He said, “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”(Matthew 10:17-20) Luke says the same thing, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”(Luke 12:11-12) This was a prophecy, because nothing like this happened when the twelve were sent out. The point is that they don’t have to worry because the Holy Spirit will tell them what to say in that situation.
It is clearly stated here that when the Holy Spirit comes, people will blame themselves in three aspects. In terms of sin, it says, “…he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:18) We must believe. In terms of righteousness, He goes to the Father because He was resurrected, and “…was raised because of our justification.”(Romans 4:25) In terms of judgment, He became flesh and came into the world to accomplish salvation and judged Satan, the king of this world, giving us a chance to gain eternal life.
2. The Work of the Holy Spirit
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”(John 16:12-15)
He couldn’t tell them all! Even though He said it bluntly, “…the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”(Matthew 20:18-19) Until they see it actually happen, they won’t believe it! For example, the scripture says about their reaction, “And (the two disciples who went to Emmaus) they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really (G3689 , indeed) risen and has appeared to Simon.””(Luke 24:33-34) The word “indeed” is used here! Obviously, they believed it after seeing everything happen.
The Holy Spirit of truth is the Comforter (see John 14:16-17). He comes to lead us into all truth. The purpose of His coming was to glorify Jesus and to tell us everything He heard Jesus say, including some things that they could not bear at that time, as well as future things like in the Book of Revelation. One of the things at that time is, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”(Luke 12:11-12) The same is true today. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons in the Trinity. Before the creation of the world, the three persons were of equal dignity and honor, but during the incarnation, there was an order: the Father sent the Son (see John 16:5), and if the Son of Man Jesus had not gone, the Holy Spirit would not have come (see John 16:7). Obviously, Jesus mentioned it once more at the end, “I and the Father are one.”(John 10:30)
3. Resurrection will make grief into joy
““A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 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.” 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’? 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. 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. 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.”(John 16:16-22)
Regarding John 16:16-19, He had said something similar to this to the Jews early in His ministry, “Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.””(John 7:33-34) “So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.”(John 7:30) Now, He made it clear that the time for His crucifixion would come soon, and He also told His disciples that He would die and be resurrected. Even if He had told them the reason, “…because I go to the Father…”(John 16:17), they would not have understood because of their unbelief. Yes, they will weep and lament over His death, but the world will rejoice that there is a chance for them to get the eternal life since the plan of salvation was fulfilled. After they saw Jesus’ resurrection, their sorrow turned into joy, just as a woman turns sorrow into joy when she gives birth to a child. And no one could take away the disciples’ joy.
4. Overcoming and peace
“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 (G5479) may be made full. “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 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. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace (G1515). In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””(John 16:23-33)
He is one with the Father, so He is not alone. The only exception was that the Father temporarily left Him when He accomplished salvation on the cross, as recorded in the Scripture, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””(Matthew 27:46)
The Father and the Lord are one, so the Father would certainly promise to those who prayed in the name of the Lord and satisfy their joy. Some would take it out of context and say, “…if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”(John 16:23) It says that as long as we believe that this is a blank check, we will receive whatever we ask for. In fact, the Bible clearly states in other places under what circumstances we will definitely receive what we ask for. The scripture says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”(John 15:7) When we are one with Jesus, whatever we desire is what Jesus desires, and it will certainly be accomplished. I am not saying that without complete union with the Triune God, prayers will not be answered. He is an absolutely sovereign, omniscient and almighty God. He will choose the prayers that will be answered according to His own plan, and His plan will be hidden from us unless He lets us know some part of it before it is fulfilled.
When they become one with the Lord, the Lord’s thoughts will be their thoughts. Why would they still need to ask? Then the disciples said that He was speaking plainly and explained why they believed that He was from God. But as the faith from old self cannot last long, and it cannot persevere when things happen not in its way, as the scripture predicts here, and then it really happened as written. It was when Jesus was arrested that “And they all left Him and fled.”(Mark 14:50) If we read the scriptures in detail, we will know that Peter and John did not flee at that time. After Peter denied the Lord three times, “And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.”(Matthew 26:75) In the end, only John was left in front of the cross. As the scripture says, “When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple (John) whom He loved standing nearby (the cross), …”(John 19:26)
We have suffering in the world, but He has overcome the world, and He said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”(John 14:27) The joy and peace mentioned here are both characteristics of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As the scripture says, “But the fruit (G2590, singular) of the Spirit is love, joy (G5479), peace (G1515), patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”(Galatians 5:22-23) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
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