John 16

John 16:1

16:1 The disciples probably cherished the hope of the Jewish people generallythat the Messiah would set up His kingdom and that the power of Rome would be broken. Instead of that, the Lord told them that He was going to die, rise again, and go back to heaven. The Holy Spirit would come, and the disciples would go out as witnesses for Christ. They would be hated and persecuted. The Lord told them all this in advance so that they would not be disillusioned, made to stumble, or shocked. 16:2, 3 Excommunication from the synagogues was considered by most Jews to be one of the worst things that could happen. Yet this would happen to these Jews who were disciples of Jesus. The Christian faith would be so hated that those who sought to stamp it out would think they were pleasing God. This shows how a person may be very sincere, very zealous, and yet very wrong. Failure to recognize the deity of Christ lay at the root of the matter. The Jews would not receive Him, and in so doing, they refused to receive the Father. 16:4 Again the Lord warned the disciples in advance so they would not be moved by these afflictions when they happened. They would remember that the Lord had predicted persecution; they would know that it was all a part of His plan for their lives. The Lord had not told them much about this earlier because He was with them. There was no need to trouble them or to cause their minds to wander from the other things He had to teach them. But now that He was leaving them, He must tell them of the path that lay ahead for them.

John 16:5

S. The Coming of the Spirit of Truth (16:5-15) 16:5 Verse 5 seems to express disappointment that the disciples were not more interested in what was ahead for the Lord. Although they had asked in a general way where He was going, they had not seemed too involved. 16:6 They were more concerned with their own future than with His. Before Him lay the cross and the grave. Before them lay persecution in their service for Christ. They were filled with sorrow over their own troubles rather than over His. 16:7 Nevertheless, they would not be left without help and comfort. Christ would send the Holy Spirit to be their Helper. It was to the advantage of the disciples that the Helper should come. He would empower them, give them courage, teach them, and make Christ more real to them than He had ever been before. The Helper would not come until the Lord Jesus went back to heaven and was glorified. Of course, the Holy Spirit had been in the world before this, but He was coming in a new wayto convict the world and to minister to the redeemed. 16:8 The Holy Spirit would convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. This is generally taken to mean that He creates an inward awareness of these things in the life of the individual sinner. While this is true, it is not exactly the teaching in this portion. The Holy Spirit condemns the world by the very fact that He is here. He should not be here, because the Lord Jesus should be here, reigning over the world. But the world rejected Him, and He went back to heaven. The Holy Spirit is here in place of a rejected Christ, and this demonstrates the world’s guilt. 16:9 The Spirit convicts the world of the sin of failing to believe on Christ. He was worthy of belief. There was nothing about Him that made it impossible for men to believe on Him. But they refused. And the Holy Spirit’s presence in the world is witness to their crime. 16:10 The Savior claimed to be righteous, but men said He had a demon. God spoke the final word. He said, in effect, My Son is righteous, and I will prove it by raising Him from the dead and taking Him back to heaven. The Holy Spirit witnesses to the fact that Christ was right and the world was wrong. 16:11 The presence of the Holy Spirit also convicts the world of coming judgment. The fact that He is here means that the devil has already been condemned at the cross and that all who refuse the Savior will share his awful judgment in a day yet future. 16:12 There were still … many other things the Lord had to tell the disciples, but they could not take them in. This is an important principle of teaching. There must be a certain progress in learning before advanced truths can be received. The Lord never overwhelmed His disciples with teaching. He gave it to them line upon line, precept upon precept.16:13 The work which the Lord began was to be continued by the Spirit of truth. He would guide them into all truth.

There is a sense in which all truth was committed to the apostles in their lifetime. They, in turn, committed it to writing, and we have it today in our NT. This, added to the OT, completed God’s written revelation to man. But it is, of course, true in all ages that the Spirit guides God’s people into all the truth. He does it through the Scriptures. He will only speak the things that are given to Him to say by the Father and the Son.

He will tell you things to come. This, of course, is done in the NT, and particularly in the book of Revelation where the future is unveiled. 16:14 His principal work will be to glorify Christ. By this we can test all teaching and preaching. If it has the effect of magnifying the Savior, then it is of the Holy Spirit. He will take of what is Mine means that He will receive of the great truths that concern Christ. These are the things He reveals to believers. The subject can never be exhausted! 16:15 All the attributes of the Father belong to the Son as well. It is these perfections that Christ was speaking of in verse 14. The Spirit unveiled to the apostles the glorious perfections, ministries, offices, graces, and fullness of the Lord Jesus.

John 16:16

T. Sorrow Turned to Joy (16:16-22) 16:16 The precise time-frame of verse 16 is uncertain. It may mean the Lord would be away from them for three days, and then He would reappear to them after His resurrection. It may mean He would go back to His Father in heaven, and then after a little while (the present Age), He would come back to them (His Second Coming). Or it may mean that for a little while they would not see Him with their physical eyes, but after the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, they would perceive Him by faith in a way they had never seen Him before. 16:17 His disciples were confused. The reason for the confusion was that in verse 10, the Savior had said, I go to My Father and you see Me no more. Now He said, A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me. They could not reconcile these statements. 16:18 They asked each other the meaning of the words a little while. Strangely enough, we have the same problem today. We do not know whether it refers to the three days before His resurrection, the forty days before Pentecost, or the more than 1900 years prior to His Coming again! 16:19, 20 Being God, the Lord Jesus was able to read their thoughts. By His questions, He revealed His full knowledge of their perplexity. He did not answer their problem directly but gave further information concerning the little while. The world would rejoice because they had succeeded in crucifying the Lord Jesus, but the disciples would weep and lament. But it would only be for a short while. Their sorrow would be turned into joy, and it wasfirst by the resurrection, and secondly by the coming of the Spirit. Then, for all disciples of all ages, grief will be turned to rejoicing when the Lord Jesus comes back again. 16:21 Nothing is more remarkable than the speed with which a mother forgets the labor pains after her child is born. So it would be with the disciples. The sorrow connected with the absence of their Lord would be quickly forgotten when they would see Him again. 16:22 Again we must express ignorance as to the time indicated by the Lord’s words, I will see you again. Does this refer to His resurrection, His sending of the Spirit at Pentecost, or His Second Advent? In all three cases, the result is rejoicing, and a joy that cannot be taken away.

John 16:23

U. Praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name (16:23-28) 16:23 Up to now, the disciples had come to the Lord with all their questions and requests. In that day (the age ushered in by the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost), He would no longer be with them bodily, so they would no longer be asking Him questions. But did that mean that they would have no one to whom to go? No, in that day it would be their privilege to ask the Father. He would grant their requests for Jesus’ sake. Requests will be granted, not because we are worthy, but because the Lord Jesus is worthy. 16:24 Prior to this, the disciples had never prayed to God the Father in the Lord’s name. Now they were invited to ask. Through answered prayer, their joy would be fulfilled. 16:25 The meaning of much of the Lord’s teaching was not always apparent on the surface. He used parables and figurative language. Even in this chapter we cannot always be sure of the precise meaning. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the teaching about the Father became more plain. In Acts and the Epistles the truth is no longer revealed through parables but through direct statements. 16:26 That day again is the Age of the Holy Spirit, in which we now live. Our privilege is to pray to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you, that is, the Father does not need to be urged to answer our prayers. The Lord will not have to entreat Him. But we should still remember that the Lord Jesus is the Mediator between God and man, and He does intercede on behalf of His people before the throne of God. 16:27 The Father loved the disciples because they had received Christ and loved Him and believed in His deity. This is the reason why the Lord did not have to plead with the Father. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would enjoy a new sense of intimacy with the Father. They would be able to approach Him with confidence, and all because they loved His Son. 16:28 Here the Lord repeated His claim to equality with God the Father. He did not say I came forth from God as if He were just a Prophet sent by God, but I came forth from the Father. This means He is the eternal Son of the eternal Father, equal with God the Father. He came into the world as One who had lived elsewhere before His Coming. At His Ascension, He left the world and returned to the Father. This is a brief biographical account of the Lord of glory.

John 16:29

V. Tribulation and Peace (16:29-33) 16:29, 30 His disciples thought that they were now able to understand Him for the first time. He was no longer using figurative language, they said. They thought that they now entered into the mystery of His Person. Now they were sure that He had all-knowledge and that He came forth from God. But He had said that He came forth from the Father. Did they understand the meaning of this? Did they understand that Jesus was one of the Persons of the Godhead? 16:31 Jesus suggested by this question that their belief was still imperfect. He knew they loved and trusted Him, but did they really know that He was God manifest in the flesh? 16:32 In a short while He would be arrested, tried, and crucified. The disciples would all forsake Him and flee to their homes. But He would not be deserted because the Father would be with Him. It was this union with God the Father that they did not understand. This was the thing that would support Him when they had all escaped for their lives. 16:33 The purpose of this discourse with the disciples was that they might have peace. When they would be hated, pursued, persecuted, falsely condemned, and even tortured, they could have peace in Him. He overcame the world at the cross of Calvary. In spite of their tribulations, they could rest assured that they were on the winning side. Also, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would have new powers of endurance and new courage to face the foe.