John 16:16-23
16 “A little while, and you will no longer
see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 17 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’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little
while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 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’? 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. 21 “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. 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. 23 “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. 24 “Until now you have
asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be
made full.
As Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for His impending
ascension into heaven, He turns to the subject of His return from heaven. Jesus promises to return for His own. This is the promise of Christ that gives all
of us hope for the future. No matter how
difficult things may become, we know that Jesus is coming back. The return of Christ is one of the most
controversial subjects in theology.
There is much debate surrounding when He will return, how He will return
and why He will return. But, now matter
how one answers those questions, there is one thing we all agree on, and that
is the truth that He will return. I find
it interesting that Jesus does very little to answer the debates concerning His
return. Perhaps, it would be wise for us
to emphasize what He did reveal about His return.
THE RETURN OF CHRIST PROVOKES QUESTIONS: Jesus describes the
time between His ascension into heaven and His return as “a little while.” He also describes the time between His
speaking to them and His ascension with the same expression. Even as we read this text today, it is
difficult to understand what Jesus is saying in this passage. Is He referring to His death and
resurrection? Is He refereeing to His
ascension and second coming? These are the
questions the disciples are asking. It
seems most likely that He is referring to His second coming because He says
that He is going to the Father. The
timing of the return of Christ is something we cannot know. All who have tried to predict this event have
been made to look very foolish. This is
a mystery that has not been revealed to us.
What we do know, is that in light of eternity, it will only be “a little
while.” God’s view of time and our
experience of time is vastly different.
Most of our questions and doubts about the return are more easily
understood when we remember that time looks very different to God than it does
to us.
THE RETURN OF CHRIST PROVIDES JOY IN GRIEF: Our lives on earth are so short when compared
to eternity. The suffering we may face
in this life will pass quickly. It is
easy for us to complain and worry about the circumstances of life. There are times we hurt so badly that we cannot
fathom what God might be doing. It is
important for us to remember that God’s perspective is much different than
ours. He can see the implications of our
suffering on a global scale and knows how He wants to use it for His
glory. We could compare it to the vaccination
of children. We are willing to inflict a
short time of intense pain for a life without disease. Our suffering in the world is short in
comparison to an eternity with Christ.
THE RETURN OF CHRIST PROMOTES PRAYER: Since the Lord is with
the Father, we pray in His name. The
means by which our joy is made full is through prayer. We have a Savior that intercedes for us in
heaven and He delights is granting us the requests that we make in His
name. Praying “in His name” is not a magic
phrase that we add on to the end of prayers like abracadabra. It means that we are praying according to His
will and in favor of His mission. Jesus
is not saying that the Father is obligated to grant everything we ask for
through selfish motives and desires. As
imperfect and weak disciples, we struggle in our efforts to follow Jesus. The only source of true and lasting joy is
found in following Jesus. If we will
seek the Lord through prayer in our times of weakness and humble ourselves through
prayer in the times we feel strong; the Father will delight in giving us the
ability to live for the glory of Jesus. True
joy in our walk with God is found in following Jesus in dependence on Jesus for
glory of Jesus.
APPLICATION: As we wait for the Lord’s return, we will have
many unanswered questions about life, death, suffering and God’s
sovereignty. Don’t expect all those
questions to be answered on this side of eternity. Rather, trust the Lord and know that all our
sorrows today will become eternal joy upon His return. Our understanding of all these questions will
be perfected on that day. Rest in that
promise instead of doubting in our present state of confusion. As we wait seek to fulfill the will of the
Lord in all we do and cry out to the Father in prayer to be able to persevere
in this broken world in which we live.
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