Jesus continues His intensive final night of teaching with His disciples. He has already told them He is going away but what that really means is not clear yet to them. In part, that is because a plan of Salvation mediated by the death of the Messiah – and that death on a cross – was an idea so preposterous that it could hardly fit in their minds. For that very reason, that lack of clarity was also, partly, on purpose: Jesus knew they couldn’t “take it” just yet.

Jesus already told His disciples in Chapter 13 that they – His closest friends – would not see Him again. (To say that to the Pharisees is one thing… but now He includes them also in that mysterious statement.)  In Chapter 14 He spelled out that He is going to the Father (He had hinted at that as early as chapter 6). But here in 14, He does it more plainly and adds that they know the way He is going. That, is an interesting additional piece of information: Because it means that the way they will experience His absence will indeed be different from the way everybody else experiences it. The world may be confused by the mystery of it, but not the disciples. (And yet, you remember one of them saying, “how do we know the way?”)

Then Jesus added that even though He is leaving, He will come back for them; that He will prepare a place for them to be with Him; thus further distinguishing their future from the future of the world.

In Chapter 15 He expanded on that revelation by talking about what their lives will be like when He is gone. He tells them that they will be persecuted the way He has been persecuted. Now, that seems to me to be the opposite of what they (or you and I) would want to hear. If my Master is going, leaving me behind, I would want Him to give me hope and comfort. But the only hope He is offering me is in the Father’s realm – that is, after this life. For this life, He is not offering me hope or comfort but rather persecution!

Seems almost cruel. But as I have said before: Truth in advertising. Jesus did not come to offer us hope, comfort, happiness, for a life in this world. If that had been His mission, why did He have to die like a criminal to fulfil it?

Hope, comfort, happiness, are things we can experience in this world but not as the world does and certainly not from the same sources the world derives them from. Our source is the Holy Spirit.

That is why throughout this discourse, Jesus keeps bringing up the Holy Spirit as the means by which His absence will not leave the disciples abandoned… He, the Spirit, will comfort them, teach them, and be within them in a way that Jesus’ presence could not be with them…

Think about it: Jesus, the physical Jesus that they knew in this world, would be taken away from them… But the presence of Jesus in them, through the Holy Spirit, can never be taken away.

In other words, Jesus’ Presence in their lives, through the Holy Spirit, is going to be infinitely more complete and permanent than the Presence they have gotten accustomed to, these 3 and a half years.

And that is the relationship they will need once He is no longer visible to their human senses.

In fact, that humanly felt presence was, in a way, counterproductive because it was mediated through the realities of this world (the senses we use in this world). Jesus is trying to get them to understand that they can wean themselves from depending on the evidences of those senses, and from the ways of thinking of this world, in their relationship with the Father. Instead, He wants them to start exercising their spiritual senses, living in the spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God, and then they will be equipped to do the work He is calling them to do.

And so, the bottom line as we close Chapter 15, turns out to bring us full circle to the Sermon on the Mount: There are two kingdoms, and they are mutually exclusive. As He promised in the beatitudes: in the kingdom of the world, His disciples will be persecuted. They need to take that to heart, now! Because the end is about to hit them, and it could overwhelm them if they are not prepared:

John 16:1 These things I have spoken unto you that ye may not be offended.

The offense, as we have said before, is the enemy of Faith. Faith is trusting God’s plan, no matter what happens. The offense is our natural reaction when we decide we don’t like the consequences of God’s plan. Faith says we follow Him, no matter what happens. The offense says, “Why does it have to be this way? I can think of a better way…”

The reality of the enmity between the kingdoms

Jesus needs them to understand that what He is telling them is not allegorical, that this danger of losing Faith, of tripping over the stumbling stone of offense and falling away completely, is all too real:

John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues; but the hour is coming that every one who kills you will think to render service to God;

The danger is all too real and utterly disheartening… because sometimes we harbor the illusion that the people of the world, though not believers, surely can reason, surely can recognize right from wrong… and that, surely, we can appeal to their better nature. But Jesus is saying: Don’t count on it. Maybe some can be reasoned with; but don’t place your hope on that because, ultimately, the kingdom of this world and its citizens are enemies of the kingdom of God.

Think about that last phrase in verse 2… Our enemies will be convinced – they will justify their actions – by swearing that they are doing God’s work. That word translated service in that verse is used for “priestly service”, like the holy rituals that the priests performed at the Temple, which by definition pleased God.

It is everything turned upside down: calling good evil and evil good. And the rest of the world will agree with them and cheer them on… and you, the disciple, persecuted, cast down, maybe even destroyed, will be held up as being the malefactor… rightly deserving all the evil thrown at you.

John 16:3 and these things they will do because they have not known the Father nor me.

Can you imagine how lonely this could get? To be denied even vindication… That trial could be enough to make the strongest one of us doubt, maybe even be offended at God’s cruelty for putting us through such injustice…

Until we remember that that is exactly what happened to Him.

John 16:4 But I have spoken these things to you, that when their hour shall have come, ye may remember them, that I have said [them] unto you. But I did not say these things unto you from [the] beginning, because I was with you.

So, He is forewarning us. In fact He is prophesying it, so that when these things happen, we don’t think God made a mistake, or that He forgot about us, or that we heard wrongly what we thought was His voice, and, so, made the wrong decisions; and that this injustice is all our fault. That much is clear… but how He ends that verse is a little puzzling.

On the one hand it seems to be saying that He knew that our Faith was weak when we first believed, and therefore He spared us by not telling us these bad news. But if that were what He meant, it would have a tinge of cruelty, of “bait and switch” to it… I mean, why lure us in, making us think that you are the Messiah who is going to reign and then pull the rug out from under our feet?

But you see, Jesus told us about this reality from the very beginning. We may not have understood it; but it is there in the Sermon on the Mount. So, what does He mean? Well, what He just said: This truth, that they would be persecuted in His absence, would have made no sense at the beginning when they did not fully grasp the way the mission of the Messiah was to unfold. AND, it would also have made little sense, because while He was with them in person, no enemy dared attack them.

But now, comes the time when He will no longer be with them physically, in person.

John 16:5-6 But now I go to him that has sent me, and none of you demands of me, Where goest thou? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

In this verse we get a hint of how this all is starting to dawn on the disciples. We know, in Chapter 14, one of them replied: “but we don’t know where you are going, or the way.” So, what Jesus is saying here is painting for us a clearer picture of their hearts. They are starting to grasp the immediacy of this prophesied absence and, now, they really want to ask Him what is going on because they are now getting worried.

(It is in order, at this point, to pause and remind ourselves of the difference in Darby’s translation between the words that he translated demand versus ask. Demand, sometimes rendered beg, is a request by one person of another when they are connected by bonds of affection or when they are social equals. In Strong’s concordance it is, erotao: to make an earnest request, especially by someone on “special footing,” i.e. in “preferred position”. It is because it is an earnest request with the expectation of being granted by nature of the preferred position that Darby translates it as “demand”

Whereas ask, aiteo, is used by Darby when it reflects a difference in standing, as in the lesser asking a favor of the higher. It reflects a request based on a need but does not presuppose any preferential merit of the inquirer

This difference is important because that is not how we use the word “demand” today. The meanings overlap when we understand that when we, today, demand something, we are stating, by implication, that we rightly deserve it. In Darby’s use, you would say the same thing: It is a request that, by rights of family or love, I reasonably expect to be granted.)

Why Jesus had to return to the Father

The last time Jesus made his imminent exodus plain, he immediately brought up the fact that in His place, they would have the Holy Spirit. He does the same thing again but now with more explanation. (That is a highlight of this last discourse, that Jesus is methodically or systematically expounding the Truths they will be needing from now on. It reminds me of Luke’s introduction to his gospel where he tells us he is “writing with method”.)

John 16:7 But I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you.

So, the coming of the Holy Spirit (as it were, to fill the hole Jesus’s leaving will create) is not an afterthought, or a contingency plan. It was part of the plan all along. Profitable = symphero= a planned bringing together of things or actions for advantage. It is what we need; and in the Father’s overall Plan (whose wisdom we cannot understand or question) it is necessary. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity must relinquish his human body and presence in this world, and return to sit at the right hand of the Father, before the Holy Spirit can come down and take His place in our lives.

To me, the way Jesus says this makes me think that there is a “legal” aspect to this whole transaction. Maybe it is in the sense that, for the Son of Man to take back into His possession the world humanity squandered to the devil, He has to go back and sit on His triumphal throne. And an essential part of that triumph is to prove, before the whole universe, that the devil and his rebellion were wrong and evil, and that the Father’s Plan of salvation worked by bringing us, His children from death into eternal life – even while we are still living in this fallen world:

Colossians 2:13-15 And you, being dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven us all the offences; having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which [stood out] against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross; having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it.

And, of course, the only way that we are able to live this new eternal life in this fallen world is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus must send Him to us.

But He isn’t sending Him only for us! This triumph of the salvation of God’s children is an event of cosmic proportions! Paul says as much in Romans. Yes, the world may still be fallen, and Nature may still be feeling the death throes of evil, but the tide has turned… the universe has changed. Because now when human beings die, they need not be subject to decay anymore. And all of Creation knows it:

Romans 8:18-22 (NASB) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

And therefore, now, when Jesus is no longer here present in body, physically, His mission is no longer restricted by the limitations of a physical body. The Spirit of Christ is not limited by physical laws.

Before the culmination of the mission of the Messiah, the kingdom of this world had a tyrant ruler who had the power to lie and lead astray at will. By and large, the people of this world were subject to the power of demons who claimed to be gods and exercised their power over them by fear. But:

Hebrews 2:14-15 (NASB) Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

The Kingdom of God broke through when Jesus came; and when He completed His mission, the Kingdom of God won the war, routing the enemy and stripping all his power away. The devil and his angels may still try to lie and confuse people and lead them astray… BUT now there is another voice, more powerful, and unquenchable, that can speak, and does speak, to every human heart in this world.

I have said before that the Voice of God has been with us forever. Jesus said that His Father never rested from working; He works to this day. And so, all human beings in every country and age of our world have carried within them the imprint of the Creator: a conscience that has always been enough to enable us to reach out and know Him (as Paul told the Greek philosophers in the Areopagus). But now, that Creator, in the person of the Holy Spirit is bursting into our reality in power. Strangers can now do more than come to know there is a God, they can come to know Him in Power.

John 16:8-11 And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to [my] Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

This is an amazing declaration… and it became the foundation of my work in Jail ministry: You see, if this is true, then everybody already knows deep in their hearts that God IS; and they also know that sin exists… but more than that, that sin is our willing rejection of God’s plan of salvation, the rejection of the Son He sent to us. And everybody knows, therefore, everybody can believe, that God’s Plan of Salvation worked: Why? (a) the Son rose from the dead and returned to the Father – proving God was right all along and (b) the devil has been defeated.

If this is true, then our job, when we evangelize, is simple: Tell them all, remind them all, of the Truth. The world, the flesh, and the devil will keep trying to distract them from the Truth, but they have no power to stop it, if you speak it!

After that, that’s it. There is no need to argue, to try to convince, to debate… The Holy Spirit is more than capable to do that. Our job is to speak the Truth of the Mission of the Messiah and then love.

The Holy Spirit: our continuing Teacher and through whom we abide in Love.

John 16:12-13 I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when *he* is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak; and he will announce to you what is coming.

Even as Jesus knew that His disciples – when they were “babies” in the Faith – could not have “taken it” if He had tried to get them to understand the true cost of the mission, even now, He knows they are not able to bear it all. They need more time, they need more teaching. And the Holy Spirit will take over that job, seamlessly.

John 16:14-15 He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce [it] to you. All things that the Father has are mine; on account of this I have said that he receives of mine and shall announce [it] to you.

Therefore, really, there is no reason to be worried or afraid. This is NOT the end. But, Yes, Jesus is leaving…

John 16:16 A little while and ye do not behold me; and again a little while and ye shall see me, [because I go away to the Father].

John 16:17-18 [Some] of his disciples therefore said to one another, What is this he says to us, A little while and ye do not behold me; and again a little while and ye shall see me, and, Because I go away to the Father? They said therefore, What is this which he says [of] the little while? We do not know [of] what he speaks.

We all would have reacted the same way; wouldn’t we have? We have gotten used to having Jesus with us, every day, answering our questions, filling our lives with the Love of the Father. But He insists in telling us, He has to go. Jesus will again tell them; but as with every time He has told them before, he will expand on the implications of this exodus…

John 16:19-22 Jesus knew therefore that they desired to demand of him, and said to them, Do ye inquire of this among yourselves that I said, A little while and ye do not behold me; and again a little while and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say to you, that ye shall weep and lament, ye, but the world shall rejoice; and ye will be grieved, but your grief shall be turned to joy.

A woman, when she gives birth to a child, has grief because her hour has come; but when the child is born, she no longer remembers the trouble, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world. And ye now therefore have grief; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you.

This is His answer to them: Truth in advertising: It will be hard, we will know sorrow while the world will rejoice because it will think it won and defeated the Son of God.

But that is not the end.

In the end, we will have joy; eternal joy.

John 16:23-24 And in that day ye shall demand nothing of me: verily, verily, I say to you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

These verses, together with 16:14-15 are hinting at what happens at the completion of the mission. We have had glimpses before, as when Jesus said in John 14:23 that He and the Father would abide with us. When the Son completes His mission and returns to the Father, so that, in some sense, the Triune God is again One in the Heavens, the Holy Spirit will in turn take His appointed and planned place within God’s Creation (remember, it was the Spirit that hovered –or brooded – over the face of the primordial waters of Creation). And all of a sudden, Creation is set back into the path it was originally designed for. And somehow, within that path, we, the children of God, are now integrated into the movement and purpose of the Triune God.

We no longer have to ask (demand) Jesus to be our intermediary with the Father… we are now in the presence of the Father:

John 16:25-27 These things I have spoken to you in allegories; the hour is coming that I will no longer speak to you in allegories, but will declare to you openly concerning the Father. In that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not to you that I will demand of the Father for you, for the Father himself has affection for you, because ye have had affection for me, and have believed that I came out from God.

This is why the writer of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.

Did the disciples grasp the full depth of all this as Jesus said it? Probably not. I think it took until the Holy Spirit came, to make sense of it all; then they understood. (Just like us now, with the advantage of 20+ centuries passed.) But Jesus said it, knowing that the Spirit would bring it to remembrance at the right time. And then He answered their question concisely,

John 16:28 I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father.

That, they understood… or thought they did.

John 16:29-30 His disciples say to him, Lo, now thou speakest openly and utterest no allegory. Now we know that thou knowest all things, and hast not need that any one should demand of thee. By this we believe that thou art come from God.

John 16:31-32 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, [the] hour is coming, and has come, that ye shall be scattered, each to his own, and shall leave me alone; and [yet] I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

This is very much the way Jesus replied to Peter when, faced with the same statement that Jesus was leaving them, Peter claimed he could follow him through any trial. Remember? He told Peter He would deny him before the cock crowed, three times.

Is it cruel to tell someone of their upcoming failings? Not really. It actually is mercy and grace. It is telling them that He knows ahead of time; that no matter what happens, He – and the Father – are in control. He is telling them ahead of time so that when it happens and they stumble and fall, they will know that Jesus knew it would happen all along, and He still loved them.

Isn’t that amazing comfort to us, today?

We too, fail all the time. We try to be faithful and true to Him, and yet, we sin. Is He surprised? Is He shocked? Is He standing there at His throne angry at us?

When we feel the weight of that guilt and shame, when the devil takes that opportunity to beat us up and tell us we were losers all along, there is one thought, one Truth, that can banish all that junk away:

He knew I would do this and yet He still loved me enough to die for me.

That Truth is not license to sin… it is license to live in peace, in His love.

John 16:33 These things have I spoken to you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage: I have overcome the world.