SERIES: The Gospel of John
Truth for a Time of Transition
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: It is Thursday night, just hours prior to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He meets with His eleven disciples in an Upper Room to prepare them for what He knows will be the most traumatic day of their lives. For three chapters in John’s Gospel we have examined the Lord’s careful instruction to these men. He has spoken of their union with Him, of the world’s sure and certain hatred of them, and of the coming of the Holy Spirit to be their Advocate.
But He has also told them that He must leave them soon, and that has created great sorrow for them. I heard about a mother seeking to encourage her little girl to put aside her fears of the dark. The mother assured the daughter that she need not be afraid of the night, because God was with her. The little girl was not so sure, for she replied, “I want someone with a face.”
It is because of this universal desire, even need, to see the face of God that the incarnation took place in the first place. This is why the Word, Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelt among men. The disciples have come to love Him and trust Him, but they have also become very dependent upon Him, and the thought of His leaving is devastating. So, Jesus takes the time, as He concludes His intimate chat, to deal with some of the difficulties they will face in His absence and to promise them solutions.
Jesus promises a new joy to replace their grief. (16-22)
Our text opens today with a rather enigmatic statement by Jesus at the end of His teaching on the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 16, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” The disciples are confused, to say the least, and they engage in quite a discussion with one another concerning His intention. In essence they seem to be asking, “If Jesus wishes to establish the Messianic Kingdom, why go away? If He does not wish it, why return?” He perceives their confusion and uses the occasion to offer them some encouraging instruction.
The instruction. He tells them in verse 20, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” In this verse Jesus uses three verbs to describe the reaction they will have toward His departure: “weep,” “mourn,” and“grieve.” All of these terms were commonly used for mourning the dead, and Jesus employs them to give the disciples a clue to the fact that the manner in which He will be leaving them is through death. But while His death will produce great sorrow in them, it will produce rejoicing in the world. Those who yell, “Crucify Him,” will believe they have firmly and finally squelched the dangerous movement started by this itinerant preacher from Nazareth.
His disciples’ reaction of grief, however, will be temporary, for “their grief will turn to joy.” It is particularly interesting that Jesus does not say that their grief will be replaced by joy. Rather He says, literally, that it shall become joy, that is, the very thing that plunged them into grief shall turn into a cause for joy. You see, here on Thursday night the imminent death of Jesus appeared to be a total tragedy. But when He rose from the dead on Sunday, they perceived that the Cross was not a tragedy at all, but a triumph. The “little while” He spent in the grave was the means by which eternal salvation was obtained for those who believe.
The Resurrection proved that God accepted Jesus’ death as full payment for mankind’s sins. That is why we call Good Friday Good Friday and not Evil Friday. What happened there was evil and grief-producing, but the good accomplished on the Cross overcame the evil when God raised Jesus from the dead a little while later. To help the disciples understand this concept Jesus chooses an illustration from nature.
The illustration. Look at verse 21: “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” It has been said that if this were not true, if a woman could not forget the pain of childbirth, no one would have more than one child. But the fact is in many aspects of our lives it is possible to forget the pain once we understand the benefit it produces. No one would ever run a second marathon; no one would ever go after an additional college degree; no one would ever submit to a second surgery; no one would ever start a new church if he weren’t convinced that the pain and effort would eventually turn into joy. Jesus then provides His own interpretation.
The interpretation. Verse 22: “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” Some have suggested that the promise, “I will see you again,” refers to the Second Coming of Christ, and perhaps there is a secondary reference to that great event, but the primary reference is surely to the resurrection. In fact, the precise fulfillment of this promise is found in John 20:19-20, when on the following Sunday, the day of resurrection, the disciples saw Jesus. Here’s what John writes of that meeting: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” And they never lost that joy.
We have seen the instruction, the illustration, and the interpretation, but what is the application?
The application. What is the value of this promise of “a new joy to replace grief” for us here this morning? We will never experience exactly what the disciples experienced in fearing they had lost their Lord, only to receive Him back three days later. Yet we know all Scripture is profitable and was written for our learning. What can we learn from this? I would suggest, first, that every sorrow and every grief we face has the potential of being turned to joy, by God’s grace.
God never minimizes our pain or our grief; and we get nowhere by denying it or pretending it isn’t there. But by the same token we also get nowhere by wallowing in it or allowing it to consume us. Dennis Byrd, defensive end for the New York Jets, broke his neck in a game last year. He determined that his crippling injury would not keep him in a wheelchair the rest of his life, and he refused to feel sorry for himself or to allow depression to consume him. He committed his whole body, soul, and spirit to getting victory over his circumstances. But for every one like him, there are a hundred who accept bad news as final and their spirits die before their bodies.
Grief may be even more difficult to conquer than physical disability. John Walsh is “the Dennis Byrd of emotional pain.” His son Adam was kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered some ten years ago. The kind of grief such a dastardly deed produces can probably be understood only by one who has experienced it, but Walsh decided not to waste his sorrows. He is now the star of the very popular TV program, “America’s Most Wanted,” which has succeeded in tracking down hundreds of dangerous criminals just by telling the stories of their heinous crimes and asking ordinary citizens to get involved. Walsh is a man on a mission, and his grief turns to joy every time another criminal is taken off the streets.
On the other hand, I recall the death of a beautiful, intelligent, young girl I knew well; a malignant brain tumor took her life. Her mother became a virtual recluse and to this day, several decades later, has never fully recovered. In one sense it is perhaps unfair for me to comment on this woman’s pain, for I have never lost a child, but on the other hand, I know from God’s Word that no trial God has allowed into our lives is beyond our capacity to endure and even get victory over.
I don’t know what your grief is today. It may be an unhappy marriage, it may be singleness, it may be childlessness, it may be a miscarriage, it may be an incorrigible child, it may be abandonment by a family member, it may be joblessness. Every single one of the griefs I have mentioned is represented here in this room this morning; and there are others I know nothing about. But I do know that it is possible by God’s grace to see that grief turned to joy. That may happen by accepting circumstances you can’t change and by focusing your attention on other things; it may come through seeking healing of relationships through a long and difficult process; it may come through pouring your life into others who will suffer what you have suffered. Whatever you do, don’t waste your sorrows. Believe Jesus when He promises a new joy to replace grief.
Jesus promises a new relationship with the Father. (23-28)
Let’s read again the section beginning with verse 23, and as we do, look for the aspects of this new relationship Jesus promises:
“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Jesus indicates here that a major change will take place following His death and resurrection in respect to the relationship of believers with the Father. The first change I would like to point out is more implicit than explicit, but it is foundational to the other changes, and that is that …
A new access to the Father is achieved for believers by Jesus’ impending death. Stop and think for a moment about the kind of access the believer in the OT had to God. Obviously, he could pray, as there are many examples of great prayers in the OT. But you will notice something about those prayers—they are pretty formal and sometimes even distant. I would call them arms-length prayers. They address God as the sovereign Lord, the Almighty, the great and Awesome God, but not as Father.
Not only was the form of address different; so was the degree of access. In the OT the believer approached God based on the sacrificial system. Sacrifice atoned for sin, i.e., it covered it up (which is the technical meaning for atonement), and it held God’s wrath at bay until the time of the next sacrifice. Religion was very bloody because people were very sinful. The shedding of blood reminded them of the high cost of sin. In fact, they came to realize that the wages of sin is death. A dead animal could take the sinner’s place temporarily, but ultimately a perfect, final sacrifice was needed.
In the meantime, access to God was limited. The most obvious symbol of this was the structure of Moses’ Tabernacle, as well as the Temple in Jerusalem. These worship centers had essentially four parts. First, there was the Court of the Gentiles, which surrounded the Temple proper and where anyone could go, but beyond which Gentiles could not go. Then there was the Court of the Women, which was in essence the narthex of the Temple. Any Jewish person or proselyte could go there, but Jewish women were not allowed beyond it. Thirdly, there was the Holy Place, which might be likened to the Sanctuary or nave of a cathedral. Only Jewish men could enter the Holy Place.
And finally there was the Holy of Holies, somewhat parallel to the chancel in a Cathedral, where access is extremely limited. Between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was a huge curtain or vail that only one person could pass beyond, and he only once a year. On the day of Atonement the High Priest would take the blood of a sacrifice behind the curtain and pour it on the Mercy Seat, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. God signaled His acceptance of the sacrifice by allowing the High Priest to exit alive. Tradition tells us the High Priest wore bells on his robe and had a rope tied to his ankle. This was in case God didn’t accept the sacrifice and struck him dead. The worshipers outside the Holy of Holies could hear that the bells had stopped ringing and could pull him out with the rope without jeopardizing their own lives.
Whether that was ever necessary I don’t know, but it does illustrate how limited and restricted was access to God for the average person. Gentiles had virtually no access, women had very little, Jewish men had some, but the High Priest alone could approach God’s throne room on earth. Jesus changed all that.
Listen to the account of Jesus’ death provided by Luke (and I’m reading from Luke 23:44): “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” Matthew and Mark add that it was rent from top to bottom, indicating it was a divine action, opening up the Holy of Holies to the ordinary believer.
The author of the Book of Hebrews points out the significance of the tearing of the vail when he discusses the Tabernacle ministry in chapters 9 & 10. After talking about the architecture and furniture of the house of worship he says in verse 6,
“The priests entered regularly into the outer room (the Holy Place) to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room (the Holy of Holies), and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed…. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
“But when Christ came as high priest … he did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
The key is found in 10:19ff: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”
Confidence, boldness, and full assurance should characterize our relationship with God today, because He has torn away the curtain which kept us out. By the way, isn’t it curious that despite this teaching many churches, Protestant and Catholic, follow the OT model in their architecture and philosophy of ministry? The altar at the front of the church is off limits to the congregation, the clergyman is viewed as a mediator between God and man, sacrifices are reenacted symbolically, and even the robes the clergy wear are a throwback to the OT priesthood. How does this fit with the new access Jesus purchased for the believer? How does it fit with the priesthood of the believer that is such a key point of Paul’s theology? Well, if the believer has a new access to God, one of the key implications is that he also has a new basis for prayer.
A new basis for prayer. Look at verse 23 of John 16: “In that day you will no longer ask meanything.” The “me” in this sentence is emphatic in the Greek text. You see, the disciples viewed Jesus as their priest. If they needed to know anything, they asked Him. If they needed to receive anything, they asked Him. But His point here seems to be that His disciples should cut the red tape, cut out the middleman, and go directly to the Father. But in the process, they still need to recognize and acknowledge that this new access to the Father, and this new basis for prayer, is available only because of His work on the cross. That seems to be the point of the phrase “in my name.” “My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” In other words, Jesus says, don’t ask Me, ask the Father, but ask Him in my name, i.e., recognizing that I am the one who tore down the vail, giving you the privilege of direct access. Don’t go in your own name, go in Mine.
Dr. Reuben Torrey used the illustration of a person who goes to a bank to withdraw money from his checking account. He is asking in his own name, and if he has an account sufficiently large to cover the check, it will be cashed. But, he says,
“When I go to the bank of heaven, when I go to God in prayer, I have nothing deposited there. I have absolutely no credit there, and if I go in my own name, God is under no obligation to honor my request. But Jesus Christ has unlimited credit in heaven, and He has granted me the privilege of going to the bank with His name on my checks.”
Some people pray in the name of the saints, but I ask you, why use a check with a saint’s name on it when you can use one with Jesus’ name on it? When we grasp the truth that we have the right to enter boldly in the name of Jesus into the very throne room of God to praise Him, intercede for others, and lay our own requests before Him, we will realize how awesome is Jesus’ promise of a new relationship with the Father.
That relationship, however, involves more than just new access and a new basis for prayer; it also involves a new acceptance before the Father.
A new acceptance from the Father. This is alluded to in John 16:26-27: “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” There are some difficulties in these verses, but the statement we are principally interested in is this, “the Father himself loves you.” It indicates, as Calvin said, that “we have the heart of God as soon as we place before Him the name of His Son.” [i] The reason Christ does not have to beseech the Father to care for us is that the Father Himself has affection for us and does not need to be persuaded to be gracious. The word used for love here is not the usual NT word for divine love, agape, but rather the word phile, meaning the love of affection.
There is something more personal and intimate about this than anything you will find in the OT. It’s not that God didn’t love His people previously, for He certainly did, and there are many OT passages which speak of the loyal love of God. But there is no question but that a new level of acceptance and intimacy with God the Father was achieved for us by the work Christ came to do.
Now there is a third promise Jesus makes to His disciples in our text today.
Jesus promises a new peace in time of trial or trouble. (29-33)
Let’s pick up the reading in verse 29:
“Then Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’ ‘You believe at last!’ Jesus answered. ‘But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus is pleased with their affirmation of personal faith in Him, but He knows they are weak. The testing that awaits their weak faith is clearly alluded to in the warning, “You will be scattered and you will leave me all alone.” Later that very night, as He is arrested and tried, they will flee in fear and dismay. In fact, the self-appointed leader of the Apostles—Simon Peter—will deny with an oath that he even knows who Jesus is. Does Jesus say this in anger and rebuke? Not at all; it is more in sorrow and pity. In fact, He makes it clear that His warning is not to hurt them but to offer them peace in time of testing or trouble. Jesus understands that …
The believer lives in two spheres: in Christ and in the world. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.” One of the important notions in the NT is this fact that the Christian is a citizen of two countries, and he is called upon to be a good citizen of both. In this world, which is our first citizenship, chronologically speaking, Jesus says we will have trouble. We should not be surprised at trials, at sickness, at death, at accidents, at persecution, at failure, because this is a fallen world and trouble is an inevitable part of it. But there is one kind of trouble we should not have as believers, and that is heart trouble. Earlier in the evening Jesus had said on two occasions to His disciples (in 14:1 and 14:27), “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Well, how do you avoid being troubled when trouble is all around and inevitable?
The answer comes in the fact that while the believer is a citizen of this world, he is also a citizen of Heaven; that is, we are “in Christ.” When we receive Jesus as personal Savior, He comes to live within us and we “in Him.” His peace becomes available to us. What is peace? It is the settled calm that comes from knowing God is in control despite the trials and tragedies of life. Two artists agreed to paint pictures which would portray their respective conceptions of peace. The first painted a calm little pond, surrounded by woods and open plain. There was no sign of life in the picture, not even the indication that a breath of air was stirring. That was his idea of peace. The other artist painted the scene of a windswept landscape, with a raging torrent in the foreground. A tree hung over the river bank and on a slender bough, just above its leaping rapids, sat two birds—singing! This latter picture represents true peace; the other depicts not peace but stagnation.
While Jesus promises trouble in the world, He only offers peace in Himself. It isn’t automatic; we must appropriate it, and sadly, many Christian fail to do so. Perhaps that is why Jesus concludes His Upper Room Discourse by urging us to take some action. In verse 33 He says, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The believer can take heart since Jesus has overcome the world. That’s a great message and quite different from many of the messages we give and receive when people are hurting. Some people say to us, “Hang in there.” Well, that’s nice, but when you hear that you sometimes begin to look around for the rope. Others say, “Good luck!”, and while they mean well, there’s surely nothing comforting about putting our future in the hands of blind fate. In fact, had Jesus stopped with the phrase “Take heart!” He wouldn’t have given us anything much better. But He doesn’t stop there. He adds the reason why His followers can take heart: “I have overcome the world.” That’s good news indeed.
The spiritual triumph Jesus accomplished over Satan and His forces at the Cross will someday be completed when He returns to this earth and receives the family of believers to Himself to rule and reign with Him for all eternity. When that glorious event takes place, all the trials and troubles and pain and sorrow will immediately turn into triumph for believers. As the hymn says,
“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race ’til we see Christ.”
Take heart, friend, it may be Thursday night and the greatest trial of your life may be on the immediate horizon, but Sunday’s coming.
DATE: January 23, 1994
Tags:
Joy
Grief
Prayer
Peace
[i] Quoted by Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, 710 (see footnote #64).