Our Lord is speaking to his disciples before his departure from them to be crucified, and he says:
John 16:16. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
It is wonderful how he could talk thus calmly about his death, knowing that it would be a death of bitter shame and terrible agony. Yet he does, as it were, pass over that view of it as he says, «A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me,» « because I die?» No. «Because I am crucified?» No; but, «because I go to the Father.» Beloved, always think of your departure out of the world in the same light: «I go to the Father.» Do not say, «I die; I languish upon the bed of pain; I expire.» No; but, «I go to the Father.»
John 16:17-18. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
Then why not ask him? But are not you and I often very slow to ask the meaning of the Master's words? You read in Scripture something that you cannot understand, and you say to yourself, «I cannot make out the meaning of that chapter;» but do you always pray over it, and ask the Writer to tell you what he intended when he wrote it? It is a grand thing to have this Inspired Book, and it is a grander thing still to have the Spirit of God, who inspired it, abiding with his people for ever; but we fail to learn many a secret from the Word because we do not pray our way into it. He who does not know can scarcely have his ignorance pitied when it remains willful; if you can know for the asking, why not ask?
John 16:19. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
They might have inquired a long while among themselves, and all in vain; but to go to their Lord was the short way out of the difficulty, for he could explain it. See how ready he is to explain, for he expounds the truth even to those who had not asked for an exposition. In this matter, he was found of them that sought him not. Knowing that they were desirous to ask, he accepted the will for the deed, the wish for the prayer; and he answered the secret longing of their heart.
John 16:20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice:
«I am going away from you, and while I am gone, it will be all weeping and lamenting with you; but while I am gone, the world shall have its hour of triumph, it shall think that I am slain, and that my cause is defeated.»
John 16:20-21. And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
So, when Christ came back again, they would remember no more the sorrow of their travail hour in which they saw him bound, and spat upon, and taken off to execution, and mocked upon the tree. The joy that would come of it all would obliterate the remembrance of the sorrow.
John 16:22-23. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.
«Ye shall not need to make anymore inquiries of me, for everything shall then be explained to you by the Spirit.»
John 16:23. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
«This shall be one fruit; of my passion, that, henceforth, whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father, in my name, shall be given to you; and though you may not, perhaps, address your prayers to me personally, yet addressed to the Father, in my name, they shall succeed.»
John 16:24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name:
«Ye have not yet learnt how to use my name in prayer.» Our Lord had not yet taught them so to pray; but now we know what it is to ask in the name of Christ, it is to pray with the authority of the risen and glorified Son of God.
John 16:24. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
See how our Lord continues to drive at that point, for he would have his people happy. He wants you, beloved, to be ‘joy-full' full of joy; not merely to have a little joy hidden away in a corner somewhere, but «that your joy may be full.»
John 16:25-26. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shalt ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
Though that is, indeed, what our Lord does.
John 16:27. For the Father himself loveth you,-
«The Father, whom you are so apt to think of as sterner than myself, and farther off than I, the Son of man am, ‘the Father himself loveth you,'»
John 16:27. Because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Have you, dear friends, love to Christ? Do you believe that Christ came forth from God? Then does the Father give his special love to you.
John 16:28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Had he not clearly explained what he meant by being absent a little while, and then coming back again?
John 16:29-30. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure-
Now they can give reasons for the hope that is in them. «Now are we sure»
John 16:30. That thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
They are very positive; but notice the check that our Lord put upon all this confident assurance.
John 16:31-32. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.
Whenever there is any boasting upon your lips, even though you may think that you can rightly say, «Now we are sure,» stop a bit, dear friends, stop a bit. We have not any of us all the good we think we have; nay, they who think themselves perfect think the most amiss. They are altogether mistaken, and there is some latent unbelief even where faith is strongest. Christ still asks, «Do ye now believe?» You have only to be sufficiently tried, and to be tempted long enough, and in that very point where you think you are strongest you will fail. «Now are we sure,» say the confident disciples. «Ah!» says Christ, «do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.»
John 16:32. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
How gloriously is that blessed truth put in just here! The awful solitude that Christ was about to pass through can hardly be understood by us. It was not only that every friend forsook him, but that there was not under heaven a single person who could sympathize with him. He was going through deeps that no other could ever fathom, he was to bear griefs which no other could ever bear. Ye may indeed sip of his cup, but ye can never drink it to its dregs as he did. Ye may be baptized with his baptism; but into the depths of the abyss of woe into which he was immersed, ye cannot come. Alone! Alone! Never was there a human being so much alone as was the man Christ Jesus in that dread hour; and yet he says, «I am not alone, because the Father is with me.» O brave Master, make us also brave! May we be willing to stand alone for thy sake, and to feel that we are never so little alone as when we are alone with thee!
John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
Your Lord wants you to have peace. Come, then, ye tried ones, ye who are tossed about with a thousand troublous thoughts, it is your Master's wish and will that ye should have peace.
John 16:33. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
You have found that true, have you not? Perhaps you are finding it true just now: «In the world ye shall have tribulation.»
John 16:33. But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
And in that overcoming he has conquered for you also, and he guarantees to you the victory in his name.