Sorrow Turned to Joy

John 16:16-24

We want to look in our continuing study of John's Gospel at verses 16 to 24 today, and I trust that God will really enrich your heart as he has mine. And I'm really learning some things about how God is working in my own life just from these verses.

To be sure the greatest word that could ever be given to a person in sorrow would be the promise that their sorrow is only temporary. To bring to a sorrowing person anything else kind of falls a little bit short, you know. And even since chapter 13 Jesus has been dealing with the sorrowing disciples; all of this taking place the night before his death, as you know and in all of this he is sort of alleviating their sorrow with promises and wonderful hopes and the gift of the Holy Spirit and I'll be with you, you know, and you'll do greater things than I've done and you can ask anything in my name and I'll do it and I'll give you the power to be victorious over the hating world and you'll witness to me and it's going to be a great thing when I go away. 

But they're really not comforted, see. They're still sorrowing and so Jesus moves in these verses to give, what I think, is the greatest comfort possible and that is the promise to the sorrowing person that the problem is only temporary. It will all be over pretty soon. And that's a real comfort because you can look ahead to that and that's the hope that keeps joy where there could be nothing but sorrow.

You can imagine this, for example, in the case of the nobleman's son that we studied, how it must have ‑‑ you knowthe sorrow when he came to Jesus must have turned to joy when he told him by the time you get home it'll all be all right. Or you remember Girus who told him about his daughter and he said don't worryabout it. When you get back everything will be set. And you can imagine him racing into the house and finding that his daughter was doing well. And so in each case Jesus Christ expressed to them the possibility that their sorrow would turn to joy. And that's exactly what he does right here with his eleven disciples. And this is sorrow's greatest relief. It has to be, because it's hope. And he's already told them that he values their sorrow and twice in chapter 14 he said let not your heart be troubled. And once in chapter 16, verse 6 he says I'm looking at you guys and I can see the sorrow that fills your heart.

And so he knows they're grieving about losing him. And they don't understand and they don't understand not only the theology of the thing, but they don't even understand what's involved in a physical sense. So the thought of Jesus is turned to them and he has endeavored for these chapters to give them comfort and finally he caps off the message of comfort with this which must be the most comforting of all, the statement that soon their sorrow will be turned to joy because it's only temporary parting at best.

Frankly, if you want to really be honest about it, they should have been happy anyway, right? I mean they should have been overjoyed. He told them when I go away it's going to be better for you; you ought to really be happy because I'm leaving. You ought to be happy, number one, because of all the promises I've given to you. All through chapter 14. And because of the Holy Spirit who is going to live within you and activate all these promises. You ought to be happy just for what you're going to experience. But beyond that, he said, you ought to be happy for my sake. After all, do you realize what it means when I go to be with the Father? Do you know what kind of joy that's going to be for me? To be back where I was before I got into this cursed earth and went through all the hatred? Don't you know what it's going to mean to me? Couldn't you at least be happy for me if not for yourself? And in their selfishness and self‑centeredness, there's nothing but sorrow and they can only see it from their own perspective. And Jesus intended everything he'd been telling them for their joy. In chapter 15 remember what he said to them in verse 11? We studied it. He said, "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." I've been saying all this to take away the sorrow and turn it to joy. You guys ought to really be excited about all of this, hit instead they're still sorrowful.

So Jesus then turns to the only other option really left to him, and that is to tell them that it's only a temporary parting, anyway. And this of course, comes out as the greatest kind of comfort. So verses 16 to 24 of the message Jesus to his disciples that the parting is only temporary and very brief. And in this passage I want to pull out four things: The pledge, the perplexity, the parable and the promise. You have a little outline; you can follow along. In these four things, we'll see the unfolding of this tremendous promise that Jesus makes, and I'm sure you're going to be as excited about it as I am when we get done. And the thing that is so amazing about it, is to see Jesus, who has problems in his own mind as he anticipates the cross that are beyond our understanding at all, who could totally be preoccupied with himself and understandably so, but who is totally selfless. And whereas he's already anticipating everything about the cross and it's only a matter of hours away, yet he stops those thoughts, condescends to minister to the sorrow of those selfish disciples. But, that's like Jesus.

So he stoops to their weakness because he's gentle and because he loves them and he ministers to their anguished hearts first of all with the pledge. Number one, in verse 16. Here's his pledge to them. And this is very, very interesting; notice it. "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." Now that's a very confusing statement. It's very confusing for somebody to say, a little while you won't see me and in a little while you will see me because I go. That doesn't make a lot of sense right off the bat, see. I mean, it's confusing. So we need to consider what it is that he is saying. Let's take it piece by piece.

First of all he's saying a little while and ye shall not see me. Now that we understand; right? It's about two hours or three hours, maybe, before his capture and the events that lead to the cross, so indeed, it is a little while and they will not see him any more. It's just a brief time and he'll be out of their midst. And then he adds, in a little while you will see me. And you see he's ministering in the most humble kind of fashion to their particular problem. I hope you can grasp what an insight this is into the person of Jesus Christ. I hope you get the picture of his selflessness.

You know, this reminds me of what Paul said ‑‑ this is kind of a footnote ‑‑ in Philippians 2:4, where he says, you know, I want you to be of one mind and of one accord and I want you to look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others; in fact, here's how to do it: Let this mind be in you which was also where? In Christ Jesus. What mind was it? The mind that thought it not something to hold onto all that he had as God, but stripped himself of everything and humble. It's a mind of humility. It's a mind that says, I don't care for me, I only care for you. See that's the nature of the real body life of the church when everybody cares for somebody else and not form themselves. And that was Jesus' mind. So Jesus doesn't care for himself; he doesn't worry about those things that must be ripping and tearing and shredding his pure heart to pieces; the anguish in anticipating the sin that he would bear and the hatred and all that is going to come in a matter of hours, and yet he stops that completely from his mind and entertains totally the sorrow and the care of his beloved disciples, who are selfish and in the simplest sense undeserving of any of it. And so he says to them, Men, I realize I'm going away, but it's temporary because a little while and I'll be back. This is his gift of hope and this is the greatest alleviation of sorrow that is possible. The fact that it's only brief.

Now we must consider the key phrase in this verse, which is a little while, and it appears twice, although we'll not understand the interpretation, and I'm going to take a little time to do that. Jesus has used the phrase a little while to refer to both weeks, days and hours. And I'll show you what I mean. Back in John 7:33, Jesus said to them, "Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me." Now that refers to weeks there. Keep that in mind because it's going to become very important in an interpretation that I'll give you in a moment. But you see, there a little while is a reference to a period of weeks; it has not particular designation other than that. A little while later as you come over to chapter 12, verse 35 it's a matter of days. And he says in verse 35, "Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you." So there it's a matter of days in exactly the same phrase, a little while. In chapter 13, verse 33 says it again. "Little children, yet a little while am I with you." And there it's a matter of a large amount of hours, but by the time you get over to chapter 16, it's a matter of maybe two hours and it's the same phrase. So, watch this interpretive principle of building a kind of a little hermeneutic ‑‑ heh, heh, that's one for me ‑‑ that means principles of interpretation, and we're building a little principle that the phrase little while can refer to anything from weeks to hours. And we use it the same way, don't we? Sure. All right. So, he says, a little while and you will not see me. Now, we know what that means. In a matter of hours, he will move into the garden; some interpreters think that in the chapter 16 that we are studying, he is actually en route to the garden now, he having left the upper room. Other's think he's still there. And so at this point, it's only hours, maybe as few as two hours and he will be arrested in the garden and the disciples will not see him any more. In fact they will flee and they will be separated.

But then he adds this confusing statement. "A little while and you shall not see me and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father." So after the first little while, he has a second little while and says you'll see me again in a little while. Now what is this second little while? When are they going to see him again? Some writers feel that he's referring there to his second coming. And that what he is saying is that I'm going away but in a little while I will be back. And the reason they use that interpretation is because very frequently, now watch this one, very frequently in the Old Testament, the period of time prior to Messiah's coming to set up his kingdom, is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. And since in verse 21 he uses the illustration of birth, they feel that that is consistently interpreting the passage so that what he is saying is that I will come back for my kingdom and he illustrates it by saying like a woman bearing a child, there will be birth pangs, the tribulation and then the kingdom.

There's a problem with that, though. I don't think that's the correct interpretation, first of all, because it eliminates the rapture, doesn't it? It eliminates the rapture altogether. It's just like saying; you'll be here until I come back for the kingdom. That's not true. Seven years before the kingdom, we go; right? And he said that already in 14:1, 2, and 3 and all the way down the line. I go to prepare a place for you; I'll come and get you and take you where I am. So it eliminates the rapture. That's the problem. Not only that, it would be a little bit of a false comfort to say to the guys, look men, I realize in a couple of hours I'm leaving, but in 2000 years, I'll be back. So, you know, be comforted. Heh, Heh, that's really not the kind of warm comfort they're looking for. So, it's a little bit out of whack if you take a little while one place to mean two hours and a little while another place to mean 2000 years.

Now other people say ‑‑ we'll file that interpretation ‑‑ other people say ‑‑ in the round file ‑‑ other people say, well, it refers to the resurrection. What he's talking about is I'll be back in three days. Now that's possible. That sounds more like it, doesn't it? Three days is a little while. Jesus used it to refer to days, didn't he, in Bethany when he said, a little while is the light with you. And so perhaps this is it. What he's talking about here is his resurrection which is only in a matter of three days and that is consistent. But I believe there's even a problem with that. The problem with that would be this: When he comes back from his resurrection, he'll only be around a few weeks and then he'll go again. And he'd have to go through the whole thing again. It would be kind of a false comfort to say, men, don't fear because in a few hours I'm going away but in three days I'll be back. Of course, I'll go away again and you know. That's not permanent kind of comfort, either. And that leaves a lot to be desired.

What is it referring to then? Well, catch the statement at the end of the verse. "A little while and ye shall see me because I go to the Father." You will see me because I go don't really make a lot of sense. How in the world are they going to see him because he goes to the Father? Oh, you know, don't you? If you've been coming the last few weeks, you know. Because when he goes to the Father, whom does he send? The Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Christ: Romans 8:9. And so what is Christ saying? He's saying I'll be back, only this time it won't be in a physical body with you; it will be in the form of my Spirit where? In you. He is with you he shall be where? In you. Chapter 14. Sure. So what he's saying is, I'm going to go away and send the Spirit.

Backing up for minute to verse 7 of the same chapter you see it there. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away, for it I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." You see, he couldn't send his Spirit because the Spirit ‑‑ watch this one ‑‑ was a reward to him from the Father for the accomplished work. Remember that one? And so when he went to heaven and he accomplished the work the Father gave him the Spirit whom he sent in his place. And so he's saying, you will see me again; when I go to the Father I will come back to dwell in you in the form of the spirit. And my friends, there's no distinction between Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Remember that. Christ said I'm going to send you another Comforter and he used the word, two words: heteraus and allaus.  Heteraus, another of a different kind. Allaus, another of the same kind. And he used allaus. The same essence as me.  He sends back his own Spirit. And so Jesus says I'm coming again in the Spirit.

Now he said this once earlier and I want you to note it. Chapter 14, verse 17. This will kind of clear this interpretation. Chapter 14:17 says this:"Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not," this is who he is going to send, "neither knoweth him, but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you." Now watch this: "I will not leave you," ŏrphanŏs orphans, "I will come to you." "I will come to you." In the verse before he says the Spirit will come and in this verse he says I will come. Same thing. That's why the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. Verse 19. "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me." See. I'll be back in the Spirit. You say, you mean not only does the Holy Spirit dwell within us but Christ? That's right. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory, see. It's a resident Spirit. And so his promise is thrilling. It's a permanent promise. It not I'll be back and I'm going again; it's not I'll be back in 2000 years; it's I'm going and I'll be back and when I come back I'll be there as long as you live and throughout eternity you'll never be without my presence. Lo, I'm with you always, even until the end of the age. I will never leave you or forsake you. And you know what happened on the day of Pentecost, don't you? The Spirit came and dwelt within us. The Spirit of Christ. And he began to teach them Jesus Christ. And here you see in our context, for when he says I go to my Father, it's the same thing. Backing up, for example, to verses 13, 14 and 15, he is detailing the work of the Spirit. And now in verse 16, he says, when I go to the Father this work will begin. I'll send my Spirit.

So, it's a simple interpretation. The disciples can't figure it out, but then, they never figured out anything, anyway. So what he's saying to them is, I'm going to go away and because I go to the Father, I'll come to you, you see, in the form of my Spirit, to dwell within you. That's the wonderful promise that every believer has. There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't possess the indwelling Christ. No such thing. Yet, people will be running around trying to find the Holy Spirit, like he's lost. The Holy Spirit lives within the believer. Paul said to the cruddy Corinthians, who had problems all over the place. He said to them, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? What you haveof God?" See. Don't you know that? I mean everybody ought to know that. That's basic stuff. Christ in you the hope of glory. And so he makes this pledge. What a fantastic pledge it is. He says, don't worry, I'll be back. It's temporary, and this time it will be better. It won't be just physically me, and I can only be in one place. I'll be in every one of you all the time. What a pledge; what a promise.

Then a few weeks later it happened, didn't it? And you see now we can take that phrase little while and apply it to weeks, can't we, because Jesus himself applied it to weeks in chapter 7, so it fits. The first time little while means hours, the second time it means weeks. All right. So Jesus went away and he sent the Spirit. What he's promising them is a great truth. He's promising them the dispensation of his indwelling presence and we live in that age now, don't we? This is the dispensation of the Spirit. This is the age in which the Spirit lives within the believer. And that was his promise to them; that the Spirit would live within them. And during this age -‑­ mark it now ‑‑ what is it that the Spirit wants to do? What is that the Spirit does in this world? What is it that the Spirit does within you? It is that he manifests Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? Sure it is. Look at verse 14. "He shall glorify me." See. He shall take of mine and show it to you. The ministry of the Spirit pure and simple is to manifest Christ. And so Jesus says, you see, I'm going to go away and send back my Spirit who will manifest me within you. What a pledge. And by the perceptive eye of faith we know it. Do you know the Spirit dwells within you? Have you ever seen the Holy Spirit? I've never seen him. But I know he's there. I perceive him with the eye of faith. Don't you? I see him through the eye of faith, operating and working in my life. I sense his presence. And that's just what happened on Pentecost; he came.

So Jesus is including in this the day of Pentecost. Now let me say this: I think he's also thinking in reference to the resurrection. Because the cross, the resurrection, the ascension and the coming of the Spirit are all one climax to Christ's ministry that begin the age of the Spirit. So when he says I'll be back a little while, he means resurrected, ascended and in his Spirit. It's kind of encompassing. In fact, in II Corinthians 5:16 Paul gives us a little insight into this with a great statement that he makes there. II Corinthians 5:16, "Wherefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." Paul says in this passage, I know Christ, but he says I don't know him after the flesh any more. See. It's not a physical relationship with Christ. It's not that he's here in the body like he used to be. We used to know him like that, but now we know him in the Spirit. We know him in the Spirit. What a comfort this is. What a comfort.

Now, they didn't understand how much comfort it is. And so we see secondly their perplexity. They always responded with the same attitude. What does this mean? It was always their response. And so we see their perplexity. And it's interesting because we see here in chapter 16, verse 17 their silence is broken and it hasn't been broken since chapter 14:22. They haven't said anything. At least anything the Holy Spirit felt worthy of including in the text, but since then there's not been anything said. But now, the question has gotten to them and they don't understand what he means about this little while idea. You know, I think they'd half committed themselves to the fact that he was going to leave; right? He was going to die. I think they were kind of getting that and then all of a sudden he says this and they say, oh, how do you die for a little while, see. That didn't make a lot of ‑‑ maybe they were thinking, well, I mean, Lazarus, he died for a little while. But anyway, they were confused. Verse 17. "Then said some of his disciples among themselves." You see they didn't have the courage to ask Jesus, so they just started talking between 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 se me and, because I go to the Father?" I mean that's the capper. That's what makes it so confusing. What is he talking about? And they're mumbling back and forth. And the problem of the confusion is little while and also the fact that he's coming because he's going, see. And it's very, very confusing. Don't be too hard on them. You wouldn't have understood it either on that side of the cross. They didn't get it. How can Messiah leave in the first place if he's going to set up his kingdom? They had really been battling with that one for a long time. Now that they had figured out that maybe he was going to leave, what is this about his coming back again? And so the statement became very confusing and in muffled tones and low voices they were confused, and they begin to talk about it.

In Mark, chapter 9 we get another insight into their confusion. They were indeed spiritual babes. Mark 9:30: This is a different occasion. "They departed from and passed through Galilee and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples and said unto them, "The son of man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill him and after he is killed, he shall rise the third day." Now that's pretty simple, wouldn't you say? You can read that and you can say oh yeah, he'll be killed and he'll rise the third day. Next verse. "But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him." They didn't understand that. That did not fit in with their Messianic hoax at that point and now at this point when they finally realize that maybe he means it that he's going to die, they can't figure out what it means that he's going to come back. And they are really confused. Verse 18, "They said therefore, What is this that he said, a little while?" What's that mean? "We cannot tell what he saith." They were confused to say the least. And so rather than be rebuked, they are silent.

You know it's a sad, thing, but you know, there's been a lot of things lost by people who were afraid to ask questions. How many times in John have we kind of just thought about the possibilities of little sections that would have been in here if somebody had opened his mouth and asked the question. But evidently they didn't want to reveal their ignorance or else they didn't want to suffer gentle rebuke at his lips and so they just would rather stay ignorant. That's a shame, really, you know. I mean many people are like that. You teach a class or a bible class or a class wherever it may be and some people will sit there and they're not getting it but they won't ask the question because they're afraid they'll appear ignorant. Where the wonder of the thing is if they ask the question, they would probably find that in many cases the teacher is just as ignorant as they are and they could kind of fellowship in their ignorance. See. And together be stimulated. See, when we find ourselves ignorant, we are stimulated to go find the answer. Enjoy your ignorance. It's the foundation of your understanding. It's the foundation of your learning. I mean look for those areas in your life diligently where you're ignorant. Then you canfind out something to fill that hole. Learn the truth that applies at the point of your ignorance. But they didn't know the truth and they never bothered to ask about it. And so they just sat there blindly in their ignorance, afraid to ask.

Yet, Jesus wants to tell them. He really wants to tell them. I love this, you know, because I think that Jesus was so human that he needed to unbear his heart. He really did. I mean the anguish of the cross, I think if one of them would have said, Lord, just tell us all about it, will you? We want to feel this with you. We want to pray along with you. We want to care, you know, and just kind of share what this means to you. What a volume of fantastic things he could have shared with them. But in their selfishness they couldn't see past their own nose.And he needs to tell them; he needs to open his heart to them. He doesn't like to look at the cross. He needs to look beyond the cross with them and see the joy that's going to be his. That's the reason he went tothe cross, you know the Bible says, for the joy that was set before him. The joy wasn't necessarily in the cross; it was after the cross and what it accomplished. And so rather than caring about himself and accepting their indifference toward him, he just decides well, I'll just comfort them; bring them joy. And I think in his own heart he wanted to do it because I think it helped him look past the nails and past the thorns and past the spear and past the cross and see the victory coming to them in the Spirit. I think he looked past Calvary as much as he possibly could because it was anguish.

You know that, don't you? You know he sweated great drops of blood when he contemplated Calvary. And so he faces their question and he's not so concerned with their ignorance; he's only concerned with their sorrow, and I want you to notice that. Very important. He doesn't try to deal with them theologically; he tries to deal with them in love and comfort. That's a beautiful thought. He could wait three days to let their ignorance be taken care of, but he couldn't wait three days to take care of their sorrow, you see. Three days later their ignorance was over; they understood; right? He died and rose again. That was clear. Three days later their sorrow was gone. Because they saw him again. He could wait the three days for their theological education, but he couldn't wait three days for their comfort. Isn't that a beautiful insight into how much he loved them? He had to comfort them right then. That's the essence of his care and his love and that's how he dea