CHAPTER XVI.

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." 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.

Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of what I said, a little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. and ye now, therefore, have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Not all Christ's sayings were understood by His disciples. We are told this distinctly in the passage we have now read. What is this that He saith? We cannot tell what He saith. None ever spake so plainly as Jesus. None were so thoroughly accustomed to His style of teaching as the Apostles. Yet even the Apostles did not always take in their Master's meaning. Surely we have no right to be surprised if we cannot interpret Christ's words. are many depths in them which we have no line to fathom.

But let us thank God that there are many sayings of our Lord recorded which no honest mind can fail to understand. Let us use diligently the light that we have, and no doubt that to him that hath more shall be given.

We learn, for one thing, in these verses, that Christ's absence from the earth will be a time of sorrow to believers of joy to the world. It is written, Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. To confine these words to the single point of Christ's approaching death and burial appears a narrow view of their meaning. Like many of our Lord's sayings on the last evening of His earthly ministry, they seem to extend over the whole period of time between His first and second Advents.

Christ's personal absence must needs be a sorrow to all true-hearted believers. The children of the bride-chamber cannot but fast when the bridegroom is taken from them. Faith is not sight. Hope is not certainty. Reading and hearing are not the same as beholding. Praying is not the same as speaking face to face. There is something, even in the hearts of the most eminent saints, that will never be fully satisfied as long as they are on earth and Christ is in heaven.

So long as they dwell in a body of corruption and see through a glass darkly, so long as they behold creation groaning under the power of sin and all things not put under Christ, so long their happiness and peace must needs be incomplete. This is what St. Paul meant when he said, We ourselves, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Romans chapter 7 verse 23. Yet the same personal absence of Christ is no cause of sorrow to the children of this world. It was not to the unbelieving Jews, we may be sure. When Christ was condemned and crucified they rejoiced and were glad. They thought that the hated reprover of their sins and false teaching was silenced forever

It is not to the careless and the wicked of our day, we may be sure. The longer Christ keeps away from this earth and lets them alone, the better will they be pleased. We do not want this Christ to reign over us, is the feeling of the world. His absence causes them no pain. Their so-called happiness is complete without Him.

All this may sound very painful and startling, but where is the thinking reader of the Bible who can deny that it is true? The world does not want Christ back again, and thinks that it does very well without Him. What a fearful waking up there will be by and by.

We learn, for another thing, from this verse, that Christ's personal return shall be a source of boundless joy to His believing people. It is written, I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Once more we must take care that we do not narrow the meaning of these words by tying them down to our Lord's resurrection. They surely reach much farther than this. The joy of the disciples when they saw Christ risen from the dead was a joy soon obscured by His ascension and withdrawal into heaven. The true joy, the perfect joy, the joy that can never be taken away, will be the joy which Christ's people will feel when Christ returns the second time at the end of the world.

The second personal advent of Christ, to speak plainly, is the one grand object on which our Lord, both here and elsewhere, teaches all believers to fix their eyes. We ought to be always looking for and loving His appearing as the perfection of our happiness and the consummation of all our hopes.

2 Peter 3.12, 2 Timothy 4.8. That same Jesus, who was taken up visibly into heaven, shall also come again visibly, even as He went. Let the eyes of our faith always be fixed on this coming. It is not enough that we look backward to the cross, and rejoice in Christ dying for our sins, and upwards to the right hand of God, and rejoice in Christ interceding for every believer. We must do more than this. We must look forward to Christ's return from heaven to bless His people, and to wind up the work of redemption. Then, and then only, will the prayer of eighteen centuries receive its complete answer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Well may our Lord say that in that day of resurrection and reunion our heart shall rejoice. When we awake up after His likeness we shall be satisfied. Psalm 17 verse 15

We can learn, lastly, in these verses, that while Christ is absent, believers must ask much in prayer. It is written, We may well believe that up to this time the disciples had never realized their Master's full dignity. They had certainly never understood that He was the one mediator between God and man, in whose name and for whose sake they were to put up their prayers. Here they are distinctly told that henceforward they are to ask in His name. Nor can we doubt that our Lord would have all His people, in every age, understand that the secret of comfort during His absence is to be instant in prayer. would have us know that if we cannot see Him with our bodily eyes any longer, we can talk with Him, and through Him have special access to God. Ask and ye shall receive, he proclaims to all his people in every age, and your joy shall be full. Let the lesson sink down deeply into our hearts.

Of all the list of Christian duties there is none to which there is such abounding encouragement as prayer, It is a duty which concerns all. High and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, all must pray. It is a duty for which all are accountable. All cannot read, or hear, or sing, but all who have the spirit of adoption can pray. Above all, it is a duty in which everything depends on the heart and motive within. Our words may be feeble and ill-chosen, and our language broken and ungrammatical, and unworthy to be written down. But if the heart be right, it matters not. He that sits in heaven can spell out the meaning of every petition sent up in the name of Jesus, and can make the asker know and feel that he receives. If we know these things, happy are we if we do them.

Let prayer in the name of Jesus be a daily habit with us every morning and evening of our lives. Keeping up that habit, we shall find strength for duty, comfort in trouble, guidance in perplexity, hope in sickness, and support in death. Faithful is he that promised, your joy shall be full, and he will keep his word if we ask in prayer.

Notes, John chapter 16 verses 16 to 24. Verse 16, a little while and ye shall, etc. There's a difficulty in this verse which requires consideration. To what time does our Lord refer when he says, a little while and ye shall not see me, and ye shall see me? There are two answers.

A. Some think, as Chrysostom, Searle, and Hengstenberg, that our Lord only meant, in a few hours I shall be removed by death and buried, and then you will not see me, and again after three days I shall rise again, and then you will see me. be. Others think, as Augustine, Maldonatus, and Wordsworth, that our Lord meant, In a short time I shall leave the world, ascend up to heaven, and go to my father, and you will see me no more. And again, in comparatively short time, I shall return to the world at my second advent, and you will see me again.

I decidedly prefer the second of these interpretations. To explain the words, Ye shall not see me, and Ye shall see me, by our Lord's death and resurrection, seems to me a forced and unnatural interpretation. Moreover, it completely fails to explain the words, I go to the Father. Both here, and all through the passage, I believe our Lord is speaking for the benefit of the whole Church until His coming again, and not merely for the benefit of the eleven Apostles.

The true sense is best seen by inverting the order of the words. The time has arrived when I must leave the world and go back again to my father. The consequence is that in a little time you will no longer see me with your bodily eyes, for I shall be in heaven and you on earth. But take comfort. In a little time I shall return again with power and great glory, and then you and all my believing people will see me again."

It is worth notice, in support of the view I maintain, that the expression in Greek, a little while, is almost the same as in Hebrews 10.37, when the second advent is clearly spoken of. Moreover, the expression, I go, is distinctly applied in several places to our Lord's final departure from the world, and seldom, if ever, to our Lord's death on the cross. Alfred thinks his meaning is manifold, and says, Ye shall see me, began to be fulfilled at the resurrection, then received its main fulfillment at Pentecost, and shall have its final fulfillment at the return of our Lord. This strikes me as a very untenable view. It is curious that the first, Ye shall see, is in the present tense, and is an entirely different word to the second, which is a future. The first word would be rendered literally, Ye behold, or gaze upon me.

Verse 17. Then said some, etc. This whole verse shows how little the disciples realized or understood our Lord's meaning at present when he spoke of his second advent. Yet when we consider how widely different are the meanings put on our Lord's words by Christians in this day, we can hardly feel surprised that eleven-week believers, like the apostles, could not take in the full sense of the words when they first heard them the night before his crucifixion.

Verse 18. They said, therefore, little while. This sentence shows that it was the time mentioned, a little while, which perplexed the disciples. We may conjecture that they could not make out whether it meant literally, a few days or hours, or figuratively, a comparatively short time. And is not this precisely the point on which all students of unfulfilled prophecy disagree? The verse before us is curiously applicable to many a prophetical controversy. We cannot tell, saith. The words would be more literally rendered, we do not know what he is speaking of.

Verse 19. Now Jesus knew, ask him. Here, as in other places, our Lord's perfect knowledge of the hearts and thoughts of all around him is pointed out. The word ask, we should carefully note, is literally to ask questions about a thing. It is the same word that is used in verse 23, at that day ye shall ask me nothing. and said, etc. The word rendered, Do you inquire among yourselves of that? could be more literally, Concerning this, do you seek with each other?

20. Verily, say unto you. It should be observed in this verse that our Lord gives no reply to the inquiry of the disciples. He does not tell them what He meant by saying, a little while. Questions about times and dates are rarely answered in Scripture. Our attention is rather turned to practical things.

ye shall weep and lament, etc. I believe, with Augustine and Bede, that the whole verse is meant to be a general description of the state of things between the first and second Advents of Christ. During my absence from the world, after my ascension, you, my beloved disciples, and believers after you, shall have many reasons to lament and mourn, like a bride separate from her husband, while the wicked world around you shall rejoice in my absence and not wish to see me return. During this long, weary interval, you and all believers after you shall often have sorrow and tribulation. But at last, when I come again, your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

In support of this view, I advise the reader to study Matthew 9.15. The idea in each place seems the same. Compare also Isaiah 65.14. Poole remarks, The time of this life is the worldling's hour, while it is for the most part the power of darkness to all who love and fear God. But as the worldling's joy shall at last be turned to sorrow, so the godly man's sorrow shall be turned into joy. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 11, Matthew chapter 25 verse 23 The interpretation of Chrysostom, Cyril, and others, which makes the whole verse fulfilled by the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, appears to me very unsatisfactory. It hardly affords time for the weeping and rejoicing which is here described. Nor is it quite clear that the day during which our Lord lay in the grave was a day of rejoicing to His enemies, if we may judge their anxiety to prevent, if possible, His resurrection from the dead.

a woman, etc. This verse is an illustration of the whole state of the Church between the first and second Advents of Christ. It was to be a time of pain, anxiety, and desire for deliverance, from which the only cessation would be at the personal return of Christ. We are distinctly told in Romans chapter 8 verse 22 that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. It is the normal state of things while Christ is absent. The second coming of the second Adam can alone restore joy to the world.

The church in Revelation chapter 7 verse 2 is compared to a woman travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. The wars and disturbances of the world are called in Matthew chapter 24 verse 8 the beginning of sorrows and the word sorrows there means literally the pains of a travailing woman. The whole idea of the verse seems to be that the interval between Christ's first and second advent will be, to the Church, a period of pain, sorrow, and anxiety, like the state of a woman expecting her delivery, that the end of this period will be the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ the second time, and that when our Lord does come the second time, the joy of the true Church will be so great that the former sorrow and tribulation will be comparatively forgotten. The joy of seeing Christ will swallow up the afflictions of his absence. Compare Romans 8.18-22, 2 Corinthians 4.17.

22. And ye now therefore, etc. I apply to this verse the same principle of interpretation that I have applied to the preceding ones. I think our Lord is speaking of the sorrow and pain which believers would feel during the interval between His first and second advent. You are now entering on a period of pain, sorrow and tribulation, but fear not, it shall not be forever. I will return and see you again. In that day your heart shall be filled and satisfied with joy, a joy which no one can ever take from you, a joy which shall be forever.

I cannot bring myself to believe that this, see you again, can possibly refer to the short period of forty days between the resurrection and the ascension. Above all, I feel strongly that the words, Your joy no man taketh from you, could certainly not be applied to the times of trouble and tribulation and persecution even unto death, which the primitive church passed through in the beginning of its existence. The sensible joy of the primitive church, beyond doubt, was often taken away, as when Stephen was martyred, James slain with the sword, and Peter put in prison. The second coming of Christ is the only time of universal and unbroken joy, to which believers can look forward. Now we are in the wilderness, and our sorrowless home is yet to be reached. Then, and then only, will tears be wiped from all eyes.

Verse 23, and in that day ask nothing. In the first part of this verse, I believe with Augustine that the day spoken of is the day of our Lord's second advent. The asking is asking questions or making inquiries such as the disciples had wanted to make in verse 19. They were desirous to ask him. The Greek word is the same and quite different from the word rendered ask in the later part of this verse. The meaning of the sentence is, in the day of my second advent, you will not need to ask me any questions. You will then fully understand the meaning of many things which you do not understand now.

The far superior light which believers will enjoy in the day of Christ's second coming is the chief point of the promise, as in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. Sira and Chrysostom, however, apply that day to our Lord's resurrection and the 40 days following it.

Verily, verily, whatsoever ask, give you. In this portion of the verse, our Lord renews and repeats his former promise about prayer. Until that day when I come again, I solemnly declare that whatsoever things you shall ask in prayer from the Father in my name, he will give them to you. The word ask in the Greek, in the latter part of this verse, is entirely different from the word rendered ask in the former part. Here it signifies seeking or petitioning in prayer, there it meant asking questions.

It is worth noticing here how very frequent and full are the encouragements to pray which our Lord holds out in the Gospels. The whatsoever of the text must of course be limited to whatsoever things are really for God's glory, the disciples' good, and the interests of Christ's cause in the world.

Verse 24. Hitherto nothing in my name. This sentence means that up to this time the disciples had not prayed for anything through the name and mediation of Christ. They had followed him as a teacher, looked up to him as a master, loved him as a friend, believed him as the Messiah predicted by the prophets. But they had not fully realized that he was the one mediator between God and man through whom alone God's mercy could come down to sinners and sinful creatures could draw near to God. They were now to learn that their Master was one far higher than any prophet, yea, even than Moses himself.

Daniel's prayer, Shine on thy sanctuary for the Lord's sake, is almost the only instance of a prayer in Messiah's name in the Old Testament. Daniel chapter 9 verse 17.

Ask, receive, joy, full. This sentence means, From henceforth begin the practice of asking everything in my name and through my mediation. Ask fully and confidently, and you shall receive fully and abundantly. So asking you shall find the joy and comfort of your own souls enlarged and filled up.

John Gerhardt here remarks, The benefit of prayer is so great that it cannot be expressed. Prayer is the dove which, when sent out, returns again, bringing with it the olive leaf, namely peace of heart. Prayer is the golden chain which God holds fast, and lets not go until he blesses. Prayer is the Moses's rod, which brings forth the water of consolation out of the rock of salvation. Prayer is Samson's jawbone, which smites down our enemies. Prayer is David's harp, before which the evil spirit flies. Prayer is the key to heaven's treasures.

The Greek word rendered full means literally filled up, being the perfect participle of the verb to fill or fulfill. The sentence teaches us that the joy and happiness of believers admit of degrees and may be fuller at one time than at another. It also teaches that the joy of a believer depends much on his fervency and earnestness in prayer. He that prays little and coldly must not expect to know much of joy and peace in believing.

We should not fail to observe how prayer is set before believers here as a plain duty, in the imperative mood, and also how desirous our Lord is that His people should be rejoicing Christians even now in the midst of a bad world. That religion which makes people melancholy and miserable and wretched-looking is a very low type of Christianity, and far below the standard of Him who wished joy to be full. Compare 1 John 1, verse 4.

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