Immediate and Future Problems
This chapter continues the sermon He started in John 14-15. In John 16:1-6, Jesus addresses the future His followers would face. He tells them that they would not be welcome in synagogues - their own people would turn against them. He warns them that they would be hunted and killed in the name of God Himself by the Jewish followers. Little did the Jewish leaders know that Saul, one of their greatest zealots in hunting down Christians, would turn out to be one of the greatest Christian evangelists the world had yet known.
He assured them that all of the things that would be done would be done first by Jews and later by non-Jews, all having one thing in common. They either did not know God, or had not stayed close to Him. Because they didn't really have a relationship with God, it was very hard for them to then have a relationship with Jesus.
Jesus didn't want his followers to be blindsided by the hatred and ill will that would be shown both to Christ in the immediate future and to the disciples then and later. When the bad things happened, He wanted them to remember that Jesus Himself has foretold what would happen. Of all the things that were going to happen, Christ admitted that He didn't tell them about the problems they would face when they first started their walk with Him. He was with them, and was planning on instructing them and showing them God's power at work so that they could know for certain that He was the expected Messiah. If He had told them of what would happen, how many, I wonder, would have simply walked away, counting the cost too dear?
We must not berate the disciples for this reality. How many times does God ask something of us today which we balk at doing? More than we would expect, I'll bet. There is something about developing a relationship with God that gives us the courage and strength to say yes to difficult things. It is no different than what transpires in families and between friends. The closer your relationship, the less flustered you'll be when hard times are predicted. You have a relationship to sustain you through those tough times. The disciples walk was no different. They had reached a point in their relationship with Jesus that they could hear the truth and fully understand what was going to happen.
Jesus tells them plainly that He is returning to the Father. That must have been a jarring statement for them to hear. It is rare today, even with modern medicine, to know when you are going to go to God. Sometimes, you know that something is coming up in your life where there is a good chance that you will die. But to have a certainty of it is rare. Realizing that Jesus was talking about dying soon naturally made the disciples sad. This is a perfectly natural response. Nobody likes to have sad change suddenly thrust upon them. Some changes are hard to bear. Some leave us crushed. Yet Christ and God's response is the same. Look to the Comforter who is promised, and be filled with the Spirit. Learn to recognize the voice of God as He speaks with you. No matter how alone the world thinks you are, with God's fellowship, no Christian ever has to be truly alone.
If you don't go in the rapture, if these pages survive any time at all, remember this. Choose God and Jesus' blood to give you eternal life and seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit more strongly than anyone has sought the baptism since Acts 2. You'll need God's guidance and direction both to survive, and to clandestinely lead others to Christ.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Christ then goes on to give more information about what the Holy Spirit will do for us in John 16:7-16. He lets the disciples know that in fact it is a good thing that He is going to leave them and go back to heaven. The reason is simply that Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to them to usher in the totality of the church age. Oh that all of His church sought the fullness of the Holy Spirit today. How many problems could have been averted if we had listened to the Holy Spirit as closely as the early evangelists listened.
Jesus goes on to list some specific things the Holy Spirit would help make their lives better. First, His work would continue, reproving the world of sin. Through Christ and future Christians, the Holy Spirit would demonstrate the way to live right before God to the world. The worlds righteousness would dim in the glow of how Christians would live their lives. Lastly, the judgment of the world, which would be rendered against Christ shortly would be shown to be flawed and unjust when executed due to the jealousy and self righteousness of the Jewish leaders.
There are many things that I wish I had a way-back machine to see, but one of them is the reaction of the Jewish leaders in private when they realized that Jesus, who they had rejected as the Messiah, had risen from the dead and was seen by so many people after his death by crucifixion. The earthquake, darkness, and the veil of the temple leading into the holy of holies, combined with the Holy Spirit's prompting should have surely changed at least a few hearts.
Another job of the Spirit is to guide us to understand all truth. As I said earlier, there is only one truth. God's word is final and true. It can't be shaded. It doesn't matter what your denomination believes. It doesn't matter what your relatives believe or what belief is popular where you live. It doesn't matter what the religious leaders call truth. It certainly doesn't matter what the politicians call truth. There is only one truth, and that is God's truth. He sees not only everything that is done, but knows the inner hidden and outer obvious reasons why everything is done. The Holy Spirit is there to guide us into truth, if we'll only listen. He won't shout it at us. His is a quiet voice. But it always speaks the truth. And that truth always lines up with the word of God.
If someone is trying to preach a truth that doesn't line up with the Gospel's message, run. I'll grant that parts of the Bible are hard to understand, especially when it comes to prophecy that hasn't happened yet. It will all look clear when we are on the other side of it, but now there are agreements. If someone has a different opinion than you do about certain parts of the Bible, and it doesn't affect the salvation message, then what harm is it? At some point in time, all will be made clear. Some will be wrong and others right. But the Gospel messages can't be changed. Sin is still sin. If teaching tries to say that it isn't sin to God because our culture has changed, then you need to run.
Sadly, many who need to listen to the Holy Spirit have stopped listening to Him. That still small voice is easy to quench. My mom testified that when she was late teens she backslid. Before she had the full Pentecostal experience, back when it was newer, but after she came back to God, she never had that same closeness she had before. Listen to the Spirit of truth and don't drift away. If you've left, come back. God's waiting with open arms.
Jesus Foretells of His Death
After telling them He would not be seen shortly, and then would be seen for a short while before going to His Father, the disciples were again confused. In John 16:17-33, they question each other about it, and then Jesus about what it all means. Jesus asks them if they are debating exactly what they were debating. It must have been unnerving to have Jesus know what they were arguing about. Think of how unnerving it was when you realized that God knew everything about you and your thought life. The disciples got a first hand account of the Holy Spirit's abilities.
Jesus tells them that they will be very sorrowful, lamenting and weeping, but the Jewish world they are part of would be rejoicing because the "false" Messiah had been taken care of, He compares the travail they would experience to a woman's childbirth, where after the child is born, the anguish is largely forgotten. Likewise, Jesus promised them that they would see Him again, and it would be cause for equal rejoicing among them. And be assured, seeing a person alive who had been beaten and tortured, crucified, and buried with Roman guards standing watch over the tomb, back walking the road with you would be a cause of restoration of faith and joy for anyone. Seeing Jesus appear behind shut doors and taken back up to heaven would have been equally awe inspiring.
Jesus tells them that they have asked nothing for themselves in Jesus name. They prayed to God for the miracles that were done and the instances of healing, but weren't evidently praying in the name of Jesus. This was probably wise, and the Jewish people and leaders would have been trying to kill all of the disciples right along with Jesus if they were praying in the name of a man who was alive in their time. They would have considered it blasphemy. But Jesus says that after He goes back to heaven the disciples, and by extension all believers, were to pray to God in the name of Jesus and great things would happen. Jesus wanted them to be full of joy after the sorrow they were about to face.
Jesus also declared that He would be praying right along with them. So that's another reason to make sure we are praying for good things and not to satisfy our own lusts. Jesus wouldn't pray alongside a prayer like that, I don't believe.
He also told them that He would no longer be speaking to them in proverbs or parables, but plainly. This has continued to this day. He also lets us know that our love for Jesus causes a return of love from the Father to us because of our love for Jesus. Jesus declares plainly things that He hadn't said in public. He came from the Father, to the world, was leaving the world and going back to the Father.
After declaring that they understand and believe, Jesus asks them if they truly believe. He warns them that the hour was come in which they would scatter away from Him in self preservation, leaving Him alone from humanity. Nothing could sever the bond of the Holy Spirit, though. It would always connect Him to the Father.
His final thought in this division was that He had told of the future so that they would have some peace about what was going to happen. Even thought there would be tribulation against the disciples and indeed many Christians over history, Jesus had overcome the world and won the eternal battle against the prince of the world. Although there would still be fights over every soul between the sinful man and the work of the Holy Spirit, Christ had won the battle that mattered, providing a way of reconciliation between a holy God and sinful man.