Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
John 16:27

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

147. Difficulties ahead for the disciples (John 16:16-33)

Within the next twenty-four hours Jesus would be taken from his disciples, but three days later, after his resurrection, they would see him again. Their sorrow would be replaced by joy, just as a woman’s pains before giving birth are replaced by joy after the child is born (John 16:16-22). Jesus’ victory through death and resurrection would give them a confidence in God that they never had before. They would see Jesus Christ as the mediator through whom they could confidently pray to the Father and thankfully receive the Father’s blessings (John 16:23-24).

After his resurrection Jesus would no longer need to speak to the disciples in figurative language, because the resurrection would give them a clearer view of the purpose of his mission. Also, no longer would they depend on Jesus to do their praying for them. They would learn to approach the Father personally and with confidence. Yet even this would be possible only because of who Jesus was and what he had done (John 16:25-28).

The disciples’ faith was strengthened by Jesus’ words, but they did not realize that a few hours later their faith would be put to the test. Frightened and confused they would forsake their Lord in his final hours. But the lapse would only be temporary; through his victory, they also would triumph (John 16:29-33).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

See John 14:21, John 14:23.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

27.Because you have loved me. These words remind us that the only bond of our union with God is, to be united to Christ; and we are united to him by a faith which is not reigned, but which springs from sincere affection, which he describes by the name of love; for no man believes purely in Christ who does not cordially embrace him, and, therefore, by this word he has well expressed the power and nature of faith. But if it is only when we have loved Christ that God begins to love us, it follows that the commencement of salvation is from ourselves, because we have anticipated the grace of God. Numerous passages of Scripture, on the other hand, are opposed to this statement. The promise of God is, I will cause them to love me; and John says, Not that we first loved Him, ⁽¹⁰⁵⁾ (1 John 4:10.) It would be superfluous to collect many passages; for nothing is more certain than this doctrine, that the Lord calleth those things which are not, (Romans 4:17) raises the dead, (Luke 7:22,) unites himself to those who were strangers to him, (Ephesians 2:12,) makes hearts of flesh out of hearts of stone, (Ezekiel 36:26,) manifests himself to those who do not seek him, (Isaiah 65:1; Romans 10:20.) I reply, God loves men in a secret way, before they are called, if they are among the elect; for he loves his own before they are created; but, as they are not yet reconciled, they are justly accounted enemies of God, as Paul speaks,

When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
(Romans 5:10.)

On this ground it is said that we are loved by God, when we love Christ; because we have the pledge of the fatherly love of Him from whom we formerly recoiled as our offended Judge.

(105) Quoting from memory, our Author has mingled two passages The first is, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, (1 John 4:10;) and the second is, We love him, because he first loved us, (1 John 4:19.) — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn to John's gospel, chapter 16.

Now, these words in the sixteenth chapter have to be understood with the background as Jesus has been in the upper room with His disciples. He has told them as He had the Lord's supper with them that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until He drank it anew in the kingdom. After supper, He has washed their feet, giving to them an example of what the ministry is all about; it's that of a servant. And then there in the upper room He speaks to them of that beautiful relationship that they would have with the Father and with the Son, through the Holy Spirit; that He is going away, but He's going to come again. And He's going to the Father. And then they leave the upper room. Now, the cross is in front of Him. At this point He knows it. They're not sure. But He realizes that this will be His last chance to just really talk with them of the things that are in His heart. And so, in the fifteenth chapter, somewhere between the upper room and the Garden of Gethsemane, maybe while they're walking, Jesus is talking to His disciples, declaring that He is the vine, the true vine, the Father, the husbandman, and that God's purpose for their lives was that they might bring forth fruit. And that fruit that God is looking for is love. He wants us to love one another even as He loves us. And this emphasis upon bearing fruit, bringing forth that love one for another. Now in chapter 16 Jesus said,

I'm telling you these things, so that you'll not be offended ( John 16:1 ).

Telling them, actually, of the things that are going to happen to them. "When you go out into the world, they're going to persecute you. They're not going to receive you. If you are of the world, then they would receive you and accept you, but you're not of the world. Now, I'm telling you this," Jesus said, "so that you won't get wiped out when you are not received by the world." It is interesting how that somehow in our minds we are idealists and we're prone to think if a person lives an honest, righteous kind of a life, everybody will respect them and appreciate them. But if you ever read of the hassles that these people have to go through who find money and turn it in, and are honest enough to turn it in, how that they get all kinds of hate mails, threatening...a lot of them have just had to move from their neighborhoods. Their neighbors were so totally upset with them for being honest. Harassed them, called them fools and harassed them, because of their honesty. And so, Jesus said, "Look, I'm going to tell you this before it happens, telling you these things now, so that you won't be offended."

For they're going to put you out of their synagogues: yes, the time is coming, when whoever kills you will think that he is doing God's service ( John 16:2 ).

This was surely true with Paul the apostle when he was a zealous Pharisee. And as they were stoning Stephen, Paul said, "I consented unto his death." Paul was holding the coats of those that were throwing the stones, urging them on, no doubt, in the stoning to death of Stephen. Declaring in Philippians chapter 3 that it was a part of his zeal towards God was persecuting the church. He thought he was doing God's service.

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me ( John 16:3 ).

Interesting that these people who were so steeped in traditions of the Hebrew religion. Jesus said of them, "They really don't know the Father." I believe that it is possible to become steeped in the traditions of Christianity so much so that you don't really know the Son. You know all of the traditions. You know all of the church traditions and you're bound up and caught up in the traditions. But it is possible to be very religious in a Christian sense as far as attendance in church and all, and be very religious, but not really know Jesus in a true and intimate way. And we've got to guard against that. That we don't get caught up in religion, but we get caught up in Jesus Christ, in the relationship, the personal relationship with Him. And many times, becoming religious is a real barrier to that relationship. God, keep us open! God, keep us flexible! Not rigid in a religious system and, God, prevent that we should ever devolve into a religious system and lose the real relationship with Jesus.

Jesus said, "They're going to do this thinking they're doing God a service when they kill you, but it's because they really don't know the Father, nor His Son."

But these things I have told you, that when the time shall come, you will remember that I told you them. And these things I did not tell you in the beginning, because I was with you ( John 16:4 ).

"I was there to shield, I was there to take their buffeting and to answer their charges, and I didn't tell you this at the first because you had me with you. But I'm going away now. You're going to be on your own. And now they're going to be persecuting you for My sake, because of what you're going to be doing in My name." And truly, as we read the book of Acts, we find out that this did indeed happen. They were persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ, and for their ministry in His name.

But now I am going my way to him that sent me ( John 16:5 );

Going back to the Father.

and none of you have asked me, Where are you going? ( John 16:5 )

Now, Jesus said to the disciples in the fourteenth chapter, "I'm going away, and if I go I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way, you know." And Thomas said unto Him, "Lord, we don't know where You are going and how can we know the way?" He didn't say, "Where are You going?" He just said, "Lord, we don't know where You are going." None of them asked, "Well, Lord, where are You going?" He kept saying, "I am going away." But they didn't say, "Where are You going?" And He said,

But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart ( John 16:6 ).

"Now, I said, 'I'm going,' and you're all sorry, but you haven't asked, 'Where are you going?'" If they'd asked, "Where are you going?" and they knew that He was going to the Father and, of course, it's revealed here in the seventeenth chapter, then they would not be so sorry for Him. In fact, they would rejoice for Him, though they would still probably be sorry for themselves.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; [It is necessary,] it's expedient for you that I go away ( John 16:7 ):

This is necessary.

for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you ( John 16:7 ).

Now, when Jesus took on a human body, of necessity He took on certain limitations of a human body. And one of the limitations of a human body is that of locality. Your body can only be in one place at one time. Now, that is frustrating at times. There are times when I wish my body could be two or three places at the same time, but as long as I am in this body I can't be. Now, there are sometimes my body is one place and my mind is another. And that happens to you sometimes when you're sitting here. I see your bodies, but sometimes I wonder, "Where are you?" But the body is limited to locality. Now, they are soon to be dispersed. They're to take the gospel into all the world. And it would be impossible for Jesus to be with them all if He were still in the body.

When Paul was heading out for Cypress and for Ephesus and all, if the Lord went with Paul, He couldn't be with Peter and John back in Jerusalem. So, the fact that they were now to take the gospel and go out with it, it was necessary that Jesus leave them and go back to the Father, back to the spiritual state no longer limited by the body, in order that He might send the Holy Spirit who can be with them wherever they go, because He is not bound to locality. And Jesus now in the Spirit is not bound to locality. So He said to His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world . . . the end of this age. But it's necessary in order to be with you in this manner that I go away to be relieved from the limitations of this body." In order that again, as God, He might be omnipresent. And so, in order that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, might come. "When I depart," He said, "I will send Him unto you." He said, "I'm going to pray the Father and He will give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, that He may abide with you forever." And so here again, the promise of the Spirit.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment ( John 16:8 ):

Now Jesus at that point, amplifies what He said the reproof of the Holy Spirit would be and, to me, the amplification is very interesting because it's not at all what I would think in just reading of the Spirit reproving the world of sin. When He reproves the world of sin, I think of all the horrible things that men are doing. I think of the murders, the cheating, the lying and all of these things. But Jesus said,

Of sin, because they believed not on me ( John 16:9 );

Interesting statement. Because you see, there is only one deadly sin, and that is the sin of not believing in Jesus Christ. I care not what you have done; it isn't necessary that I know what you have done, what your past may hide. I know this, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses a man from all sin, no matter what's there. There is only one sin that really condemns a man when they stand before God, and that is the sin of not believing in Jesus Christ. "He will reprove the world of sin because they believed not in Me."

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "For I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through might be saved. And he who believeth is not condemned, but he who believes not is condemned already" ( John 3:17-18 ). Not because he's a cheater, a thief, an adulterer, a murderer; he's condemned already seeing he hath not believed on the only begotten Son of God. This is the condemnation. Light came into the world, but men would not come to the light. So that thing for which God will bring you into judgment is your not believing in His provision for your salvation through Jesus Christ. He will testify of righteousness.

Now, it would seem to me that the testimony of righteousness to us would be saying, "Now, this is the way a person should walk. You should walk in love, you should walk in truth, you should walk in mercy, you should walk in honesty..." and all of these things, showing us the right path and the right relationship that we should have to each other, testifying or reproving the world of righteousness. But, Jesus said,

Of righteousness, because I go unto the Father, and you see me no more ( John 16:10 );

Interesting statement. What Jesus means by that is that we have many varying standards of righteousness that men have established today. And even within the church body, there are different standards of righteousness. In some church bodies, it is very unrighteous for a woman to wear any kind of makeup or try to make herself look halfway decent at all. I'm glad I don't belong to those churches. But, to them that constitutes unrighteousness. Oh, the guys dress flashy, to be sure. But they try to put the women in very dull and unattractive garb and hair pulled back in a bun and so forth. And that to them is righteousness.

It is interesting to me that overall the church here in the United States is opposed to drinking any alcoholic beverage. I personally am. But in Sweden, the Christians there see nothing wrong with drinking beer, and when we were in Sweden and we were out to dinner with the ministers and all, they always said, "Do you want a beer?" And I always was shocked by that. But some of them were very shocked that my wife drank coffee. "Oh, my! Brother, we'll pray for you. What a poor witness, your wife drinking coffee!" While they were drinking their beer!

So, there are different standards of righteousness that quite often are cultural. The morals of a particular society and the standards of righteousness by which men set are usually standards of comparison. When I think of a righteous standard, I look around and I say, "Well, I'm better than he is. I wouldn't do that." And by looking at the faults of others, I can sometimes feel very smug and self-righteous. "Father, I thank you that I am not like other men, because I don't do the things they're doing and I do this, Lord." But Jesus said, "You do err when you compare yourself with men." Because I don't care how righteous you are, or how righteous I am, unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven. And as far as outward righteousness and as far as a righteousness according to the law, they were so far beyond anything we ever dreamed of being, they practiced their whole lives trying to obey the finest points of the law, interpreting them and obeying the finest points of the law. And Paul the apostle was able to testify of his own experience as a Pharisee concerning the righteousness which is in the law. He said, "I was blameless." Jesus, though, said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven" ( Matthew 5:20 ). Don't you know that that blew the mind of the disciples? And caused them to say, "Well, pooph, what's the use? Let's go back fishing again. No way we're going to make that. I give up!" If you think that's tough, Jesus ended that message by saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" ( Matthew 5:48 ). That does it, I'm through! Washed up! Hate to admit it, but I'm not perfect. And you don't have to take my word for it. My wife will be glad to confirm that.

Now, if my righteousness must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees, if I can't create a standard looking around at men, where is the standard of righteousness that God will accept? If He won't accept that rigid standard of the scribes and Pharisees, what standard will He accept? And Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will reprove the world of righteousness because I go to the Father." Now, Jesus, ascending into heaven unto the Father, the Holy Spirit bears witness by that that this is the righteousness that God can accept. So, the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imparted to us by our faith in Him. And so, when Paul talked of the righteousness of the law being blameless, he then said, "Yet those things which were gain to me, this righteous standing I had as a Pharisee, blameless, those things which were gain to me I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ; for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may know Him and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of Christ through faith" ( Philippians 3:7-9 ). The righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, and the righteousness that the Father will accept. If I want the Father to accept me, if I want to enter the kingdom of heaven, I must enter in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Nothing less will do.

Now that, for the moralist, once and for all declares that no matter how moral, honest, good a person, benevolent, charitable you may be, you cannot make it on your own. We all need Jesus Christ. We all need to believe in Him. For believing in Him, my sins are forgiven. I'm no longer condemned. Believing in Him, I now have the righteousness of Christ imputed unto me. And,

Of judgment ( John 16:11 ),

Jesus said. Now, I read in Revelation that there is a great white throne judgment where God sits upon the throne to judge the world. "And the nations, small and great, will stand before Him. And death and hell will give up the dead which are in them; the sea will give up the dead which are in them, and all the small and great will stand there before God to be judged out of the things that are written in the books. Whosoever's name is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake burning with fire, and this is the second death" ( Revelation 20:11-14 ). That's not the judgment that the Spirit is testifying about. Well, there's another judgment.

There's the judgment seat of Christ, before which all of the Christians have to appear to receive the things done in their bodies, whether good or evil. Where our works are to be judged by fire and whatever remains will be rewarded for, what sort of works we have done. There will the motives of the hearts be tested. Jesus said, "Take heed to yourself, that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of men. For I say unto you, you have your reward."

If you're only doing it for a show so people can look at you and say, "Oh, my, isn't he sweet, isn't he wonderful? Isn't he good?" And if that's your motive in doing it, those plaudits and applause and all that you receive from men is all the reward you'll ever get. We are to do our righteousness before God in such a way as to not try to draw attention to ourselves. "Let your light so shine before men, that when they see your good works, they will glorify your Father which dwells in heaven" ( Matthew 5:16 ).

And so, we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. And there we will be rewarded for the way that we have run the race. But that isn't the judgment that the Holy Spirit is speaking about.

"Of judgment," Jesus said,

because the prince of this world is judged ( John 16:11 ).

Interesting. He doesn't talk about our judgment, but He talks about the prince of the world being judged. And where was the prince of the world judged? He was judged upon the cross. Paul tells us in Colossians, chapter 2, that Jesus spoiled those principalities and powers, which are rankings of evil spirits. He spoiled them there on the cross, making an open display of His victory, triumphing over them through the cross. Therefore, let no man judge you. The prince of this world has been judged. There on the cross Christ defeated Satan.

Satan has tremendous power. When God created the world and placed man upon it, God gave to man the dominion over the world. God said unto Adam, "You're to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, over every living and moving and creeping thing; for I have given it unto you." But man, in the Garden of Eden, gave it unto Satan. So that man was no longer the ruler of the world, but Satan became the ruler over the world. And we see today the disastrous consequences of Satan's rule, in the wars, the suffering. All of these things, disastrous consequences of Satan's rule. We pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven." But you do not see that yet. As in Hebrews, we read God has put all things into subjection unto Jesus, but we do not yet see all things in subjection unto Him. We still see a world in rebellion against God, and we still see the fruit of that rebellion in this world in which we live.

One day, by the grace of God, we will live in a world that God intended. And there are marvelous descriptions of that world in the Old Testament, where the lion will lie down with the lamb, and a little child will lead them, and the deserts will blossom like a rose, and there will be streams in the deserts and rivers in dry places, and the lame will leap for joy and the dumb will be singing praises unto God, and the blind shall behold the glory of our Lord. No physical maladies, for the former things will be passed away and all things become new. And there'll be no sorrow or suffering, for you'll see the world in harmony with God, and you'll see the world as God intended it and wants it to be. But right now, we see a world in rebellion. And we see men under Satan's control. The Bible tells us that Satan has taken them captive even against their wills. Paul said "that we might take them from the captivity of the enemy, who has taken them captive against their wills" ( 2 Timothy 2:26 ). Paul tells us that the God of this world has blinded their eyes that they cannot see the truth. There are men today who cannot see the truth; they are bound by Satan's power. They are blinded by him.

We see men in bondage of corruption, bondage of sin. We see it holding men in its power and we've seen the vain futile struggle of man to try and free himself from that power of darkness.

Now, the Holy Spirit is reproving the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment because the prince of this world was judged. What that means is that you don't have to be under Satan's power. You don't have to be under the bondage of corruption. But because of the cross of Jesus Christ, His victory over Satan there at the cross can become your victory. And through the power of Jesus Christ, you can have complete victory and power over the world, the flesh and the devil. You don't have to be under his power. Actually, what Satan holds today, he holds by what is called "usurped power and authority." It's not really his. He still usurps it.

You remember that when God rejected Saul from being the king of Israel, because of his disobedience, God said to Samuel, "How long are you going to grieve for Saul? Let's move on. Go down to the house of Jesse and anoint one of his sons to be the king over Israel." So Samuel snuck down to the house of Jesse for fear of Saul. And he said to Jesse, "Would you bring your sons before me?" And the first son Eliab came in, a big guy and handsome, and Samuel thought, "Alright, this surely is the one that God has chosen for the king." And God said unto Samuel, "Samuel, don't look on the outward appearance. For I don't look on the outward appearance, I look on the heart." Eliab's not the one. So, one by one the sons of Jesse marched in and marched past Samuel, and each one the Lord said, "No." Finally, Samuel turned to Jesse and he said, "Don't you have any other sons?" "Oh, yeah, I have one more, but he's just a kid, he's out watching the sheep." "Well, call him in." And when David came in, this ruddy little kid, the Lord said to Samuel, "That's the one." And he took his oil and he poured it over David's head, and anointed him as king of Israel.

Now, as far God was concerned, David was the king. God anointed him as king. However, Saul didn't believe that. And we read in the next few chapters how that Saul did his best to destroy David and to hang on to the kingdom which God had taken away. "Because you have rejected God from ruling over you, God has rejected you from the kingdom," the prophet had told him. But he did his best by force to hold on to that which God had taken away.

Now, the same is true today in the lives of people. Jesus, you see, has died for the world. But Satan still holds people under his power, but it is like Saul; it's usurped power, it's no longer legally, rightfully his. Jesus has purchased them by His blood. And therefore, we can enter into that victory of Jesus over Satan, and we can also lay claim to lives that Satan is holding, that we might take them from the captivity of the enemy who has taken them captive. And I can bring these people before the Lord, case by case, and I can say, "Now, Lord, I claim the power of Jesus Christ and His victory over the power of Satan that is holding them and blinding them. Lord, deliver them from the power of the enemy and from the blindness."

Now, I can't save them through my prayers, but I can at least bring them to the freedom of choice. We talk about free moral agency, and it's almost a misnomer. There is no way you can say of a sinner that he is a free moral agent. He's the most bound person in the universe. His eyes are blind and he's being held by the power of Satan. How can you say he's a free moral agent? He's a slave unto the tyranny of the enemy! But through prayer, I can make him a free moral agent. Through prayer, I can break the bondage in which he is held by Satan's power, and through prayer, I can open his eyes to the truth. At that point, being a free moral agent, he can then choose, without this oppressive work of Satan blinding his eyes and twisting and perverting his logic. And so, that really is the thrust of prayer towards the sinner, is that of setting them free from this bondage of Satan, because Satan was judged at the cross and he has no legal rights over them any more. And we can claim the victory of Christ life after life, setting them free from the bondage of darkness.

Jesus said,

I have many things to say, but you can't bear them now ( John 16:12 ).

They're not ready for them.

So, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he will not speak of himself ( John 16:13 );

Talking of the Holy Spirit, He declares that He will be a guide for us into all truth, and He will not testify of Himself,

for whatsoever shall he hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He will glorify me ( John 16:13-14 ):

So, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not to exalt Himself. And I do think that when as a church we start making a big emphasis upon the Holy Spirit, we are placing an emphasis where God hasn't placed an emphasis. For the emphasis of the Holy Spirit is upon Jesus Christ. He doesn't testify of Himself, but He glorifies and seeks to glorify Jesus Christ. "And He will tell us things to come." Paul the apostle was directed by the Holy Spirit in his ministry. And he was shown by the Spirit the things that were going to happen in his life. I have had a very marvelous experience of having the Holy Spirit lay out for me the things that God had in store and was planning to do in my life. And the Holy Spirit will testify of things to come and will glorify Jesus Christ.

for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you ( John 16:14 ).

In other words, "He will receive from Me and reveal to you."

All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore I said, that he shall take of mine, and will show it to you. A little while, and you will not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father ( John 16:15-16 ).

Now He's talking about the cross and about His death. "A little while and you're not going to see Me, but yet, a little while and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."

Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What in the world is he trying to say to us, A little while, and you will not see me: and again, a little while, and you will see me: Because I go to the Father? And they said therefore, What is this that he is saying, A little while? ( John 16:17-18 )

I don't know what he's saying.

Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and he said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of what I said, A little while, and you will not see me: and yet a little while, and you shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That you are going to weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice ( John 16:19-20 );

Talking again of His crucifixion. "You're going to weep, you're going to lament, and the world around you is going to be rejoicing."

and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ( John 16:20 ).

Can you imagine the joy of Easter morning? The resurrection, when they saw the risen Lord? Their sorrow turned into joy.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world ( John 16:21 ).

And so, Jesus uses this as a graphic illustration of what He was about to go through; the travail of His soul, the anguish of the cross. But in order that men might be born into the kingdom, all of the pain and the suffering and all is so quickly forgotten when you're swallowed up in the joy of the birth of a new child. You forget. They say that it is one of the hardest pains to bear, and one of the easiest to forget. A child has been born into the kingdom. "And for the joy that was set before Him, Jesus endured the cross though He despised the shame" ( Hebrews 12:2 ). And so, He's talking really of Himself, the anguish that He was to go through. But for the joy of those being born into the kingdom He was willing to do it.

Ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man can take from you ( John 16:22 ).

You're going to go through this time of sorrow, but, oh, you're going to rejoice because I'm going to see you again.

And in that day you will ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you ( John 16:23 ).

"You're not to ask Me, your prayers are to be unto the Father. They are to be in the name of Jesus Christ." And our prayers today should actually be addressed to the Father in the name of Jesus.

Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name: ask ( John 16:24 ),

In the Greek it's imperative, "Please ask..." intensive.

and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full ( John 16:24 ).

So, the Lord is saying, "If you'll ask in My name, you will receive." And through this prayer life, receiving, brings such fullness of joy to the life of the believer.

These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time is coming, when I will no longer when I will no longer speak unto you in proverbs, but I will show you plainly of the Father. And that day you will ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God ( John 16:25-27 ).

And so our prayer is to the Father. We have direct access to the Father. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we might make our needs known before God. In the name of Jesus, I can approach the Father, and yet, I really fear and tremble for those who think that they have direct access to the Father apart from Jesus Christ. They have lost the consciousness of the holiness of God. The Jewish people today say, "We do not need Jesus. We can go directly to the Father." They forget that their fathers did not go directly to the Father, but they came through much sacrifices through the priests. And the priests went to the Father for them. Jesus said, "I'm not going to say that I'm going to ask the Father for you. You can go directly to the Father." If I can go directly to the Father, then surely I don't need to go to Mary to ask Jesus to go to the Father for me. Or any of the other saints. And prayers to Mary and the saints are church dogma and tradition without scriptural foundation. There's no value in praying to Mary. In fact, I would be a little hesitant to do so, lest Jesus said, "Who is my mother?" For when Mary was outside and could not make her way to Jesus because of the crowd, she sent a message in and said, "Tell my son I'm out here...his mother is out here with his brothers." And Jesus, when they brought the message, "Your mother's outside, she wants you," He said, "Who is my mother? Who is my brother?" Now, if I was going to Mary in heaven and said, "Dear Mary, intercede for me," and Jesus would say, "Who is my mother?" I would be in trouble. I don't have to go through Mary. I can come directly to the Father through and in the name of Jesus.

I came forth from the Father, and I am coming to the world: again, I am leaving the world, and going to the Father ( John 16:28 ).

"I came from the Father, I came into the world." "He who was in the beginning with God thought it not robbery to be equal with God" ( Philippians 2:6 ). "In the beginning was the Word," ( John 1:1 ). "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" ( John 1:14 ). "I came into the world . . . " "The world was made by Him, but the world knew Him not. He came to His own, His own received Him not." " . . . but I am going back now to the Father." You see, He said, "You haven't asked Me where I'm going." Now, He's telling them, "I'm going back to the Father."

His disciples said unto him, Lo, now you are speaking to us plainly, and not in a proverb. Now we are sure that you know all things, and you need not that any man should ask you: by this we believe that you came forth from God ( John 16:29-30 ).

You see, they were asking among themselves, "What is He talking about, 'You're going to see Me in a little while'?" And then He says, "Why is it that you're inquiring among yourselves what am I talking about when I say this?" And they said, "Hey, we don't know what's going on, and you don't need that any man should ask thee."

Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, yes, is now come, when you're going to be scattered, every man to his own, and you're going to leave me alone ( John 16:31-32 ):

Here they are affirming, "Lord, we believe." And Jesus said, "Well, yes, but in just a little while you're going to be scattered. Your faith is going to be tested like you can't believe. And you're going to leave Me alone." And Jesus said,

yet I'm not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that ye might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world ( John 16:32-33 ).

And so, Jesus said, "I'm telling you these things because I want you to have peace. In the world, you're going to have tribulation." Now, He is not saying here that the church is going through the Great Tribulation. And there's a vast difference between the tribulation that I experience as a child of God and the Tribulation that the world is going to experience as a rebel against God. "In the world you will have tribulation." Why? Because you're not of the world. Where does the tribulation originate against the child of God? From Satan. From the world itself. Where does the Great Tribulation originate? Its origin is God, as God comes to judge the world for the rejecting of His Son. So there's a vast difference between the tribulation that the church faces in the world and the Great Tribulation that the world will face when God has removed His righteous remnant out of the world, and then begins to judge it for its rejection of His Son.

X "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

8. The clarification of Jesus’ destination 16:25-33

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples would pray in Jesus’ name to the Father (cf. John 14:13-14; John 14:26; John 16:23-24). The Father would grant their request-in the context it is a request for understanding of Jesus’ former teachings-because the Father loved them in a special sense. They had loved His Son and had believed on Jesus. This is a second reason the disciples could take comfort in Jesus’ promise that they would understand better in the future. The first reason was that the Father would grant them answers to their prayers because they prayed in Jesus’ name.

Jesus was not denying that He would intercede for His disciples with the Father (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; cf. 1 John 2:1). His point was that the Father’s love for them would move Him to grant their petitions, as well as Jesus’ intercession and sponsorship (cf. John 15:9-16). Believers have a direct relationship with the Father as well as with the Son and the Spirit (cf. Romans 5:2).

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 16

WARNING AND CHALLENGE ( John 16:1-4 )

16:1-4 "I have spoken these things to you in case you should be caused to stumble in the way. They will excommunicate you from the synagogue. Yes, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that he is rendering a service to God; and they will do these things because they did not recognize the Father or me. But I have spoken these things to you, so that when their time comes, you will remember that I spoke them to you."

By the time John was writing it was inevitable that some Christians should fall away, for persecution had struck the Church. Revelation condemns those who are unbelieving and fearful ( Revelation 21:8). When Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, was examining people to see whether or not they were Christians, he wrote to his emperor Trajan to say that some admitted "that they had been Christians, but they had ceased to be so many years ago, some as much as twenty years ago." Even amidst the heroism of the early Church, there were those whose faith was not great enough to resist persecution and whose endurance was not strong enough to stay the course.

Jesus foresaw this and gave warning beforehand. He did not want anyone to be able to say that he had not known what to expect when he became a Christian. When Tyndale was persecuted and his enemies were out for his life because he sought to give the Bible to the people in the English language, he said calmly: "I never expected anything else." Jesus offered men glory, but he offered them a cross as well.

Jesus spoke of two ways in which his followers would be persecuted.

They would be excommunicated from the synagogue. This for a Jew would be a very hard fate. The synagogue, the House of God, had a very special place in Jewish life. Some of the Rabbis went the length of saying that prayer was not effective unless it was offered in the synagogue. But there was more to it than that. It may be that a great scholar or a great theologian does not need human company; he may be able to live alone and solitary, keeping company with the great thoughts and adventures of his mind. But the disciples were simple folk; they needed fellowship. They needed the synagogue and its worship. It would be hard for them to be ostracized, with all doors shut against them. Men have sometimes to learn, as Joan of Arc said, that: "It is better to be alone with God." Sometimes loneliness among men is the price of fellowship with God.

Jesus also said that men would think they were rendering a service to God when they killed his followers. The word Jesus uses for service is latreia ( G2999) , which is the normal word for the service that a priest rendered at the altar in the Temple of God and is the standard word for religious service. One of the tragedies of religion has been that men have so often thought that they were serving God by persecuting those whom they believed to be heretics. No man ever more truly thought that he was serving God than Paul did, when he was trying to eliminate the name of Jesus and to wipe out the Church ( Acts 26:9-11). The torturers and judges of the Spanish Inquisition have left a name which is loathed; yet they were quite sure that they were serving God by torturing heretics into accepting what they considered to be the true faith. As they saw it, they were saving men from hell. "O Liberty." said Madame Roland, "what crimes are committed in thy name!" And that is also true of religion.

It happens, as Jesus said, because they do not recognize God. The tragedy of the Church is that men have so often laboured to propagate their idea of religion; they have so often believed that they have a monopoly of God's truth and grace. The staggering fact is that it still happens; that is the barrier to union and unity between the Churches. There will always be persecution--not necessarily killing and torture, but exclusion from the house of God--so long as men believe that there is only one way to him.

Jesus knew how to deal with men. He was in effect saying: "I am offering you the hardest task in the world. I am offering you something which will lacerate your body and tear out your heart. Are you big enough to accept it?" All the world knows Garibaldi's proclamation at the siege of Rome in 1849, when he appealed for recruits in these terms: "I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country in his heart, and not with his lips only, follow me." And join they did in their hundreds. When the Spaniards were conquering South America Pizarro presented his men with a choice. They might have the wealth of Peru with its dangers, or the comparative poverty of Panama with its safety. He drew a line in the sand with his sword and he said: "Comrades, on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, storm, desertion and death; on this side is ease. There lies Peru with its riches; here lies Panama with its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south." There was silence and hesitation; and then an old pilot and twelve soldiers stepped across to Pizarro's side. It was with them that the discovery and the conquest of Peru began.

Jesus offered, and still offers, not the way of ease, but the way of glory. He wants men who are prepared with open eyes to venture for his name.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ( John 16:5-11 )

16:5-11 "I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me, and none of you asks me: 'Where are you going?' But grief has filled your hearts because I have spoken these things to you. But it is the truth I am telling you--it is to your interest that I should go away, for If I do not go away the Helper will not come to you. But when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and convince it of righteousness and judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you no longer see me; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."

The disciples were bewildered and grief-stricken men. All they knew was that they were going to lose Jesus. But he told them that in the end this was all for the best, because, when he went away, the Holy Spirit, the Helper, would come. When he was in the body he could not be everywhere with them; it was always a case of greetings and farewells. When he was in the body, he could not reach the minds and hearts and consciences of men everywhere, he was confined by the limitations of place and time. But there are no limitations in the Spirit. Everywhere a man goes the Spirit is with him. The coming of the Spirit would be the fulfilment of the promise: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" ( Matthew 28:20). The Spirit would bring to men an uninterrupted fellowship for ever; and would bring to the Christian preacher a power and an effectiveness no matter where he preached.

We have here an almost perfect summary of the work of the Spirit. The word that John uses of the work of the Spirit is the word elegchein ( G1651) , translated convince by the Revised Standard Version. The trouble is that no one word can translate it adequately. It is used for the cross-examination of a witness, or a man on trial, or an opponent in an argument. It has always this idea of cross-examining a man until he sees and admits his errors, or acknowledges the force of some argument which he had not yet seen. It is, for instance, sometimes used by the Greeks for the action of conscience on a man's mind and heart. Clearly such cross-examination can do two things--it can convict a man of the crime he has committed or the wrong that he has done; or it can convince a man of the weakness of his own case and the strength of the case which he has opposed. In this passage we need both meanings, both convict and convince. Now let us go on to see what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do.

(i) The Holy Spirit will convict men of sin. When the Jews crucified Jesus, they did not believe that they were sinning; they believed that they were serving God. But when the story of that crucifixion was later preached, they were pricked in their heart ( Acts 2:37). They suddenly had the terrible conviction that the crucifixion was the greatest crime in history and that their sin had caused it. What is it that gives a man a sense of sin? What is it that abases him in face of the Cross? In an Indian village a missionary was telling the story of Christ by means of lantern slides flung on the white-washed wall of a village house. When the picture of the Cross was shown, an Indian stepped forward, as if he could not help it: "Come down!" he cried. "I should be hanging there not you." Why should the sight of a man crucified as a criminal in Palestine two thousand years ago tear the hearts of people open throughout the centuries and still today? It is the work of the Holy Spirit.

(ii) The Holy Spirit will convince men of righteousness. It becomes clear what this means when we see that it is Jesus Christ's righteousness of which men will be convinced. Jesus was crucified as a criminal. He was tried; he was found guilty; he was regarded by the Jews as an evil heretic, and by the Romans as a dangerous character; he was given the punishment that the worst criminals had to suffer, branded as a felon and an enemy of God. What changed that? What made men see in this crucified figure the Son of God, as the centurion saw at the Cross ( Matthew 27:54) and Paul on the Damascus Road ( Acts 9:1-9)? It is amazing that men should put their trust for all eternity in a crucified Jewish criminal. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is he who convinces men of the sheer righteousness of Christ, backed by the fact that Jesus rose again and went to his Father.

(iii) The Holy Spirit convinces men of judgment. On the Cross evil stands condemned and defeated. What makes a man feel certain that judgment lies ahead? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is he who gives us the inner and unshakable conviction that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.

(iv) There remains one thing which at the moment John does not go on to mention. When we are convicted of our own sin, when we are convinced of Christ's righteousness, when we are convinced of judgment to come, what gives us the certainty that in the Cross of Christ is our salvation and that with Christ we are forgiven, and saved from judgment? This, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is he who convinces us and makes us sure that in this crucified figure we can find our Saviour and our Lord. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and convinces us of our Saviour.

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH ( John 16:12-15 )

16:12-15 "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth has come, he will lead you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority and out of his own knowledge, but he will speak all that he will hear, and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of the things which belong to me, and will tell you of them. All things that the Father has are mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take of the things which belong to me, and tell them to you."

To Jesus the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, whose great work is to bring God's truth to men. We have a special name for this bringing of God's truth to men; we call it revelation, and no passage in the New Testament shows us what we might call the principles of revelation better than this one.

(i) Revelation is bound to be a progressive process. Many things Jesus knew he could not at that moment tell his disciples, because they were not yet able to receive them. It is only possible to tell a man as much as he can understand. We do not start with the binomial theorem when we wish to teach a boy algebra; we work up to it. We do not start with advanced theorems when we wish to teach a child geometry; we approach them gradually. We do not start with difficult passages when we teach a lad Latin or Greek; we start with the easy and the simple things. God's revelation to men is like that. He teaches men what they are able and fit to learn. This most important fact has certain consequences.

(a) It is the explanation of the parts of the Old Testament which sometimes worry and distress us. AT that stage they were all of God's truth that men could grasp. Take an actual illustration--in the Old Testament there are many passages which call for the wiping out of men and women and children when an enemy city is taken. At the back of these passages there is the great thought that Israel must not risk the taint of any heathen and lower religion. To avoid that risk, those who do not worship the true God must be destroyed. That is to say, the Jews had at that stage grasped the fact that the purity of religion must be safeguarded; but they wished to preserve that purity by destroying the heathen. When Jesus came, men came to see that the way to preserve that purity is to convert the heathen. The people of the Old Testament times had grasped a great truth, but only one side of it. Revelation has to be that way; God can reveal only as much as a man can understand.

(b) It is the proof that there is no end to God's revelation. One of the mistakes men sometimes make is to identify God's revelation solely with the Bible. That would be to say that since about A.D. 120, when the latest book in the New Testament was written, God has ceased to speak. But God's Spirit is always active; he is always revealing himself. It is true that his supreme and unsurpassable revelation came in Jesus; but Jesus is not just a figure in a book, he is a living person and in him God's revelation goes on. God is still leading us into greater realization of what Jesus means. He is not a God who spoke up to A.D. 120 and is now silent. He is still revealing his truth to men.

(ii) God's revelation to men is a revelation of all truth. It is quite wrong to think of it as confined to what we might call theological truth. The theologians and the preachers are not the only people who are inspired. When a poet delivers to men a great message in words which defy time, he is inspired. When H. F. Lyte wrote the words of Abide with me he had no feeling of composing them; he wrote them as to dictation. A great musician is inspired. Handel, telling of how he wrote The Hallelujah Chorus, said: "I saw the heavens opened, and the Great White God sitting on the Throne." When a scientist discovers something which will help the world's toil and make life better for men, when a surgeon discovers a new technique which will save men's lives and ease their pain, when someone discovers a new treatment which will bring life and hope to suffering humanity, that is a revelation from God. All truth is God's truth, and the revelation of all truth is the work of the Holy Spirit.

(iii) That which is revealed comes from God. He is alike the possessor and the giver of all truth. Truth is not men's discovery; it is God's gift. It is not something which we create; it is something already waiting to be discovered. At the back of all truth there is God.

(iv) Revelation is the taking of the things of Jesus and revealing their significance to us. Part of the greatness of Jesus is his inexhaustibleness. No man has ever grasped all that he came to say. No man has fully worked out all the significance of his teaching for life and for belief, for the individual and for the world, for society and for the nation. Revelation is a continual opening out of the meaning of Jesus.

There we have the crux of the matter. Revelation comes to us, not from any book or creed, but from a living person. The nearer we live to Jesus, the better we will know him. The more we become like him, the more he will be able to tell us. To enjoy his revelation we must accept his mastery.

SORROW TURNED TO JOY ( John 16:16-24 )

16:16-24 "In a little while you will not see me any more; and again in a little while you will see me." Some of his disciples said to each other: "What is the meaning of this that he is saying to us--'In a little while you will not see me, and again in a little while you will see me'? And what does he mean when he says: 'I am going to my Father'? What does he mean when he talks about 'A little'? We do not know what he means." Jesus knew that they wished to ask him their questions, and he said to them: "You are discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said: 'In a little while you will not see me, and again in a little while you will see me.' This is the truth I tell you--you will weep and you will lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be grieved, but your grief will turn into joy. When a woman bears a child she has grief, because her hour has come. But, when the child is born, she does not remember her pain because of her joy that a man is born into the world. So you too for the present have grief. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will not have any questions to ask me. This is the truth I tell you--the Father will give you in my name whatever you will ask him. Up till now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may stand complete."

Here Jesus is looking beyond the present to the new age which is to come. When he does, he uses a conception deeply rooted in Jewish thought. The Jews believed that all time was divided into two ages--the present age and the age to come. The present age was wholly bad and wholly under condemnation; the age to come was the golden age of God. In between the two ages, preceding the coming of the Messiah, who would bring in the new age, there lay the Day of the Lord; and the Day of the Lord was to be a terrible day, when the world would be shattered into fragments before the golden age would dawn. The Jews were in the habit of calling that terrible between-time "the birth travail of the days of the Messiah."

The Old Testament and the literature written between the Testaments are both full of pictures of this terrible between-time. "Behold the Day of the Lord comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it" ( Isaiah 13:9). "Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness" ( Joel 2:1-2). "And honour shall be turned into shame, and strength humiliated into contempt, and probity destroyed, and beauty shall become ugliness" (2Baruch 27). "The Day of the Lord will come as a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up" ( 2 Peter 3:10). Such was the picture of the birthpangs of the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus knew the scriptures and these pictures were in his mind and memory. And now he was saying to his disciples: "I am leaving you; but I am coming back; the day will come when my reign will begin and my kingdom will come; but before that you will have to go through terrible things, with pain like birthpangs upon you. But, if you faithfully endure, the blessings will be very precious." Then he went on to outline the life of the Christian who endures.

(i) Sorrow will turn to joy. There may be a time when it looks as if to be a Christian brings nothing but sorrow, and to be of the world brings nothing but joy. But the day will come when the roles are reversed. The world's careless joy will turn to sorrow; and the Christian's apparent sorrow will turn to joy. The Christian must always remember, when his faith costs him dear, that this is not the end of things and that sorrow will give way to joy.

(ii) There will be two precious things about this Christian joy. (a) It will never be taken away. It will be independent of the chances and changes of the world. It is the simple fact that in every generation people who were suffering terribly have spoken of sweet times with Christ. The joy the world gives is at the mercy of the world. The joy which Christ gives is independent of anything the world can do. (b) It will be complete. In life's greatest joy there is always something lacking. It may be that somehow there lingers some regret; that there is a cloud no bigger than a man's hand to mar it; that the memory that it cannot last is always at the back of our minds. In Christian joy, the joy of the presence of Christ, there is no tinge of imperfection. It is perfect and complete.

(iii) In Christian joy the pain which went before is forgotten. The mother forgets the pain in the wonder of the child. The martyr forgets the agony in the glory of heaven. As Browning wrote of the martyr's tablet on the wall:

"I was some time in being burned.

At last a hand came through

The flames and drew

My soul to Christ whom now I see;

Sergius a brother writes for me

This testimony on the wall.

For me--I have forgot it all."

If a man's fidelity costs him much, he will forget the cost in the joy of being for ever with Christ.

(iv) There will be fullness of knowledge. "In that day," said Jesus, "you will not need to ask me any questions any more." In this life there are always some unanswered questions and some unsolved problems. In the last analysis we must always walk by faith and not by sight; we must always be accepting what we cannot understand. It is only fragments of the truth that we can grasp and glimpses of God that we may see; but in the age to come with Christ there will be fullness of knowledge.

As Browning had it in Abt Vogler:

"The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;

What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good

more;

On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round.

All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good shall exist;

Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power

Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist

When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.

The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,

The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,

Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;

Enough that he heard it once we shall hear it by-and-by."

When we are fully with Christ the time of questions will be gone and the time of answers will have come.

(iv) There will be a new relationship with God. When we really and truly know God we are able to go to him and ask him for anything. We know that the door is open; we know that, his name is Father; we know that his heart is love. We are like children who never doubt that their father delights to see them or that they can talk to him as they wish. In that relationship Jesus says we may ask for anything. But let us think of it in human terms--the only terms we have. When a child loves and trusts his father, he knows quite well that sometimes his father will say no because his wisdom and his love know best. We can become so intimate with God that we may take everything to him, but always we must end by saying: "Thy will be done."

(v) That new relationship is made possible by Jesus; it exists in his name. It is because of him that our joy is indestructible and perfect, that our knowledge is complete, that the new way to the heart of God is open to us. All that we have, came to us through Jesus Christ. It is in his name that we ask and receive, that we approach and are welcomed.

THE DIRECT ACCESS ( John 16:25-28 )

16:25-28 "I have spoken these things to you in sayings that are hard to understand; but the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in sayings that are hard to understand, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I do not say that I will ask the Father for you, because the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father, and I came into the world; I am leaving the world again, and I am going to the Father."

The Revised Standard Version has it that up till now Jesus has been speaking to his disciples in figures. The Greek is paroimia ( G3942) ; it is the word used for Jesus' parables, but basically it means a saying that is hard to understand, a saying whose meaning is veiled to the casual listener, a saying which demands thought before its meaning can become clear. It can, for instance, be used for the pithy sayings of wise men with whose pregnant brevity the mind must grapple; it can be used for a riddle whose meaning a man must guess as best he can. Jesus is saying: "So far I have been giving you hints and indications; I have been giving you the truth with a veil on it; I have been saying things which you had to think your way through; but now I am going to speak the truth in all its stark clarity." Then he tells them plainly that he came from God, and that he is going back to God. Here is a tremendous claim--that he is none other than the Son of God and that the Cross is not for him a criminal's death, but the way back to God.

Then Jesus says something we must ever remember. His men can approach God direct, because God loves them; he does not need to take their requests to God; they can take their own. Here is the final proof of something which must never be forgotten. Often we tend to think in terms of an angry God and a gentle Jesus; what Jesus did is presented in a way which seems to mean that he changed the attitude of God to men, and made him a God of love instead of a God of judgment. But here Jesus is saying: "You can go to God, because he loves you," and he is saying that before the Cross. He did not die to change God into love; he died to tell us that God is love. He came, not because God so hated the world, but because he so loved the world. Jesus brought to men the love of God.

He tells them that his work is done. He came from the Father, and now, by way of the Cross, he goes back. And for every man the way is open to God. He does not need to take their prayers to God; they can take their own. The lover of Christ is the beloved of God.

CHRIST AND HIS GIFTS ( John 16:29-33 )

16:29-33 His disciples said: "See! now you are speaking clearly, and you are not speaking in hard sayings. Now we know that you know all things, and that you do not need that anyone should ask you anything. Because of this we believe that you came forth from God." Jesus answered them: "So you believe at this moment? See! the hour is coming--it has come--when each of you will be scattered to your own homes, and you will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have spoken these things to you that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have tribulation. But courage! I have conquered the world."

There is a strange light here on how the disciples finally surrendered to Jesus. They suddenly leapt into full belief because they realized that Jesus did not need to ask any man anything. What did they mean? Back in John 16:17-18 we find them puzzled by what Jesus had said. Beginning in John 16:19 Jesus begins to answer their questions without asking them what they were. In other words he could read their hearts like an open book. That is why they believed in him. A traveller in Scotland in the old days described two preachers whom he had heard. Of one he said: "He showed me the glory of God." Of the other he said: "He showed me my whole heart." Jesus could do both of these things. It was his knowledge of God and his knowledge of the human heart which convinced the disciples that he was the Son of God.

But Jesus was a realist. He told them that, in spite of their belief, the hour was coming when they would desert him. Here is perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Jesus. He knew the weakness of his men; he knew their failure; he knew that they would let him down in the moment of his direst need; and yet he still loved them; and what is even more wonderful--he still trusted them. He knew men at their worst and still loved and trusted them. It is quite possible for a man to forgive someone and, at the same time, to make it clear that he is never prepared to trust that person again. But Jesus said: "I know that in your weakness you will desert me; nevertheless I know that you will still be conquerors." Never in all the world were forgiveness and trust so combined. What a lesson is there! Jesus teaches us how to forgive, and how to trust the man who was guilty of failure.

There are four things about Jesus which this passage makes very clear.

(i) There is the loneliness of Jesus. He was to be left alone by men. And yet he was never alone, because he still had God. No man ever stands alone for the right; he always stands with God. No good man is ever completely forsaken, for he is never forsaken by God.

(ii) There is the forgiveness of Jesus. Of that we have already thought. He knew that his friends would abandon him, yet at the moment he did not upbraid them, and afterwards he did not hold it against them. He loved men in all their weakness; saw them and loved them as they were. Love must be clear-sighted. If we idolize a person and think him faultless, we are doomed to disappointment. We must love him as he really is.

(iii) There is the sympathy of Jesus. One verse here at first sight seems out of place: "I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace." The point is this--if Jesus had not foretold the weakness of the disciples, afterwards when they realized how they had failed him, might well have been driven to utter and absolute despair. It is as if he said: "I know what's going to happen; you must not think that your disloyalty came as a shock to me; I knew it was coming; and it does not make any difference to my love. When you think about it afterwards, don't despair." Here is divine pity and divine forgiveness. Jesus was thinking, not of how men's sin would hurt him, but of how it would hurt them. Sometimes it would make all the difference if we thought, not of how much someone has hurt us, but of how much the fact that they hurt us has driven them to regret and the sorrow of an aching heart.

(iv) There is the gift of Jesus--courage and conquest. Very soon something was going to be unanswerably proved to the disciples. They were going to see that the world could do its worst to Jesus and still not defeat him. And he says: "The victory which I will win can be your victory too. The world did its worst to me, and I emerged victorious. Life can do its worst to you, and you too can emerge victorious. You too can possess the courage and the conquest of the Cross."

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For the Father himself loveth you,.... The Father loved them as well, and as much as the Son did, and of himself too, without any merit or motive in them: he loved them from everlasting, and had given proofs of it in time, in the gift of his Son to them, and for them; and in calling them by his grace; and therefore being thus strongly affected to them, they might depend upon a ready and speedy answer from him, as might be best for his glory, and their good.

Because ye have loved me; not that their love to Christ was the cause of the Father's love to them; but, on the contrary, the Father's love to them was the cause of their love to Christ; and therefore as the cause is known by its effect, they might be assured of the Father's love to them by their love to Christ; for if the Father had not loved them, they had never loved God, nor Christ; but since they did love Christ, it was a clear case the Father loved them: and this their love is joined with faith;

and have believed that I came out from God; being sent by him, and am no impostor, but the true Messiah that was to come: faith in Christ, and love to him, go together; where the one is, there is the other; faith works by love; they are both the gifts of God's grace, and the fruits and effects of his everlasting love; and those who are possessed of them may be firmly persuaded of their interest therein.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      23 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.   24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.   25 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.   26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:   27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

      An answer to their askings is here promised, for their further comfort. Now there are two ways of asking: asking by way of enquiry, which is the asking of the ignorant; and asking by way of request, which is the asking of the indigent. Christ here speaks of both.

      I. By way of enquiry, they should not need to ask (John 16:23; John 16:23): "In that day you shall ask me nothing;" ouk erotesete ouden--you shall ask no questions; "you shall have such a clear knowledge of gospel mysteries, by the opening of your understandings, that you shall not need to enquire" (as Hebrews 8:11, they shall not teach); "you shall have more knowledge on a sudden than hitherto you have had by diligent attendance." They had asked some ignorant questions (as John 9:2; John 9:2), some ambitious questions (as Matthew 18:1), some distrustful ones (as Matthew 19:27), some impertinent ones, (as John 21:21; John 21:21), some curious ones (as Acts 1:6); but after the Spirit was poured out, nothing of all this. In the story of the apostles' Acts we seldom find them asking questions, as David, Shall I do this? Or, Shall I go thither? For they were constantly under a divine guidance. In that weighty case of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, Peter went, nothing doubting,Acts 10:20. Asking questions supposes us at a loss, or at least at a stand, and the best of us have need to ask questions; but we should aim at such a full assurance of understanding that we may not hesitate, but be constantly led in a plain path both of truth and duty.

      Now for this he gives a reason (John 16:25; John 16:25), which plainly refers to this promise, that they should not need to ask questions: "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, in such a way as you have thought not so plain and intelligible as you could have wished, but the time cometh when I shall show you plainly, as plainly as you can desire, of the Father, so that you shall not need to ask questions."

      1. The great thing Christ would lead them into was the knowledge of God: "I will show you the Father, and bring you acquainted with him." This is that which Christ designs to give and which all true Christians desire to have. When Christ would express the greatest favour intended for his disciples, he tells them that it would, show them plainly of the Father; for what is the happiness of heaven, but immediately and everlastingly to see God? To know God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest mystery for the understanding to please itself with the contemplation of; and to know him as our Father is the greatest happiness for the will and affections to please themselves with the choice and enjoyment of.

      2. Of this he had hitherto spoken to them in proverbs, which are wise and instructive sayings, but figurative, and resting in generals. Christ had spoken many things very plainly to them, and expounded his parables privately to the disciples, but, (1.) Considering their dulness, and unaptness to receive what he said to them, he might be said to speak in proverbs; what he said to them was as a book sealed, Isaiah 29:11. (2.) Comparing the discoveries he had made to them, in what he had spoken to their ears, with what he would make to them when he would put his Spirit into their heart, all hitherto had been proverbs. It would be a pleasing surprise to themselves, and they would think themselves in a new world, when they would reflect upon all their former notions as confused and enigmatical, compared with their present clear and distinct knowledge of divine things. The ministration of the letter was nothing to that of the Spirit,2 Corinthians 3:8-11. (3.) Confining it to what he had said of the Father, and the counsels of the Father. what he had said was very dark, compared with what was shortly to be revealed, Colossians 2:2.

      3. He would speak to them plainly, parresia--with freedom, of the Father. When the Spirit was poured out, the apostles attained to a much greater knowledge of divine things than they had before, as appears by the utterance the Spirit gave them, Acts 2:4. They were led into the mystery of those things of which they had previously a very confused idea; and what the Spirit showed them Christ is here said to show them, for, as the Father speaks by the Son, so the Son by the Spirit. But this promise will have its full accomplishment in heaven, where we shall see the Father as he is, face to face, not as we do now, through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12), which is matter of comfort to us under the cloud of present darkness, by reason of which we cannot order our speech, but often disorder it. While we are here, we have many questions to ask concerning the invisible God and the invisible world; but in that day we shall see all things clearly, and ask no more questions.

      II. He promises that by way of request they should ask nothing in vain. it is taken for granted that all Christ's disciples give themselves to prayer. He has taught them by his precept and pattern to be much in prayer; this must be their support and comfort when he had left them; their instruction, direction, strength, and success, must be fetched in by prayer. Now,

      1. Here is an express promise of a grant, John 16:23; John 16:23. The preface to this promise is such as makes it inviolably sure, and leaves no room to question it: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I pledge my veracity upon it." The promise itself is incomparably rich and sweet; the golden sceptre is here held out to us, with the word, What is thy petition, and it shall be granted? For he says, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. We had it before, John 14:13; John 14:13. What would we more? The promise is as express as we can desire. (1.) We are here taught how to seek; we must ask the Father in Christ's name; we must have an eye to God as a Father, and come as children to him; and to Christ as Mediator, and come as clients. Asking of the Father includes a sense of spiritual blessings, with a conviction that they are to be had from God only. It included also humility of address to him, with a believing confidence in him, as a Father able and ready to help us. Asking in Christ's name includes an acknowledgment of our own unworthiness to receive any favour from God, a complacency in the method God has taken of keeping up a correspondence with us by his Son, and an entire dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. (2.) We are here told how we shall speed: He will give it to you. What more can we wish for than to have what we want, nay, to have what we will, in conformity to God's will, for the asking? He will give it to you from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift. What Christ purchased by the merit of his death, he needed not for himself, but intended it for, and consigned it to, his faithful followers; and having given a valuable consideration for it, which was accepted in full, by this promise he draws a bill as it were upon the treasury in heaven, which we are to present by prayer, and in his name to ask for that which is purchased and promised, according to the true intent of the new covenant. Christ had promised them great illumination by the Spirit, but they must pray for it, and did so, Acts 1:14. God will for this be enquired of. He had promised them perfection hereafter, but what shall they do in the mean time? They must continue praying. Perfect fruition is reserved for the land of our rest; asking and receiving are the comfort of the land of our pilgrimage.

      2. Here is an invitation for them to petition. It is thought sufficient if great men permit addresses, but Christ calls upon us to petition, John 16:24; John 16:24.

      (1.) He looks back upon their practice hitherto: Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name. This refers either [1.] To the matter of their prayers: "You have asked nothing comparatively, nothing to what you might have asked, and will ask when the Spirit is poured out." See what a generous benefactor our Lord Jesus is, above all benefactors; he gives liberally, and is so far from upbraiding us with the frequency and largeness of his gifts that he rather upbraids us with the seldomness and straitness of our requests: "You have asked nothing in comparison of what you want, and what I have to give, and have promised to give." We are told to open our mouth wide. Or, [2.] To the name in which they prayed. They prayed many a prayer, but never so expressly in the name of Christ as now he was directing them to do; for he had not as yet offered up that great sacrifice in the virtue of which our prayers were to be accepted, nor entered upon his intercession for us, the incense whereof was to perfume all our devotions, and so enable us to pray in his name. Hitherto they had cast out devils, and healed diseases, in the name of Christ, as a king and a prophet, but they could not as yet distinctly pray in his name as a priest.

      (2.) He looks forward to their practice for the future: Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. Here, [1.] He directs them to ask for all that they needed and he had promised. [2.] He assures them that they shall receive. What we ask from a principle of grace God will graciously give: You shall receive it. There is something more in this than the promise that he will give it. He will not only give it, but give you to receive it, give you the comfort and benefit of it, a heart to eat of it,Ecclesiastes 6:2. [3.] That hereby their joy shall be full. This denotes, First. The blessed effect of the prayer of faith; it helps to fill up the joy of faith. Would we have our joy full, as full as it is capable of being in this world, we must be much in prayer. When we are told to rejoice evermore, it follows immediately, Pray without ceasing. See how high we are to aim in prayer--not only at peace, but joy, a fulness of joy. Or, Secondly, The blessed effects of the answer of peace: "Ask, and you shall receive that which will fill your joy." God's gifts, through Christ, fill the treasures of the soul, they fill its joy, Proverbs 8:21. "Ask for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and you shall receive it; and whereas other knowledge increaseth sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:18), the knowledge he gives will increase, will fill, your joy."

      3. Here are the grounds upon which they might hope to speed (John 16:26; John 16:27), which are summed up in short by the apostle (1 John 2:1): "We have an advocate with the Father."

      (1.) We have an advocate; as to this, Christ saw cause at present not to insist upon it, only to make the following encouragement shine the brighter: "I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you. Suppose I should not tell you that I will intercede for you, should not undertake to solicit every particular cause you have depending there, yet it may be a general ground of comfort that I have settled a correspondence between you and God, have erected a throne of grace, and consecrated for you a new and living way into the holiest." He speaks as if they needed not any favours, when he had prevailed for the gift of the Holy Ghost to make intercession within them, as Spirit of adoption, crying Abba, Father; as if they had no further need of him to pray for them now, but we shall find that he does more for us than he says he will. Men's performances often come short of their promises, but Christ's go beyond them.

      (2.) We have to do with a Father, which is so great an encouragement that it does in a manner supersede the other: "For the Father himself loveth you, philei hymas, he is a friend to you, and you cannot be better befriended." Note, The disciples of Christ are the beloved of God himself. Christ not only turned away God's wrath from us, and brought us into a covenant of peace and reconciliation, but purchased his favour for us, and brought us into a covenant of friendship. Observe what an emphasis is laid upon this "The Father himself loveth you, who is perfectly happy in the enjoyment of himself, whose self-love is both his infinite rectitude and his infinite blessedness; yet he is pleased to love you." The Father himself, whose favour you have forfeited, and whose wrath you have incurred, and with whom you need an advocate, he himself now loves you. Observe, [1.] Why the Father loved the disciples of Christ: Because you have loved me, and have believed that I am come from God, that is, because you are my disciples indeed: not as if the love began on their side, but when by his grace he has wrought in us a love to him he is well pleased with the work of his own hands. See here, First, What is the character of Christ's disciples; they love him, because they believe he came out from God, is the only-begotten of the Father, and his high-commissioner to the world. Note, Faith in Christ works by love to him, Galatians 5:6. If we believe him to be the Son of God, we cannot but love him as infinitely lovely in himself; and if we believe him to be our Saviour, we cannot but love him as the most kind to us. Observe with what respect Christ is pleased to speak of his disciples' love to him, and how kindly he took it; he speaks of it as that which recommended them to his Father's favour: "You have loved me and believed in me when the world has hated and rejected me; and you shall be distinguished yourselves." Secondly, See what advantage Christ's faithful disciples have, the Father loves them, and that because they love Christ; so well pleased is he in him that he is well pleased with all his friends. [2.] What encouragement this gave them in prayer. They need not fear speeding when they came to one that loved them, and wished them well. First, This cautions us against hard thoughts of God. When we are taught in prayer to plead Christ's merit and intercession, it is not as if all the kindness were in Christ only, and in God nothing but wrath and fury; no, the matter is not so, the Father's love and good-will appointed Christ to be the Mediator; so that we owe Christ's merit to God's mercy in giving him for us. Secondly, Let it cherish and confirm in us good thoughts of God. Believers, that love Christ, ought to know that God loves them, and therefore to come boldly to him as children to a loving Father.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Pray, Always Pray November 3, 1878

“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.” [John 16:26-27 ]

This revised manuscript with English updates is copyrighted © 2000 by Tony Capoccia. All rights reserved.

The present time, in which we live, is highly favored, and ought to be highly valued. Let us never envy the patriarchs their communion with God, when sometimes he spoke personally into their ears, or visibly revealed himself to them. Blessed are our eyes, for they see, and our ears, for they hear the things which kings and prophets waited for in vain. That which was denied to them has been revealed to us; and we are, therefore, very privileged. Though John the Baptist, living on the very verge of the gospel dispensation, was the greatest mere man who had been born of a woman, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he; and we are now living in that kingdom of heaven, although there is, at present, much to mar the glory of the reign of Christ on earth. Be grateful, therefore, O you sons of men who are also sons of God, be grateful that you live in this truly golden age, for, with all its sorrows, and all its shortcomings, it is an age of great mercy and of high privilege!

I venture even to set the present period above that brave age in which Jesus lived here among men. We are very apt to look on that time as being the sunniest era which the Church of the Living God ever enjoyed; yet it was not so. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit is of a higher order than the dispensation of the humiliated and suffering Savior. That was the day of the Church’s childhood, when her Lord instructed her by picture’s, and taught her letters, but kept back many of the greater and deeper truths because she was not able to bear them then. Now, the Holy Spirit has been given to lead us into all truth, and he takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us. It was only the twilight of the gospel dispensation, or only its dawning hour when our Lord was here. True, he is the Sun [Sun] of righteousness, but his disciples only saw a little of his glory, for their eyes were only slightly opened, and they had less light from him than we have, even though the blessedness of his physical personal presence is denied to us. At that time, there was much backwardness in prayer even among the apostles of Christ. Just before our text, we read that Christ said to them, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.”

We read of our Master praying, and we know that the cold mountains, and the midnight air often witnessed the fervor of his prayer, but we read very little about the prayers of the disciples. They once did get as far as to say, “Lord, teach us to pray;” but they seemed to know very little about the power of prayer.

Now, the Lord has not only taught us to pray, but he has also given us the Holy Spirit to help us in our weaknesses, and to make intercession for us with groans that words cannot express. In many other respects, we are far more blessed than any of the highly-favored twelve who remained with Christ, or the privileged seventy who were sent out by him to teach, and to preach, and to heal the sick. It is a blessed period in which we live, and I want you, who are believers in Christ, to prize your privileges. If you have been lamenting your lot, I want you to know that your birth could scarcely have been at a more favorable period, and that, to be living in the time when the Spirit of God has been given, and his sacred influences are exercising their power in the Church, is a high honor which God has given to you.

I am led to make these remarks because our text begins with the words “In that day,” which is the present period, the time when Christ has returned to his Father’s right hand after his terrible death on Calvary, the period when we are no longer full of sorrow because he died, but our sorrow is turned into joy on his account, and on our own, too. It is “In that day” that the blessings I am going to speak of are given to us, so that we are even now enjoying them, or ought to be doing so.

Taking the text as referring to the period of time in which we now live, I notice, first, the believer’s daily exercise: “In that day you will ask in my name.” Secondly, we have the believer’s privileged position: “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.” Then, thirdly, I will practically try to suggest what should be the believer’s natural conclusion from the blessed truth, which is here revealed to us.

I. First, then, let us notice THE BELIEVER’S DAILY EXERCISE. It is, to ask, and to continue asking: “In that day you will ask in my name.”

It is a very simple matter to ask; but how gracious it is, on the part of God, to add to such a simple thing as asking the promise of giving! He did not say, “Desire the blessing,” but “Ask for it.” He does not say, “Purchase it,” but “Ask for it;” nor “Labor until you finally obtain it by your own efforts,” but “Ask for it.” Brothers and Sisters, if heaven is to be had for the asking, and if all that is needed to bring us to heaven is to be had for the asking, who would not ask? Whatever else a believer may fail to do, he must never fail to ask.

If we have never asked God for anything at all, we may be quite sure that we were never converted. A prayerless soul must be a Christless soul; but if we are really in Christ, we must have practiced the sacred art of asking, and we ought to continually ask. If there is any difficulty in our minds, let us ask, for the Holy Spirit can solve it. If there is any needs in our homes, let us ask, for our Heavenly Father can supply it. If there is any weakness in our spiritual nature, let us ask, for God can strengthen us. If there is any longing desire of our soul, which even leads to great sorrow of spirit, let us ask, for our desire can be granted if it is a right one, and our sorrow can be removed. To ask my brethren, is very simple; and let the Lord’s name be praised that, usually, the best asking is that which is the most simple.

To ask anything of God does not require that you must use a set form of words. The children in your family do not read a formal, written request to you when they want any favor from you; they state their need in childish language, you understand them, and grant their request if it is a right and proper one, and compliance with it is within your power. Act in just the same way with your God. We are often far too careful about picking and choosing the phrases that we use in prayer. Do you think that God is pleased with a display of rhetoric, or that he takes notice of your elocution when you come to the throne of grace? It may suit a teacher of English composition to criticize your sentences, but God thinks much more of your desires than of the words in which they are expressed. It may be natural for a scholar to consider the accuracy of your terms, but God especially notes the sincerity of your soul. There is no other place where the heart should be so free as before the mercy-seat. There, you can talk out your very soul, for that is the best prayer that you can present. Do not ask for what some tell you that you should ask for, but for that which you feel the need of, that which the Holy Spirit has made you to hunger and to thirst for; you ask for that.

Always ask; your whole life should be spent in asking. When the morning breaks, ask for the mercy needed during the day; and when the day has closed its eyelids, and you go to your bed, ask for the protection and rest that you need during the night. Ask when your voice can be heard only by your God in secret, and ask when your tongue may not be able to move, but only your spirit whispers into the ear of God. Never hesitate to ask because of the greatness of the blessing you desire. The Lord is a great God though you are so little, and he delights to give great things to those who ask him. And don’t be reluctant to ask because of your unworthiness. You can never have any worthiness of your own; therefore, if a sense of unworthiness would prevent you from praying right now, then it might always hinder you from praying; yet the Lord commands you to pray, so it must be right for you to pray. Ask when you have fought for something, and cannot win it; ask when you have toiled for it, and cannot gain it, ask and you will have it. Come before your God in all the rags of your sinfulness and conscious unworthiness, and ask, for that is all you have to do. “Ask, and you will receive,” is the message that shines out, with heavenly radiance, over the mercy-seat. Read it, and obey it; open your mouth wide, for God will fill it.

Our Lord told his disciples that, in addition to asking, they were to ask in his name: “In that day you will ask in my name.”

That is the most delightful way of asking. We often say, at the end of our petition, “Lord, grant it, for Jesus sake,” and that is a very proper plea. It means, “Because of what Jesus did, won’t you deal well with me? I have done nothing that can ensure a favorable answer to my supplication, but won’t you give it because Jesus deserves it? O Lord, listen to me, for his sake!” That is a good way to pray, but it is a still better way if you can use the name of Christ, and ask in his name.

You know what you do at a store, when another persons asks you to go there, and purchase items in his name, and charge them to his account. Or suppose that you have authorized your servant to go to a certain store, and you have said to the owner, “Whatever he comes for in my name, let him have it.” Perhaps he has no money of his own; possibly, he is a very poor person; but, armed with your authority, he can get from that storeowner as much as you could get if you were to go there yourself. So, Jesus says to us, “Use my name when you are speaking to my Father.” “And how far may I go in using that name?” As far as Christ himself can go; whatever power there is about the name of Jesus, whatever influence it has in his Father’s heart, that power and that influence we are permitted to exercise in prayer. My Lord, I used to ask you to do certain things for your Son’s sake; but now I come with a still stronger plea, for, he has commanded me to use his name, and to ask that you will do for me even as you would do for him. My Father, if you can refuse your Firstborn, then you can refuse me; and if I am asking for something that he would not ask for, then please ignore my plea, for I desire to make this the test of my prayer, both for its extent and for its acceptance. If Christ would refused to pray for it, then so do I; and if that which I ask for seems to be a blessing to me, but would not have seemed to be a blessing to him, then I say, “Not as I will, but as you will,” so that I may still be able to use his name. No person in his right mind would use another person’s name improperly; and if you are asking of God something for yourself merely with a selfish motive, you must not defile that blessed name of his by linking it with such a prayer as that. But, using his name properly, you have great liberty, and a high privilege, in being permitted to come and pray, not only for the sake of Jesus, but also in the name of Jesus.

Our text tells us that this asking in the name of Christ is to be the constant exercise of Christians “in that day.”

What is that day according to the context, it is, the time of persecution: “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” At such a time as that, Christians are sure to pray. Today, in England, we do not have one-tenth of the prayer that used to go up in the dark days of Queen Mary. Ah, beloved! when brothers and sisters are in prison for the faith-when they are likely to be laid on the rack-when the little church has to be called together because the pastor is to be burned at the stake in the morning, and the young people all want to be up early to stand around, and to cheer him with their weeping eyes if they cannot do anything more for him, and when the youngsters come home, and their fathers ask them why they went there, they say they went to learn the way if they should have to die in the same manner themselves-ah! then, prayer is a reality. And when they gather together in out-of-the-way corners and in lonely caverns, when they dare not raise their voices lest the watchers should hear them, and take them to prison-yet, in solemn undertones, they cry to the Lord, it is real prayer then, it is that powerful and effective prayer of righteous men. It is then that the Church of the Living God really does pray. If any of you are, in your little way, subject to persecution, be sure to pray, for our Savior said, “In that day you will ask in my name.” Let that persecution be a sort of reminder to you of your duty and privilege. If you have been at all slack in prayer, and somebody persecutes you because of Christ, say, “Now is the time for me to pray more earnestly than ever, for Jesus said, especially at the time of persecution, ‘In that day you will ask in my name.’”

If you read further on in the chapter, you will find that “that day” is when the Spirit of God has instructed the followers of Christ. He said, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything.” That is, “You will ask me no questions, for the Spirit of God will instruct you. “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Now, the more light and understanding a man gets from heaven, the more he will pray. If there is any so-called light that makes a man lax in prayer, that light is darkness. Some time ago, when there were a great many people around who professed to be perfect, I heard of one who had grown so conceited that she said her mind was so conformed to the will of God that there was no need for her to pray because her mind and God’s mind were so perfectly one and the same. Yes; and when a person imagines that he is so good that he doesn’t need to pray, he had better begin by crying out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I daresay you have heard of those people who climb so high up the ladder that they fall down the other side; and that is exactly what people do when they begin to carry any truth to extravagance, and push a point beyond its legitimate issues. That which makes you cease to pray is of the devil, so say to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” The very suggestion that you can do without prayer must have come from below, it cannot have come from above. The more the Spirit of God teaches a Christian the things of God, the more it makes him ask in the name of Jesus Christ.

Once again, that day is a day of great joy: “your grief will turn to joy.... In that day you will ask in my name.”

Perhaps someone says, “But times of grief are good times for prayer, are they not?” I grant you that they are; but, oh! when grief is turned to joy, and doubt gives way to faith, and hope herself becomes eclipsed by a measure of delightful fulfillment, then is the time to pray. When your heart is ready to dance, and your mouth is full of sweetness, then draw near to God in prayer. When he has given you the most, then ask all the more from him. Suppose this is a good day for you, a day of good news; then seize such a good opportunity to pray. There is a high tide in your affairs just now; then take advantage of the flood, that it may lead you on to spiritual wealth, and wash you up high, and near to your God. O beloved, if ever in your lives you pray, let it be especially when the Lord reveals himself so graciously to you that your heart is glad, and your glory rejoices! Let that be a day of asking in the name of Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, I wish I could speak even more impressively on this most delightful theme; for, if there is one point, more than others, that touches the very vitals of Christian existence, it is this prayerfulness-this asking of God and receiving from him in answer to our earnest believing supplication. Is prayer a reality with you, dear friends, or is it a mere mockery? Is it a sort of religious rite that you feel bound to perform, or has it become as essential to your spiritual being as breathing is to your natural being? Is it now to you a matter of habit that you should pray? Is it as natural for you to ask your Father who is in heaven as it is for your little children to ask you who are their fathers on earth? I feel that it must be so with me; not merely praying because I should, but because I love the sacred exercise; not praying at a certain hour because it is the set time for prayer, but praying because I want to pray, praying because I must pray. A man scarcely needs to be reminded that he must breathe. It is essential to his very life that he should breathe, and it is essential to our spiritual life that we should pray. I never thought it necessary to prepare a sermon to exhort you to eat, neither should it to be necessary to exhort Christians to pray. It should be to you an instinct of your new nature, as natural to your spiritual being as a good appetite is to a man in health. There should be a holy hunger and thirst to pray, and the soul never prays so well as when it is reminded, not by the hour of the day or night, but by its real needs; and when it goes to its place of private prayer, not because it thinks it should, but because it feels that it must, and is delighted at the privilege of having communion with its God.

My object, in the second part of my sermon, will be to stir you up to such a feeling as that, so I will say no more on this first portion of my theme, the believer’s daily exercise: “In that day you will ask in my name.”

II. Well now, secondly, we have THE BELIEVER’S PRIVILEGED POSITION with regard to praying.

Is that in the text? Yes; or, at least, it is implied in the text, for Jesus says, “In that day you will ask.” But how could he affirm so positively that we would ask unless he intended to send his Spirit to lead us to ask? The promise is itself a guarantee that he will see it fulfilled. So we have the Holy Spirit to prompt us to pray; and not merely to prompt us to pray, but to tell us what we should pray, “We do not know what we ought to pray for” until he teaches us. Someone perhaps might ask, “Why do you pray, when everything is ordained by divine decree?” It is true that everything is ordained, and it is for that very reason that we do pray. The Spirit of God leads us to desire exactly what God has decreed, and though we cannot open and read the book of his decrees, the Holy Spirit can read that book, so he guides us to pray in accordance with its secret records, and he also makes intercession for us “according to the will of God.” “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God;” and what the Spirit of God knows to be the mind of God, he also makes to be our mind, and thus we also pray “according to the will of God.” A true prayer is the echo of the eternal purpose. We say that “coming events cast their shadows before them;” and our prayers are the shadows before God’s mercies. Who would not pray when prayer becomes to him a consecrated mystery in which one Person of the Sacred Trinity operates on his mind, and excites his desires? It ought to lead us to be much in prayer because our prayers are prompted by the Holy Spirit.

“Pray, always pray; the Holy Spirit pleads, within you all your daily and hourly needs.”

Next, we ought to be much in prayer because we have the high honor of being allowed to use the name of Christ in our prayers: “In that day you will ask in my name.”

If a king were to entrust us with his royal seal, or if that king had the power to make money as fast as he willed it simply by his signature, and he allowed us the use of that signature, I don’t think many of us would remain poor. If he would only give us that privilege, we would be sure to make a considerable sum of money before we returned his seal and signature. But our Lord Jesus does, as it were, take off the signet ring from his finger, and he says to his servants, “Ask in my name;” and, therefore, we write checks on the infinity of God. There is no limit put to our requests except this, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Oh, how this ought to encourage us to pray! Will we allow such a golden opportunity as this to pass by unused? O believers, with the Holy Spirit to tell you what to ask for, and the Lord Jesus to endorse your asking, will you not pray without ceasing?

But, beyond all this, there is the great encouragement to constant prayer which we derive from the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is continually making intercession for us. Our poor prayers are blotted, and blurred, and stained with sin, but our great high Priest sprinkles them with his own most precious blood, and so purifies them, and then, with his own dear hand, he lays them before the mercy-seat, and for his sake they are sure to be accepted. “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One;” and he is always pleading for us. So, as we have a Divine Intercessor, who never forgets to present our prayers before his Father’s throne of grace, how boldly ought we to come to the mercy-seat, and what large things we ought to ask of God in Christ’s name!

Our text, however, seems to suggest to me that our Lord Jesus wished to prevent his disciples from making a mistake concerning his intercession; so, on this occasion, he said, “I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.” There was no need that he should say that just then, for he had said it a great many times already, so he did not need to repeat it. But, at that time, he seemed as if he meant to say, “I don’t want you to exaggerate even my intercession at my Father’s expense. I will intercede for you, but you must not imagine that I do so because my Father is unwilling to hear you when you come to him in my name. You must not get into your minds the strange idea that, by my pleading, I will make my Father willing to bless you, for, the Father himself loves you.”

This brings us to a very precious point, which is, that we should be greatly encouraged to pray, not only because the Spirit prompts us, and the Son intercedes for us, but because the Father himself loves us.

Oh, how we ought to pray now that we have the ear, no, more than that, the very heart of the King! To have such a Teacher as the Holy Spirit, and such an Advocate as our Lord Jesus Christ, ought to be a great encouragement to us; but to have the heart of the King himself, is best of all: “The Father himself loves you.” You know, dear brothers and sisters, that shallow thinkers often make mistakes concerning the Father and the Son in relation to the atonement. They think that the atonement of Christ was necessary to make the Father love his people, whereas the truth is, that the Father, because he loved his people, gave his one and only Son to make atonement for them. God was always love, as truly love as the Son was and is; we must make no mistake about that matter. So, concerning Christ’s intercession, there is a tendency, in certain quarters, to fall into the error of supposing that the Father is difficult to please, and that Jesus must pacify him before he will grant our requests. It is not true, “for the Father himself loves you.” I think that, when a sinner is coming to God, he had better first fix his eye wholly upon Jesus the Mediator; but as for those of us who have believed in Jesus, we are forgiven, we are in a totally different position from that in which the unbeliever stands. We have had our sins forgiven, and we may come directly to the Father himself, of course, always coming through the Mediator, yet all the while rejoicing in his gracious assurance, “The Father himself loves you.”

“Pray, always pray, though weary, faint, and alone, Prayer nestles by the Father’s sheltering throne.”

The text says that the Father loves us because we have loved Jesus, and have believed that he came from the Father. Don’t make the mistake of imagining that the love of God to us is caused by our love to Christ. Oh, no! “We love him because he first loved us.”

The first love of God is a love of benevolence, a love of compassion, a love towards the unworthy and the undeserving. God, out of love, forgives us, and saves us; but there is another love, besides that, which we must never forget. When he has brought us to love his dear Son, when he has brought us to trust in him because we believe that he came from the Father, then the Father has a love of contentment and delight toward us. You can easily see the difference between the two kinds of love, for it is often illustrated in human history. A man finds a poor child in the street, and he takes pity on it, and carries it into his house, and clothes it, and cares for it. That is one kind of love, the love of benevolence; but suppose that child should develop into a beautiful boy, or a lovely girl, who, with charming manners, works their way into the very heart of the one who was so kind to it in earlier days, then there springs up a second kind of love. The man says, “I loved that child when I picked it up, a bundle of rags, and filth, and misery; but look at its loveliness now. See how this little one takes to the rest of the family, see how grateful it is, how it loves me; I cannot help loving it more than I did at first.” That is another kind of love altogether, and the Lord has just such a love as that, only of an infinitely higher kind, toward all who trust and love his Son.

You know that the Father loves Jesus Christ so much that, when he sees that you also love him, he loves you all the more for that reason. He had unbounded confidence in Christ when he sent him into the world; and when he sees that you also have confidence in him, he loves you, too, for you two are agreed on that matter. Nothing binds people together so much as a common love to the same object. If there is some one person who is dear to both, there is at once a tie between the two. How often a husband’s heart is held firmly by the wife because, between the two, there is a little one who is dear to both of them! Perhaps, in some foolish fit of anger, they might have left one another, but their child is the bond that holds them together. And between us and our God, in a sense infinitely above my poor comparison, there is a wonderful union because he confides in Jesus, and we confide in him too. The Father loves Jesus, and we love him too; and now, because of this, our Savior says to us, “The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

I cannot explain this marvelous mystery, but I want you, you who know that you do, in fact, love Christ, and believe that he came from God, just to open your hearts, and try to take in this sublime truth, “The Father himself loves you.” Not “pities you”; not “promises to help you”; not “considers you”; but, “the Father himself loves you.” It is no use attempting to explain what love is; you must feel it if you would realize what it is. You didn’t doubt your mother’s words when you were little, and she took you in her arms, and said, “I love you.” You believed her, you rested in her love and you returned it as much as you could. So the great God of the Universe says to you “I love you because you love my Son. There are many faults and failings in you, but you love my Son, so I love you.” Didn’t you just say, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” You said that to the Lord Jesus; and, because it is true, the Father himself loves you.

I remember when one of the sweet passages in the Song of Solomon came home to my heart with absolutely ravishing power, it seemed to carry me right out of myself, it was that verse in which the Heavenly Bridegroom says to his spouse, “All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” That is what the Father says to his people when he sees them in Christ. When he perceives that they love Christ, he says that “his delight is in her.”

“The Father himself loves you.” This little sentence is not so much a theme for preaching as for quiet meditation. You need to get alone into your bedroom, and to sit down, and just ring that silver bell again, and again, and again, “the Father himself loves you.” Loves me? Why should he love me? How can he love me? Yet Jesus knows; and, as he says it is true, then so it is, glory be to his holy name!

III. I have only a little time left to speak of THE BELIEVER’S NATURAL CONCLUSION, which he is to draw from these words of Christ.

First, He says, “If all this is true, then, what power I have! What power I have, at the mercy-seat, with the Spirit to prompt me, Christ to plead for me, and the Father himself smiling at me as I come, and saying to me, ‘Come and welcome, for I love you; no one can be more welcome than you are. Come, my child, ask what you will, and it will be done to you.’” But, beloved, have you ever really believed that you have this power? Haven’t you asked and hoped when you ought to have asked and believed? Haven’t you asked as if there was just a bare possibility that you might be heard! Haven’t you prayed thin king to yourself that your many pleadings and your abundant tears might move the hard heart of God? Hasn’t your supplication often been presented on some such theory as that! If so, I hope that, in the future, you will be able to rise to the believer’s true position, and say, “I am God’s child, and he loves me; and coming to him, through Jesus Christ his Son, and moved by his Holy Spirit, I will ask of him whatever I need, for I know that I will receive that which I have asked of him in the name of Jesus, and for his sake.”

If you ever realize that you have that power, (and I earnestly hope that you will), then be sure that you use it. Use it for your children, use it for all your relatives, use it for those in church, who sit near you, and are unconverted. Pick them out, and pray for them by name, and do not be content until you hear that they are saved. May I also ask you to use this power in prayer on my behalf? I will be so rich if you, who have power with God, will pray for me. My preaching will be poverty-stricken if you cease to pray for me. You who can pray, I beg you to plead with God for his Church, for his truth, for his cause on the earth. These are dark days, but you can bring on a spiritual summertime if you know how to pray the powerful and effective prayer of a righteous man. Truth seems for a while to be suffering defeat, and the battle becomes hotter and fiercer; but the banner of victory will soon float in the breeze if you know how to pray properly. The praying army is the conquering army. Bring to the front the men and women who can pray, and the devil will tremble and flee, for he clearly knows that those who are mighty with God are mightier even than he is. The history of the future depends very largely on the prayers of the present. If you and other believers restrain prayer, you may help to bring on long, dark, chilly winters for the Church of the Living and Holy God; but if you and they are aroused to go up, as Elijah went to Mount Carmel, and if, with your face between your knees, you cry mightily to the Lord God of Israel, surely, as the Lord lives, you will see the skies covered with clouds, and there will be “a sound of an abundance of rain.” I speak reverently, yet truthfully, when I say that the keys of heaven swing on the belt of the man who knows how to pray. I do not mean commonplace praying, such as some practice, but such prayer as I have been speaking of, prompted by the Spirit of God, first purified and then presented by the Savior, and offered by a man who knows that the Father himself loves him.

I am awestruck when I think of the tremendous power of which prayer is capable. It is not omnipotent, yet it commands omnipotence. It is not omniscient, yet prayer is like the very eye of God. He who can truly pray has first read the heart of God, and then spoken out what is there. Prayer overcomes the Eternal; what more can I say of it? When Israel sinned against the Lord, Moses pleaded for the guilty nation even after God had said to him, “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make of you a great nation;” and the prevailing prayer won the day, for “then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” May God teach you, who are loved of the Father because you love the Son, to pray such a prayer as Moses did!

In an especially careful manner, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we ought to mention the answers to prayer which we have received. It would not be prudent, proper, or even possible, to mention all of them; for there are love passages in prayer between Christ and the heart, which never must be told, unless it is in very special company, and on rare occasions. Some of our conversations with the Lord Jesus are too sacred, too spiritual, too heavenly, ever to be spoken of this side the pearly gates; but the bulk of the Lord’s replies to our petitions are such that they may be written in the skies, that every eye might read them. Make sure that you do not hide these gracious facts by your ingratitude. Imitate David, who tells us in the fifth verse of Psalms 118:5 , “In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.”

Yes, and do not only declare how God answers prayer, but tell of the power of faith in all the ways in which it moves you. Sit down in your living room, and tell your children what faith in God has done in your life, so that they may tell their children, and to the generations yet to follow, that all men may know that all things are possible to him that believes. Tell of the fulfillment of promises to faith, deliverance from trouble through faith, and the enjoyment of supreme happiness through faith. Declare it throughout your neighborhoods that “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Kings.” Ring out clearly such words as these: “Trust in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Tell everybody why you know that it is true, for you have turned to friends in the time of trouble, and they have given you the cold shoulder. You have even been foolish enough to hope for help from great men, who had it in their power to aid you; but they have looked down on you with disdain, and wondered how you dared to ask such assistance from men of their high standing. Let all men know that the majesty of heaven has never in this way ignored your humble appeals. From the throne of the Highest there has never come a harsh reply, or a contemptuous rejection of your lowly position. No; the Lord has been better to you than even your hope expected or your faith believed. God has answered you richly, helped you efficiently, gladdened you abundantly, and filled your spirit with a sweet contentment. Truly, God is good to his people. It is no vain thing to wait upon the Lord. The path of faith is the path of strength and safety.

How unhappy are the lives of some here today, who never pray! It matters little what other power you possess; if you have no power with God, you are powerless. To those who never pray, or who insult God with an empty form of prayer in which there is no heart, there will come a day when they will pray. As surely as they live and die as they now are, they will pray; but their prayers then will not be answered. The rich man in hell prayed for a drop of water to cool his burning tongue, but his request was denied, for it was too late to pray then, yet he might have had the Water of life to drink had he prayed while he was on the earth. It is in hell that prayer, of a sort, abounds, but the answer to such petitions is, “since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you.” Ask now, I beg you, for God will hear you if you call on him now; but “once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door,” then no amount knocking “In that day” will cause him to open it up again. No pleadings, moanings, groanings, cryings, wailings will have an effect, for prayer will have had its day, and justice, with drawn sword, will stand before the mercy-seat, barring the way to it forever.

May the Lord bring everyone of you to believe in Jesus, and to fervently love him with a pure heart, before it is too late, for his dear name sake! Amen.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

In John 15:1-27 our Lord substitutes Himself for Israel, as the plant of God, responsible to bear fruit for Him on earth (not merely for man, as such, openly sinful and lost). He takes the place of that which most put itself forward as being according to God here below. As our Lord Himself said (in John 4:1-54), "Salvation is of the Jews:" this place of privilege and promise made their actual condition so much the guiltier. Our Lord, therefore, sets aside openly, and for ever, as regards those that He was now calling out of the world, all connection with Israel. "I am the true vine," He says. We all know that Israel of old is called the vine the vine that the Lord had brought out of Egypt. But Israel was empty, fruitless, false: Christ was the only true vine. Whatever might be the responsibility of Israel, whatever their boasted privileges (and they really were much every way), whatever the associations and hopes of the chosen people, all outside Christ had fallen under the power of the adversary. The only blessing for a soul now was found in Christ Himself; and so He opens the discourse (or, as we saw, closes what went before) with "Rise up: let us go hence." There was an abandonment, not only for Himself, but for them, of all connection with nature, or the world, even in their religion. It was Christ now, or nothing. As in the beginning of John 13:1-38, He had risen up anticipatively as a sign of His work for them on high; so here He calls them to quit all their earthly belongings with Himself; they were now definitively done with. Thus we have the Lord taking now the place substitutionally of all that had exercised religious power over their spirits. It was now proved to be neither a blessing nor even safety for a soul on earth.

"I," He says, "am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." He puts Himself in the place of all to which they had been attached and belonged here below, and the Father in lieu of Almighty God, or the Jehovah of Israel. So had He been known. to the fathers and the children of Israel; but it was His Father, as such, to whose care He commends them now. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit;" for fruit was what God looked for, not merely acts or obligations, but bearing fruit: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." This is the general statement. There is a two-fold dealing with those who took the place of being branches of the true vine. Where no fruit was borne, there was judgment in excision; where fruit appeared, purging followed, that there might be more.

The Lord applies this truth particularly: "Already ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you. Exhortation follows in verses 4, 5; the results distinctively for "a man," for any one ( τις ) who does not abide, and for the disciples who do, are found respectively in verse 6, and in verses 7, 8.

In this chapter it is never simply a question of divine grace saving sinners, blotting out iniquities, remembering sins and transgressions no more; but the power of the word is morally applied to judge whatever is contrary to God's character displayed in Christ, or, rather, to the Father's will revealed in Him. No standard less than this could be entertained, now that Christ was revealed. They then (for Judas was gone) were already clean through the word Christ had spoken to them. The law of Moses, divine as it was, would not suffice: it was negative; but Christ's word is positive. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." It is not what God is in grace towards those that are outside Him and lost, but the appraisal of the ways of those associated with Christ, the dealings of God, or more strictly of His Father, with those who professed to belong to the Lord. I say "professed," because it is to me evident that He does not contemplate in His view those exclusively who really had life everlasting. Still less do branches of the vine mean the same thing as members of Christ's body, but His followers, who might even abandon Him, as some in the earliest days walked no more with Him. This alone explains our chapter, without forcing it.

The Lord, then, has in view those who then surrounded Him, already branches in the vine, and, of course, in principle, all that should follow, including those that would nominally, and at first to all appearance really, abandon Israel and all things for Him. It was no light matter, but one of much seriousness; and surely, therefore, if a man did thus come out from all that claimed his affections and conscience, from his religion; in short, if a man came out at the cost of every thing, finding most of all foes in those of his own household, there was that which presumed sincerity of conduct, but had still to be proved. The proof would be abiding in Christ. There is no word more characteristic of John than the very word "abiding," and this in the way both of grace and of government. Here it is the disciples put to the proof. For Christianity is the revelation, not of a dogma, but of a person who has wrought redemption; doubtless, also, of a person in whom is life, and who gives it. Thence flows a new sort of responsibility; and a very important thing it is to see this most strikingly kept up in him, who, of all the evangelists, most strongly brings in the absolute unconditional love of God. Take the early part of the gospel, where the gift of Jesus in divine love, the sending Him into the world not to judge, but to save, makes known what God is to a lost world. There we have grace without a single thought of any thing on man's part, save the depth of need. "For God," He says, "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17) But here the ground is different. We see those who had come out to Christ from all that they had previously valued in the earth. Alas! flesh is capable of imitating faith; it can go a long way in religiousness, and in renunciation of the profane world. Soon there would be multitudes who would come out from Israel and be baptized unto Christ; but still they must be fully tested. None would stand by baptism, or by any other ordinance, but by abiding in Christ.

"Abide in me, and I in you." Here He always puts man's part first, because it is a question, as we have seen, of responsibility; where it is the grace of God, His part is first necessarily, and, further, it necessarily abides. Whereas, if man's responsibility is before us, it is evident that there can be no necessary permanence here: all turns on dependence on Him who always abides the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Thus the reality of God's work in the soul proves itself, so to speak, by continual looking and clinging to Christ. In verse 4 it is not, "Except I abide in you," but, "Except ye abide in me."

"I am the vine, and ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (Verse 5) It is not here believing, but "doing," though faith be the spring, of course. The Lord would have us bear much fruit, and the only way in which fruit is to be borne is by abiding in Him in whom we believe. What can be a weightier consideration for us, after receiving Christ! Do you go after some other thing or person in order to bear fruit? The result in God's sight is bad fruit.

Thus Christ is not only everlasting life to the soul that believes in Him, but He is the only source of fruit-bearing, all the course through, for those that have received Him. The secret is the heart occupied with Him, the soul dependent on Him, Himself the object in all trials, difficulties, and duties even; so that, though a given thing be a duty, it be not done now barely as such, but with Christ before the eye of faith. But where there is not a life exercised in self-judgment and in enjoyment of Christ. as well as prayer, men get tired of this; they turn away from Him to the nostrums of the day, whether novel or antique, moral or intellectual. They find their attraction in religious feelings, experiences, frames, or visions; in imagining some new good self, or in anatomizing the old bad self; in sacerdotalism, ordinances, or legalism, of one sort or another. Thus they really return, in some shape or degree, to the false vine, instead of cleaving to the true. They lose themselves thus. It may even be a slip back into the world, into the open enemy of the Father; for this is no uncommon result, where there is for a time an abandonment of the old fleshly vine, the religion of ordinances, of human effort, and of assumed privilege. All this was found in its fulness and apparent perfection in Israel; but it was now discovering its utter hopeless hollowness and antagonism to the mind of God; and this was manifested, as we shall find later on in this chapter, in their causeless hatred of the Father and the Son. Christ is ever the test, and this the close declares, as much as the beginning sets Him forth as the only power of preparing for, and producing fruit.

This appears again in the sixth verse, and remarkably too: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch." Apply such language to life everlasting, or, still more, to union with Christ, and there is nothing but endless confusion. Where Scripture speaks of union with Christ, or, again, of life in Him, you never have such a thought as a member of Christ cut off, or one that had eternal life losing it. It is very possible that some who have accurate knowledge might give it, or plunge into all; and this is what Peter speaks of in his second epistle. There is no preservative energy in knowledge ever so full. Such might allow stumbling-blocks, disappointments, etc., to hinder their following Christ, and so practically abandon what they know, the result of which would be the surest and most disastrous ruin. They are worse even than before. So Jude speaks of men twice dead; and, in fact, experience proves that men who have no life in Christ, after having professed awhile, become fiercer adversaries, if not grosser sinners, against the Lord than before any such profession was made.

This is the case our Lord describes here: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." It was one who had come out from the world, and had followed Christ. But there was no attraction of heart, no power of faith, and consequently no dependence on Christ; and this is the Lord's sentence pronounced on all such, whether in that day or in any other.

On the other hand, He says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Not only is the heart occupied with Christ, but also His words weigh there. The Old Testament alone would not suffice. It had been used of God when there was nothing more. Blessed of God at all times it would surely be; and he that valued Christ's words would never slight those that witnessed of Christ before He came. But the soul that would make light of the words of Christ, or do without them, after they were communicated, would evince its own faithlessness. The Christian that really prizes the word of God in the Old Testament would still more set his heart on that in the New. He that had no more than a naturally reverent attachment to the law and the prophets, without faith, would prove his real condition by inattention to Christ's words. Thus, to this day, the Jews are themselves the great witness of the truth of our Lord's warning. They are clinging to the empty vine; and so all their religious profession is as empty before God. They may seem to cleave to the words of Moses, but it is mere human tenacity, not divine faith: else the words of Christ would be welcome above all. As the Lord had told them at an earlier moment, had they believed Moses, they would have believed Christ. for Moses wrote of Christ: in truth, there was no divine persuasion as to either. Again, the great test now is Christ's words abiding in us. Old truth, even though equally of God as the new, ceases to be a test when new truth is given and refused, or slighted; and the same thing is true not merely of God's word as a whole, but of a particular truth, when God reawakens it at any given time for the actual exigency of the Church or of His work. It is vain, for instance, to fall back now on the principles put forward and acted on two or three hundred years ago. Of course it is right and of God to hold fast all He gave at any time; but if there be real faith, it will be found out ere long that the Holy Ghost has before Him the present need for the Lord's glory in the Church; and those that have real confidence in His power will not merely hold fast the old but accept the new, in order so much the more to walk in communion with Him who ever watches and works for the name of Christ and the blessing of His saints.

In this case, however, it is the larger subject the all-importance of Christ's words abiding in us: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you." There is first the person, then the expression of His mind. Prayer follows: "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." It is not prayer first (for this should not take the place either of Christ or of intelligence in His mind), but Christ Himself, the prime object; then His words, as forming fully the heart, according to His thoughts and will; and, lastly, the going out of the heart to the Father, on the ground both of Christ and of His revealed mind, with the annexed assurance that so it should come to pass for them. (Verse 7)

The prayer of Christians is often far from this. How many prayers are there where nothing seems to be done! This way be true, not merely of poor failing souls, such as any of us here; but even an apostle might find the same thing in his course, and God Himself be the witness of it. Indeed, the apostle Paul is the chronicler of the fact to us, that his prayers were not always in this communion. We know he besought the Lord thrice to take away that which was an immense trial to him, making him despicable in the eyes of the less spiritual. We can understand this: nothing is more natural; but, for that very reason, it was not all in the power of the Spirit of God, with Christ as the first object. He was thinking of himself, of his brethren, and of the work; but God graciously brought him to Christ, as the One sustained and sustaining object to abide in Him, as it is said here, and to have Christ's words abiding in himself, and then all the resources of God were at his command. "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (Compare also Philippians 4:6-13) It is only so that there is the certainty of the answer, at least, of what we ask being done.

The object is to show how God the Father answers and acts in accordance with those who are thus practically associated in heart with Christ. And so it is written, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall become my disciples." (Verse 8) "Disciples," be it noted; for we must carefully bear in mind that we have not the Church as such here, and, indeed, we have never the Church, strictly speaking, in John. The reason is manifest, because the object of this gospel is not to point out Christ in heaven, but God manifesting Himself in Christ on the earth. I do not mean that we have no allusion to His ascent or presence there; for we have seen that there is here some such allusion, especially when the Holy Ghost replaces Him here, and we shall have it repeatedly in what follows. At the same time, the main testimony of John is not so much Christ as man in heaven, but God in Him manifest on the earth. It is evident that, He being the Son, the special place of privilege found in the gospel of John is that of children not members of Christ's body, but sons of God, as receiving and associated with the Son, the only-begotten Son of the Father.

Here He speaks of them as disciples; for, in point of fact, the relationship of which John 15:1-27 speaks was already true. They had already come to Christ; they had forsaken all to follow Him, and were then around Him. He was the Vine now and here. It was not a new place He was going to enter. They, too, were branches then, and more than that, they were clean through the word He had spoken to them. Not that they were then cleansed by blood, but, at least, they were born of water and of the Spirit. They had this cleansing, this moral operation, of the Spirit wrought in their souls. They were bathed or washed all over, and henceforth needed not save to wash their feet.

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue [abide] ye in my love." (Ver. 9) It is all a question of the Father's government and the disciples' responsibility; not of a people having to do with a governor nationally, as Jehovah was to Israel, but of Christ's disciples in relation with the Father, according to the revelation of Himself in Christ. Nor is it here His grace delivering souls, but, what is true along with that, the full maintenance of individual responsibility, according to the manifestation of His nature and relationship in Christ here below. Thus, as compared with the past, the standard is raised immensely. For when once God had brought out Christ, He neither could nor would go back to anything less. It is not merely that He could not own anything short of Christ as a means of salvation, because this is always true; and never was any one brought to God at any time since the world began save by Christ, however scanty the testimony or partial the knowledge of Him. Under the law there was, comparatively speaking, little or no acquaintance with His work as a distinct thing, nor could there be, perhaps (at any rate there was not), even after He came, till the work was done. But here we have God's ways and character as manifested in Christ, and nothing less than this would suit His disciples, or be agreeable to the Father. As already remarked, the application of this to life everlasting only induces contradiction. Thus, if we suppose that the subject of the chapter is, e.g., life or union with Christ, just see into what difficulties this false start plunges one at once: all would be made conditional, and those united to Christ might be lost. "If ye keep my commandments" what has that to do with life eternal in Christ? Does union with Christ, does life eternal, depend on keeping His commandments? Clearly not; yet there is a meaning, and a most weighty meaning for those that belong to Christ, in these words. Apply them, not to grace but to government, and all is plain and sure and consistent.

The meaning is, that it is impossible to produce fruit for the Father, impossible to keep up the enjoyment of Christ's love, unless there be obedience, and this to Christ's commandments. I repeat, that he who values the Master will not despise the servant; but there are many who do acknowledge their responsibility to the law of Moses without appreciating and obeying the words of Christ. He that loves Christ will enjoy all truth, because Christ is the truth. He will cherish every expression of God's mind; he will find guidance in the law, the prophets, the psalms everywhere; and so much the more where there is the fullest revelation of Christ Himself. Christ is the true light. Therefore, as long as Christ is not the One in and through whose light the Scriptures, whether old or new, are read, a man is but groping his way in the dark. When he sees and believes in the Son, there is for him a sure way through the wilderness, and also a bright way in the word of God. The darkness passes away; bondage is no more; there is no condemnation, but, on the contrary, life, light, and liberty; but, at the same time, it is a liberty used in the sense of responsibility to please our God and Father, measured by the revelation of Himself in Christ.

So the Lord says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." The consequence is, that where there is carelessness in one who belongs to Christ, in a living, branch of the vine, the Father as the husbandman deals in purging judgment. Where habitual obedience is found, there is habitual enjoyment of Christ's love. "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

Supposing that for a time there is a departure from Christ, what is the effect of it? No matter how really a man may be a child of God, he is miserable; the more real, the more miserable. One that had not a conscience exercised before God might sleep over sin and accustom himself to evil for a while; and an unreal disciple would grow. tired of carrying on the profession of Christ along with indulged evil; nor would God allow it to go beyond a certain point as an ordinary rule. But for a saint, true-hearted in the main, nothing is more certain than that Christ would deal with him, and that he would lose meanwhile all sense of the love of Christ as a present practical thing. It is a matter of communion, not of salvation. And surely it ought to be so, and we would not desire it to be otherwise. Who would desire an unreal thing the keeping up an appearance, the parade of words and sentiments beyond the heart's state? There is nothing more calamitous for a soul than to be going on badly, and withal keeping up a vain, exaggerated semblance of feeling, where there is a scanty answer to it within.

With the enjoyment of Christ's love, then, goes obedience; and where the disciple fails in obedience, there cannot be a real abiding in His love. Here it is not a question of love everlasting, but of present communion. He only abides in Christ's love who walks in His will faithfully. We must discriminate in the love of Christ. Unconditionally, of pure grace, He loved them that were His. Again, there was love, in a broad sense even for those that were not His, as we have seen more than once. Besides, there is the special personal love of approbation for him who is walking in the ways of God.

Some there are a little sensitive on these subjects. They do not like to hear, save of eternal love of the elect; and certainly, if this were weakened or denied, they might have reason to resent it. But as it is there cannot be a more painful proof of their own state. The reason why they cannot bear this farther truth is because it condemns them. If these things are in Scripture, (and deny them who dares?) our business is to submit; our duty is to seek to understand them; our wisdom is to correct and challenge ourselves, if peradventure we find insubjection within us to anything that concerns Him and our own souls. Not to speak of Christ, even on the lowest ground, we are depriving ourselves of what is good and profitable. What, indeed, can be more ruinous than putting aside that which condemns any state in which we find ourselves?

I need not enter into all the details of our chapter, though I have rather minutely gone over it thus far, believing it to be of special importance, because it is so much and generally misunderstood. Here the Lord presents Himself as the only source, not of life, as elsewhere, but of fruit-bearing for disciples, or His professed followers. What He shows is, that they need Him just as much for every day as for eternity; that they need Him for the fruit the Father expects from them now, just as much as for a title to heaven. Hence He speaks of that which pertains to a disciple on the earth; and accordingly the Lord speaks of having Himself kept His Father's commandments, and of His own abiding in His love; for, indeed, He had ever been here below the dependent man, to whom the Father was the moral source of the life He lived; and so He would have us now to live because of Himself.

I entreat any who have misread this chapter to examine thoroughly what I am now urging on my hearers. It is incalculable the quantity of scripture that is passed over without distinct exercise of faith. Souls receive it in a general way; and too often one reason why it is received so easily is, because they do not face the truth, and their conscience is not exercised by it. If they thought, weighed, and let into their souls the real truth conveyed, they might at first be startled, but the way and the end would be blessed to them. What a return for these wondrous communications of Christ, just to slip over them perfunctorily, without making the light our own! Our Lord then clearly shows that He, as man here below, had Himself walked under the government of His Father. It was not merely that He was born of a woman, born under the law, but, as He says here, "Even as I have kept my Father's commandments." It went much farther than the ten words, or all the rest of the law; it embraced every expression of the Father's authority, from whatever quarter it came. And as He could not but perfectly keep His Father's commandments, He abode in His love. As the eternal Son of the Father, of course He was ever loved of the Father; as laying down His life (John 10:1-42), He was therefore loved of His Father; but, besides, in all His earthly path, He kept His Father's commandments, and abode in His love. The Father, looking upon the Son as man walking here below, never found the slightest deflection; but, on the contrary, the perfect image of His own will in Him who, being the Son, made known and glorified the Father as He never was nor could be by any other. This was not simply as God, but rather as the Man Christ Jesus here below. I admit that, being such an One, there could be no failure. To suppose I will not say the fact, but the possibility even, of a flaw in Christ, either as God or as man, proves that he who admits the thought has no faith in His person. There could be none. Still, the trial was made under the most adverse circumstances; and He who, though God Himself, was at the same time man, walked as man perfectly, as truly as He was perfect man; and thus the Father's love rested governmentally upon Him fully, unwaveringly, absolutely in all His ways.

Now we, too, are placed upon the true ground as the disciples, strictly speaking, who were then there; but, of course, the same principle applies to all.

Another thing comes in after this. Gathered round Christ, the disciples were called on by Christ to love one another. (Ver. 12) Loving one's neighbour was not the point now; nor is it so here. Of course, loving one's neighbour abides always, but this, no matter how accomplished, ought not to be enough for a disciple of Christ. Such a demand was right and seasonable for a man in the flesh for a Jew especially; but it could not suffice for the heart of a Christian, and, in fact, he who denies this, quarrels with the Lord's own words. A Christian, I repeat, is not absolved from loving his neighbour nobody means that, I trust; but what I affirm is, that a Christian is called to love his fellow Christian in a new and special manner, exemplified and formed by the love of Christ; and I cannot but think that he who confounds this with love to his neighbour has a great deal to learn about Christ, and Christianity too.

The Lord evidently introduces it as a new thing. "This is my commandment." It was His commandment specially. He it was that first gathered the disciples. They were a distinct company from Israel, though not yet baptized into one body; but they were gathered by Christ, and round Himself, severed from the rest of the Jews so far. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another." But according to what measure? "As I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Shall I be told that any man ever loved, before Christ came into the world, as He loved? If a man will be ignorant, let him be ignorant, and show his unbelief by such an assertion, if he will. Now I say that there is a love looked for, such as could only be since Christ manifested it, and that His love fills and fashions after its own nature and direction. The disciples were now to love one another according to the pattern of Him who laid down His life for them as His friends. Indeed, He died for them when they were enemies; but this is out of sight here. They were His friends, if they did whatever He commanded them. (Ver. 14) He called them friends, not slaves; for the slave knows not what his master does; but He called them friends, for He made them His confidants in all He had heard of His Father. They had not chosen Him, but He them, and set them to go and bear fruit, abiding fruit, that He might give them whatsoever they asked the Father in His name. 'These things I command you, that ye love one another." (Verses 15-17)

And truly they would need the love of one another, as Christ loved them. They had become objects of the hatred of the world. (Verses 18, 19) The Jews knew no such experience. They might be disliked of the Gentiles. They were a peculiar people, no doubt, and the nations could ill brook a small nation raised to such a conspicuous place, whose law condemned them and their gods. But the disciples were to have the hatred of the world, of the Jew as much or more than of the Gentile. They had this indeed already, and they must make up their minds to it from the world. The love of Christ was on them, and, working in them and by them, would make them the objects of the world's hatred, and after that sort which He had Himself known. As He says here: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." I refer to this for the purpose of showing, that the revelation of Christ has brought in not merely a total change in the consciousness of eternal life and salvation when the work was done, as well as the overthrow of all distinctions between Jew and Gentile, which we find, of course, in the epistles but, besides that practically, has 'brought in a power of producing fruit that could not be before, a mutual love peculiar to Christians, and a rejection and hatred from the world beyond all that had been. In every way possible Christ gives us now His own portion, from the world as well as from the Father. "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." (Verse 20)

Fully do I admit that there were works of faith, deeds of righteousness, holy, wise, obedient ways, in saints of God from the beginning. You could not have faith without a new nature, nor this again without the exercise practically of that which was according to God's will. Therefore, as all saints from the beginning had faith, and were regenerate, so also there were spiritual ways in accordance with it.

But God's revelation in Christ makes an immense accession of blessing; and the consequence is, that this brings out the mind of God in a way that was not and could not have been before, just because there was no manifestation of Christ, and nobody but Christ could bring it adequately out. With this revelation the hatred of the world is commensurate; and the Lord puts it in the strongest possible way. "But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." (Ver. 21, 22) What can be plainer than the enormous change that was coming in now? We know that there had been sin all along, in the dealings of God with His ancient people; but what does the Lord here mean? Are we to fritter away the meaning of His language? Are we not to believe that, whatever there was before, the revelation of Christ brought sin to such a head, that what had been before was, comparatively speaking, a little thing when put beside the evil that was done against, and measured by, the glory of Christ the Son, the rejection of the Father's love; in short, the hatred shown to grace and truth yea, the Father and the Son fully revealed in the Lord Jesus? Clearly so. It is not, then, a question of judging sin by right and wrong, by law, or by conscience all well and in place for Israel and man as such. But when One who is more than man comes into the world, the dignity of the person sinned against, the love and light revealed in His person, all bear on the estimate of sin; and the consequence is, there could be no such character of sin till Christ was manifested, though, of course, heart and nature are the same.

But the revelation of Christ forced everything to a point, sounded the condition of man as nothing else could, and proved that, bad as Israel might be, when measured by a law a holy, just, good law of God, yet, measured now by the Son of God, all sin previously was as nothing compared with the still deeper sin of rejecting the Son of God. "He that hateth me hateth my Father also." (Ver. 23) It is not merely God as such, but "my Father" that was hated. "If I had not done among them" not now His words only, but works "if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." (Verse 24) There was a full testimony, as we have seen already, in John 8:1-59; John 9:1-41. (His words in John 8:1-59, His works in John 9:1-41); but the manifestation of His words and of His works only brought out man thoroughly hating the Father and the Son. Had they only failed to meet the requirements of God, as man had done under the law, there was ample provision to meet him in mercy and power; but now, under this revelation of grace, man, and Israel most of all, the world (for in this they are all merged now) stood out in open hostility to, and implacable hatred of, the fullest display of divine goodness here below. But this dreadful hopeless hatred, evil as it was, ought not to surprise one who believes the word of God; it was, "that the word might be fulfilled which was written in their law, They hated me without a cause." (Verse 25) There is nothing that so demonstrates man's total alienation and enmity. This is precisely what Christ here urges. The disciples accordingly, having received this grace in Christ, were called into a like path with Him, the epistle here below of Christ who is above. Fruit-bearing is the great point throughout John 15:1-27, as the end of it and John 16:1-33 bring before us testimony. "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." Here is a twofold testimony that of the disciples who had seen Christ and heard His words. Hence they were called to bear witness of Him "because ye have been with me from the beginning." It was not only the great manifestation at the end, but the truth from the beginning, grace and truth always in Him. Dealing differently, no doubt, according to that which was before Him; still it was in Christ ever the value of what came, not what He found, which was the great point. And to this testimony (for He is showing now the full testimony which the disciples were called to render) the Holy Ghost would add His, (wondrous to say and know it true!) as distinct from the witness of the disciples. We know right well that a disciple only renders testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost. How, then, do we find the Holy Ghost's testimony spoken of as distinct from theirs? Both are true, especially when we bear in mind that He would testify of the heavenly side of truth. In John 14:26, it was said, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." There the Holy Ghost is both a teacher and helper. As it is said, "He will teach you all things" what they never knew, besides bringing to remembrance things that they had known.

In the end ofJohn 15:1-27; John 15:1-27 there is a good deal more. The Holy Ghost, "when he is come," (not "whom the Father will send," but) "whom I will send from the Father." (Ver. 26) The Holy Ghost was both sent by the Father, and sent by the Son; not the same thing, but quite consistent. There is a distinct line of truth in the two cases. You could not transplant from John 15:1-27 into John 14:1-31, nor the reverse, without dislocating the whole order of the truth. Surely it all deserves to be weighed, and demands from us that we should wait upon God to learn His precious things. In John 14:1-31 it is evidently the Father giving another Comforter to the disciples, and sending Him in Christ's name: Christ is looked at there as One who prays, and whose value acts for the disciples. But in John 15:1-27 it is One who is Himself everything for the disciples from on high. Here He was the one spring of whatever fruit was borne, and He is gone on high, but is the same there; and so not merely asks the Father to send, but Himself sends them from the Father the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from with the Father, if so literal a turn may be allowed. His own personal glory on high is in full view, and so He speaks and acts, while the connection with the Father is always kept up. Still, in the one case it is the Father who sends; in the other, the Son; and this last, where the point is to show the new glory of Christ above. "He shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." There would be the testimony of the Holy Ghost sent from the Son, and bearing witness of Him according to the place whence He came to replace Him here. The Holy Ghost, sent thus from above, would bear witness of the Son in heaven; but the disciples also would bear witness of what they knew when He was upon the earth, because they had been with Him from the beginning ( i.e. of His manifestation here). Both we have in Christianity, which not only maintains the testimony of Christ, as manifested on the earth, but also the Holy Ghost's witness of Christ known on high. To leave out either is to strip Christianity of half its value. There is that which never can make up for Christ on the earth; and certainly there is that revealed of Christ in heaven which no manifestation on the earth can supply. They have, both of them, a divine place and power for the children of God.

John 16:1-33 seems to be based rather on this last. The main difference is, that the Holy Ghost is more spoken of here apart from the question of who sends. It is more the Holy Ghost coming than sent here; that is, the Holy Ghost is looked at not certainly as acting independently, but yet as a distinct person. He comes, not to display His own power and glory, but expressly to glorify Christ. At the same time, He is looked at in more distinct personality than in John 14:1-31; John 15:1-27. And our Lord had the wisest reason for making known to the disciples what they had to expect. They were now entering on the path of testimony, that always involves suffering We have seen what should befall them in bearing fruit as Christ's disciples and friends. This is enough for the world, which hates them as Him, because they are not of it, but are loved and chosen of Christ. These two things unite the disciples. The hatred of the world and the love of Christ press them so much the more together. But there is also the hatred which befalls them in testifying, not as disciples so much as witnesses. Witnessing as the disciples did of what they had known of Christ here, witnessing of what the Spirit taught them of Christ on high, the consequence would be, "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." It is clearly religious rancour created by this full testimony, not the world's general ill-feeling, but special hatred to their testimony. Hence, it would be putting them, not merely into prisons, but out of the synagogues; and this under the notion of doing God service. It is religious persecution. "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. How perfectly the truth shines here on Christian as well as on Jewish hatred of all full testimony to Christ! Spite of the liberalism of the day, this peeps out where it dares. They talk about God; they speculate about the Deity, providence, fate, or chance. They may even be zealous for the law, and tack on Christ to it. There a great deal of the world's religion ends. But they know not the Father nor the Son. It is irreverence to draw near and cry, Abba, Father! It is presumption for a man in this life to count himself a child of God! The consequence is, that wherever there is this ignorance of the Father and the Son, there is inveterate hostility against such as are joyful in the communion of the Father and the Son. This hatred every true witness, without compromise, and separate from the world, must more or less experience. The Lord would not have them surprised. Jewish brethren might have thought that, having received Christ, everything was to be smooth, bright, and peaceful. Not so. They must expect special and increasing, and, worst of all, religious hatred. (Verses 1-4)

"But now I go my way to him that sent me." The path lay through death, no doubt; but He puts it as going to Him that sent Him. Let them be comforted, then, as surely they would if they rightly thought of His Father's presence. But "none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?" (Ver. 5) They felt natural sadness at the thought of His departure. Had they gone a step farther, and asked whither He was going, it would have been all right, they would have felt glad for Him; for though it were their loss, it was most surely His gain and joy the joy that was set before Him, the joy of being with His Father, with the comfort for His own of an accomplished redemption (attested by His thus going on high). "But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." (Ver. 7) It is the Comforter coming. No doubt Christ sends; and there lies the connection with the end of John 15:1-27. Still there is the special form of presenting Him as one that comes, which is confirmed in the next verse. "And when he is come, he will reprove [or convince] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (Ver. 8) This is a sentence much to be pondered. It is now God's Spirit dealing according to the gospel with individual souls, which is perfectly true and most important. Conviction of sin is wrought in all who are born of God. What confidence could there be in a soul professing to have found redemption, even forgiveness of sins, through His blood, unless there were an accompanying sense of sin? The Spirit of God does produce this. Souls must be simple and distinct in it as truly as in believing in Christ Jesus. There is a real individual work in those, yea, in all brought to God. For a sinner, repentance remains an eternal necessity.

Here, however, the Holy Ghost is not spoken of as dealing with individuals when He regenerates them and they believe, but as bringing conviction to the world of sin because of unbelief There is no real conviction of sin unless there be faith. It may be but the first working of God's grace in the soul that produces it. There may not be faith so as to have peace with God, but assuredly enough to judge of one's own ways and condition before God; and this is precisely the way in which He does ordinarily work. At the same time there is also the conviction of which the Lord speaks: the Holy Ghost, when He is come, will convince the world of sin. Why? Because they have broken the law? Not so. This may be used, but is not the ground nor the standard when Christ is the question. The law remains, and the Spirit of God often employs it, specially if a man be in self-righteousness. But the fact is clear, that the Holy Ghost is sent down; as it is also clear, that the Holy Ghost, being here, convicts the world i.e., what is outside where He is. Were there faith, the Holy Ghost would be in their midst; but the world does not believe. Hence Christ is, as everywhere in John, the standard for judging the condition of men. "When he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, [not when they begin to believe in me, but] because they believe not in me." Again, the conviction of righteousness is equally remarkable. There is no reference even to the blessed Lord when on earth, or to what He did here. "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." (Verses 8-10)

Thus there is a twofold conviction of righteousness. The first ground is, that the only righteousness now is in Christ gone to be with the Father. So perfectly did Christ glorify God in death, as He always did in life the things that pleased His Father, that nothing short of putting Him as man at His own right hand could meet the case. Wondrous fact! a man now in glory, at the right hand of God, above all angels, principalities, and powers. This is the proof of righteousness. It is what God the Father owed to Christ, who had so perfectly pleased and so morally glorified Him, even in respect of sin. All the world, yea, all worlds, would be too little to mark His sense of value for Christ and His work nothing less than setting Him as man at His right hand in heaven. But there is another though negative, as that was the positive, proof of righteousness that the world has lost Christ, "and ye see me no more." When Christ returns, He will gather His own to Himself, as inJohn 14:1-31; John 14:1-31. But as for the world, it has rejected and crucified Christ. The consequence is, that it will see Christ no more till He comes in judgment, and this will be to put down its pride for ever. Thus there is this double conviction of righteousness: the first is Christ gone to be with the Father on high; the second is Christ seen no more consequently. The rejected Christ is accepted and glorified in the highest seat above, which condemns the world and proves there is no righteousness in it or man; but more than this, the world shall see Him no more. When He returns, it is to judge man; but as far as concerns the offer of blessing to man in a living Christ, it is gone for ever. The Jews did and do look for Him; but when He came, they would not have Him. The best of the world, therefore, the choicest and most divinely privileged of men, have turned out the most guilty. A living Messiah they will never see. If any have Him now, it can only be a rejected and heavenly Christ.

But there is another thing the Spirit will convince the world "of judgment." What is the conviction of judgment? It is not the destruction of this place or that. Such was the way in which God manifested His judgment of old; but the Holy Ghost bears witness now, that the prince of this world is judged. He led the world to cast out the truth, and God Himself, in the person of Christ. His judgment is sealed. It is fixed beyond hope of change. It is only a question of the moment in God's hands, and the world with its prince will be treated according to the judgment already pronounced. "Of judgment," He says, "because the prince of this world is judged." (Verse 11) In John we have the truth, without waiting for what will be manifest. The Spirit here judges things at the roots, dealing with things according to their reality in God's sight, into which the believer enters.

Thus everywhere there is absolute opposition between the world and the Father, expressed morally when the Son was here, and proved now that the Spirit is come. The great mark of the world is that the Father is unknown. Hence, like Jews, or even heathen, they can pray to Almighty God to bless their leagues, or their arms, their crops, their herds, or what not. Thereby they flatter themselves perhaps that they may do God service; but the Father's love is unknown never in such a condition can He be fully known. Even when we look at children of God, scattered here and there in the waste, they are trembling and fearful, and practically at a distance, instead of consciously near in peace, as if it were God's will that His children should now stand off in Sinai distance and terror. Who ever heard even of an earthly father, worthy of the name, so sternly repelling his children? Certainly this is not our Father as we know Him through Christ Jesus. Brethren, it is the spirit of the world which, when sanctioned, invariably tends to destroy the knowledge of the Father, and of our proper relationship, even among His real children, because it necessarily slips more or less into Judaism.

But the Holy Ghost has another work. He convinces the world of the truth they do not know, by the very fact that He is outside the world, and has nothing to do with it. He dwells with the children of God. I do not deny His power in the testimony of the gospel to souls. This is another thing not spoken of here. But, besides, we have His direct immediate action among the disciples. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." (Verses 12, 13) Thus the disciples, favoured as they were, were far from knowing all that the Lord desired for them, and would have told them if their state had admitted of it. When redemption was accomplished, and Christ was raised from the dead, and the Holy Ghost was given, then they were competent to enter into all the truth, not before. Hence, Christianity awaits not only Christ's coming, but the accomplishment of His work, and also the mission and personal presence of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, consequent on that work. But He would take no independent place, any more than the Son had. "He shall not speak from himself; but whatever he shall hear, he shall speak: and he will report (or announce) to you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall report it to you." (Verses 13, 14)

It is not said, as some think, that He shall not speak about Himself; for the Holy Ghost does speak, and tells us much concerning Himself and His operations; and never so much as under the Christian revelation. The fullest instruction as to the Spirit is in the New Testament; and, pray, who speaks of the Holy Ghost if it be not Himself? Was it merely Paul? or John? or any other man? The fact is, that the Authorised Version gives rather obsolete English. The meaning is, that He shall not speak of His own authority, as if He had nothing to do with the Father and the Son. For He is come here to glorify the Son, just as the Son, when here, was glorifying the Father. And this explains why, although the Holy Ghost is worthy of supreme worship, and of being, equally with the Father and the Son, personally addressed in prayer, yet, having come down for the purpose of animating, directing, and effectuating the work and worship of God's children here, He is never presented in the epistles as directly the object, but rather as the power, of Christian prayer. Therefore, we find them praying in, and never to, the Holy Ghost. At the same time, when we say "God," of course we do mean not only the Father, but the Son, and the Holy Ghost too. In that way, therefore, every intelligent believer knows that he includes the Spirit and the Son with the Father, when he addresses God; because the name "God" does not belong to one person in the Trinity more than to another. But when we speak of the persons in the Godhead distinctively, and with knowledge of what God has done and is doing, we do well to remind ourselves and one another, that the Spirit has come down and taken a special place among and in the disciples now; the consequence of which is, that He is pleased administratively (without renouncing His personal rights) to direct our hearts thus towards God the Father and the Lord Jesus. He is thus (if we may speak so, as I believe we may and ought reverentially) serving the interests of the Father and the Son here below in the disciples. The fact we have noticed, the administrative position of the Spirit, is thus owing to the work He has voluntarily undertaken for the Father and the Son, though, of course, as a question of His own glory, He is equally to be adored with the Father and the Son, and is always comprehended in God as such.

The rest of the chapter, without entering into minute points, shows that the Lord, about to leave the disciples, would give them a taste of joy a testimony of what will be. (Verses 16-22) The world might rejoice in having got rid of Him; but He would give His own joy, which would not be taken from them. In measure, this was made good by our Lord's appearing after He rose from the dead; but the full force of it will only be known when He comes again.

Then there is another privilege. The Lord intimates a new character of drawing near to the Father, which they had not yet known. (Verses 23-26) Hitherto they had asked nothing in His name. "In that day," He says, "ye shall ask me nothing." 'We are in "that day" now. "In that day" does not mean in a future day, but in one that is come, Instead of using Christ's intervention as Martha proposed, instead of begging Christ to ask* the Father, demanding each thing they needed of Christ Himself, they might reckon on the Father's giving them whatsoever they should ask Him in Christ's name. It is not a question of a Messianic link to get what they wanted, but they would be able to ask the Father in His name themselves. How blessed to know the Father thus hearkening to the children asking in the Son's name! It is of children on earth now the Lord speaks, not of the Father's house by-and-by. Evidently this is a capital truth, bearing powerfully on the nature of the Christian's prayers, as well as on his worship.

*It is remarkable that Martha puts a word ( αἰτήσῃ ) into Christ's mouth (that is, uses an expression for asking the Father), which is never used nor warranted by Himself. It makes the Lord a mere petitioner, lowering the glory of His person, and obscuring, if not denying, the intimacy of His relationship with the Father.

It is exactly what accounts for the fact, that we are here on ground quite different from that of the precious and blessed form of prayer which the Lord gave His disciples when they wanted to know how to pray, as John taught his disciples. The Lord necessarily gave them that which was suited to their then condition. Now, I believe, it is little to say that there is not, nor ever was, a formula of prayer comparable with the Lord's prayer. Nor is there, to my thinking, a single petition of that prayer which is not a model for the prayers of His followers ever since; but all remains true and applicable at all times at least, till our Father's kingdom come. Why, then, was it not employed formally by the apostolic Church? The answer lies in what is now before us. Our Lord here, at the end of His earthly course, informs the disciples that hitherto they had demanded nothing in His name. They had, no doubt, been using the Lord's prayer for some time; nevertheless they had asked nothing in His name. In that day they were to ask the Father in His name. What I gather from this is, that those who had even used the Lord's prayer, as the disciples had done up to this time, did not know what it was to ask the Father in the Lord's name. They still continued at a comparative distance from their Father; but this is not the Christian state. By the Christian state I mean that in which a man is conscious of his nearness to his God and Father, and able to draw near in virtue of the Holy Ghost even. On the contrary, prayers that suppose a person to be an object of divine displeasure, anxious, and doubtful whether he is to be saved or not such an experience supposes one incapable of speaking to the Father in Christ's name. It is speaking as still tied and bound with the chain of their sins, instead of standing in known reconciliation, and, with the Spirit of adoption, drawing near to the Father in the name of Christ. Who can honestly, or at least intelligently, deny it? Thus, whatever the blessing through the Lord's ministry, there was certainly an advance here foreshown, founded on redemption, resurrection, and the Spirit given. Why should men limit their thoughts, so as to ignore that incomparable blessing to which even in this gospel Christ was ever pointing, as the fruit of His death and of the presence of the Comforter who would bring in "that day"? It was impossible to furnish a prayer which could reconcile the wants of souls before and after the work of the cross, and the new place consequent on it. And, in fact, the Lord has done the contrary; for He gave the disciples a prayer on principles of everlasting truth, but not anticipating that which His death and resurrection brought to view. Of these new privileges the Holy Ghost sent down was to be the power. Be assured this is no secondary matter, and that traditional views slight unwittingly the infinite efficacy and value of what Christ has wrought, the results of which the Holy Ghost was sent down to apply to our souls. And the gift of that divine person to dwell in us is this, too, a secondary matter? or is there no radical change which accompanies the work of Christ when accomplished and known? If, indeed, everything be secondary to the supply of man's need, if the unfolding of God's glory and ways in Christ be comparatively a cipher, I understand as much as I hate a principle so base and unbelieving.

It appears to me that the Lord Jesus Himself clearly sets forth the new thing at the highest value, which no general reasonings of men ought to weaken in the least. That immense change, then, let us accept on His authority who cannot deceive us, assured that our brethren, who fail to see how full association with the efficacy of His work and the acceptance of His person, made good in the presence of the Spirit, accounts for the difference between prayer before and prayer after, put no intentional slight on His words in this chapter, or on His work of atonement. But I beseech them to consider whether they are not allowing habits and prejudices to blind them to what seems to me the mind of Christ in this grave question.

In the close ofJohn 16:25-33; John 16:25-33, the Lord puts, with perfect plainness, both their coming position in His name, and as immediate objects of the Father's affection, and His own place as coming from and going to the Father, above all promise and dispensation. This the disciples thought they saw distinctly; but they were mistaken: their words do not rise higher than "We believe that thou camest forth from God." The Master thereon warns them of that hour, even then come in spirit, when His rejection should prove their dispersion deserted, yet not alone, "because the Father is with me." He spoke, that in Him they might have peace, as in the world they should have tribulation. "But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." It was an enemy of the Father and of them, but an enemy overcome of Him.

On John 17:1-26 I must be brief, though its treasures might well invite one to devote ample space to weigh them. A few words, however, may perhaps give the general outline. The Lord, lifting up His eyes to heaven, no longer speaks to the disciples, but turns to His Father. He lays a double ground before Him: one, the glory of His person; the other, the accomplishment of His work. He seeks from the Father for His disciples a place of blessing in association with Himself suitable both to His person and work.

Be it observed, that from verse 6 He develops the relationship of the disciples with His Father, having manifested the Father's name to those who were the Father's, and given them the words which the Father gave Him, and spoken as He did now that they might have His joy fulfilled in them. From verse 14 He develops it with the world, they being not of it, and wholly sanctified from it, while sent into it like Himself. And observe, here, that He has given them the Father's word ( λόγον ) for their testimony (as before His words, ῥήματα ), but sanctifies them, not by this only, which kept them from the evil of the world, but by Himself, always separate from sin, but now made higher than the heavens, so as to fill them with an object there that could engage and expand and purify their affections. From verse 20 He extends this place of privilege and responsibility to those who should believe on Him through the word of the apostles, the moral unity of verse 11 being now enlarged into a unity of testimony, that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son; and carried onward, even to the display of glory "I in them, and thou in me" when they shall be perfected into one, and the world shall know (not then "believe") that the Father sent the Son, and loved them as He loved Him. (Compare 2 Thessalonians 1:10)

Lastly, from verse 24 to the end, we have, if possible, deeper things than even these; and here the Lord expresses His heart's desire, for it is no longer, as before, in the form of a request ( ἐρωτῶ ) but, "Father, I will," or desire ( θέλω ). This word indicates a new character of plea: "I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." The earlier section laid His person and His work as the ground for His being glorified on high, according to the title of the one, and in the accomplishment of the other. Verse 24, as it were, takes up that position of glory with the Father before the world was, into which Christ has gone, with His heart's expression of desire that they should be with Him where He is, that they might behold His glory, which the Father gave Him; "for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Thus, if the central portion gave us the disciples on the earth in relation with the Father on the one hand, and in total separation from the world on the other, with subsequent believers brought into one, both in testimony and in glory by-and-by before the world, the closing verses take up Christians, as it were, with the Father in an unearthly, heavenly glory, and His desire that they should be with Him there. It is not merely sought for them, that they should be thoroughly, as far as, could be, in His own place of relationship with the Father, and apart from the world, but also that they should be brought into intimacy of nearness with Himself before the Father. Then, in verse 25, the breach between the world and the Father and the Son being complete, He says, "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me." There is always this opposition between the Father and the world, proved by His person in the world. But the disciples had known that the Father sent the Son, as the Son knew the Father. He had made known to them the Father's name, and would yet more, "that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them;" this last verse bringing into them, as it were, the Father's love, as the Son knew it, which was the secret source of all the blessing and glory, and Christ Himself in them, whose life by the Spirit was the sole nature capable of enjoying all. Thus they should have a present enjoyment of the Father, and of Christ, according to the place of nearness they had as thus associated with Him.

On the concluding chapters of our gospel I cannot speak particularly now. Yet I must, in passing point out that even in these solemn closing scenes the glory of the Son's person is ever the prominent figure. Hence we have no notice of His agony in the garden, nor of God's forsaking Him on the tree. Matthew depicts Him as the suffering Messiah, according to psalms and prophets; Mark, as the rejected Servant and Prophet of God; Luke, as the perfect and obedient Son of man, who shrank from no trial either for soul or body, but even on the cross prayed for His enemies, filling a poor sinner's heart with the good news of salvation, and committing His spirit with unwavering confidence to His Father. The point here is the Son of God with the world, the Jews especially being His enemies. Hence, John tells us (John 18:1-40) what no other gospel does, that when the band came to take Jesus, led by one who knew too well the spot where His heart had so often, poured itself out to the Father, at once they went backward, and fell to the ground. Do you suppose Matthew let it slip? or that Mark and Luke never heard of it? Is it conceivable that a fact so notorious the very world being the objects of the divine power that cast them prostrate to the ground could be hidden from, or forgotten by, friends or foes? Or if even men (not to speak of the Spirit's power) would forget such a thing, did the rest think it too slight for their mention? All such suppositions are preposterous. The true explanation is, that the gospels are written with divine design, and that here, as everywhere, John records a fact which falls in with the Spirit's object in his gospel. Did these men come to seize Jesus? He was going to be a prisoner, and to die; in the one case, as much as in the other, He would prove it was not of man's constraint, but of His own will and in obedience to His Father's. He was a willing prisoner, and a willing victim. If none could take His life unless He laid it down, so none could take Him prisoner unless He gave Himself up. Nor was it simply that He could ask His Father for twelve legions of angels, as He says in Matthew; but, in John, did He want angels? They might and did ascend and descend on Him as Son of man; but He had only to speak, and it was done. He is God.

The moment He said, "I am he," without lifting a finger, or even audibly expressing a desire, they fell to the ground. Could this scene be suitably given by any other than John? Could he leave it out who presents his Master as the Son and the Word who was God?

Again, we have our Lord's calm rebuke to Peter, who had cut off the ear of Malchus. Let Luke alone tell us of the Lord's gracious healing (for Jehovah's power to heal was not absent); John alone adds, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" He preserves throughout His personal dignity and His conscious relationship, but withal in perfect submission to His Father.

Then follows the notice of Peter's sad history with that other disciple which was known to the high priest. Next, our Lord is before the high priest, Caiaphas, as previously before his father-in-law Annas, and, finally, before Pilate. Suffice it to say, that the one point which meets us here, as distinct from the other gospels, is His person. Not that He was not King of the Jews, but His kingdom is not of this world, not from hence, and He Himself is born and come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Here it is the Jews insist He ought by their law to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. (John 19:1-42) Here, too, He answers Pilate, after scourging and mockery, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." (Verse 11) It was the Jews, led on by Judas, that had this greater sin. The Jew ought to have known better than Pilate, and Judas better than the Jew. The glory of the Son was too bright for their eyes. Afterwards there is another characteristic scene, the blending of the most perfect human affection with His divine glory He confides His mother to the disciple whom He loved. (Verses 25-27)

The gospel which most of all shows Him to be God is careful to prove Him man. The Word was made flesh.

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." I know not a more sweet and wonderful proof of how completely He was divinely superior to all circumstances. He had before Him with perfect distinctness all the truth of God. Here was a scripture which He remembers as unaccomplished. It was a word in Psalms 69:1-36. It was enough. "I thirst." What absorption in His Father's will! "Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished." (Verses 29, 30) Where could such a word as this be but in John? Who could say, "It is finished," except Jesus in John? Matthew and Mark both give our Lord saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This could not be in John. Luke gives us, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," because there the perfect man never abandons His perfect reliance on God. God must, in the judgment of our sins, forsake Him, but He would never forsake God. The atonement would not have been what it is unless God had thus forsaken Him. But in Luke it is the sign of absolute trust in His Father, and not God's abandonment. In John He says, "It is finished," because He is the Son, by whom all worlds were made, Who but He could say it? Who but John could mention that He delivered up ( παρέδωκε ) His spirit? In every point of difference the fullest possible proof of divine glory and wisdom appears in these gospels. Put to death no doubt He was but at the same time it was His own voluntary will; and who could have this about death itself but a divine person? In a mere man it would be sin; in Him it was perfection. Then come the soldiers, breaking the legs of the others crucified with Him; but finding Jesus dead already, one pierces His side, land forthwith came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record."

Thus a double scripture is fulfilled. The apostle John does not quote many scriptures; but when he does, the person of the Son is the great point. Accordingly this was the case now; for not a bone was to be broken. It was true. Nevertheless, He was to be pierced. He was singled out from the others, even while dead between the dying thieves. He has a place even here that belonged to Him alone.

Joseph charges himself with the body too; and Nicodemus, who came first by night is here by day, honoured by association with Jesus crucified, of whom he had been ashamed once, spite of the miracles He was doing.

In John 20:1-31 is the resurrection, and this in a remarkable light. No such outward circumstance is here as in Matthew, no soldiers trembling, no walk with disciples, but as ever the person of God's Son, though disciples prove how little they entered into the truth. Peter "saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead." (Verses 8, 9) It was evidence; and there is no moral value in accepting on evidence. Believing the word of God has moral value, because it gives God credit for truth. A man gives up himself to confide in God. Believing the Scriptures, therefore, has another character altogether from a judgment formed on a matter of fact. Mary Magdalene, with as little understanding of the Scriptures as they, stood without at the sepulchre weeping, when they went to their own homes. Jesus meets her in her sorrow, dries her tears, and sends her to the disciples with a message of His resurrection. But He does not permit her to touch Him. In Matthew the other women even retain Him by the feet. Why? The reason appears to be that in the earlier gospel it is the pledge of a bodily presence for the Jews in the latter day; for whatever be the consequences of Jewish unbelief now, God is faithful. The gospel of John has here no purpose of showing God's promises for the circumcision; but, on the contrary, sedulously detaches the disciples from Jewish thoughts. Mary Magdalene is a sample or type of this. The heart must be taken off His bodily presence. "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." The Christian owns Christ in heaven. As the apostle says, even if we had known Christ after the flesh, "henceforth know we him no more." The cross, as we know it, closes all connection with even Him in this world. It is the same Christ manifested in life here upon earth. John shows us, in Mary Magdalene contrasted with the woman of Galilee, the difference between the Christian and the Jew. It is not outward corporeal presence on earth, but a greater nearness, though He is ascended to heaven, because of the power of the Holy Ghost. "But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (Verse 17) Never had He put Himself and His disciples so together before.

The next scene (verses 19-23) is the disciples gathered together. It is not a message individually, but they are assembled on the same first day at evening, and Jesus stands, spite of closed doors, in the midst of them, and showed them His hands and His side. "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." It is a picture of the assembly that was about to be formed at Pentecost and this is the assembly's function. They have authority from God to retain or to remit sins not at all as a question of eternal forgiveness, but administratively or in discipline. For instance, when a soul is received from the world, what is this but remitting sins? The Church again, by restoring a soul put outside, puts its seal, as it were, to the truth of what God has done, acts upon it, and thus remits the sin. On the other hand, supposing a person is refused fellowship, or is put away after being received, there is the retaining of sins. There is no real difficulty, if men did not pervert Scripture into a means of self-exaltation, or cast away truth, on the other side, revolting from the frightful misuse known in popery. But Protestants have failed to keep up consciously the possession of so great a privilege, founded on the presence of the Holy Ghost.

Eight days after we have another scene. (Verses 24-29) One of the disciples, Thomas, had not been with the others when Jesus had thus appeared. Clearly there is a special teaching in this. Seven days had run their course before Thomas was with the disciples, when the Lord Jesus Christ meets his unbelief, pronouncing those more blessed who saw not, and yet believed. Of what is this the symbol? Of Christian faith,? The very contrary. Christian faith is essentially believing on Him that we have not seen: believing, "we walk by faith, not by sight." But the day is coming when there will be the knowledge and the sight of glory in the earth. So the millennium will differ from what is now. I deny not that there will be faith, as there was faith required when Messiah was on earth. Then faith saw underneath the veil of flesh this deeper glory. But, evidently, proper Christianity is after redemption was wrought, and Christ takes His place on high, and the Holy Ghost is sent down, when there is nothing but faith. Thomas, then, represents the slow mind of unbelieving Israel, seeing the Lord after the present cycle of time is completely over. What makes it the more remarkable is the contrast with Mary Magdalene in the previous verses, who is the type of the Christian taken out of Judaism, and no longer admitted to Jewish contact with the Messiah, but witnesses of Him in ascension.

Mark, too, the confession of Thomas; not a word about "My Father and your Father," but, "My Lord, and my God." Just so the Jew will acknowledge Jesus. They shall look on Him whom they pierced, and own Jesus of Nazareth to be their Lord and their God. (See Zechariah 12:1-14) It is not association with Christ, and He not ashamed to call us brethren, according to the position He has taken as man before His and our God and Father, but the recognition forced on Him by the marks of the cross, which drew out the confession of Christ's divine glory and Lordship.

In John 21:1-25, the appended scene is the fishing. After a night of failure, a vast multitude of fish is taken in the net, without breaking it or risking the ships (Luke 5:1-39), or the need of gathering the good into vessels and of casting the bad away. (Matthew 13:1-58) This I conceive to be a gathering in from the Gentiles. The sea is continually used in contrast to the land in prophetic Scripture. Thus, if the last was the Jewish scene when the Church state closed, this is the figure of the Gentiles in the great day of the earth's jubilee, the age to come contrasted with this age. From verse 15 to the end is the deep personal dealing of our Lord with Peter; also John's place. As I have no doubt there is a significance typically in what we have just glanced at, so it appears to me with regard to this also. The intermediate ministry of Paul is, of course, not here noticed; for he was the witness of Christ glorified in heaven Head of the Church His body, wherein is neither Jew nor Gentile. To Peter, the Lord, thoroughly restoring his soul after proving him to the core, commits His sheep and lambs (His Jewish flock, as we know from elsewhere). A violent end comes, though to God's glory. But if the full heavenly testimony is left for its own due place in Paul's completing the word of God that hidden mystery, John is seen witnessing in principle to the end. (Compare verses 22, 23 with the Revelation) However, I do not enlarge here, but rather apologise for the time that I have occupied in going over so large an extent of God's word. I pray the Lord that even these suggestions may be blessed of God in stirring up fresh desire to study, and weigh, and pray over these precious gospels. Surely it will be sweet reward now, if God deign thereby to give some of His children to approach His word with more reverence and a more childlike trust in every word He has written. May He vouchsafe this through Christ our Lord.