Bible Study series: John 16:16-24. “In a little while you will not see me, and again in a little while and you will see me”
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Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 16:16-24
16 In a little while and you will no longer see me; again in a little while and you will see me. 17 So some of his disciples said to each other, “What is this what 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 ‘because I go to the Father.’” 18 So they were saying, “What is this which he is saying ‘a little while’? We don’t know what he is talking about.”
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to inquire of him, and he said to them, “What are you asking each other? About this: Because I said, ‘In a little while you will not see me, and again in a little while and you will see me’? 20 I tell you the firm truth: You will weep and mourn, but the world will celebrate. You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy. 21 A woman, when she gives birth, has pain, because her hour has come. But when she delivers, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a human being has been delivered into the world. 22 So also you have grief. But I will see you again, and your hearts will celebrate, and no one will take your joy from you.
23 And in that day, you will ask me nothing. I tell you the firm truth: if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.” (John 16:16-24)
16-18:
“little while” speaks of the “a short time” “a little while” (BDAG, a thick Greek lexicon). Some translations say “in a little while.” I went with it.
Three possible interpretations: (1) Jesus is talking about his crucifixion and burial, when they will see him no longer, but only for a brief time. And in a little while, they will see him again, in his resurrection appearances. (2) However, other interpreters say that the second “again in a little while” requires a longer interval and so refers to the coming of the Spirit, which Jesus has already talked about in vv. 7 and 12. Or he may be alluding to 14:23, which talks about the Father and Son coming to the disciples. Since I don’t believe 14:23 is predicting the Second Coming, the Father and Son come to the disciples through the Spirit because in the doctrine of the Second Coming, the Father does not return to earth. (3) Or the second phrase refers to the Second Coming, and interpreters who take this option believe that 14:2-3 and 23 does refer to the Second Coming.
To be honest, when I first read v. 16, I thought John meant the first option. But I am open to the second one. So I prefer the first or second option. The third one is out of the question, because two thousand years later does not work with “little while,” and I don’t believe he was so badly mistaken in his belief about when he would return. But you can decide on your own. Carson and Morris prefer the first option, while Klink likes the second one. (The more I think about it, the more I believe the first option is best.)
Borchert favors the first option but reminds us that a “little while” appears in the prophets for judgment on Israel and its deliverance (Hos. 1:4; Is. 10:25; Jer. 51:33 (comment on v. 16).
The disciples are perplexed, so they kept asking each other the questions. If scholars today, with the benefit of the hindsight of two thousand years, offer three options for v. 16, then we can understand the original disciples’ bafflement when they heard his statements.
19-22:
Let’s begin with the solemn announcement formula.
“I tell you the firm truth”: it literally read, “amen, amen, I tell you.” It expresses the authority of the one who utters it. The Hebrew root ’mn means faithfulness, reliability and certainty. It could be translated as “Truly, truly I tell you” or I tell you with utmost certainty.” Jesus’s faith in his own words is remarkable and points to his unique calling. It means we must pay attention to it, for it is authoritative. He is about to declare an important and solemn message or statement. The clause appears only on the lips of Jesus in the NT.
Klink points out (comment on 1:51) that no Jewish sage or Rabbi around this time ever said these words about his own pronouncement to statement. Instead, he would use it to affirm someone else’s opinion. Jesus is the only one to use it of his own teaching. It is very solemn. We need to pay attention because what follows is very important.
When Jesus is crucified and buried, the world system—specifically the Jerusalem establishment—will celebrate because they will believe that they have finally and forever disposed of the troublemaker. In contrast, the disciples will grieve and have sorrow, but their grief or sorrow will become or turn to joy. Why? Because of the resurrection and his appearances and for sure when the Spirit is poured out. He will restore Peter, for example (John 21:15-19). This is one more reason why I prefer the first option for v. 16, above.
Jesus uses the illustration of a very pregnant woman whose time for delivery has come. She feels the contractions, and they are painful (or so I have been told and have observed). Then when the child is delivered, she no longer remembers the anguish and pain—or she has joy which replaces the pain because she has brought a human into the world. So it is right now for the disciples. They feel pain and (it seems) some confusion, because Jesus is about to go through the crucifixion, and they won’t understand. But the earth will have to yield the body when God resurrects it. The body will have to come out of the womb / tomb (this rhyme works in English, but not in Greek). But let’s not press the illustration too far. The bottom line is that the disciples will soon feel sorrowful because of the ordeal Jesus is about to go through and will be taken from them, as a woman feels pain who is about to give birth. But then their sorrow will turn to joy at his resurrection, like a woman feels joy when she holds her baby. No one can take her joy away as she holds him, and so no one can take their joy when they see him again after his resurrection. In Jewish writings, birth pangs refer to the period of troubles that will precede the final consummation (Mounce, comment on v. 21). Bruce says this allusion is not likely in this context (comment on vv. 19-22).
Yet Borchert reminds us of the OT and Dead Sea Scrolls background:
This figurative image of birth pangs followed by joy in the arrival of a child was not a new image in the Bible. It was used in the Old Testament to refer to the painful experiences of Israel in awaiting the coming of their deliverance in the messianic era. Isaiah particularly employs this image in the suffering of Israel and the promise of hope when the dead will live (Isa 26:17–19; cf. 66:7–9; cf. also 21:3 in his prophecy of the defeat of Babylon). But Micah (Mic 4:9–10), Hosea (Hos 13:13), and Jeremiah (Jer 13:21) also use the image as both an indication of Israel’s suffering for disobedience and as a window of hope. Similarly the image was apparently used by the Dead Sea Convenanters (cf. 1 QH 2:8–10) and was important in the vision of the woman and the dragon in the Apocalypse, but there after the birth the dragon seeks to devour the child (Rev 12:1–4). (comment on v. 21)
23-24:
“on that day”: it refers to his resurrection and his presence through the Spirit. I like Carson on this one: “he is referring to the period after his resurrection as the end of history (cf. 1 John 2:18, ‘Dear children, this is the last hour’). Cf. 14:20” (comment on v. 24, emphasis original). It takes a long time for the end to come, in a gradual process.
Verse 23 verse parallels the ones in John 14:13-14: “Whatever you may ask in my name, I will do this, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” So I prefer the first option: the disciples will have no need to pose any questions to Jesus in that day.
In putting these verses together, they show the intimate connection between the Father and Jesus. You must now ask the Father in Jesus’s name, so a shift has taken place. Jews prayed daily and regularly to God. And Jesus even taught them to pray to the Father. “Our Father ….” Now, at the end of his life, Jesus is pressing home the point that he is the fullest revelation of God. Jesus is saying that they have not prayed to the Father in Jesus’s name, but they must do so now.
I keep thinking of this verse about the major shift. The context is evangelism, and Peter is speaking to the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court and council: “And salvation is not by anyone else, for neither is there another name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This is certainly bold. In the past, genuine faith in God could save an Israelite (think of Abraham, Moses, and David), but what about now? A salvation shift has happened with the coming and resurrection and ascension of his Son, the fullest revelation of the Father. A refusal to surrender to God’s Messiah is displeasing to God and insults his Messiah, who suffered and died, in God’s magnificent plan.
Back to prayer: asking in Jesus’s name is a privilege that belongs to the new order. “ask” in v. 24 is in the present tense, and remember this wonderful promise? “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be open to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks shall find, to the one knocking it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8). Those verbs are also in the present tense. So keep on asking.
Prayer is perhaps the most highly regarded but least employed of all the spiritual disciplines. Yet its demands on faith are not great. All it requires is a willingness to open ourselves before God and allow him to respond to our needs. (Mounce, comments on v. 24)
As I have done in other chapters, let’s explore the noun “name” more generally and apply it to our lives. Now down here on earth you walk and live as an ambassador in his name, in his stead, for he is no longer living on earth through his Son, so you have to represent him down here. We are his ambassadors who stand in for his name (2 Cor. 5:20). The good news is that he did not leave you without power and authority. He gave you the power and authority of his Son Jesus. Now you represent him in his name—his person, power and authority. Therefore under his authority we have his full authority to preach the gospel and set people free from bondages and satanic spirits and heal them of diseases.
Here in this context, we have the authority and the privilege to stand before God in prayer, but only in Jesus’s name. Yes, any unlearned sinner can call out to God in repentance, and God will hear him because the repenting sinner does not know any better, but after he surrenders to the Messiah, God’s fullest revelation and the only way of salvation, he must learn to pray in Jesus’s name. Then his joy will be full. The surest sign that he is connecting to God in Jesus’s name is when he experiences joy. He may—he will—go through trials, but deep joy will reside deep within him and will eventually bubble up.
GrowApp for John 16:16-24
1. How has the Father answered one of your prayers in Jesus’s name? Tell your story.
2. How has this answer brought you joy, if only later?
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3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
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