16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
It was in late September, more than 5 months ago that we began chapter 13 on our journey through John’s Gospel. The scene was the Last Supper in the Upper Room, as Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and Judas Iscariot, after being exposed by Jesus, left the Upper Room. We are nearing the end of chapter 16, and while it has taken us nearly half a year to cover 4 chapters, we must remember that all of these events and conversations recorded in these 4 chapters happened in the same night. Not only were the remaining eleven disciples shocked to hear that there was a traitor among them, but Jesus had told them He was about to leave them, after which He assured them that He would continue to be with them through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Talk about an emotional rollercoaster ride… These men had had their world turned upside down, so when Jesus said to them in verse 16, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me,” it is easy to see why they were so confused, as they said to each other in verse 18, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” It’s been said many times that the Christian life is never boring, so we can only imagine just how the disciples felt that night. And things were about to become even harder for them, as this was only a few hours before Jesus was arrested and put on trial.
Jesus’ answer to their confusion in verse 20 was, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” There are echoes here of David’s words in Psalm 30:5. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
This whole idea from the Christian perspective of sorrow turning into joy is an important Biblical theme. All people, Christian or not, experience sadness and heartache, but those who put their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ have a hope that the world cannot offer. A day is coming when our weeping will turn into an indescribable joy that no one and nothing will be able to take away from us.
This is the broad truth that we affirm and hold onto, but there are different ways of understanding Jesus’ assurance to His disciples in verse 16. “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
Firstly, we need to look at this statement in its context. These words were spoken to a specific group of people at a specific time. For the disciples, especially as they looked back on this conversation in the days and weeks to come, they would have seen it as Jesus referring to the time between His death and resurrection.
Secondly, Jesus could have been talking about the time periods before and after Pentecost, because for the first disciples, and for us today, we do see Christ - not physically, but spiritually through the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, and then thirdly, Jesus’ statement can be understood in the light of His promised Second Coming, and we’ll look at each of these three possibilities, because they are all valid interpretations of this rather complicated passage.
So the first, and most obvious application is a reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s obvious, because He was speaking directly to His disciples, and within 24 hours He would be crucified and buried. He was trying to comfort them, knowing He would be arrested later that night, which would be a stressful time for them. They were going to be sorrowful, but joy would come on the third day, when He rose from the dead.
This, of course, was nothing new to them. They had heard Jesus talking about what was about to happen many times, but it probably felt all a bit too much for them. In John 13:31-33, Jesus told them, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” We have the benefit of knowing how the events over the next few days would unfold, but even we don’t fully understand what Jesus meant here, so we can certainly sympathise with Peter’s confusion in verses 36 and 37. “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now?’”
We shouldn’t forget that these men had left everything to follow Jesus. He had become their trusted companion, leader and Lord for more than three years, and even though Jesus had told them many times that He would be taken away from them and crucified as a common criminal, they just could not compute all of this in their minds, which helps us to understand why they were so despondent and sorrowful.
They were sorrowful because of their impending personal loss. Within a matter of hours, Jesus would be gone, and seemingly, forever. They were also going to be sorrowful because of the world’s attitude to Jesus. The early days of His popularity were a distant memory now. Now He was a threat to the religious and political establishment, and those in positions of power couldn’t wait to be rid of Him, and when they finally did, there would be great rejoicing, as Jesus said in verse 20. “You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.”
And this rejoicing at the apparent defeat of Jesus Christ continues today. To the vast majority of people He is an object of scorn and hatred, which is why the disciples then, and all those today who love Christ are sorrowful for the way the world rejoices and blasphemes Him at every opportunity. The sorrow of the disciples would be intensified because the world, instead of mourning the death of Jesus, would rejoice because now He would be out of their way. Jesus Christ has always been a threat to those who love their sin more than they love God.
Also, the disciples had high hopes that Jesus would bring relief from the oppressive Roman rule that they had been subjected to for more than 60 years, and those hopes were now dashed. We know this from the conversation Jesus had with the two disciples on the Emmaus road before they realised who He was. “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognising Him. And He said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And He said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to Him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.’” (Luke 24:15-21)
They had put so much of their hope in Jesus, but these hopes had come to nothing (or so it seemed).
And then came the resurrection, which for the disciples meant that their sorrow turned to joy. There is a small, but important detail in verse 20. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say the disciples’ sorrow will be replaced by or followed by joy, but rather, “your sorrow will turn into joy.”
Why is this important? It’s all to do with the glory of the cross. What had previously been a symbol of utter defeat and failure, is now transformed into what Paul describes in Galatians 6:14 as the glory of the cross.
The cross remains the symbol of the Christian Church today. Many of you wear crosses around your necks. Have you ever stopped and thought for a moment how strange that is? The Roman cross was an instrument of torture and death.
No-one in their right mind would walk around with a miniature electric chair or hangman’s noose on a gold or silver chain, yet we wear crosses.
How strange, until we understand that God has taken that symbol of sorrow, and turned it into a symbol of our joy. James Montgomery Boice explains this by saying, “The resurrection came, and their sorrow was changed into joy. It was not that their sorrow was followed by joy, that joy came afterward but what was sorrow still remained. No, the sorrow was itself changed into joy so that what had been the cause of their sorrow before was now in equal measure joyous.”
For us to try and understand this remarkable transformation, we need to try and imagine how the disciples felt in the days that followed. The death of Jesus Christ was an unspeakable travesty of justice. The false charges, lying witnesses, corrupt religious leaders, illegal trial, the cowardice of Pilate - all of these things and more resulted in the tragedy of the cruellest of deaths of a man who had done nothing wrong. The disciples were heartbroken, and as Jesus hung dying on the cross, they simply could not see the true significance of His death.
At the time, they did not understand that this was how God would atone for the sins of the world. Instead, all they saw was an innocent man whom they loved, dying a cruel and senseless death. It was only after the resurrection that it dawned on them that the cross was not a tragedy but a glorious triumph.
It’s interesting that as you read through the New Testament, the cross is never written about in a mournful or sorrowful tone. This is why it makes perfect sense for Christians to wear crosses around our necks. The cross of Christ is not a cause for sorrow, but a cause for joy, and ultimately for the glory of God.
When we understand what God has done through the cross, we are better able to understand Jesus’ words in John 12:27-28. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” It was on the cross where God would be glorified, and any time that God is glorified is a time of great joy.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” And in the previous chapter he wrote, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)
If it weren’t for the resurrection, the crucifixion would remain a tragedy, and a cause for great sorrow, but the resurrection has turned it into the greatest triumph in all of human history, and this is why the cross is our source of joy, and this is why as the Church, we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We rejoice in the cross of Christ.
So the first application of John 16:16, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me,” spoken to the disciples, is the death and resurrection of Christ.
Secondly, verse 16 can be interpreted to mean the presence of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, which Jesus had already taught about in chapters 14 and 16.
If you are a born again, Bible believing Christian, it is because God has drawn you to Himself through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, has granted you repentance and saving faith and it is God, through the ongoing work of the Spirit who preserves and seals you. And it is in this spiritual sense that we see Jesus today.
Remember that the first step toward salvation is recognising our great need as sinners who are guilty before a holy God, and as we saw last time, part of what the Spirit does is to convict us of our sin and our need for the righteousness of Christ. Our spiritual eyes are opened to our need, and we are comforted by the absolute assurance that we are now saved. As we are convicted of our sin, we mourn and are sorrowful because we realise that unless God miraculously saves us, we are doomed to spend eternity in a very real place called hell. But because of Jesus, whom we now see with the eyes of faith, our sorrow is turned into joy.
Jesus said to His disciples in verses 12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” The context of these verses is the imminent departure of Jesus, when the disciples would see Him no more, but after Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would declare to them and teach them the truth. We have access to the truth of God today through the pages of Scripture, so in a very real sense, we see Jesus today, and He speaks to us today through the Bible. He is, after all, the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit makes Jesus visible to Christians, not physically but spiritually, as He reveals the truth of Jesus to us. This is what makes the Bible unique. We don’t read it just to increase our knowledge and to accumulate facts, or at least, that shouldn’t be our sole motivation for studying the Scriptures.
As we read and study the Bible, Jesus is revealed to us, as He continues to lead us into the truth and away from the lies of the world.
Hebrews 11 is known as the great chapter of faith, in which the writer pointed to the examples of the faith of many Old Testament characters to spur us on to faith, and he writes in the opening verses of chapter 12, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Our sorrow is turned into joy as we look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
The apostle Paul wrote something very similar in Philippians 3:13-14. “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
John 16:16 again. “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” The last time Jesus was seen with human eyes was at His ascension, but since Pentecost, just 10 days later, we see Him with the eyes of faith.
The third application of this verse is to see it from the perspective of the promised return of Jesus, the Second Coming. Even though we see Jesus with the eyes of faith now, and this gives us great joy, our vision is tinged with sorrow, because we still struggle with temptation and sin, personal heartache and despair.
We do have joy, but that joy is not yet complete. This will come when we breathe our last breath in this life and our first in glory, or at the return of Christ, whichever comes first.
The religious leaders, when Jesus was crucified and buried thought they were finally rid of Him, and those who hate Christ today think the same, but Peter reminds us of the great hope we have in his second letter. “Remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:2-4)
The name of Christ continues to be hated and blasphemed in this world which hates Him so much, but Peter reminds us that this is not the end. He continues in the following verses, “They deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:5-13)
We have joy, but it is not yet complete. There is still sadness and sorrow for us all, but we have the blessed hope that Christ will return for His own to take us to the place He has prepared for us for all of eternity.
The world today wants nothing to do with Jesus Christ and His Church. Just as Jesus hung on the cross 2000 years ago and His enemies rejoiced, so the world rejoices today, but in a little while our sorrow will turn into an eternal joy.
When those two disciples on the Emmaus road realised that it was the risen Christ who walked with them, they were filled with joy as they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the others that He was alive. “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed.’” (Luke 24:32-34)
Job’s trials and sufferings are well documented, and by the grace of God, our trials are not as sorrowful as Job’s but we have the same blessed hope as Job. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25–27)
The world is rejoicing while we are suffering, but in “a little while” He will return, and we will go with Him to our Heavenly home.