John 14.1-14; 16.13-27
It is a precious study indeed to observe the Saviour as He prepared His disciples for life and service after He had gone back to Heaven. Who can fathom the heaviness of heart, the intense sorrow in His soul as He experienced the final hours before He went to Calvary? Had those hours been lived out in solitude and self-consideration, who could not understand that? Yet it was in those hours when the shadow of the cross loomed large that the Lord Jesus displayed the most compassionate, tender, and loving care for His own. He knew their perplexity, anxiety, and distress. On the one hand they seemed sure that the promised Kingdom must be very close at hand, that somehow the increasing enmity and hatred of the religious rulers would be changed into a submissive welcome. The sacrifices that the disciples had made in following the Lord would all be wonderfully compensated and, together with Him, they would reign in glory instead of being poor and despised.
On the other hand, the One to whom they looked for all their needs, for whose sake they had left their livelihoods, and whom they had come to love and trust, was now telling them that He was going to go away. His own words lingered in their ears, "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you" (Jn 13.33). Small wonder they were perplexed, and the Saviour, knowing their turmoil, graciously overshadowed them with His protecting wings and drew them very close to Himself. He does the same today when His "little children", unable to discern the reason for sorrow and anxiety in their lives, turn to Him as did Thomas and say, "Lord, we know not" (14.5). We do not see "the big picture", the grand and perfect design of divine purpose, and the Lord knows that our understanding is so small. However, when He speaks His words are Yea and Amen. "As for God, his way is perfect" (Ps 18.30) and, quite rightly, the Lord expects those who know and love Him to rest on His word, even though the way ahead seems dark and uncertain. The worst possible scenario for the disciples, in their view, was that the Lord would leave them, yet that was precisely what He had told them He would do. Their hearts were troubled deeply, and He knew it, but He also knew that greater, more wonderful blessings than His own physical presence awaited them. He called on them to trust Him and believe His word, and He does the same to you and me today.
In the next three "Verily, verily" statements of the Lord Jesus, and against the background of their anxiety and fear, He addresses the breadth of their works, the brevity of their weeping, and the blessedness of their waiting upon God.
The breadth of the disciples' works
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (14.12). In encouraging Philip to take his eyes off the physical and behold the spiritual, the Lord stated clearly and wonderfully, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (v.9). There is nothing that can be learned of the invisible God that cannot be beheld in all its fullness in the person of the Lord Jesus. His essential unity with the Father had been manifested by all His words and works. "Do you require something visible and tangible in order to believe, Philip?", the Saviour was saying. "If you are struggling with the spiritual concept, look at My words and works. They declare My unity with the Father". Philip was really voicing the national dilemma: all agreed that "Never man spake like this man" (7.46); all agreed that "no man can do these miracles except God be with him" (3.2). That God was with this man, even His enemies would agree. That this man was God was a confession that demanded faith and belief. "Believe this, Philip (we continue to paraphrase reverently the words of the Lord Jesus), and you will be able to do the works that I do in fact, you will do greater works, because I go to my Father".
The works that the Lord Jesus did were works that honoured and glorified the Father. Fallen man lacks the desire and the ability to do such works, but those whose faith is in the Lord Jesus are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He gives the desire and ability that we naturally lack. This statement to Philip is the springboard for the Lord's revelation to His own of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and how the presence of the Spirit could only be known as a consequence of the Lord's departure and return to heaven. Not only would those whose faith is in Christ be able to do works of the same character as His, but the extent and range of those works would be greater than those of His own ministry. In general, the miraculous works of the Saviour brought the recovery of physical sight, hearing, speech, mobility, cleansing, and life. The ministry of His own, as a consequence of the Holy Spirit being sent, would be greater in that the results would be of spiritual recovery and eternal life. The ministry of the Lord Jesus never went beyond the boundaries of the nation, but His own, in Holy Spirit power, would be channels of blessing to men and women across the globe. Three factors would enable this amazing ministry: faith on the part of the servant; a man in heaven, "because I go unto my Father"; the presence of the Holy Spirit, "for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (v.17). If our own service were to be conducted with a deeper sense of absolute dependence on the man in heaven, and the power of the Holy Spirit on earth, then perhaps we would see more of "greater works than these"!
The brevity of the disciples' weeping
Although the expression "the upper room ministry" is often applied to chs.13-16 of John's Gospel, the description more properly relates to chs.13 and 14. The Lord's words, "Arise, let us go hence" indicate a break in His teaching, and the rest of His discourse, many expositors suggest, took place on the road to Gethsemane. Whatever the setting, the mood of the disciples was one of increasing fear and deep foreboding. Their perplexity seemed to peak when the Lord told them, "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father" (16.16). Two different words are translated "see" in this verse. The first means to look upon and the second means to comprehend. Some suggest that the Lord was teaching the sequence: a brief period covering His death and burial ("ye shall not see me"), then a further brief period when they would see Him in resurrection. However, the context of these words is the Lord's teaching concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, so the sense of the verse is rather a sequence of four things. First, "a little while" covering the period of His death, burial, resurrection, and the subsequent forty days. Second, "ye shall not see me" as He is received up from their gaze at His ascension back to heaven. Third, a further "little while" of ten days until the Holy Spirit comes down at Pentecost. Fourth, and as a result of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, "ye shall see (comprehend) me". Their knowledge of Himself would therefore be more full, more blessed, when they could no longer see Him, because His return to the Father would trigger the sending into the world of the Holy Spirit with all His wonderful Christ-revealing ministry.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful": thus the Lord describes the first "little while". The second "little while" has a much different flavour, however: "but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (16.20).
The blessedness of the disciples' waiting upon God
After illustrating His teaching of the "little while", the Lord Jesus again commanded the attention of the disciples by saying, "Verily, verily" (16.23). The words, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you", might seem to the casual reader a wonderful "blank cheque". The secret of effective prayer, however, is found in the words "in my name". Up to the point of this teaching, the Lord's disciples had always looked to Him whenever a need or problem arose. What would they do when they could no longer see Him and speak with Him? They would avail themselves of a new relationship with their God who would be to them "Father". As they had spoken to the Lord in the days of His flesh, so they would speak to the Father. Asking "in my name" would mean asking for the things that the Lord Himself would ask for, so the promise, "he will give it you", is qualified by absolute consistency with those things that will honour God and glorify Him in the earth. All that the Lord promised His own in the room and on the road is wonderfully true for His loved ones today.
To be continued.
