1. Authoritative. Put by Him who alone has a right to do so.
2. Necessary. The existence of faith (Joh_9:35; Mar_4:40) the one thing needful (Luk_18:8; Heb_11:6).
3. Urgent. Then the time was short--Christ was on the eve of departure. Now the time is short (1Co_7:29)--The Lord is at hand Php_4:5; Jam_5:8).
4. Personal. The question was addressed to the disciples individually. So must each soul consider and reply for himself.
II. A GENTLE ADMONITION (verse 32). A warning.
1. Startling. Otherwise it would have been worthless.
2. Painful; intimating the fact of their impending desertion: hence suggesting the propriety of examining whether their faith was capable of enduring the coming strain.
3. Softened. Their dispersion would leave Him alone in the hands of His enemies; yet as if to mitigate the blow of this allusion to their apostasy He adds that the Father would be with Him.
III. A CHEERING PREDICTION (verse 33).
1. The blessing. Christ desired that they might have peace. It was His dying legacy (Joh_14:27) and His purpose in all His conversation and labours.
2. The sphere. It could only be secured by vital union with Himself Rom_8:6; Rom_14:17; Eph_2:14; Php_4:7).
IV. A COMFORTING CONSOLATION. Christ had overcome the world
1. For Himself. Hence they need not doubt that He was the Father’s Son and the Saviour of men, or question His ability to support and succour them.
2. For them. If they continued one with Him, in and through Him they would be victorious over all tribulation (Rom_8:37; Rev_7:14).
Lessons:
1. The gentleness of Christ.
2. The weakness of men.
3. The blessedness of faith. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Rebuke and warning
I. THE REBUKE. The words, “Do ye now believe?” seem to charge the faith, that the disciples had now professed, with a threefold defect
1. That it was late. Why did ye not believe sooner? Have you not had sufficient means of conviction till now?
2. That it was cheap. What does it cost you to believe? What temptation have you to the contrary? Your faith now only lays hold of My promises, and is not at all discouraged by any of your own fears.
3. That it was mistaken. Are you sure that you do believe? Do you not think too indulgently of yourselves? Have you examined your own hearts, and secured the ground of your confidence? A true faith will never be a deserter; but you will by and by desert Me. Perhaps all these three defects were to be found in the present faith of the disciples, at least in some measure: I am sure they are actually and ordinarily found in the faith of common professors.
II. THE WARNING. In the remainder of the text, “Behold, the hour cometh,” &c., we observe, that, as the disciples’ crime was the leaving of their Master, so the occasion of that crime was their scattering; and the reason of their scattering was the concern that each of them had for “his own.” From these two propositions I shall infer
1. That when Christians divide, they leave their Master; and
2. That it is our own things, and not the things of Christ, that make us divide (Rom_16:17-18; Php_2:20-21). (Dean Young.)
