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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - John 16:1 - 16:33
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Joh_16:1. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
That you should not be scandalized when you are put to suffering on any account — that you should not dread the offence of the cross, and turn aside because of it. How considerate our Master is! It seems as if he might be angry at us if he suspected that we could be offended by anything that he did or suffered, or that we had to suffer for him; but he knows the weakness of our flesh, and, therefore, he speaks with so much elabouration of comfort.
Joh_16:2-4. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.
When you meet with rebuke, and slander, and jesting, and jeering against you for Christ’s sake, he has told you of them.
“
The heirs of salvation, you know from his word,
Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.”
While they had his presence, he was like a wall of fire round about them. They did not want to be protected then from dangers not come. And the Lord has not told us yet some of the things which he will reveal to us by and by, because the trial has not come. You feel as if you could not die at peace just now. You dread death. You shall have dying grace in dying moments. Do not be questioning yourself as to whether you have got dying grace now. You do not want it yet. You shall have it when the time comes.
Joh_16:5-6. But now I go my way to him that sent me: and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
It often happens, that if we were to inquire a little more into the sorrow, it would vanish. They did not ask him why he went away. They fretted because he was going. Now he tells them where he was going.
Joh_16:7. 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; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
It is a better thing for us in this world to have the Holy Spirit in us than to have the corporeal presence of Christ with us. We are better helped by the Holy Spirit than we should have been if Jesus had remained on earth.
Joh_16:8-12. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me: Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
Partly because their sorrow incapacitated them for hearing any more; partly because their spiritual infancy did not permit them as yet to learn the deeper doctrines which are rather meat for men than milk for babes. O you that are teachers of others, imitate the prudence of Jesus. Do not teach people too much at once. Do not try to make a little child understand all that an advanced and experienced saint knows. Say, as your Master did, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”
Joh_16:13-14. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me:
Now that is a sure mark of the Holy Spirit. If there be any spirit. which does not glorify Christ, it is not the Holy Spirit; it is not the Comforter. If you hear any doctrine which detracts from the dignity of Christ’s nature, from the glory of Christ’s person, from the perfection and the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice, you may depend upon it that it is not the doctrine of God. Reject it at once. It may poison you. It cannot build you up. “He shall glorify me.”
Joh_16:14-15. For he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The things of the Father are Christ’s. We learn them as Christ’s. The Spirit brings them to us as Christ’s, and so Christ is glorified, and we are comforted.
Joh_16:16-19. 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. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him.
And that is a very sweet thing. Sometimes we are afraid to pray; sometimes we feel as if we could not bring ourselves to the prayer. But it is so sweet. “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him.” There is the essence of prayer in the desire to pray. There is really a request which Jesus Christ can read in the heart that longs to make a request and scarcely dares do it.
Joh_16:19-20. And said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Not merely shall your sorrow be taken away, but it shall be transformed. As the alchemist thought that he turned baser metal into gold, so in very truth by a heavenly alchemy does Christ turn the sorrow of his people not in this case only, but in many others, into joy.
Joh_16:21-24. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 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. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.
They had asked so little that it came to nothing, and they had not yet learned the art of using his name in prayer; and a great many Christians have not learned it yet. Often they say, and they say very properly, “for Jesus Christ’s, sake.” That is good, but there is something better than to ask in his name. Suppose a person calls at any door and asks me to relieve him, out of love to some friend of mine. That is very well; but suppose he says, “I come from that friend of yours, and he told me to use his name, and to put whatever you did for me to his account. Why, that is a stronger plea altogether. Happy are they who know how to use the name, the authority, the claims, the rights of Jesus as an argument with which to back their prayers.
Joh_16:24. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
You have got some joy, but there is room for more. Brethren, has your joy ever been full yet? Full? Could not you be more joyous? Oh! there have been times with some of us when we could not be more joyous than we were. We have asked, and we have received, and we have been so glad, that we hardly knew how to live under the blessed delirium of gladness. We have seemed to be carried away with an intense delight because God has heard our prayers. “That your joy may be full.”
Joh_16:25. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:
In short, parabolic sentences.
Joh_16:25-27. But the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father A t that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
That is a very precious truth. While Jesus does pray the Father for us, yet we are not to look upon that as if Christ’s prayer made the Father love us. No. Not only is it not Christ’s prayer that makes the Father love us. It is not even Christ’s death that makes the Father love us. Often do we repeat that verse: —
“
Towards his people flame,
That Jesus, from the realms above,
On the kind errand came.
‘Twas not the pangs that he endured,
Nor all the woes he bore,
That God’s eternal love procured,
For God was love before.”
Joh_16:28-31. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Are you at this moment full of faith? Do not trust yourselves. Do not begin to glory in the strength of your faith.
Joh_16:32. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Oh! you that say you believe tonight, beware lest tomorrow you should be scattered in unbelief and fear. Whatever faith we have is God’s giving, and if it remain with us, it will be because God keeps it there. But there is not one among us that has any faith to spare. We do not know but that the very hour is come, even now, that will try us and make us ask whether we have any faith at all.
Joh_16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.
There is a blessed word of good cheer for us, everyone!
Joh_16:1. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
The temptation is, when Christ is despised and rejected, for our hearts to begin to sink, and for our faith to fail. Therefore did Christ warn his disciples that they “should not be offended.”
Joh_16:2. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
The best of men are but men at the best, and they are very apt to fail when they find persecution hot against them, especially when even religious men, of a certain kind, count it to be a religious duty to persecute the people of God.
Joh_16:3. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
This verse reminds us of our Lord’s prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Persecution of God’s people usually arises from ignorance of God the Father and God the Son.
Joh_16:4. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
“I was your Protector; by my personal presence, I so sustained your hearts that it did not matter what trouble you fell into; but now I am going away, and therefore I give you this warning.”
Joh_16:5-6. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
We sometimes endure a needless sorrow, for the asking of a single question might remove it. Our Lord says to his disciples, “If you knew where I was going, and understood my motive in going, your sorrow at my departure would be assuaged.”
Joh_16:7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away:
“It is for your profit to lose my personal presence, precious as that has been to you.”
Joh_16:7. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
The word “Comforter” might just as well have been translated “Advocate.” The Holy Spirit is that Divine Advocate who pleads the cause of God in us, and for us, and so comforts us. He it is who is now with Us. If Jesus Christ were still upon earth in the flesh, he could only be in one place at one time. If he were in this assembly, he could not also be in Jerusalem or in New York; but the Comforter can be in all the gatherings of the Lord’s people, and with each individual believer, the wide world over.
Joh_16:8-12. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Teachers, learn wisdom from Christ. He did not try to teach his disciples everything at once; but, by teaching them one truth, he prepared them for another truth. Let us do the same with those whom we try to teach, let us dispense to them the simpler truths first, and afterwards those that are deeper and more mysterious.
Joh_16:13-14. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
That spirit, which does not glorify Christ, is not the spirit of God. Hereby shall ye discern between the spirit of error and the Spirit of truth.
Joh_16:15-16. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 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.
This is what our whole life is: “a little while.” But in that little while there are little whiles of sadness, and little whiles of gladness, — little whiles in which we have Christ with us, and little whiles in which we see him, but find him not. Blessed be God, we are going away from the land of these changing little whiles up to the place where the sun shineth in its strength for ever and ever.
Joh_16:17-18. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and, again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
Sometimes, when you are reading the Bible, you will come across a text of which you will say to yourselves, “What is this? We cannot tell what he saith.” But do not give up reading the Bible because you cannot understand it. There is a great deal that a father says which his child cannot comprehend, yet it is a part of the child’s education to be with his father, and to hear some things that he does not at first understand; but by-and-by, it all becomes clear. So, believer, what thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter.
Joh_16:19. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him
They did not ask him, but they desired to do so, and a desire is a prayer. Where our blessed Master is present, the very desires of his people are prayers, even though their lips remain closed.
Joh_16:19-20. And said unto them, Do you enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Oh, what a blessed promise!
Joh_16:21-24. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 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. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall, receive, that your joy may be full.
They had asked very little, and they had never asked even that little in Christ’s name; and there are but few Christians who do so even now. They ask for Christ’s sake, which is a good plea, but to ask in Christ’s name is better still, — when you feel conscious that you have Christ’s authority to use his name, and so can put the King’s own signature at the bottom of your petitions. There are some prayers to which a man dares not to set Christ’s seal; but when the prayer is such that Christ himself might have offered it, then we may present it in his name, and we may be certain that we shall receive what we have asked.
Joh_16:25-28. 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 shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself teacheth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Here are four unfathomable depths: “I came forth from the Father,” —there is Christ’s eternal pre-existence. “And am come into the world,” —there is his incarnation. “Again, I leave the world,” — there is his death, resurrection, and ascension into the glory of God. “And go to the Father,” — there is his exaltation to the Father’s right hand.
Joh_16:29. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
Did you never, when reading the Bible, come across a text, that was opened up to you so sweetly that you vied out just as these disciples did “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.”
Joh_16:30-31. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Listen, you who imagine that you are so strong in faith, and every grace, that you think you are almost perfect: “Do ye now believe?”
Joh_16:32. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone:
Ah, me! these were the men who said they believed in him; yet, in his time of trial, they fled like cowardly unbelievers. God help us, and sustain us, or we shall do as they did!
Joh_16:32-33. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.