Christ’s Final Encouragement
John 16:25-33
In John 16:25-33 we have the very last conversation that Jesus has with His disciples before He is crucified in John’s Gospel. John 17 records the prayer of Jesus, then immediately in John 18 Jesus will be betrayed by Judas and arrested by officers sent from the chief priests and Pharisees. The disciples will not have any more opportunities to interact with their Lord. These words are the last things we hear the disciples say to Jesus until after the resurrection. John 16:25-33,
25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”
29 His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
You can see that John 16:25-33 are an interchange between Jesus and His disciples. These are Jesus’ final words of encouragement to His disciples as He leaves them to go to the cross. In these last few verses before He begins His High Priestly prayer, He speaks to their deepest needs.
Remember last time in John 16:17-18 the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant when He told them (John 16:16), “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” Jesus knew they were confused and explained to them that they would weep and lament, but when they see Him again their sorrow would be turned to joy. Now Jesus continues to encourage His disciples before they face this awful night of His arrest and the gut-punch of His death on the cross the next day.
Jesus encourages His by promising 1) Fuller understanding; 2) The Father’s love; and that 3) Failure is not final.
Be encouraged by Jesus’ promise of:
1. Fuller understanding (John 16:25)
In John 16:25-28, Jesus makes His disciples a very encouraging promise. He knows that they are mystified about all that He has been saying to them about the future. He is speaking in vague terms so that they will not understand immediately, but also in order that they will understand in the future. They will soon look back and recall that the very things that had happened to them were the things Jesus foretold.
In John 16:25 Jesus says to them, “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.”
When Jesus says, “These things” He is certainly referring to all that He had said to the disciples that night (John 13-16), and perhaps all His teaching during His entire ministry with them. The word translated “figurative language” refers to obscure speech or a saying this is out of the usual course or deviating from the usual manner of speaking. So the Lord recognizes their confusion over many of the things that He had said, and He promises a time in the near future when He would speak about the Father in a way that they would understand.
Here is the encouragement they need. In spite of their present spiritual confusion, Jesus gives them hope for future spiritual growth. John has illustrated for us how this works. In John 2, after Jesus cleansed the temple, the Jews challenged Jesus for what He had done. He answered (John 2:19), “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John explains that Jesus wasn’t talking about the temple in Jerusalem, but rather about the temple of His body (John 2:21). He adds (John 2:22), “Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” They were confused when Jesus said it, but after His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit they understood and believed.
Even that very night when Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet and Peter protested, Jesus said (John 13:7), “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” They didn’t grasp the spiritual truth that Jesus was teaching at that moment, but later it became clear to them.
When would they understand these things? Jesus said (John 16:25), “the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.” After Jesus was raised from the dead He appeared to His disciples many times over a period of 40 days (Acts 1:3). In Luke 24 when Jesus appears to His disciples and proves to them that He is alive Luke records (Luke 24:45), “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Specifically He taught them about the necessity of His death and resurrection. Before the cross, the disciples couldn’t conceive of a crucified Messiah. Afterwards, God’s whole plan of salvation opened up to them.
This understanding would become even greater when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost as Jesus had promised. Jesus had just told them (John 16:13), “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” And back in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
So, speaking to men who were confused and whom He knew would fail spiritually before that night was over, the Lord promises hope for fuller understanding, for future spiritual growth.
Don’t get discouraged if you do not understand everything in the Bible. The word of God is very clear on many things. Start living what you do understand. Paul wrote to the Philippians (Phil. 3:15-16), “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”
So be encouraged. Jesus promises a fuller understanding. You can grow spiritually. Next Jesus encourages us by promising
2. The Father’s love (John 16:26-28)
John 16:26: “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you …” Jesus has repeatedly (John 14:13; 15:16; 16:23-24) told the disciples that now they are to ask the Father in His name. Here, Jesus further clarifies what that means. It does not mean that the Father will be distant and removed from the disciples, so that they have to work their way up the chain of command through Jesus before the Father will listen to their requests. Rather, it’s quite the opposite. Because they now can come to the Father in Jesus’ name, they have direct access to the Father.
That is why Jesus says (John 16:26), “… I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you.” This verse is not denying the intercessory role and prayer of Jesus. The Bible declares that Jesus is now “at the right hand of God,” and “also makes intercession for us” (Rom 8:34; see also Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1). Our approach to the Father rests on Christ’s finished work on our behalf, which He continually pleads on our behalf. To pray in Jesus’ name means to come to the Father on the basis of all that Jesus is and all that He has done for us on the cross. It means to ask in line with His purpose and for His glory.
What Christ is teaching here is that He doesn’t have to persuade a reluctant Father to be gracious to us. Because Christ our High Priest has finished work of salvation on our behalf, we now have direct access to the throne of the loving Father. Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to pray this way, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The reason why we will have direct access to the Father is in John 16:27, “… for the Father Himself loves you.” The word love there is the word that describes family affection. Why does the Father love us? “…because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” Note that love for Christ and believing in Him are inextricably bound together. He’s talking about a special love relationship that the Father has with all who believe, all who love His Son. God loves the whole world (John 3:16), but He especially loves those who love His Son.
We love Jesus because of what He has done for us in His death and resurrection. See John 16:28, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” Christ here succinctly summarizes God’s sovereign plan of salvation. Leon Morris (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 711) states,
Here we have the great movement of salvation. It is a twofold movement, from heaven to earth and back again. Christ’s heavenly origin is important, else He could not be the Savior of men. But His heavenly destination is also important, for it witnesses to the Father’s seal on the Son’s saving work.
So John writes in His first epistle (John 4:10), “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Christ’s finished work on the cross where He took God’s wrath against our sin is the demonstration of His love for us. And our love for Him is a response to that as John writes (1 John 4:19), “We love Him because He first loved us.”
From start to finish, our salvation does not depend on our loving God, but rather on God’s love and grace.
So Jesus encourages us by His promise of fuller understanding, of the Father’s love, and thirdly the promise that,
3. Failure is not final (John 16:29-33)
At first, it appears like Jesus’ plain speaking has gotten through to His disciples. In John 16:29-30 “His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.””
Now, having read through the rest of the Gospel of John, aren’t you a little doubtful that the disciples really understand what Jesus is saying? Notice what they are saying here. They have not told Him what they think He has just said, so that He can confirm it. They just say that now they are sure and because of this, they won’t need to question Him further. I think this was just their way of giving the impression they know and explaining why they are not asking any more questions.
No doubt they did believe that Jesus had come from God and that He knew all things. I am not sure they completely understood the implications of that meant that He Himself was God in the flesh. I am fairly certain that they did not grasp what His return to the Father was all about. They are embarrassed at their ignorance, and they want to look good in His eyes.
Jesus patiently and lovingly deals with His disciples at this moment of ignorance and confusion. He did not expect them to understand. However, He does not allow their pretense to stand, unchallenged. So in John 16:31 Jesus answers them, “Do you now believe?” Then He exposes their weakness (John 16:32), “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
The belief they profess is not nearly as strong as they suppose. The events of the next few hours will prove this, for virtually every one of them will abandon Him. The disciples were about to desert Jesus in His moment of greatest need.
But they didn’t even see it coming. Earlier in the evening, Peter had declared that he was ready to lay down his life for Christ, but Jesus had predicted that before the night was over, Peter would deny Him three times (John 13:37-38). Now, the disciples all think that they understand Jesus clearly and believe in Him (John 16:29-30). But Jesus knew otherwise and let them know that they all will desert Him.
But He tells them these things so that their failure would not be final. He’s equipping them to overcome their failure. They would lose the battle that dark night, but they wouldn’t lose the whole war. His encouraging words come in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Listen to those words of Jesus again, “… in Me you may have peace.” The good news is that our peace is not found in our performance but in Christ. The disciples would fail Jesus that night, but in Christ they would have peace: peace with God and the peace of God. This is a peace that the world and its tribulation cannot take away. Jesus says, ”In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Just as our joy was permanent (John 16:22), so the peace that we have in Christ is permanent as well. The world cannot take it away and our momentary failures cannot take it away. Our peace does not come from an absence of trouble, but from the presence of the Lord.
When the Lord chose you, He knew everything about you. He knew all of your secret sins. He knew all the awful thoughts you’d ever have. He knew all of the rotten words that you’d ever say. He knew all of the times when you’d arrogantly think that you knew, but you really didn’t know. He knew the times when you should have taken a stand boldly for Him, but you’d turned and ran. And yet He still chose you to be His child and He still gives you His peace in this troubled world! Remember what Jesus had said earlier that evening (John 14:27), “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Jesus’ final word to them is a word of victory (John 16:33), “…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” “Good cheer” comes from a word that means to have courage. The reason we can take courage in the face of the trouble of this world and even our own spiritual failures is because Jesus has overcome the world. He has won the victory over sin and death and the devil once and for all. As Jesus said in John 16:11, “the ruler of this world is judged.”
So Paul after struggling with his own failures in sin in Romans 7 concludes by writing (Rom. 7:24-25), “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is in Jesus Christ that we have victory. Again Paul writes (1 Cor. 15:57-58), “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Be encouraged by the final words of our Lord to His disciples: 1) You can grow spiritually with a fuller understanding of the Father through His word; 2) You can come boldly to the Father in prayer because He loves you; 3) You can have peace in this world of trouble because Christ’s victory means your failure is not final.
