Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Read John 16:12-22. "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father" (John 16:16).
SEEING JESUS BRINGS JOY
These words of Jesus were not only puzzling to the disciples, they still pose a bit of a mystery to us. Did you catch it? Read those words again.
Notice the reason Jesus gives why they will see Him again. It is "Because I go to the Father." Does that make any sense, that they will see Him again because He leaves them to ascend to His Father in heaven?
This is where the promise of the Holy Spirit comes in. Earlier that night Jesus told them that He was going to depart and return to the Father. That made them sad, then Jesus said, "I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." Now He says, "again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."
Those disciples didn't really see Jesus fully until after He ascended to heaven and sent the Spirit to them. Certainly seeing Jesus with their eyes on Easter and in the weeks to follow brought joy to their hearts. They were glad to see Him alive. Their faith in Him as the Messiah was renewed. But those disciples saw Jesus and understood Him much more fully after Jesus ascended to the Father.
Remember what Jesus said at the beginning of our reading, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" ( v. 12). They simply were not able to understand everything that Jesus had to tell them. Then Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all the truth." After Jesus ascended to His Father and sent the Holy Spirit, then for the first time those disciples could truly see and know Jesus. That is when their sorrow was completely turned to joy -- a joy that would not be taken from them.
This is also where we find our great assurance and joy. We have not had the privilege of seeing Jesus with our eyes, but that is not where the greatest confidence and joy comes from anyway. The Spirit guided the apostles into all truth and caused them to record that truth for us in the Bible. Here, in the Bible, the Spirit guides us into all the truth so that we can see Jesus clearly. We see the glory of His love and grace, we see the purpose of His death on the cross, and we see our salvation. It is that seeing Jesus that turns our sorrow into joy.
In your times of sorrow, turn to the scriptures and pray for the Spirit to show Jesus to you in His full glory. That sight of Jesus will turn your sorrow into everlasting joy.
