Day 1164: Take heart - John 16 vs 25 - 33

25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26-27 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

29-30 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”

31-32 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:25-33 English Standard Version

There are figures of speech in the Bible! Jesus used examples and parables, and the prophets used images familiar to their readers, to convey spiritual truth. It's good for us to remember this when we seek to understand scripture. Even so, there are parts of the Bible that are not easy to interpret in a way that everyone agrees with. But this does not take away from the fact that most of the Bible is in such plain speech that even a child can understand. And so Jesus told the disciples that He had “come from the Father and had come into the world, and now He was leaving the world and going to the Father.” (vs 28)

This may be why John could say with such certainty in his gospel that ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1&14)

How did the disciples respond to Jesus' words? (vs 29-30)

They realized the truth of what He was saying. That He was from God, and returning to God. But J C Ryle says of those verses that: “the best Christians know but little of their own hearts! 'Now you speak plainly . . . now we believe.' Yet the very men who spoke those words would in a short while be scattered like timid sheep.” They saw and knew only in part. The manner in which Jesus would return to the Father, being raised from the dead and then taken up in the clouds, was not yet grasped by them. It would be part of the Holy Spirit's ministry to guide them into the full realization of who Jesus truly was. What Jesus promised in vs 26-27 would then be their experience.

But this section also teaches something else. Jesus shows what would be His ultimate strength for the ordeal that was before Him when all human comfort had fled. (vs 31-32) It was the knowledge that the Father was there! His experience is what encourages us to sing: “Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide: when other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.”

How precious it is that John kept a record of 'all the things' Jesus told His disciples. (vs 33) For it's in the words of Christ that we find peace in our troubled world. Peace not only in the troubles of the world, but in those trials that come upon us from the world because, like the disciples, we have loved Jesus, and believed that He came from God. And our peace is in the fact that Jesus overcame the world on our behalf. Like David's victory over Goliath, Christ's victory gives us the courage to follow Him, come what may.