THE WAYS OF THE KINGDOM

"So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy."
St.John 16:22

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THE BIBLE speaks many times of joy that is a great blessing of being a Christian, but what is the real nature of that joy, and in what does it consist. I expect that often our view of joy is rather vague, and we equate it in our minds and experience with how we feel, and so we may well be disappointed that the joy promised seems to be so illusive. It is while meditating on the section of John's Gospel from which our text is taken that I came to a much clearer understanding of Christian joy, as I was given a more sure and clearer understanding of the meaning of the words of Jesus in the passage. This I would share with you in this sermon.

I wonder how many of you who read this sermon have come to this passage in John's Gospel from verse 17 onwards, and wondered whatever the passage is all about. It is plain that the disciples were very perplexed when Jesus talked saying "In a little while you will see me no more, and then a little while you will see me". They were expressing their perplexity in whispering together, out of the hearing of Jesus, and asking each other whatever Jesus meant in these words. From verses 17 to 18 it is plain that they were very frustrated indeed.

Jesus, with his divine omniscience, his ability to know exactly what the disciples were thinking and worrying about, sought to explain the meaning more clearly. In passing, here let us be comforted and encouraged that Jesus is not unaware of the times of perplexity and anxiety or depression we may be experiencing, and is not untouched by our plight. Let our faith be strengthened as we see the readiness and willingness of Jesus to come and relieve his disciples suffering. By this we know that in our troubles and perplexities Jesus knows and understands, and is acting in love on our behalf.

When Jesus had finished his explanation, the disciples said in verse 29 and 30, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." But did they really understand? I don't think so, because their answer plainly indicates that what had impressed them was not so much the explanation, but the fact that Jesus had read their thoughts and knew what they had been thinking. They increase in their understanding about his person, and were nearer believing the truth of his deity. On the other hand they show no real understanding of what Jesus meant by speaking about going away and returning.

Again it is very reassuring to see how Jesus patiently loved and dealt with his disciples, even though they were so slow to learn and understand. When we read of Jesus in the Gospels that a smoking flax he will not quench, it is revealing the same gracious attitude of the Saviour, that he bears with all our weakness and failures with such patient love and understanding.

But what is Jesus talking about here. Plainly he is talking figuratively, as he indicates in verse 25. We can see this is reasonable because he is talking about things in the future which had not yet happened, so he could not really be more explicit to his disciples when he was speaking before the events he was referring to had happened. But what about us who read them after the events, are they any more clear to us?

I have most of my life and ministry felt that I did not understand what Jesus was really referring to. Commentaries again are not a great help, as they express the same perplexity. Each will give what they think Jesus means, but there is no real conviction conveyed in their words. Even Bishop Ryle, who lived about 100 years ago, in his Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, leaves one with uncertainty. He gives the various options, and says which one he chooses, but again, at least for myself, he left me without any real conviction that he was right.

Indeed every time that I have come to this passage, I have had the same mental struggle again, but just recently there was given to me, and I believe it is from the Holy Spirit, what I believe to be just what Jesus was talking about here. It came to me as I was studying again John chapters 14 to 17, and it was by seeing these chapters as one long discourse of teaching, and seeing the purpose of this teaching, that brought me to the meaning I would share with you, which I believe is what Jesus was explaining.

There is no difficulty, after reasonable thought, to understand the various options which could be the meaning of Jesus talking about 'going away', and 'returning'. He could be referring to his disciples not seeing him because of death at his crucifixion and their seeing him again when he rose again. This can not be the meaning on its own, because it does not include any reference to going to the Father. Then it could refer to the Ascension and the disciples seeing him again at His coming in the person of the Holy Spirit. The third option is that he was talking about his going away at his ascension and his disciples seeing him again when he returned at the end of the world in power and great glory.

Both these last two options are possible, and of course Jesus' death and resurrection must be part of these, but which is Jesus really talking about. Both returns of Jesus bring joy. Both fulfil what Jesus was saying about his going as returning to the Father. The option of Jesus referring to his return at the end of the world finds the most support in commentaries, because it seems to fulfil most of all the idea of Joy coming to his people. However, I believe that Jesus was telling his disciples that they would see him no more when he ascended into heaven, but that they would see him again when he came in the person of the Holy Spirit. Let me explain why I am convinced of this interpretation.

The biggest reason is the purpose of Jesus in this whole discourse from chapter 14 to 17. The purpose is plain and it is to prepare the disciples for the time when he would return bodily into heaven, after completing his great work of atonement, and to tell them how they would be able to live and cope, and the blessings he had prepared for his church throughout the time between his ascension and his second coming. It would be quite illogical for Jesus to suddenly leave this aim to speak about heaven, however wonderful that future time will be. What the disciples needed, is to know the resources that were there when they were without the bodily presence of Jesus amongst them, and how the church down the ages would cope.

When we are convinced of this purpose which Jesus had in these chapters we see how everything is one whole. Jesus has been speaking of the promise that he would not leave his disciples comfortless. He would keep this promise by sending them the Holy Spirit, who would be with them and dwell in them, and bring them into fellowship with himself and the Father. He explains this in John 14:18 in the words "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you". Plainly Jesus is telling us that his presence is with us by the operation and presence of the Holy Spirit. It is true that we do not see Jesus with our physical eyes, but we do in a very real way see him spiritually, and experience his gracious loving presence near us, and his guidance and protection. Jesus continually speaks of showing himself to them throughout these chapters (Eg 14:21,28)

Further Jesus has been speaking about prayer in connection with the time after his departure in 14:13,23, so why does he now, in the passage from which our text is taken, speak about prayer as if it is happening in heaven. In any case do we perceive prayer in these terms as happening in heaven? Will not our communion with Jesus in heaven be something much more direct? Further as we read chapters 14 to 17 we see Jesus is speaking all the time of what the disciples would experience after Jesus had gone back into heaven, so to change the emphasis now and talk about what will happen in heaven seems illogical. Then Jesus has used the expression "in that day" before e.g. 14:23. He is evidently referring here to the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit, so it is natural that he is using the words in the same way in our context.

With all this in mind I am convinced that when Jesus is speaking in the passage before us about the disciples seeing him no more, he is referring to his return to the Father after he had gloriously completed the will of the Father in making complete satisfaction for our sins; and that he is speaking of his spiritual return at Pentecost when he says his disciples will see him again, and then his disciples would see him spiritually through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out at that time.

If we are to understand what Jesus was referring to when he speaks of our rejoicing and receiving joy at the coming of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand the essential meaning of Pentecost. So often Christians see the coming of the Holy Spirit as the endowment of power. This is often seen, in the rather sensual and perhaps selfish way, as the giving of power to live in a spectacular way and do spectacular things; or at the best, of being given power to be witnesses, which the coming of the Holy Spirit was indeed meant to do.

However the essential meaning of the coming of the Holy Spirit has to do with the dispensing of the Salvation Christ has won in his perfect work on earth. In the division of operation in the Trinity, the Father planned salvation, the Son executed salvation and made it available, and the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts and lives of God's elect. The return of Jesus to the Father at his ascension was his return in triumph to heaven with the evidence of the completion and perfection of his atoning for the sins of the world. The Father accepting Jesus back into glory was the affirmation of the Saviour's completion of his task on earth to make atonement. The return of Jesus in his human bodily form was the Father accepting redeemed humanity back into fellowship with himself. Jesus ascending the throne in heaven, and sitting to reign at the right hand of the Father is the authority given to Jesus to dispense his glorious redemption to lost sinners. Thus the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost was our Saviour doing just this, and pouring out effectively upon sinners in this world the eternal salvation that he had won for them.

This is the essential meaning of Pentecost, and this we must understand and believe if we are to understand our text and the joy in it which Jesus speaks of here.

If the Joy Jesus is speaking about in our text is the state of our feelings as we live, then it is all a lie and a mirage. It is true that sometimes we are uplifted as Christians with a great sense of well-being as we experience the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. We can have great joy as we worship in the Lord's House and sing his praises. We can be uplifted with great joy when some sermon is effectively applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, or in the same way, as we meditate on the Bible, the same experience is ours. Also there are times of a sense of great well being as we 'walk in green pastures and rest beside still waters'.

But having said all this there are times of doubt, of depression, of trouble, of sorrow, and of downright misery when we are totally devoid of any sense of well being as I have described above. Also much of our lives are spent in humdrum boredom and the weariness of the drabness of life. For Christians to deny this in an attempt to pretend joyfulness is just a lie, and not very helpful. We must be real if nothing else, and not to be real just brings disillusionment to ourselves and to others.

When Jesus said to his disciples here in our text that their grief would be taken away and replaced with joy when, through the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would see Jesus again, he was referring to the great objective eternal joy that was bestowed upon them at Pentecost, never to be taken away. The joy that through what Christ had done for them on the Cross, they now were eternally forgiven all their sins and possessed eternal life, and heaven was their home.

This is the same Joy that every Christian is given as we see Jesus when we are saved by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

This is a joy that no one can take from us. Why? because it is founded, not on anything we do or have to do, but on the perfect doing of the Saviour, which has eternal effect. This Joy is unsurpassed in value. It is the joy that there can never be any time again when God will reject us, condemn us or punish us for our sins. It is the joy that we have eternal life which can never be lost. It is the joy that we are God's children and he is our Father forever. It is the joy that God loves us with an eternal love, and that nothing that we are or may do can separate us from his love. It is the joy that heaven is our real home now, and that the trials and tribulations of this life will have an end in that eternal glory. It is a joy of knowing that God has pledged his word in Christ to form in us his own true image for heaven, and that the corruption resting in our fallen nature, which is the cause of all our pain in this world, will eventually be taken from us. In a word it is the joy of knowing that we are saved.

It is a complete joy because the work of Jesus that saves us is a complete work. It is a complete joy because it can never be lost. It is a complete joy, because no-one, not even Satan, can take it away from us, because it is founded on the perfect work of Jesus for us. It is a complete joy because this salvation was bestowed upon us for one reason, and one reason only, and that was the good pleasure of God in love to bestow it upon us, without regard for our sins and demerit.

The asking in this promise of prayer, in the context of our text, is all about the assurance that asking for this salvation through the merits of Jesus, that is in his name, we will most surely receive it. The promise is that we will receive the fulness of this salvation, that we may have a complete joy.

This is an objective joy. We can enter into the fulness of it more in an experimental way, as we are brought to understand more fully and perfectly all the implications of Salvation, and the wonder and perfection of all Christ has done in saving us. But in spite of this the joy is full and complete the moment we believe, and is permanent.

It is a joy which we can hold on to when we are really down and defeated. It is a joy we can rest in even at those times when our personal experience has caused us perhaps to doubt God's love, or complain bitterly and sinfully at God's dealings with us. We have not lost this joy at these times of failure, because the joy is based on what Jesus has done for us, which is perfect; and on the fact that God, by his Spirit, bestowed this joy on us, not because we had any good in us, or any merit to deserve it, but simply because of his sovereign good pleasure.

Christian get hold of the understanding of this joy. It is real and strong and eternal. It is objectively and really there whatever you may be feeling. Make it your business to understand the nature and depth of your Salvation in Christ, that you may have the confidence of this joy more completely.

Remember also that, at those times when you have lost every sense of the feeling of joy in your experience, this joy is still yours, whatever you are feeling, for Christ has purchased you with the infinite cost of his precious blood which he shed for you, and so you are infinitely precious in his eyes. He will never let you go, or surrender his loving ownership of you. You are his and he is yours, forever and forever.