Review John's Gospel So Far / Preview John 17

During the course of our journey through John’ gospel, we have also taken a journey through the tabernacle, and we have seen how all of its imagery is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the Lamb of God, offered upon the brazen altar at the entrance to the courtyard. He is the laver (ceremonial wash-basin) by which the priests were cleansed, and in Him is the water of everlasting life. He is the table of the bread of the presence, nourishing those who eat of Him with the true life of fellowship with God. He is the golden lamp stand, or candlestick, the tabernacle’s only source of light. And now, just before He offers Himself up for our sins, we see that He is likewise the fulfillment of the symbolism in the altar of incense.

This altar of incense, which stood immediately before the holy veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, unlike the altar in the courtyard, was overlaid with solid gold (Exodus 30:1-6). And, unlike the altar in the courtyard, it was not for the blood of burnt offerings, but for the burning of fragrant incense, which rose up as a sweet smell to God – with one important exception. Leviticus 4:1-12 tells us that, when the anointed priest of Israel sinned, he was to take some blood from the bull which he had offered on the brazen altar for his sin, and to place it on the altar of incense. So what does all this mean? Well, at least in the case of the anointed priest, the sweet smell of incense signified the pleasant and peaceful effects of the bloody sacrifice that had been offered. The brazen altar was a place of death and blood, and could not help but look and smell somewhat gruesome; but the effects were altogether lovely, for they included forgiveness and reconciliation to God. This sweet result of a bitter sacrifice was the symbolic intent of the altar of incense. But more than just that, the altar of incense also signified the prayers of the saints, rising up to God as pleas for forgiveness, grace, and deliverance from their enemies. Because the blood sacrifices had been efficacious, God was pleased with these prayers of faith, and willing to answer them. Revelation 8:1-5 contains a beautiful example of this symbolism.

Now, let us think of Christ, in relation to the symbolism of the altar of incense: just as the anointed priest, He had a sacrifice to offer – but His sacrifice was His own body! And just as the priest, He went before God on the basis of that sacrifice, and offered up His prayer for the people’s forgiveness. The priest put the blood of the sacrifice on the altar of incense, and said, as it were, “Now, because of this blood, forget the sin which I have brought upon this people, and hear my prayer for their reconciliation.” In the same way Jesus took His own blood and offered it up to God, saying, “Now, because of this blood, let Your people be reconciled to You!”

But how much greater is Jesus than the old High Priest, for He did not have to offer the same ineffectual offerings for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people; no, He offered up Himself, as the sinless sacrifice, to atone for His people forever (Hebrews 9:23-10:14). And, just as His atonement was effective, He likewise connected it with His effective intercession, so that we who have fled to Jesus for refuge might be doubly sure of our forgiveness and favor with God (Hebrews 5:5-10). He is the Lamb of God, who offered Himself up on the brazen altar as the effectual, atoning sacrifice for our sins; but He is also the priest who brings the blood of that sacrifice before God, as an effective, intercessory plea for the people. At the brazen altar, we see Jesus, our sacrifice; at the altar of incense, we see Jesus, our High Priest; and in the conjunction of His two, diverse ministries at these places, we have an immovable hope: we cannot fear God’s just wrath any longer, for the blood of Christ satisfies the strictest demands of justice; and we cannot fear that God will forget about the law-satisfying blood of Christ when He looks upon us, for Jesus continually offers it up to Him as the sweet smell of His accomplished reconciliation. We have rejoiced with John the Baptist in Jesus our sacrificial Lamb; now, let us rejoice before the throne of God in Jesus our intercessory High Priest!

And so we come to chapter 17, in which we have an amazing and precious glimpse of Jesus, standing in the tabernacle, and offering up the blood of His own self-sacrifice as a plea to God for His people’s forgiveness. This passage has long been called, most appropriately, “Jesus’ high-priestly prayer”; for in it He offers up His pleas to the Father in our behalf, as our own High Priest, the one who mediates, intercedes, and brings us to God. What could possibly be more comforting, more exhilarating, more practical for our everyday lives than to hear Jesus, who is One with the Father, and who is always heard and answered by Him (John 11:41-42), plead specifically for us with such strong devotion, asking for spiritual blessings beyond our wildest dreams? In this chapter, we can do that very thing: we can come into the holy place of the tabernacle and hear our great High Priest as He brings His blood before the Father, and intercedes for us on that basis. Let us be thankful for Jesus our High Priest as well as for Jesus our spotless Lamb!

John 16:25-33

²⁵"Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about My Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." ²⁹Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now You are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰Now we can see that You know all things and that You do not even need to have anyone ask You questions. This makes us believe that You came from God." ³¹"You believe at last!" Jesus answered. ³²"But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me. ³³I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Jesus finally brings everything to a conclusion, speaking about the security that is ours because we have come to know God as our Father. While He was on earth, Jesus spoke in parables, and few understood Him. But now, He was speaking plainly. God permits us to be stupefied for a time, in order to humble us by a conviction of our own weakness, lack of understanding, and poverty; but He causes those whom He enlightens by His Spirit to make such progress, that the word of God becomes known and familiar to them. This is the beginning of that progression for the disciples, who were now bold enough only to ask Jesus about the Father. Soon they would be bold to approach the Father Himself in Jesus’ name. The disciples were far above those who had no relish for the word of the Gospel, and yet they were still like children learning the alphabet, in comparison of the new wisdom to be bestowed on them by the Holy Spirit. Their joy would grow.

Soon, the disciples would be filled with the Spirit, even as Jesus had promised – but before then (He tells them so that they do not fall into lasting unbelief when it happens), they will all abandon Jesus. But still, they will not be utterly lost, for Jesus has wrought an unstoppable victory. He has overcome the world. Jesus’ question is ironic, as if He had said, “Don’t boast of being full of faith, for the trial that will scatter you from Me is at hand.” We ought to restrain our foolish confidence (Galatians 6:3). Furthermore, notice that the scattering of these disciples does not leave Jesus alone. His Father is with Him. And if we find ourselves alone in the world – like Elijah supposed – then we need only remember the presence of God to realize that we’ve never been alone; we never will be. Finally, in v33, we see that Jesus has revealed these things to His disciples to encourage them to persevere. They can and will fight to the end, knowing that victory is won in Jesus.

The farewell discourse of Jesus is deep beyond measure. To understand more of this discourse, just look to 1 John. The Trinity glorified and the covenant of redemption revealed should comfort us, knowing the truth of Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Our roots (genuine faith in Christ and the gospel) grow deeper by studying God’s word, simply because we have the Spirit of God. God lives in us, despite our sin!

John 16:17-24

¹⁷Some of His disciples said to one another, "What does He mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" ¹⁸They kept asking, "What does He mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what He is saying." ¹⁹Jesus saw that they wanted to ask Him about this, so He said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me'? ²⁰I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²²So 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. ²³In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

Jesus’ disciples immediately illustrate what He has just said about the necessity of the Spirit’s ministry: for once again, they fail to understand His teachings (v17-18) – it is only after His resurrection that they will understand, and that painful experience of His crucifixion will result in the abundant joy found in His resurrection. So Jesus explains His words further, using the illustration of a woman going through great pain to deliver a baby. Resurrection changes everything, because death no longer has any power. 1 Corinthians 15:55

When He died on the cross, in just a few hours, they would be filled with grief. But when they see Him again, after He has been raised from the dead, they will be filled with a joy that no one can take away. Then, they will receive the Spirit and will understand what Jesus has taught them. Then, they will not still be wondering about when Jesus will show them the Father, but they will understand that, in Jesus’ name, they may go directly to Him in prayer, certain that He will hear them – for He is their Father too! Truly, the world and all the powers of darkness rejoiced when they saw Jesus hanging on the cross; but three days later they fled in terror, struck with a deathblow from which they would never recover (Colossians 2:13-15). The disciples sorrowed when they saw Jesus on the cross; but three days later, or at least when believed He was raised, they were filled with a joy that made them forget their sorrow – just as a woman who has just given birth forgets her pain and rejoices in her new child.

V23-24, which Jesus will effectively repeat in v26-27, indicate that the believers can go directly to the Father with prayers and supplications – in Jesus’ name. The disciples were bold enough only to ask Jesus about the Father; but soon they would be bold to approach the Father Himself in Jesus’ name. Jesus remains our Mediator, but His mediation is completed. Still, He sits at the right hand of the Father ever and always interceding for us.

John 16:5-16

⁵"Now I am going to Him who sent Me, yet none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. ⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in Me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ¹²I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you. ¹⁶In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me."

First, in v5, notice the curious remark of Jesus. He has told them that He is going away, yet none of them asked where He was going. As v6 reveals, they were too grief-stricken to concern themselves with His destination. How would you react if your wife said, “I’m leaving.” Or maybe a better example would be this. How would your children react if you said, “I’m leaving, and you can’t come.” The first thought is not, “Where are you going?” but “Why?” The same thing is happening for these disciples, but Jesus doesn’t get to that concern. Rather, He says that it is a good thing that He is leaving.

The disciples are in despair that Jesus is leaving; they are worried about how they will find the way to see Him again (remember Thomas’ question); but the one question they are not sufficiently concerned with is where Jesus is going. But the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world: Jesus is going to the Father, to sit at His right hand in victory – and it is only when He sits in victory that the Spirit will come. There’s a bit of a mystery involved with why the Holy Spirit can’t indwell people who are in the physical presence of Jesus, but we trust that to be true. Jesus must go to send the Spirit, and beginning in v8, He speaks about one of the Holy Spirit’s roles: to convict the world of guilt, or as it would be better rendered, to expose the guilt of the world. When / how were you convicted?

The Spirit of God will play a very central role in this last and greatest of all redemptive eras before the final state of glorification on the new earth. The Spirit will go throughout the world, bringing to light men’s sin, showing them of the coming judgment, foreshadowed when the ruler of the world, Satan, was condemned by Christ’s work on the cross, and revealing to them the nature of true righteousness, which Jesus alone was demonstrating when He was on the earth. When Jesus was in His physical body, only a few thousand people could hear Him at once, and see the display of perfect righteousness. But when He sent His Spirit, He was able to speak to the individual hearts of countless men and women about all these things that he had spoken of on earth and demonstrated on the cross. And the disciples would be the mouthpieces of the Spirit’s work in the world. See Acts for the beginnings of this.

Jesus explains here how the Holy Spirit drives people to Christ and makes Him known to the elect more fully than He could even be known in the flesh – for by the Spirit, He lives in you! The disciples would be better off for Jesus to discontinue His explanation of these spiritual things, because they had had their fill – they were unable to understand any more of the mighty and powerful words of Jesus. But the Spirit, when He came, would enable them to understand. He would speak the very words of Jesus, just as Jesus speaks the very words of the Father – but He would also open the hearts of the disciples to understand these words. Jesus’ teaching ministry to His disciples was certainly a wonderful and necessary thing. But as great as it was, the teaching ministry of the Spirit, according to the divine plan, would be even better and more effective in unveiling blinded hearts to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4-6)!

The great fear of the disciples is that if Jesus goes away, they will know Him less; but Jesus is saying that the opposite is true. He’s talking about the Scriptures. He’s talking about the way the Holy Spirit will take these disciples and through them bring to the Church the gospels and the Epistles that we have been studying ever since we first came to Jesus Christ by faith, and as a consequence, have grown to know Him more and more. As a result of His going away, He would actually be nearer to them. Wouldn’t you have liked to hear Jesus speak this discourse? Jesus is saying to the disciples that there’s a better place to be than in the upper room. It’s right here with this Book open before you, and its pages being opened up and expounded. Jesus is saying that we should prefer to have the Scriptures than to have Him present in our midst.