John 16:4-6

“And these things I did not say to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. And none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?' But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”

Jesus recognises that His disciples are perplexed. In spite of His many warnings (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:12; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:33; Mark 10:45 and parallels) they have still not realised that it is God's purpose that He should die at the Passover. And yet they are conscious that He is talking of death. To them it must have seemed so unreal. They must have been thinking, ‘Why do we not just slip away and avoid the danger as we have done before?'

So He makes it clear that He is giving them these warnings because His time to go has now come. In the future He will no longer be around in the flesh in order to give the guidance needed at the time, as He has in the past. But they must recognise that this is because He is going to the One Who had sent Him, and that His death will not be as a result of failure but will be as a result of the fulfilment of God's purposes.

‘None of you asks, ‘where are you going?' Although they were sorrowful, they were not asking the right questions. Now they know that He is about to die they should have been wanting to know where He is going. They needed a new perspective. They needed to recognise that everything was following God's plan, that His future was under control and that His destiny was certain.

It was true that previously they had asked such questions (John 13:36), but that had been out of curiosity rather than faith, thinking that He meant that He was going on a journey. Now their hearts are dulled and they are instead taken up with sorrow. They have at last realised that He really is going. But they have no thought to ask where, for their minds are still fixed on earthly things. To them the future spoken of by the prophets was to be fulfilled on earth. They looked for an earthly kingdom and battles fought on earth. They had no recognition of heavenly realities. So they did not know what to think, and did not want to find out. They were sheltering in ignorance.

This was the reason why their minds were in the wrong place. It was because they had continually thought of an earthly kingdom and of an earthly Messiah (compare Acts 1:6). They cannot conceive that man's future lies outside this world where heavenly battles were to be fought. It would only be later that they would realise that the promises to Abraham of ‘a better country' would be fulfilled in Heaven (see Hebrews 11:10). Now He is calling them to look upwards and beyond earthly things to heavenly realities. It is in the heavenlies that the battle must be won.