John 16 - Introduction

- Preparation for the Future (John 16).

The thoughts from Chapter s 14-15 continue into chapter 16. But here it is Jesus Himself Who will send the Helper (the Holy Spirit) to them (John 16:7), whilst the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, will Himself glorify not God but Jesus (John 16:13), for He will receive of what is Jesus' and will show it to them. So Heaven's concentration is on Jesus, Who will Himself have sent the Holy Spirit. And this is because ‘all things that the Father has are Mine, that is why I said He will take of Mine and show it to you'.

That ‘all things that the Father has' belong also to Jesus, and can indeed be seen by Him as ‘Mine', is a further indication that He is God, for Who else could possess all that belonged to the Father and call it His own? And to speak of the Spirit as being sent to glorify Him in men's eyes without mention of God would have been blasphemy if He were not God.

Having then explained something of what the future holds for His disciples, Jesus confirms that, ‘whatever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it to you' (John 16:23; compare John 15:16). It is His Name which will be effective because they will be asking in order to further the Father's purposes in Jesus. And He assures them that while what He has been saying to them has been to some extent figurative (they must have been showing that they were in some confusion), He will make it all plain to them in the future. For He will show them plainly from the Father (John 16:25).

Then as His discourse approaches its close He assures them, ‘I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Again I leave the world, and go to My Father' (John 16:28). Here, if words mean anything, we have a further clear statement of His pre-existence (compare John 3:13; John 8:56; John 17:5), and an indication that when He was ‘sent' it meant literally from another place, not just that He was spiritually sent like the prophets were. The idea is that the Word, Who had existed in the beginning with God, and was God (John 1:1), had been made flesh (John 1:14), was now returning to His former glory (John 17:5).

In this chapter Jesus also continues and sums up the thoughts of the coming persecution of the disciples described in John 15:20 and stresses that this will be combated by the work of the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, Who will ensure that, in spite of all, the truth will triumph in the world, the truth about Himself which will be established inerrantly through them.

Jesus then closes the discourse by confirming that He is shortly leaving them, something which will cause them to experience great sorrow, but stresses that in the end that sorrow will be turned into joy. And He confirms His promise of full provision for all their needs in their God-proposed task, and closes with a warning and a promise.