John 16:12

MANY THINGS TO BE REVEALED

‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.’

John 16:12

Limited knowledge, even on the most deeply interesting subjects of human thought, is a necessity of our present state. These limitations on our knowledge of Divine things are for our profit—a merciful adaptation to our present needs and circumstances.

I. They show us our need of the illuminating influence of God the Holy Ghost.—The mental vision requires training. Darkness, in measure, will overhang our conceptions of the Divine Being under any conditions; but, for the ends of practical comfort, a good deal of this mystery disappears, according as our minds are ‘filled with the Spirit.’ The blind man at Bethsaida, in the first stage of his recovery, saw ‘men as trees walking.’ But, as the healing effect proceeded, and his eyes became strong enough to bear the light, he saw men no longer as trees, but as men. It will be so with us. In a little while we may be able to understand these things better, but we ‘cannot bear them now.’

II. But our Lord’s words are, no doubt, to he taken in a more absolute sense.—Many things He had to say which they could not bear to hear, because of their own transcendent vastness, their dazzling brilliancy; things which it would confound all mortal faculties to look upon (see Revelation 1:17; 2 Corinthians 12:4). We believe this to be the case with regard to many things which have yet to be told us concerning the mystery of the Divine existence. The only effect of such disclosures, if made to us now, would be to produce that blindness which comes of excess of light. Still, one comforting thought seems to underlie these words of our Lord—that, necessary and beneficial as this limited knowledge of Divine things is now, it will not always be so. ‘I have yet many things to say to you, and I will say them—but not now. What I am, what I purpose, what I do, thou knowest not now,’ the Holy One might say to each of us, but ‘thou shalt know hereafter.’

And, oh, how many are the subjects connected with the practical aspects of our faith; there is—

(a) The work of the Holy and Everlasting Three, in the perfecting of our salvation—our infinite obligations to the loving and pitying Father, Who devised from all eternity the scheme of our redemption. He calls us by His grace; He orders outward providences for our good; He chooses us as vessels of mercy. Are there no explanations to be given of these things? Or is it that we ‘cannot bear them now’?

(b) Again; will not the Blessed Jesus have many things to tell us concerning Himself? Must we not anticipate with joy the time when we shall be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ’s love? This baffles us now. It is a ‘love which passeth knowledge.’ And—

(c) Will He not have many things to tell us of the work of God the Holy Ghost? At present all He has told us—doubtless all He considers we could bear to hear—is ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit’ (John 3:8). And with this knowledge we must be content. We leave all those gracious but untraced dealings of God with our souls, just as we leave the great mystery of the Triune God, among the secret things which belong to the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Enough that our Lord has told us many things—all, in fact, that it is necessary for us to know—the love of the Father, calling us; the Blood of the Son, atoning for us; the grace of the Spirit, sanctifying us; and the way opened for us thereby to a home in heaven, and the fruition of endless life in the Presence of God.

—Prebendary Daniel Moore.

Illustrations

(1) ‘A well-known writer has told us how she was taught by her mother the nature and attributes of God. “I asked my mother one day who God was, and I was told to come again the next day, and at the same hour; and I came and repeated the question, ‘Who is God?’ and she told me to wait another day, and then I should be answered. And then, when my curiosity was raised to the highest pitch, and when my sense of the importance of the subject was immensely enhanced by the repeated postponement of the answer, I came once more, and my mother explained, in words which I shall never, never forget, how great and awful and beautiful a Being God is, and what is told us about His attributes, about His relations to the world. And all this she did in simple words and as a child’s mind could bear it.” Such a lesson as that she was not likely to forget, and it was not forgotten.’

(2) ‘There is a picture of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette on their wedding day, which some of you may have seen, and which suggests this thought. All as yet looks as bright as a great position and the smile of friends and human cares and prospects can make it. The young couple are scarcely more than children; it is the unclouded morning of a summer day. “I have many things to say unto you,” might well have been the motto of those young lives. As yet the long anxiety, the indecision, the struggle, the flight, the enforced return, the trial, the imprisonment, the brutalities of the Temple, the scaffold—all these are bidden. Each stage of trial was bearable when it came; each brought with it lessons of moral and spiritual truth which else might never have been learned. It could not have been borne if prematurely disclosed.’