98 John 13:33 A LITTLE WHILE LONGER Introduction: In our previous text after Judas left the Passover Supper to betray Jesus, Jesus then informed the other disciples that the time for His glorification had arrived. By this He meant that the time for His crucifixion had arrived. In our text today Jesus clarifies that statement by saying that He would be with them yet a little while longer. I. An expression of the love of Jesus for His disciples V. 33, "Little children..." He addressed His disciples as "little children." Now Jesus did not use this term in a derogatory or rebuking manner. I remember back when I was an instructor in Texas Baptist Institute and Seminary that on a few occasions I called the preachers in my class "little children." They were fully grown men but I called the "little children." I did so because they were acting like little children. It was my way of rebuking them and getting them to settle down and listen. I have heard parents use this same tactic on teenagers. I heard parents tell their teens that they were acting like little children. For a teenager that is quite a put down. This was the parent's way of rebuking them and getting them to settle down and act their age. But in this text Jesus was not rebuking His disciples. He was not in any way putting them down. Rather, what He said was quite complimentary. He was using a term of endearment. This was His way of expressing His love for them. Right at this point of time Jesus was feeling especially close to those disciples who had been so loyal to Him. He was deeply disturbed emotionally because He was facing the most difficult time of His entire life. He would suffer untold agony on the cross. Also He was deeply disturbed because one who we as dear to His heart had just left to betray Him into the hands of enemies who sought to kill Him. This made Jesus love and appreciate those disciples who were loyal to Him all the more. Furthermore Jesus felt deeply for these men because He fully understood how their own lives were about to be shaken up. These men would virtually go into shock before the next evening would come. They would feel as thought their world has caved in on them and He felt deeply for them. He was about to leave people whom He loved dearly. This disturbed Him. Thus, when He addressed them as "little children," it was with a deep feeling of tenderness and love toward them. I think that His love for them must have shown through loud and clear in the tone of His voice and in the expression on His face. II. A warning of His soon departure (V. 33), "...yet a little while I am with you..." That is all He said. "Fellows, I won't be with you much longer --- just a little while. --- just a very little bit longer." That's all He said. But if Jesus had gone into greater detail, He would have said something like this. He would have said, "Fellows, I have already told you that one of you will betray me. He will betray me to the scribes and Pharisees. Within about five or six hours from now I will be arrested. I will be carried into Jerusalem and brought to trial. I will be tried before the Sanhedrin Council. I will be tried before Pilate and Herod. The sentence will be death --- death by crucifixion. My body will be in the grave by dark tomorrow evening. It will lie in the grave for three days and three nights. Then I will come forth from the grave and will be with you for a few more days. But even at that --- even after I have come forth from the grave --- I will still be with you only for a little while longer. Then I will be go away. I will go back to heaven from which I came. Fellows, I love you. I love you as though you were my very own children. I will miss you terribly. I'm looking forward to going back to heaven, but I will miss you. I want you to know that I love you and that I will miss you." As I said, Jesus did not put all this into words, but if He had chosen to give them the details, He would have said something like that. He most certainly loved them and He was expressing that love when He called them "little children." III. An awareness that the disciples would miss Him Jesus knew that the disciples would miss Him. (V. 33), "...Ye shall seek me..." That is, "You are going to miss me. Just as I will miss you, you are going to miss me. You will miss me and long to see me, but you won't see me. You won't see me anymore after I leave. You won't see me any more for the rest of your lives here on earth. Those disciples had come to mistakenly expect that Jesus would set up His throne in Jerusalem during their lifetime. They had expected Him to use His mighty powers to drive the Romans out of the land. They had expected that they would be appointed as officers in His kingdom. They needed to know now before He left that they were mistaken. Jesus had already tried to break the news to them that they were wrong. He had repeatedly told them that He would be killed. He was still trying to get it over to them that He would not be the King of Israel at anything in the near future and they would not become governmental rulers anytime soon. As gently as He could He was still trying to get that message across to them. He would not be with them much longer. IV. A similar warning to the Jewish leaders (V. 33), "...and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you." Jesus had earlier told the Jewish leaders who were seeking to kill Him that He would soon go away and that they would not be able to find Him. He told them that they could not go where He was going. Instead, they would die in their sins. The disciples had been present and had heard Him tell them that. Now He tells His disciples somewhat the same thing. The difference is that He was telling the Jewish leaders that they would never be able to come where He is. But He was telling His disciples only that they would not be able to come soon where He was going. It was only temporary that they could not come. The time would come when all of His disciples would come to Him. They will come to Him and will never parted from Him ever again. They will spend eternity with Him. They will spend eternity with Him in heaven. But Jesus wanted His disciples to get it out of their minds that He would be an earthly king during His earthly ministry and that they would be officers in His kingdom. That will not happen until He comes back to the earth. V. How believers of today fit into this picture Let me point out to you that those of us who today are believers in Jesus are somewhat in the same boat with the disciples of that day. One difference is that they did see Jesus. They saw for three years whereas we have never seen Him at all. We look upon that as a disadvantage. It would have certainly be an advantage if we could see Him, if we could sit at His feet and hear Him teach and preach, if we could ask Him to explain certain things about the Bible to us and if we could see Him perform some of His mighty miracles. I would like that, wouldn't you? On the other hand, we have an advantage over them. You see, they were the ones whose lives were shaken by His arrest and crucifixion. That was a terrible ordeal for those disciples and we got miss it all. But we are in the same boat with them in that He has gone back to heaven and just as they would see Him no more, even so we cannot see Him now. We have never seen Him in all of our days. We do not see Him now. And we never will see Him as long as we live in flesh and blood. He has gone away. But there is sharp contrast in what He told them and what, through the prophetic writings of the New Testament, He has told us. Jesus told those disciples that in a little while they would not see Him. In contrast, through the prophetic writings of the New Testament, Jesus has told us that it will not be long before we will see Him. We will either be asleep in bed or we will be going about our daily activities when we shall hear a loud clear blast from the trumpet of God. Instantly we will go up in the air to meet Jesus somewhere in outer space. The Apostle Paul wrote about this event in I Thessalonians 4:13-17. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Let me repeat those last words. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." When He does come back to get us, we will be with Him forever. We will never be separated from Him. We will be with Him in the millennium. We will be with Him throughout the heaven ages. Yet a little while and we will see Him! That thrills my heart. The thing that saddens my heart is that the vast majority of people will not be with Him in that time of glory. No man will be with Jesus in heaven unless during his lifetime on earth he repents of his sins and trusts in Jesus as Savior. The person who is unsaved will see Jesus, but not under pleasant circumstances. He will stand before Jesus as Jesus sits upon the Great White Throne and Jesus will be on that throne will be his judge. At that time Jesus will sentence him to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and he will never never never see Jesus anymore. How sad, how sad that so many people refuse to trust in Jesus and get saved now while they can, but in that time they would give anything to get saved. Listen! If there is anyone under the sound of my voice this morning who has never yet made his peace with God, then I have good news for you. The good news is this: The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," Acts 16:31. The Bible says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," Rom. 10:13. But the Bible also warns that you should trust Jesus without delay. The Bible says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," II Cor. 6:2. You have no promise of tomorrow. You need to get saved today. Conclusion: Call upon Jesus now and be saved.