124 John. 16:16-22 JUST A LITTLE WHILE TO WAIT Introduction: Jesus and His disciples were still on the road from Jerusalem going toward the Garden of Gethsemene where He would be arrested. They were almost there. They were almost at Gethsemene. There would be but a little while before Judas would come leading a large crowd for the arrest of Jesus. The expression "a little while" is going to play an important part in this text and therefore I have entitled the message "Just A Little While." I. Just a little while until the disciples would not be able to see Jesus V. 16, "A little while, and ye shall not see me..." Jesus was speaking about His burial. He would soon be arrested and carried into Jerusalem for trial. In His trial before the Sanhedrin Council He would be charged of religious crimes and pronounced worthy of death. He would be pronounced worthy of death even though no evidence would be presented that He had done anything wrong. There could be no real evidence of wrong doing on His part because He had never done anything wrong in His whole life. He was totally without sin. Because the Romans would not allow the Jews to place a death sentence upon a prisoner, the Jews would carry Him to the Roman governor where He would be charged with a civil crime. He would be found innocent of the charges, but would still He be sentenced to death by crucifixion in order to please the Jews. Jesus would be taken outside the city of Jerusalem and crucified. For three hours He would suffer on the cross. Then He would bow His head in death. His body would be taken down from the cross and placed in Joseph's tomb. Once His body was in the tomb it would be hidden from view. So it was just a little while until they would see Him no more. II. Just a little while until they would see Jesus again But Jesus would again use that expression "a little while." (V. 16), "...and again, a little while, and ye shall see me..." After the crucifixion and burial of Jesus it would also be a little while before His resurrection. He had earlier informed them that three days would pass before His resurrection. He had told the Jewish leaders that He would be three days and three nights in the grave. But the point is that the disciples would see Him after He arose from the grave. It would seem to be an exceedingly long three days, but it would actually be just a little while. It would only be three days --- plus the three nights. (V. 16), "...because I go to the Father." After His resurrection from the grave He would appear to His disciples. In fact He would make several appearances to them within a short space of time. Then He would go to His Father. With His disciples watching on He would go to His Father. He would arise up in the air and go away to heaven. He would not return unto the Father until His mission hereon earth would be accomplished, but once it was accomplished, He would return to God the Father who had sent Him. To us this seems very clear. A little while would pass before He would be crucified and be buried. After He was buried they would be unable to see Him. After a little while longer they would see Him again. He would be raised from the dead and they would see Him. The unsaved world would not see Him, but His disciples would. Then after a little while longer He would go away and return to God the Father in heaven. III. The disciples failure to understand As I said, it seems perfectly clear to us what Jesus meant by what He said. We have the benefit of hindsight. But the disciples to whom He spoke did not have the benefit of hindsight and it was all confusing to them. They were not certain just what He meant. V. 17-18, "Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith." They knew the words. They just did not know what He meant. Jesus trying to explain to them, but they did not understand what He meant. V. 19, "Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?" Jesus did not let the matter drop. He pursued the task of trying to explain. In fact, He took advantage of their curiosity about what He had said and proceeded to in greater detail. IV. The further explanation which Jesus gave V. 20, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament..." After His crucifixion, the disciples would be devastated. They would be in a state of shock. They would be at the end of their rope. They would be at the bottom of the well. They would be at the point of despair. They would all be so deeply disturbed and so deeply grieved that they would all be weeping. Not only would the women be weeping, but the men would weep also. They would weep uncontrollably. They would grieve first of all because of their love for Jesus. They had walked with Him for three and a half years and they loved Him. They loved Him deeply. They could not have been more deeply grieved if it had been a member of their own family. They were grieved also because all of their hopes were gone. They once had great hopes not only for themselves but for their families, and for the entire nation of Israel. They had believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They had believed that as the Christ of God, He would establish Himself on the throne of David and drive the Gentile powers out of Israel. They had hoped that He would free Israel from Gentile rule once and for all. Furthermore, they had hoped that they, as His followers, would have high positions in His kingdom. But when they saw Jesus nailed to the cross all their hopes went down the drain. When they saw that He was dead their hopes were all gone. When they saw His body buried, they were in total despair. Even any hope of the salvation of the soul through Him was gone. They were mistaken, of course, but never-the-less, their hopes were gone --- completely --- totally gone! (20), "...but the world shall rejoice..." On the other hand the unsaved world would be rejoicing. At the same time that the disciples would be weeping and lamenting, the unsaved would be rejoicing. The chief priest would especially be rejoicing. He was the man who had taken the lead in getting Jesus crucified. He was feeling proud of himself. He was feeling the joy of victory. The members of the Jewish Sanhedrin Court would be rejoicing. They, too, felt victorious. They had battled Jesus for three and a half years. Just a short while earlier they were the ones who had felt defeated. Back when Jesus rode into Jerusalem with several thousand people shouting to the tops of their voices proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the members of the Sanhedrin had felt "The whole world is turning to Him." Now they had snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat. They had succeeded in bringing about His crucifixion. They must have been overjoyed. They were on top of the world. Even the great masses of common people in the crowds who would soon stand before Pilate's court and shout "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" would feel victorious after He was crucified. Many of them had changed their feels about wanting Jesus as the king of Israel and instead they wanted Him to be crucified. They had helped to persuade Pilate to crucify Jesus. They must felt elated because it appeared that they were on the winning side. Satan, himself, must have rejoiced at this time. At the same time that the high priest and the Sanhedrin Council and the masses of common people were whooping it up rejoicing at the death of Jesus. There was an even larger number of unseen demon spirits, unseen by human eye, who along with Satan himself, were whooping it up in Jerusalem that day. Yet the time would come when the deep sorrow of the disciples would turn to joy. (20), "...and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." After three days and three nights of extreme grief, they would all experience extreme joy. Just as their spirits soon be in deep depression, they would later be on top of the world. They would see Jesus alive. They would hear Him speak. They would be able to touch Him with their hands and know for certain that they were not dreaming. They would be thrilled beyond measure! Jesus does not mention it right at this point, but I want to point out to you that the time will come when all those who rejoiced at the death of Jesus will themselves be weeping and lamenting. In fact, I think it is safe to say that most of them have spent the last 2,000 years weeping and lamenting the fact that they did not put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior while they had a chance. V. The illustration which Jesus used Then Jesus used an example from everyday life to illustrate to His disciples the sharp change from sorrow to joy which they would experience. V. 21-22, "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice..." Just as a woman who has given birth to a child soon forgets about the great pain and travail that experiences during labor, even so the disciples would soon have their sorrows vanish away when they would see the resurrected Christ. (V. 22), "...and your joy no man taketh from you." Not even the persecution which the disciples of Jesus would soon face could take away the joy that would be in their hearts just knowing that Jesus had risen from the grave. They, too, would be better prepared to face death at the hands of their persecutors, because they had witnessed what could do for them. Just has Jesus had, Himself, risen from the grave, even so some day He would raise them from the grave. They would gladly risk their lives for Jesus knowing that Jesus would some day raise them safely from the grave. They would soon set themselves to the task of preaching to the whole world that Jesus is the Christ of God, that He is the Savior of all who put their trust in Him as Savior. They would tell the world that Jesus is the only hope of heaven that any man on earth has. If those disciples could be here this morning in this service and tell you about Jesus, you would see and hear some of the happiest most excited men you have ever seen and heard. They would seek to persuade you to place your faith and your trust in Jesus for salvation. They would also seek to persuade you to work for Jesus in every way that you can for just as long as you live. VII. A little while until we will see Him Let me turn your thought in another direction for a few moments. I have talked to you about the little while that the disciples would have with Jesus before He would be crucified. I have talked with you about the little while that they would have to wait after His crucifixion before they would see Jesus again. Now for a few minutes I want to talk to you about the little while before we ourselves will see Jesus. We have heard about Jesus all our lives, but we have never seen Jesus with our natural eyes. But in just a little while and we will see Him. Some of us will see Him sooner than others. In a little while our bodies will lay down in death and our spirits will leave our bodies and go out into the other world. Those of us who are saved will go immediately into the Paradise of God where we will see Jesus. Jesus told the thief on the cross who got saved, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." So it will be with all who put their faith in Jesus for the salvation of their souls. The problem is that for some people when they die they will not go into the Paradise of God. They may see Jesus, but for them it will be like the rich man who could look up into Paradise and see Abraham afar off. If they see Jesus it wall be afar off. They will not be in any kind of Paradise. Rather they will be tormented in flames. Let me also point out to you that it will not be long until Jesus will return to this world. In just a little while the sign of the coming of the Lord will appear in the sky and Jesus will be seen in the air coming toward the earth. The Bible says that every eye shall see Him. Halleluah! Jesus is coming soon! Conclusion: What I want to do this morning is to tell you is the same message which I am persuaded those disciples of the Lord would tell you if they could be here in this service. I want to tell you the same thing which I am persuaded the unsaved who have already gone on would tell you if they could be here in this service. I want to tell you to stop wasting time and to get right with God. Get right with God right here in this service today. I want to tell you to admit to God that you are an unworthy sinner and you call upon Him for mercy on your soul. Call on Jesus Christ and ask Jesus to save your soul. You ask Him to save you right here right now in this service today. Then I want to call upon everyone who is saved to get enthusiastic about serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Get just as enthusiastic as those disciples did long years ago after they saw Jesus risen from the grave. I believe there is somebody here this morning who ought to come. If you are that somebody, then come.