NEW REALITIES IN CHRIST – John 16:25-33
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 12, 2014 under PM Bible Study |
PM Home Bible Study Group; February 12, 2014
John 16:25-33
Theme: New realities have now been brought about for us because of what Jesus has done.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We have been studying together from the most wonderful ‘dinner-time conversation’ to ever have occurred on planet earth. In it, Jesus—the Son of God in human flesh—met with His disciples immediately before going to the cross; and explained to them the things that He was about to do for those who would follow Him.
As we have found throughout our study of this conversation, Jesus promised that there would be many new things that would be brought about because of His faithful obedience to the Father in going to the cross. We have learned, for example that there would be a new hope of an eternal home that He is preparing for His followers (John 14:1-3). We have also learned that they would go on to do greater works on this earth in His name than He Himself did, because He goes to the Father (vv. 12-14). We learned that they would enjoy a new relationship with the Holy Spirit; who formerly was with Jesus’ followers, but would then be the enabling power that dwells in them (vv. 15-18). They would enjoy a new prospect of eternal life; because, as Jesus lives, they would live also (v. 19). They would experience a new love relationship with the Father and a new experience of manifestation of Christ Himself to them and in them (vv. 21-22). They would enjoy a new intimacy with the Father and the Son, who both—along with the Spirit—make their abode in us (v. 23). And they would enjoy a new relationship with Jesus—no longer as servants but as friends (15:15). Everything would be radically and wonderfully different for Jesus’ followers because He died for them, ascended for them, and is now at the right hand of the Father interceding for them. These are new, glorious realities of the new kingdom order! We live in them; and we ought to learn them, take them to heart, and let them transform the way we now live!
Tonight, we encounter some more of these new realities that are true for us in Christ. As we study Jesus’ final words to His disciples in this discourse—just before He begins His wonderful prayer for them in John 17, we discover that there is now . . .
I. A NEW CLARITY WITH RESPECT TO DIVINE TRUTH (v. 25).
A. As Jesus spoke to His disciples, He told them, "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language . . ." (v. 25a). The word that Jesus used—paroimia—means "a figure of speech" or "a proverb". In fact, it’s translated "proverb" in 2 Peter 2:22 (although it is a different word than the ordinary word for ‘proverb’). It’s a word that sometimes refers to something that is deliberately obscure and hard to grasp; as, for example, when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in John 10:1-5 and described the way His followers would be like sheep who would not hear the voice of a stranger. We’re told, "Jesus used this illustration [i.e., paroimia], but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them" (John 10:6). And that, no doubt, is exactly how the disciples sometimes felt about the things that He said. They seemed like ‘veiled sayings’ to them. And to some degree, they perhaps were veiled. Jesus told them earlier, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). They were not yet in the ‘new order’ that He was about to bring about; and so, they were not yet equipped to grasp the truths of that new reality.
B. But all of that was about to change for them. He said, "but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language [i.e., paroimia], but I will tell you plainly about the Father" (v. 25b). The word He used for "plainly" is parrēsia—that is with "openness" and "frankness". No longer would He speak in paroimia, but now in parrēsia! Things would no longer be obscured because of life in the old, former order of things. New kingdom realities include new kingdom openness and clarity. And note that the theme of this new clarity of speech is the Father Himself. Just as the Spirit came to glorify Jesus, Jesus came to glorify the Father. And there would now be the ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus’ followers; who would "teach them all things" (14:26) and “guide” them "in all truth" (16:13) with respect to the Father. As Jesus said of the Spirit, "He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (vv. 13-15).
C. This, by the way, is the new reality we are—right now—living under in Christ. As the apostle Paul has put it;
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).
What a privilege state of things we now live under!—to have ‘plain speaking’ given to us from Jesus, by the ministry of the Spirit; recorded for us in the unchanging word, and concerning the glorious truths of the Father and His love for us! We should pray gratefully for the Spirit’s enabling help each time we pick up and read the Bible!
II. A NEW LIBERTY WITH RESPECT TO THE FATHER (vv. 26-27).
A. Not only is there a new clarity with respect to our understanding of divine truth with regard to the Father, but there is also a new freedom that we have in Christ to approach the Father! Speaking of the new order of things that would be brought about after the Spirit would come, Jesus said, "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you . . ." (v. 26). That, of course, was the way things were in the old order of things. The Lord Jesus was the one that the disciples needed to go to if they wanted access to the Father. It was He who did the asking for them. But His death, burial, resurrection and ascension has brought about a change in our liberty with and access to the Father. We may now—in His name—go to the Father directly as His own beloved children; "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God" (v. 27).
B. Some have seen these words as contradictory to what Jesus said in John 14:15-16; where He said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper . . ." But that was speaking of their need in the old order of things. Before Jesus ascended, it could only be that Jesus Himself would go to the Father for His disciples. And in this particular case, it was so that He could ask the Father to send the Spirit on their behalf. But that has been done! The Spirit was sent, and came at Pentecost—not only for the apostles but for all who are followers of Christ. And now—because Jesus has completed His redemptive work for us, and has sent His Spirit to take up residence in us, it is now our privilege to come to the Father freely and ask anything we wish in His name. He Himself loves us; and is Himself the one who sent His Son to redeem us and reconcile us to Himself. "And in that day," as Jesus had said, "you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:23-24).
C. This is the new reality that we enjoy in Christ! As the writer of Hebrews has put it;
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Or as the apostle John put it later in his first epistle;
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).
What a great privilege of access to the Father we now have in prayer! What an unlimited resource it is that has been placed in our hands! What a shame it would be to neglect it!
III. A NEW CONVICTION WITH RESPECT TO THE KINGDOM (vv. 28-32).
A. As the Lord Jesus spoke these things to His disciples—in the limitations of their understanding in the old order of things—it would have been easy for them to have thought themselves utterly committed to the kingdom that He was to reign over. But they were still thinking of the Lord Jesus as a Messiah who was about to set up an earthy government and reign as king like in the old and glorious days of King David. They thought they had complete understanding of the things Jesus said because they understood them in only those narrow, earthly terms. When Jesus then went on to say, "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father" (v. 28); we’re told, "His disciples said to Him, ‘See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God’" (vv. 29-30).
B. But how little it was that they really understood! When Jesus spoke those words, He was speaking of far greater realities than they could grasp. When He said, "I came forth from the Father"; He was speaking of His condescension in obedience to the Father—leaving the glories of heaven, ‘emptying’ Himself, and laying aside His prerogatives and rights as the King of Glory. When He said, "and have come into the world", He was speaking of His incarnation—taking upon Himself full humanity, being conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, and being born into the human race as ‘the Word become flesh’. When He said, "Again, I leave the world", He was speaking of His death on the cross; where He would take the sins of humanity upon Himself, bear our guilt before God the Father, and pay the price for our sins on our behalf. And when He said, "and go to the Father", He was speaking of His resurrection and ascension; and that He would return to the glory that He once possessed before the Father, but not as He was when He left—from then on sitting at the right hand of the Father as both fully divine and fully human; and reigning as God on the throne in the fullness of the glorified humanity that He now shares with us. They thought they understood His words. They thought that, now, they grasped the significance of His having come from the Father; and that no one would now ever have to ask Him of His meaning. But they scarcely understood things at all. What Jesus next tells them shows that this is so. "Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe?’ Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me’" (v. 32). Far from understanding His teaching, they would abandon Him during His arrest. They would fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7—just as Jesus said they would; "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’" (Matthew 26:31). Peter bragged that he would never be made to stumble; but as it turned out, he denied the Lord after His arrest. It wasn’t long before Peter would be among those scattered to their own interests—declaring to the others, "I am going fishing" (John 21:3).
C. But Jesus’ death gave way to the resurrection! And the new order of things has brought with it a new power of conviction for those Jesus loves. And as history would show, every one of those disciples—each of whom were scattered from Him at His arrest— would later lay down their lives (excepting only John himself, who died in exile); and all in the conviction that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and was everything He said that He was. And it’s in this new reality a new power of conviction that we also live. As Paul the apostle—-formerly an enemy of Christ, but at last His greatest missionary in the new order of things—once put it to Timothy;
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day
(1 Timothy 1:8-12).
We live on the other side of the confirmation of new kingdom realities! What a great new power of conviction we can now have of the glories of Jesus’ kingdom! We can truly give our all for Him—and never feel that we have lost anything in the exchange!
IV. A NEW CONFIDENCE WITH RESPECT TO TRIBULATION (v. 33).
A. Finally, one of the new realities we enjoy in Christ is a new perspective toward the things that we suffer in this world. He told His disciples, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace" (v. 33a). They would need that peace, of course— not only because He told them that He was leaving them, but because He also alerted them to the fact that this world would hate them because of Him. He had told them, "Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). And indeed the people of this world did persecute them! The Book of Acts is filled with the stories of it! And the past twenty centuries of history has abundantly proven it to be so for all His followers. Even in our own time, it is well known that Christians are the single most persecuted group around the world. When Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation . . ." (v. 33b), He most definitely meant it! No wonder they would need to be assured with peace in Himself! As Paul—one of the greatest of sufferers for Christ—once put it, "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
B. But one of the new realities of the new order of things is the experience of our Lord’s own ‘peace’—even in the midst of such suffering. As He said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And that peace has a substantial basis in what it is that Jesus has accomplished for us in the new order of things. He went on to tell His disciples that they would have trouble in the world because of Him; "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (v. 33c). He will assuredly come and reign on this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. Every knee will indeed bow; and every tongue will indeed proclaim Him Lord.
C. In fact, our experience of this new reality in the new order is something that doesn’t just impact our times of suffering for our faith in Him. It changes our perspective of all suffering! Speaking of the new order of things, the apostle Peter wrote;
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).
As Pastor James has put it,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).
As Paul said,
we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:3-5).
What a wonderful reality is ours in Christ!—absolute, abiding, overcoming peace in the midst of all the troubles of this world!
* * * * * * * * * *
Take inventory of it all!—a new clarity with respect to divine truth; a new liberty in our approach to the Father, a new conviction with respect to the advancement of the kingdom, a new confidence with respect to trials. These are the realities that are now ours in the new order that has been brought about by Jesus Christ!
May God help us to live fully and victoriously in the light of them!
