Musings From the Gospel of John – Number 44

The Scriptures that are covered in this post are from John 16:23-25. These particular Scripture verses do raise a number of interesting and intriguing questions, which I shall endeavour to “tentatively” address.

As you recall, in John 16:16-22, Jesus had been explaining to His disciples that He would be returning to His Father and that they would grieve because of what was about to take place, but that they and the world, would eventually rejoice and that their grief would be turned into joy. In John 16:23-25, Jesus continues.

John 16:23-25 NASB
”And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.” Emphasis is mine.

The question that comes to my mind is WHY would there no longer be a requirement for the disciples NOT to question Jesus about anything?

Consider the following:
1. Jesus tells His disciples about His pending death.
2. Jesus tells His disciples about His resurrection from the dead.
3. Jesus is resurrected and appears to His disciples numerous times during a 40 day period, during which time Jesus personally teaches His disciples about how He is foretold of in the Law, the prophets and the Psalms (see below) ; and
4. Jesus ascends back to His Father.

Once His disciples had personally witnessed all of these things that Jesus had foretold them would happen, their immediate questions to what was about to unfold, would have been subsequently answered.

You recall previously how in John 16:19 NASB, Jesus had said the following to His disciples: “Jesus knew that they wanted to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you are not going to see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?”

The question that comes to my mind, is when Jesus says “And on that day . . .”, which particular day was Jesus talking about? Is it the day in which He is crucified, is it the day in which Jesus rises from the dead or is it the day in which Jesus ascends back to His Father?

“That day” that is coming that Jesus speaks about here, could include and be relating to after Jesus appeared to His disciples, after His resurrection and taught them all the things that were written about Himself in the Law of Moses, the prophets and in the Psalms as recorded in Luke 24:36-45 , prior to His final ascension.

They would have seen Jesus die on the cross, they would have seen Jesus after the resurrection when He appeared to them multiple times during the 40 days, including where Jesus taught them about Himself as indicated in the Law, the prophets and the Psalms and they would have seen Jesus ascend back to the Father when Jesus disappeared into the clouds. So I would have a tendency to think that “the day” Jesus is specifically talking about would be at the conclusion of the day in which Jesus ascended to the Father.

I acknowledge that what I have just outlined is just conjecture on my part, but it does behoove us to question WHY Jesus said that there would no longer be a need for the disciples of Jesus to ask Him any questions.

And just to make it interesting, it is also possible that Jesus could be talking about the day of Pentecost in which the Holy Spirit fell on the assembled believers as Jesus had promised and instructed them to wait for (Acts 1:3-4), after Jesus had already ascended back to His Father. And please note that I am deliberately NOT addressing when Jesus initially appeared to His disciples after His resurrection and “breathed on them” to receive the Holy Spirit, as recorded in John 20:19-22. We’ll cover that one later when we get to it in this commentary.

The bottom line is that I do not specifically know which “that day” Jesus is referring to, so I have included this “tentative” response.

Jesus continues on with John 16:23-25 “ …..Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.”

When Jesus says “… ask the Father for anything …”, does Jesus literally mean anything, like a new home or a vacation, etc? The answer to that would be “NO”. Whatever we do ask for should always be in accordance with God the Father’s will and subject to His will. 1 John 5:14-15 refers. And what we do pray for should bring glory to the Father through the Son, John 14:13-14 refers. Gotquestions.org has a good overview on the conditions associated with what we ask God for here.

Interesting to note that Jesus indicates that up until this moment in time, when the disciples prayed and asked God for something, they had not done so in the name of Jesus. Jesus lets them know that this is about to change because of what Jesus accomplishes for us, on the cross. Remember that when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom, Jesus is now our High Priest and we now have direct access to God our Father through Jesus the Son. Hebrews 7:17-19 refers. Gotquestions.org once again has a good overview on what it means to pray in the name of Jesus here.

And finally, Jesus states the following: “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.”

Have you ever asked God to break something down for you so that you could understand it? I have, I do it all the time. There is only so much that these human minds of ours can comprehend and during the ministry of Jesus, He was continually conveying to us, of His Father, in terms that we could understand. Jesus actually tells His disciples that He had deliberately held back some of which He wanted them to comprehend because at that specific time, they would not have been able to grasp what was about to take place. You recall how earlier in John 16:12, Jesus had said the following to His disciples: “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time.” Emphasis is mine.

The witness of the disciples, to the death of Jesus, followed by His resurrection appearances, His after resurrection teachings and His ascension plus the reality of Pentecost, put the reality of what had taken place into perspective so that they knew beyond a doubt that Jesus was who He said He was. For lack of better words, it’s almost like Jesus was saying to His disciples, “You’re going to have to see it and experience it, to understand and comprehend it and believe it.” And comprehend it, they did!

And in closing this post I would just like to quote what Jesus said to Thomas. John 20:28-29 NASB “Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

More to follow.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!