Reflective Bible Study

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, while Judas Iscariot and the religious leaders are gathering the mob to arrest Jesus, Jesus spends the first part of His remaining time with the disciples teaching them and giving them reasons for hope.

Over the past few episodes, we have looked at what John has told us about Jesus’ last message to His followers leading up to His arrest, and in this episode, we’ll continue looking at Jesus’ words, including a promise Jesus emphasizes, but that the disciples might not have fully understood until later.

With this said, let’s dive into our passage. Our passage for this episode is found in John, chapter 16, and we will read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John records Jesus saying to the disciples:

¹ “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,

⁵ but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

In this late-night message to Jesus’ disciples, two portions of this passage stand out in my mind. The first is when Jesus is sharing three primary roles for the Holy Spirit, also known as the Advocate according to this translation. Jesus promised us in verse 9 that when the Holy Spirit comes, He would “prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment”. Jesus then clarifies these three points in verses 9 through 11. The truth about sin, specifically our past sins, is that they only really matters if we do not believe in Jesus. The truth about righteousness, referring to personal integrity and having a Godly character, is found in Jesus standing in heaven as our advocate. And the truth about the judgment is that it is guaranteed to happen because the prince of this world, referring to Satan, stands as condemned.

While each of these points could be the focus of a full length sermon, before our time runs out, there is one other idea that Jesus shared in this passage I want to draw our attention to.

In some segments of Christianity today, there is the belief that God is looking at those in the world with anger and hostility, but that Jesus is holding the Father’s anger back. Whenever a prayer comes in, it might go to Jesus, who would petition for this prayer to be answered by God. However, this belief runs contrary to Jesus’ message to His followers that night. Verses 26 and 27 clearly draw out the truth about God the Father and His attitude towards us: “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

Jesus tells us that God the Father loves us and that He is willing to hear and answer our prayers. We can, and should, ask our prayers in Jesus’ name, but all too often, slapping the phrase, “In Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers is less heartfelt and more cliché than we might want to admit. When we come before God with our prayers, it is beneficial to come in Jesus’ name, because it reminds us about what Jesus accomplished for us, but we should never cheapen our prayers to God with clichés. Clichés hurt our prayers unless we intentionally mean the words that we are saying.

While there is more we could focus in on, it will need to wait for another time. With that said, as we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to welcome the Holy Spirit into your heart. Understand the three primary roles the Holy Spirit has and let Him teach you the truth about sin, the truth about righteousness, and the truth about the judgment. While Satan has lies spread throughout culture about all three of these things, trust that when we lean on the Holy Spirit for God’s truth, He will lead us into God’s truth in each of these topics.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, being intentional about inviting the Holy Spirit into your study time. Since the Holy Spirit is behind the inspiration of the Bible, there is no better Teacher for our minds when trying to understand the Bible than the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit for help studying, and don’t be surprised when He draws your attention onto new insights you never have seen before.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Picking up where we left of in our last episode, Mark continues his gospel sharing about a conversation Jesus has with several of the disciples who came to Him with a question. In our last episode, as Jesus and his disciples left the temple, Jesus makes a statement in response to a comment from one of the disciples about the temple being destroyed. As we look at how Mark frames the events in his gospel, it is likely that the disciples, on remembering Jesus’ prediction from earlier in the day, decide to ask Jesus about the event He predicted.

Let’s read the disciples’ question and Jesus’ response. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 3, Mark tells us that:

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the temple buildings, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign when all this will come to an end?”

Pausing briefly, I want to point out that the disciples’ question is a much bigger question than what they may have even realized. On one hand, they likely are thinking about the destruction of the temple and are asking about when that will take place, but they are also asking when the world will come to an end as well. In their minds, these two events may have been thought to be one single event, but as history has shown, the destruction of the temple happened long before the return of Jesus and the end of the world as we know it.

Let’s continue in verse 5 and read Jesus’ response:

⁵ Jesus answered them, “Be careful not to let anyone deceive you. ⁶ Many will come using my name. They will say, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many people.

⁷ “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed! These things must happen, but they don’t mean that the end has come. ⁸ Nation will fight against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines in various places. These are only the beginning pains of the end.

⁹ “Be on your guard! People will hand you over to the Jewish courts and whip you in their synagogues. You will stand in front of governors and kings to testify to them because of me. ¹⁰ But first, the Good News must be spread to all nations. ¹¹ When they take you away to hand you over to the authorities, don’t worry ahead of time about what you will say. Instead, say whatever is given to you to say when the time comes. Indeed, you are not the one who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit will.

¹² “Brother will hand over brother to death; a father will hand over his child. Children will rebel against their parents and kill them. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “When you see the disgusting thing that will cause destruction standing where it should not (let the reader take note), those of you in Judea should flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Those who are on the roof should not come down to get anything out of their houses. ¹⁶ Those who are in the field should not turn back to get their coats.

¹⁷ “How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days. ¹⁸ Pray that it will not be in winter. ¹⁹ It will be a time of misery that has not happened from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and will certainly never happen again. ²⁰ If the Lord does not reduce that time, no one will be saved. But those days will be reduced because of those whom God has chosen.

²¹ “At that time don’t believe anyone who tells you, ‘Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ ²² False messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will work miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive, if possible, those whom God has chosen. ²³ Be on your guard! I have told you everything before it happens.

Let’s stop reading here for this episode and save the rest of Jesus’ message for our next podcast. While reading this first part of Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question, a couple things stood out in my mind that are worth drawing our attention to.

The first thing to jump out in this portion of Jesus’ response is how it opens and closes with a warning against being deceived. Jesus opens His response warning about people coming in His name and claiming to be Him, and in the last section of Jesus’ response that we read, we are warned against believing people who tell us the Messiah has arrived.

Jesus warns His followers that miraculous signs and wonderful things are not the marks of Jesus’ return. While Jesus performed miracles and did many wonderful things while He was with them, part of me sees Jesus telling all His followers that His return will be distinctly different from His first coming. Jesus’ original entrance into this world marked God coming to earth for His people.

Through Jesus and what He accomplished for us on the cross during His first coming, God opened the way for Jesus’ second coming. While Jesus’ first coming is God coming to be near His people, Jesus’ second coming will usher in God’s people leaving earth to be near God.

However, Satan is more than interested in tricking people out of realizing this truth. Jesus’ repeated warning in this end-time message is about not being deceived when another “messiah” appears. Jesus’ return will not be marked by Him staying on earth to win people over to Him. That wasn’t even part of Jesus’ original first coming goals.

Jesus’ return, also known as His second coming, is to take God’s people to be home with Him. While Mark’s gospel doesn’t include this promise, John includes in his gospel, chapter 14, verses 2 and 3 that He is going to prepare a place for us, and if He prepares a place for us, He will come again and receive us to Him, because He wants us to be where He is.

When Jesus returned to heaven, God the Father gives Jesus the honored position. When Jesus returns to earth, it will be to bring God’s people home to be with Him forever.

These details mark the first big thing I see in Jesus’ response to the disciples, which we could simply say is a warning about being deceived by Satan.

The other big phrase in Jesus’ response is in the first part of verse 13, where Jesus directly tells His followers that “Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me.”

While it isn’t pleasant to think about, if Satan can’t trick or deceive us into leaving God, he will openly have us mocked, ridiculed, and hated for choosing to stay with God. This truth is evident for God’s people throughout history and especially today as we look out across the world and culture.

However, Jesus includes a powerful promise while talking about being hated. Jesus finishes this verse off by telling us that “the person who endures to the end will be saved”.

One word in this promise stands out to me. This word is “endure”. We shouldn’t expect Satan’s hate to go away, and we see no indication that we should fight back against the world hating us. Instead, we should see the hate this world throws our way as both a distraction and as a litmus test that we might be on the right path. Satan will use hate to try to pull our focus off of God, and those who are focused on following God and Jesus can understand that hate directed their way is because Satan hates God’s people.

However, Jesus’ challenge remains: “The person who endures to the end will be saved.” This is a challenge for all of us to keep pressing forward and to stay committed to God regardless of what Satan throws our way. Look forward to Jesus’ return, the end of sin, and our trip to heaven. Don’t let Satan deceive you and stay committed to God and endure to the end!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Continue seeking God first in your life and choose to stay connected, dedicated, and allied to Him regardless of what Satan throws your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn the truth God wants to teach you first hand from the pages of His word. Don’t assume the Bible says something. Instead, study it out for yourself and let the Bible direct your understanding of truth!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!