Chapter 16
This is a continuation of the Gethsemane discourse. It continues the study of the angelic conflict from the standpoint of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in verses 1-15, and the ministry of God the Son in verses 16-33. The Lord Jesus Christ is anticipating the coming of the Church Age, the dispensation in which He is glorified at the right hand of the Father, absent from the earth, the dispensation in which the intensification of the angelic conflict begins.
The
intensification of the angelic conflict
1. The resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ causes a shift in gears in
the angelic conflict. The angelic conflict has existed from even prior to man’s creation and it shifts gears at various times. Man was created in order to resolve the angelic conflict. Man’s fall caused a change—the promise of the saviour. And from the fall of man until the ascension of Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Himself was the primary target in the angelic conflict. But once Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and the cross is an historical reality it is no longer possible for Satan to interdict in this field. Consequently we now have believers on the earth as the target of Satan.
2. Until the ascension the line of Christ and the person of Christ were the target in
the angelic conflict.
3. Once Christ is glorified at the right hand of the Father the angelic conflict
becomes intensified in the Church Age.
4. Every believer is now a target, and because of this God has made special
provision for every believer in the Church Age.
Verses 1-15, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age. It is called a
mystery not because it should be obscure today but because nothing concerning the Church Age was revealed in Old Testament times. Now that the Church Age has begun we have the canon of scripture unfolding Bible doctrine with regard to the Church Age. So the doctrine of the mystery deals with doctrine pertaining to the Church Age—not hidden from us but hidden in the past, hidden from people who could not teach or proclaim this information. He reason for the doctrine of the mystery is quite obvious: it was designed to keep Satan from being clued in on the Church Age until the intensification of that stage of the conflict would actually begin.
Verse 1 – the purpose of the briefing. We have throughout the two discourses (Upper room and Gethsemane) the phrase, “These things” – this is the doctrinal content of the previous chapter and the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ the night before He was betrayed and the night before His crucifixion. “These things” is a constant reference to what Jesus Christ has just taught. He has just taught the antagonism of cosmos diabolicus, the seven reasons why the world hates the believer. Regardless of what we may think and how we may be treated by segments of the world, the world has a permanent antagonism toward us because the ruler of the world, Satan, is antagonistic toward us.
“have I spoken” – perfect active indicative of the verb lalew which means to communicate doctrine. The word legw which means to speak also means to organise information in your mind and then speak it. But lalew means to communicate doctrine. “These things I have communicated in the past with the result that they stand.”
“unto you” – dative of advantage; “that” – purpose clause; “ye should not be offended.” The word offended is skandalizw. It is the basis for our English word scandal or the verb scandalise. However they are entirely different in the English. The word skandalizw means to be shocked, to be offended, to fail because you are disillusioned with some thing or some person. So it has to do with shock and disillusionment, in other words, with the breakdown and failure in the soul.
Jesus Christ taught doctrine to protect the disciples. They were about to go under maximum pressure, the pressure of the crucifixion. The betrayal, seven trials, and the crucifixion is going to shake them up. Jesus has given them these things so that they would not be skandalizw, they would not be shocked and disillusioned and disappointed. Doctrine is designed to avoid frustration or shock or hurt or disillusion in any pressure of life. The only protection that the believer has in this life against these things is Bible doctrine in the soul. So the answer as presented in principle here is the concept of soul breathing—the inhale of Bible doctrine under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
“that you should not be shocked” – aorist tense: point of time, pressure. The aorist takes up from the moment of betrayal to the crucifixion. Passive voice: under pressure they are not to receive shock, disillusionment. Subjunctive mood: such failure is potential and can be prevented by doctrine. When you take in doctrine you exhale doctrine. The edification structure in the soul is built on residual doctrine. The more doctrine you take in the greater the build-up of residual doctrine.
Principle: The believer priest in the Church Age must be designed for the intensification of the angelic conflict. In this design he must be shock-proof.
Verse 2 – why all of this was necessary. The antagonism of religion is developed in 2 Timothy 3:8-14. It is countered by the edification concept, the ECS. Religion is the devil’s weapon for neutralising doctrine and religion will persecute the grace-oriented believer priest in the Church Age. So to prepare them for this Jesus gives a short dissertation on the opposition of religion in verses 2-4.
“They shall put you out of the synagogues” – they refers to the religious crowd of 2 Timothy 3:7. This means they will excommunicate them from the synagogues. This is a reference to the religious persecution by the Judaisers. Jesus is anticipating the hostility of religion toward grace. It is ruthless and senseless and inexcusable—diabolical. Religious opposition is going to continue throughout the Church Age.
“the time [hour, a portion of time] cometh” – present active indicative, a dramatic present. There is a dramatic moment coming and they are going to have to face it. Religion will gain such ascendancy. Religion is like a weed; it grows when it has something to prey on. In any country where you have maximum negative volition toward doctrine religion infiltrates that area. Then those who are religious, being sincere, always think they are doing God a great favour by wiping you out. Religion always seeks to destroy the truth, but religion has restraints until religion means control of a state and religion gains control of a state only when there is negative volition toward doctrine.
“that whosoever killeth you” – a)pokteinw [a)po = ultimate source; kteinw = to kill], means the desire from the ultimate source of self to kill you, e.g. Saul of Tarsus. Whosoever refers to religious types, and unbeliever religious types are always characterised by scar tissue on the left bank of the soul, scar tissue on the right bank of the soul. Aorist active participle of a)pokteinw means to destroy from the ultimate source of their religious mental attitude.
“will think” – aorist active subjunctive of the verb dokew. Dokew is subjective thinking [noew is objective thinking]. All subjective thinking assumes, and so the word dokew comes to mean to presume or to conclude on a false basis, or to presume in the mind. All subjective thinking is wrong thinking. These religious types in killing Christians are assuming subjectively that they are doing a great service for God.
“doeth” – does not mean to do. This is prosqew [qerw = to carry, to bear; proj = face to face] which means they think they are bringing God a sacrifice that He likes; “service” – latreia, means a spiritual service, a religious service. This comes from subjective thinking.
Summary of verse 2
5. Religion is the result of negative volition toward doctrine which in turn puts scar
tissue on the soul.
6. This negative volition and resultant scar tissue blocks the lungs of the soul,
opening up a vacuum—mataiothj. Satan brings thoughts through the mataiothj into the soul of the born again believer.
7. Though this vacuum comes darkness, pseudo-edification, false doctrine—
Ephesians 4:17,18.
8. The soul in darkness is both blind and stupid with regard to the grace of God.
9. Mental attitude sins such as hatred, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability,
motivate religious types to be active in persecution—even killing.
10. These acts of persecution include murder which is rationalised as a service toward
God.
11. In this way the religious killer has no guilt complex for his sins.
12. The religious man assumes that the end justifies the means. The end is the
removal of Christianity from the earth; the means is rationalised murder.
This is a satanic objective: to remove the body of Christ en toto from his domain. The
fact that there is one Christian alive on the earth today galls Satan and he does everything he can to neutralise Christianity, both as to the body on the earth and as to the effectiveness dynamics of operation phase two. And Satan and his system cannot stand grace.
Verse 3 – religion does not possess category #1 love. “And these things will they do” – reference to the persecutions and hostility of religion toward the believer; “will they do” is a future tense, it hasn’t occurred yet but it will come in the Church Age.
“because they have not known the Father, nor me” – they have no knowledge of God, ginwskw, aorist active indicative plus the negative. Ginwskw means to know from the experience of studying God’s revelation of Himself. They have no ginwskw, they do not know Him. In other words, if you do not know God you cannot love God. You have to know God to love God. Religion is blinded toward God and totally without category #1 love. The religious type assumes that what pleases God is the elimination of grace—God’s plan. Therefore religion superimposes its own darkness upon the plan of God.
Verse 4 – Bible doctrine prepares the believer priest for any such traumatic experience [such as religious persecution]. Jesus briefs His disciples before the shock breaks.
“But these things I have told you” – perfect tense of lalew, I have communicated in the past for your benefit with the result that you have these things as shock protection, shock proof.
“when the time [hour] shall come” – aorist tense, point of time in the future – “you may remember” – mnhmoneuw. This means that Jesus in three years of teaching has actually given them enough information to have an erected ECS. They do not have this! But out of memory and out of further ministry from the Spirit they will in the future take up the slack where they have failed in three years. Knowledge of doctrine is the only preparation, the only provision for adversity and for religious persecution. Real pressure in your life demands the erection of the ECS.
“And these things I said not unto you at the beginning [of His public ministry]” – He waited until the night before the crucifixion to tell them that they were not shock-proof.
“because I was with you” – I was is imperfect linear aktionsart of e)imi, I always was with you.
“I
always was with you”
1. Jesus was present on the earth with the disciples, therefore two things could not happen while He was there: a) the intensification of the angelic conflict could not happen; b) the dispensation could not change. As long as Jesus remains on the earth and does not go to the cross there will be no intensification of the angelic conflict or change of dispensation. And the two reasons we have this ECS are for a change of dispensation and, before that, the glorification of Christ.
1. Once Jesus departs from the world through ascension, session, glorification,
the disciples will face a new situation.
2. The glorification of Christ and His absence from the earth will intensify the
angelic conflict during the Church Age. That means that every believer is the target of Satan and the demon army. And that means that you are in full time Christian service.
3. The glorification of Christ and His absence from the earth will result in the
formation of the body of Christ on the earth.
4. Every believer is in the body of Christ, every believer is a priest in the body
of Christ, every believer is an ambassador in the body of Christ.
5. Through knowledge of doctrine he can become spiritually self-sustaining in
the devil’s world. But there is only one way to be spiritually self-sustaining—the daily function of GAP. The believer is not spiritually self-sustaining until there is an ECS.
6. Every believer on the earth is an ambassador for Christ. As such he represents
God on the earth; as such he is in full time Christian service.
7. The combination of ambassadorship and priesthood, plus operation footstool,
means a change in dispensation and a change in meaning to the life of the believer.
8. The hostility from unseen forces of angels will be great but the provision in
eternity past is greater. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”
9. This provision of doctrine becomes a reality through constant soul breathing,
the erection of an ECS.
This is the dispensation of the absence of Christ, of intensification of the angelic
conflict, of the universal ministry of the Spirit in every believer, the universal ministry of the believer. It is the one dispensation in which the life of every believer has meaning, purpose, definition; the one dispensation in which the believer can have more happiness and blessing in life than any other dispensation.
Verse 5 – we find that the disciples are disoriented to the plan of God where they should be filled with doctrine and have an ECS. Instead, they are filled with misery. “But” begins the recognition of the fact that the disciples are not prepared for the advance of the plan of God. The plan of God moves on whether we go along with it or not. The disciples are disoriented because they are minus Bible doctrine, even though they have been taught for three years.
“now” – anticipating that He is going to the cross, to the grave, resurrection, and then ascending to the Father; “I go my way” – he means that He is moving toward a goal; u(pagw, He is on the track and He is going with the plan of God. The reason that He is going with the plan of God the Father is because in His humanity He has an ECS, and the humanity of Jesus Christ is reflecting the glory of the Father.
“to him that sent me” – proj plus the accusative, face to face with the one sending me. This is the ultimate, the objective. He is going from maximum humiliation to maximum glorification. As a member of the human race He will bear our sins and be our saviour, and as a member of the human race He will be seated at the right hand of the Father in the state of glorification, and when He is glorified in His humanity a new dispensation will begin. To understand the new dispensation and its difference from the Age of Israel they should have been listening so that in this period prior to the crucifixion and immediately afterward they would have gone along for the ride. But they missed it. He points out the fact that they are disoriented because He says …
“and none of you” – this means all of them, including John; “asketh” – and He didn’t say ask. This is a present active subjunctive of e)rwtaw which means to make inquiry, to interrogate. In other words, Jesus is telling them that here is their last chance to orient. Interrogation here would indicate a switch to +V toward Bible doctrine.
Principle: Without prior study of Bible doctrine up to a point of crisis you cannot be prepared for the crisis. You cannot pull a verse out of the air in a disaster and orient to the grace of God.
“Whither” means, To what place … do you go in the Father’s plan?
Verse 6 – “But because I have said these things,” perfect active indicative of lalew which means to communicate doctrine. Perfect tense: I have communicated in the past (for the past three years) with the result that I will keep on communicating, even though you disciples failed. In fact, the entire Church Age will have His communication of Bible doctrine. Active voice: Jesus started teaching while on earth and He continues through the Word which is the mind of Christ. The indicative mood is the reality of doctrine available to the eleven disciples and the reality of doctrine available to us right now.
“these things” – the upper room discourse and the Gethsemane discourse; “unto you” – for your advantage. And what do they have?
“sorrow hath filled your heart” – sorrow is the Greek word luph. This is mental anguish because of no ECS to orient to the plan of God. Therefore there is shock, anguish, distress. At this point the disciples should be reflecting glory and obviously the light is out.
1. Jesus has clearly presented His death, burial, resurrection and ascension as a part
of the plan for the first advent.
2. Negative volition toward the teaching of Christ for three years results in mental
pain and anguish.
3. At a critical moment the eleven disciples are all disoriented.
4. Instead of orienting to the cross, the departure, the moving forward of the plan of
God, they have associated the death of Christ with catastrophe.
5. They therefore cannot recognise the principle of Romans 8:28. They did not have
the reflected glory of an ECS.
6. The verb “hath filled” is a perfect active indicative of plhrow which means to
fill up a deficiency or to fill up a vacuum. Here it means to fill up a vacuum in their souls.
7. Into this vacuum we have mental attitude sins. Luph is pain of the nouj, the
mentality of the soul.
8. Mental attitude sins must be displaced by Bible doctrine in the soul. This can only
occur through daily intake of doctrine.
Verse 7 – divine provision for the intensification of the angelic conflict. Here is the first ray of hope. Even though they have failed to learn doctrine in the three
years Jesus has been teaching them they are going to learn doctrine after He has gone.
“I tell you” – legw, the content of His message formed into words in the mind. (The communication of it is lalew). Even though Jesus is under great pressure He is not in any way under shock and can still communicate doctrine.
“the truth” – a)lhqeia, which is doctrine in categorical form. This doctrine must displace the mental attitude sins. This will not help unless there is a structure of doctrine in the soul. A temporary dash for doctrine when you need it is not going to take up the slack, you must over a period of time have taken in the doctrine. In other words, when the crisis comes you have to have more than two hours of Bible class, and more than a couple of verses that you have memorised.
“It is expedient” – that is not what the word means. This is a present active indicative of sumferw which means it is advantageous, it is beneficial, it is profitable. This is present linear aktionsart, it keeps on being beneficial. But the subjunctive mood says the benefit is potential, depending upon whether you have an ECS or not.
“that I go away” – that I move [depart] toward my destination. The destination is the fulfilment of phase one of the plan of God, the incarnation.
There are two 3rd class conditions [maybe yes, maybe no] in the rest of this verse. When there are two in the same sentence it sets up two alternatives to a situation. The first alternative: Suppose Jesus Christ does not go through with the plan of the Father for the incarnation. This is an assumption which is not true but it is put in the 3rc class condition to indicate alternatives. So we have …
“if” – the first alternative, not true; “if” – second alternative which is reality. But they are both 3rd class conditions to show alternatives to a situation. These are alternatives in the spiritual conflict. The first: Suppose that Christ does not go to the cross—He has free will in His humanity. That would mean no resurrection, ascension, and no seating of Christ at the right hand of the Father. Therefore the angelic conflict would not shift gears. But suppose on the other hand that Christ goes to the cross—as He actually did—and is resurrected, ascended, seated at the right hand of the Father. Now the angelic conflict does shift gears and we enter into the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
“if I go not away” – this means that Jesus Christ does not go to the cross, would not follow the plan of God. He is talking to the disciples. He is going with the plan of God and they through negative volition are all going to peel off, defect.
“the Comforter will not come.”
1. The word for “Comforter” is paraklhtoj, which means one who is sent to
assist another. Or better, one who provides beneficial services for another.
2. Paraklhtoj here refers to the Holy Spirit – John 14:16, 26; 15:26.
3. The same noun is used for Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity—1 John
2:1, where it is called “Advocate.”
4. The Comforter will not come. There is a double negative here and this is a
stronger negative in the Greek. Christ must go up to be a paraklhtoj; the Spirit must come down to be a paraklhtoj. The Spirit is to indwell us on earth; Christ is to represent us in heaven. During the intensification of the angelic conflict every believer is an ambassador representing the absent Christ. An ambassador represents someone who is absent. Christ is in heaven representing us and we are on the earth representing Him. But we do not have the power to represent Him without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, our paraklhtoj.
5. No ascension of Christ means no first advent of the Spirit.
6. No first advent of the Spirit means no benefit for the believer priest in the Church
Age.
“if I depart” – we have a different word for departure now, poreuomai, which means to go from point A to point B. Christ is going to go from Gethsemane to
the cross, and eventually to heaven. So poreuomai expresses the plan of God the Father. It is the plan of the Father that the Son go to the cross. “I depart” is an aorist active subjunctive, and the aorist tense of poreuomai means from pint to point to point, all gathered into one entirety: Gethsemane, the cross, resurrection, ascension, session.
“I will send” – this is a promise. When the Holy Spirit is sent He will find believers and unbelievers on the earth. In verses 8-11 we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unbeliever; in verses 12-15 we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believers.
The Lord Jesus Christ, while on earth, was a prophet concerning the Church Age. He taught many things concerning the plan of God and one thing which He emphasised in the upper room and Gethsemane discourses was the dispensation of the Church. But He had to anticipate it; it was a brand new subject. Everything that Jesus said about the Church Age was prophecy and therefore He could only sketch out a few important details and certain principles connected with it. The greatest exponent of the Church Age is the apostle Paul and his letters clearly reflect the details and the design of the dispensation in which we find ourselves. Next to Paul, Peter and John had a tremendous clarification of certain areas of the Church Age. Jesus Christ Himself could not possibly have given detail. The eleven disciples would not have understood. They heard Jesus Christ teach Bible doctrine every day for three years and yet they didn’t understand much of it.
In verses 8-11 we have the ministry of thew Holy Spirit to the unbeliever. In verses 12-15 we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer. All of this has to do with the Church Age.
Verse 8 – “And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come,” aorist active participle of the verb e)rxomai which refers to the first advent of the Holy Spirit. Aorist tense: the point of time after Christ is glorified (ten days later) the Holy Spirit comes to the earth. So everything that is given between verses 8 and 15 has to do with the ministry of the Holy Spirit after He comes.
“he will reprove” – future active indicative of e)legxw, this ministry of the Spirit has not occurred yet but it will. The word means more than simply to reprove, it means to lay bare the facts, to lay them on the line. It means to rebuke and to reprove but here it doesn’t go quite that far. The Holy Spirit is not rebuking or reproving, He is exposing the facts. Why? Because unbelievers do not have the ability to understand the facts of the gospel or any spiritual phenomena because the unbeliever is minus the human spirit—1 Corinthians 2:14. Since the unbeliever does not have a human spirit the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit to the unbeliever whenever the gospel is presented. But it has to be presented along the lines specified by the Lord Jesus Christ in this particular passage.
“the world” – kosmoj, referring to the world of unbelievers.
Next we have three things: “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Sin here is not personal sin. Personal sin is not the issue in the gospel.
Verse 9 – “Of sin,” peri means concerning sin. Sin is in the singular, it is peri plus the genitive of a(martia. A(martia means basically to miss the mark. Sometimes this word in the plural is used for personal sins and when that occurs it means that basically we have failed to measure up to the perfection of God’ essence. But here in this verse we do not have personal sins, we have something else which is defined for us. We have here a failure for which Christ did not and could not die on the cross—i.e. rejection of the cross. When a person rejects the cross he stands on his own human good which has not been judged yet but will be in the future at the last judgment. So the very first thing about which the Holy Spirit places emphasis is the true issue of the gospel, and this would be John 3:36 spelled out. When presenting the gospel it must be made clear that the issue in salvation is attitude toward Christ. To believe in Him is eternal life; to reject Him is eternal condemnation.
“because they believe not on me” – there is something for which Christ cannot die: He cannot die for unbelief. So they believe not is a present active indicative plus the negative o)u. The verb is pisteuw. Sin is very clearly defined here as unbelief, rejection of Christ; there is not one reference to any kind of personal sin.
Verse 10 – “Of righteousness,” peri plus the genitive of dikaiosunh. The word for righteousness is dikaioj, but that is not used here. The original meaning of dikaiosunh meant righteousness in the sense of fulfilling a divine standard or a divine statute. It came to mean fairness, mercy, charitableness, and it eventually came to be a technical word for grace orientation. The Holy Spirit takes an unbeliever who has no grace orientation. People are taught from the cradle to the grave that you have to work for it, fight for it, etc., all of which are human achievement concepts. They have no application in the plan of God because grace says the opposite: you can’t achieve it, you can’t earn it or deserve it.
“because I go to my Father” – to go to the Father Jesus Christ had to rise again. He had to ascend. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, is glorified. The Father has accepted Him. The Father was propitiated by the cross and He shows His acceptance of the Son by saying to Him, “Sit down at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” It is the Son who died on the cross; it is the Son who is seated at the right hand of the Father; it is the Son who did the work. It is the Son who did the work and who is the saviour, and grace orientation at the point of witnessing is understanding who and what the Son is. When He says, “I go to my Father,” He is expressing the fact that His work is completed. It is literally, face to face with my Father, proj plus the accusative.
“and ye [the disciples] see me no more” – this is interesting because He didn’t use blepw [a glance], and He didn’t use o(raw [panoramic view]. He uses qeorew, which means you have to use your mind. It means to observe with the physical eyes and to understand what you observe, to have a conclusion about it. This is a present active indicative: you see me but you don’t see me.
Verse 11 – “Of [concerning] judgment”, krisij, the act of judgment: “Concerning the act of judgment.” This approach is not saying that the unbeliever is judged directly. (The unbeliever here shares the judgment of Satan) This relates the unbeliever to the angelic conflict.
“because the prince of this world [Satan] is judged” – perfect passive indicative of the verb krinw. Perfect tense: Satan was judged in the past before man existed on the earth. He was sentenced, but the sentence was not executed and will not be until after the Millennium. Unbelievers in time share Satan’s sentence, as do all fallen angels. The unbeliever is not and never will be grace oriented. Passive voice: Satan received this judgment in eternity past, it was confirmed by the cross. The indicative mood is the reality of Satan’s defeat at the cross; his judgment is certain. Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14.
Verse 12 – the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer in the Church Age anticipated. “I have” is the present active indicative of the verb e)xw which means to have and to hold. He has a lot to teach.
“many things” refers to doctrines pertaining to the Church Age, doctrines pertaining to the intensification of the angelic conflict, the ECS, and many other things.
“to say” – present active infinitive of legw [legw comes from logoj. Logoj means words or a word, and words are formed in the mind and then spoken], and He has a great number of words and concepts. The infinitive indicates His purpose. It was the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ from the standpoint of His humanity to do much more teaching than He did but He was limited by His audience—the twelve. Active voice: Jesus Christ Himself wanted to do the teaching.
“unto you” is dative of advantage; “but” – conjunction of contrast [between doctrine in the mind of Christ and lack of desire for doctrine in the minds of the disciples]. The interpretation is that the disciples couldn’t take it in; the application is that it is impossible to get doctrine through where there is negative volition toward it.
“ye cannot” – present active indicative of dunamai which, with the negative, means not to have the ability: “you are not able.” This is linear aktionsart, you keep on not being able. There has been no change. They were negative three years ago; they are negative now. What does negative volition pick up in three years? Nothing much!
“to bear” – present active infinitive of bastazw. Bastazw means to carry a heavy weight. From that it came to mean to sustain something mentally. This word is used because they have been taught daily for three years and they were not able to sustain it mentally. The present tense means over the entire three years they couldn’t carry it. Active voice: they themselves were exposed to it but didn’t carry it. The infinitive indicates a result. They were exposed with the result that they learned nothing. The presence of listeners does not guarantee their perception. Perception is based on a number of things: the filling of the Holy Spirit, +V toward Bible doctrine, the ability to concentrate (which includes more than just interest) which includes an entire concept of self-discipline in the soul, the ability to build doctrine on doctrine on doctrine—which comes with the construction of the ECS.
“them” refers to the doctrine of the mysteries; “now” is an adverb, a)rti, which means in the present moment—which means all is not lost. In other words, Jesus is describing something that is temporary.
Verse 13 – “Howbeit” is the particle de which can be used many ways. Often it is used as a conjunction as it is here, a logical progression and yet a divider of thought.
“when” – o(tan. This is in contrast to a)rti and it means on the occasion of. There is a time coming when you will not be stupid! He is telling them now that grace has found a way. A)rti = at the present time you are knuckleheads; o(tan = in the future you are going to make it.
“he” – this is a demonstrative pronoun, e)keinoj. It is in the emphatic position. It means he and only he. God is impressed with the work of God, and God the Holy Spirit will make the difference.
“the Spirit” – this is the third person of the Trinity, and He is called “the Spirit of.” When you have a conjunction with the noun “the Spirit” it always refers to the functional title of the Holy Spirit. The title of His person is Holy Spirit, but when you have function then you have Spirit of. Here it is “Spirit of truth” and the rest of this passage is going to show how the Holy Spirit is going to make the truth real—perspicacity through the ministry of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit operates as a teacher of truth. This is twofold. First, the Holy Spirit communicates information to the writers of scripture. They put it down in writing, and that is the canon. Secondly, the Holy Spirit takes the student, the pastor-teacher, and the filling of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for him to understand what is written. Then, once again, when the pastor-teacher communicates it to the congregation there must be the filling of the Holy Spirit on the part of the pastor-teacher so that he communicates it in a lucid manner. And there must be the filling of the Holy Spirit on the part of the congregation so that they might be the proper recipients. All of the way through there is something that removes “operation knucklehead”—the filling of the Spirit.
“of truth” – the word for truth is a)lhqeia which has two connotations. It means dogmatic, absolute information presented from the standpoint of analysis, of exegesis, and categories. It is the categorisation of doctrine—truth found in the Word.
“is come” – aorist active subjunctive, first advent of the Holy Spirit. Aorist tense: the point of time when the Church Age begins, day of Pentecost. Active voice: the Holy Spirit who is omnipresent comes in a special sense. He comes to indwell every believer during the Church Age. Subjunctive mood: the first advent of the Spirit is potential at the time that Christ speaks. It is still 50 days away. The reason it is put in the subjunctive mood as potential is because Christ has not yet gone to the cross. Once He has then everything else will follow in its proper order. Whether Christ goes to the cross or not depends upon His humanity’s volition. In Gethsemane He must face the issue of His own free will. His free will will say two things: “Father, if it be thy will let this cup pass from me.” That is negative. “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” That is positive. Eventually, He will go on positive volition and He will go to the cross and bear the sins of the world.
When the first advent of the Spirit occurs one of the first responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to start cranking up the canon of scripture. At the cross there is no New Testament. There is nothing in writing with regard to the Church Age. The Old Testament is minus Church Age truth. Only Jesus Christ anticipates the Church Age and anything about the Church Age is spoken but there is nothing in writing. When the day of Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit comes He must start the work whereby among those apostles there will be certain ones who become writers of the New Testament, just as prophets were writers of the Old Testament.
“he will guide” – future active indicative of o(dhgew. This word originally eventually meant guide, but it eventually came to mean to instruct, to get someone who is off the road on the road. The eleven disciples were off the road and the Holy Spirit will bring them back on the road and take them down the middle of the road until the New Testament is completed. So it means to instruct. The future tense anticipates the formation of the canon of the New Testament. Active voice: the Holy Spirit will be the director so that God’s plan will be revealed with accuracy. The indicative mood is the reality of the future canon of scripture, the New Testament.
“into all truth” – in contrast to their present situation where they understand nothing. The Spirit of doctrine [a)lhqeia] will guide them into Bible doctrine [a)lhqeia].
“he shall not speak of himself” – the word to speak here is to communicate. Jesus said “I have many things to legw” – the words were in His mind but He couldn’t utter them. But when the Holy Spirit starts this process it will be lalew, which means to communicate: “he shall not communicate from the ultimate source of himself.” This is a future active indicative. Future tense: there will be no NT canon until the Holy Spirit arrives on the scene. Active voice: the Holy Spirit will communicate the message to human authors. The indicative mood is the reality of the Holy Spirit’s communication and the formation of the canon. “Of himself” is literally, from the ultimate source of himself—a)po. In other words, in the formation of the canon of scripture the Holy Spirit communicates the plan of God the Father and the mind of Christ. The first person of the Trinity is the author of the plan. The second person of the Trinity has doctrine in His mind. The third person of the Trinity will come to reveal the plan of the Father and the thinking of the Son. He will not communicate from the ultimate source of Himself, He will communicate from the Father and the Son, both of whom send Him—doctrine of procession.
“but whatsoever he shall hear” – present active indicative of a)kouw. The Holy Spirit hears the Father’s plan; the Holy Spirit hears the Son’s thinking. So whatsoever he shall hear is actually the total message of the New Testament canon.
“he shall speak [communicate]” – future active indicative of lalew. The future anticipates the formation of the canon of the scripture when the Holy Spirit arrives. The apostles at this point cannot remember what Christ has taught them but in the future it will be recorded in writing through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They will be able to recall in the future.
“he will shew” – future active indicative of a)naggellw, which means to report back. They couldn’t get it at the time and the Holy Spirit is going to report back to them. Future tense: in the formation of the canon He will report back to them. Active voice: the Holy Spirit does the reporting back. The indicative mood is the reality of this. So the canon of scripture is a permanent revelation of all three members of the Trinity. Now the content of this canon must be communicated.
The doctrine of
Bible teaching
1. The Bible in its completed form will exist forever.
2. God the Holy Spirit provides the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher to certain male believers at the point of salvation. 1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 4:11.12. This spiritual gift is designed to communicate the content of the Bible [not to recite Old Mother Hubbard!] to believer priests during the Church Age. This gift will not exist after the Church Age.
3. This communication is accomplished in assembly—Hebrews 10:25.
4. In the assembly the believer priest has maximum privacy to learn doctrine in fulfilment of such words as khrussw, which means public communication of doctrine to a group.
5. As a result of learning doctrine in the assembly the believer becomes spiritually self-sustaining by the erection of an ECS.
6. The believer must be filled with the Spirit at the point of Bible teaching. The pastor must be filled with the Spirit at the point of Bible teaching.
7. This means that the Holy Spirit is involved in all areas of transmission—from the inspiration of the scriptures, to its interpretation by the pastor-teacher, to the communication of Bible teaching in the assembly, to the reception on the part of the congregation.
8. The highest virtue in the Christian life is knowledge of doctrine, but knowledge of doctrine cannot be attained apart from the filling of the Spirit.
9. The results of learning doctrine include spiritual growth, the ECS, and the production of divine good in the devil’s world.
Verse 14 – “He” is
a demonstrative pronoun in the emphatic position, He and only
He; “shall glorify me” – the verb is docazw. It means to glorify, as Translated. Future tense: Jesus anticipates the Church Age, the first advent of the Spirit which begins the Church Age. The Holy Spirit comes on the first day of the Church Age and He leaves on the last day of the Church Age; He leaves with the Church—2 Thessalonians 2. The pronoun “me” refers to Jesus Christ who is absent from the earth during the Church Age.
“he shall receive of mine” – future middle indicative of lambanw which means to receive or to take. The future tense indicates the period when the canon of scripture is being formed. The middle voice: He does it Himself. The indicative mood is the reality of the canon of scriptures and the mechanics of it being backed by the ministry of the Spirit; “of mine” is the preposition e)k which means “out from”; “mine” refers to His thinking which He can’t communicate, cf. verse 12. This refers to doctrine as the mind of Christ—1 Corinthians 2:16. The Holy Spirit takes doctrine and builds the ECS with it.
“and shall shew it unto you” – report back, future active indicative, again, of a)naggellw. Future tense: Church Age. Active voice: the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Indicative mood: the reality of every part of the Spirit’s ministry from inspiration to perspicacity of doctrine.
Verse 15 – “All things,” is God the Father’s plan in eternity past, the plan that glorified the humanity of Christ, the intensification of the angelic conflict in the change of dispensation.
Verse 16 – the disciples have a hang-up.
“A little while” – mikron is an adjective used as an adverb. It is used to express a very short period of time, usually over a few hours but under 24, though it can be several days. Here it refers to the time between the termination of the Gethsemane discourse and the crucifixion the next day.
“ye shall not see me – present active indicative of qeorew. Note that we don’t have blepw which means a glance. Another word, o(raw, means a panoramic view. The word qeorew, used here, means to observe something as a spectator. We have here eleven disciples who are spectators. They are out of it; they are not able to bear the doctrine.
“no longer” is the adverb o)uketi, and it means no more. Corrected translation: “Yet a little while, you shall observe me no more.”
This is a reference to the crucifixion which involves the two deaths of Christ on the cross. As a result of the physical death of Christ they will no longer see Him on the earth.
“and again” – again is another adverb, palin, which means again and it introduces the paradox.
“a little while” is the adverb mikron again. This time it is a different elapse of time—the time between the death and resurrection of Christ (three days).
“ye shall see” – future middle indicative of o(raw, a panoramic view. Once Christ is raised from the dead they have a panoramic view. Before He died on the cross it was qeorew. Future tense: the resurrection is future from the moment He is speaking. Middle voice: He Himself will be resurrected. The indicative mood is the reality of the resurrection. This means to have a panoramic view of the resurrection.
“because I go” – because indicates the fact that the resurrection must precede the ascension of Christ; I go is the present active indicative of u(pagw. Christ goes away in the sense of leaving the earth and this is used for the ascension. The present tense is a dramatic present; the ascension of Jesus Christ is a dramatic moment.
“to the Father” – the preposition proj plus the accusative means face to face with the Father. That is the session of Christ—Christ seated at the right hand of the Father.
Verse 17 – the disciples appear to be a little sheepish because they have a feeling they should have learned these things over the past three years. They are talking among themselves And they have so little doctrine between them it is obvious they are not going to come up with answers.
Verse 18 – “we cannot tell what he says.” Cannot is dunamai and it means we are not able—imperfect tense, we are not able now and don’t think we ever will be able to. They are a little discouraged. We cannot tell is we do not know—tell is o)ida for knowledge.
“what he saith” is a present active indicative of lalew, which means to communicate.
Verses 19-22 – a clarification. To clarify, Jesus quotes the phrase again.
Verse 19 – “Now Jesus knew.” This is ginwskw which means to know from the experience of observation; “they were desirous” – they desired, the imperfect tense of qelw, they kept on wishing.
“to ask” – e)rwtaw, which means to interrogate. This is a present active infinitive. Present tense, linear aktionsart, they wanted to keep asking questions so that they could get it. Active voice: they were now interested. The infinitive indicates their purpose.
“Do you enquire” means Do you have an insatiable desire—zetew, present linear aktionsart; “of that I said” – concerning what I said.
Jesus then quotes again what He had said. This is the third time the statement had been quoted and it is obvious that the disciples have failed to absorb doctrine. This particular phrase is a paradox but it is a paradox resolved by doctrine.
Jesus is going to start out with an explanation in a very simple way. He is going to first of all describe their reactions when the first mikron occurs. The first time is between Gethsemane and the cross; the second time is between the cross and the resurrection. In the first period they are going to weep and wail; in the second period they are going to rejoice. The first is going to be tough on them because they are minus doctrine. The second is going to be great because they are carried along by a victory in which they actually had no part whatever, and there is eventually going to be grace orientation and a desire for doctrine, at which time this will come true.
Verse 20 – “Verily, verily” is a point of doctrine; “I say” – He is simply going to tell them; “unto you” – dative of advantage.
“ye shall weep” – future active indicative of kleiw. This is operation cry-baby, disorientation, frustration, and an expression of a terrible mental attitude.
“and lament” – qrhnew, which means to sing a funeral dirge, or it means to be depressed by death. It is an expression of strong despondency or depression. The reason that they are going to be discouraged and depressed is because they are minus doctrine and have scar tissue on the soul. All the disciples at this point have some scar tissue on the soul, some more and some less. So they have to express their frustration through the word qrhnew—a terrible despondency. It is disorientation to a crisis simply because of lack of doctrine.
The interesting this is that we have two pictures at the cross. We have the disciples under the concept of qrhnew and we have Jesus under the concept of xara—joy: “Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.” He stayed under [u(pomenw] our sins. And what did He have when He did so? He had xara, an ECS based upon residual doctrine in His human soul, and that carried Him on the cross. The disciples fell apart; they were minus doctrine, they had qrhnew.
“but” is a conjunction of contrast. What is the world going to do? It happens every time. The world is a part of Satan’s system, the kosmoj. The world of unbelievers are going to xairw while the disciples are qrhnew. The world’s rejoicing is simply an inner stimulation of the soul as an attitude (very brief) because apparently the world system assumes that the death of Christ is their victory. But through the resurrection they discover that the death of Christ is their defeat. And the spiritual death of Christ is our salvation.
Ye shall be sorrowful” – lupew means to have sorrow, future passive indicative. The passive tells us that they received their sorrow because they lacked doctrine. It also indicates inner distress in their souls, disorientation to God’s plan.
“but” – conjunction of contrast between the disorientation and discouragement of the disciples, based on their ignorance of doctrine and scar tissue. It is going to be changed now.
“your sorrow [luph, the noun] shall be turned into joy” – should be shall become, ginomai, which means to become something you were not. This is a future passive indicative again; “joy” – xara, inner happiness.
Verse 21 – “travail” is the word tiktw; “hath sorrow” – keeps on having, present active indicative. The word for sorrow is luph again. This is an illustration used for the disorientation of the disciples because of their ignorance of doctrine.
“as soon as” – the adverb o(tan which means whenever or at the point of.
“she is delivered of the child” – aorist active subjunctive of gennaw, to give birth.
“she remembereth no more the anguish” – the word here changes from luph to qliyij which means pressure; it describes birth.
“for” is because of, dia plus the accusative; “the joy.” Translation: “ … for whenever she gives birth to the child she no longer remembers the pressure because of the joy.” Knowledge of doctrine removes scar tissue. The disciples had scar tissue but they are going to inhale doctrine and they are going to exhale doctrine. That wears down the scar tissue.
Verse 22 – “but I will see you again,” referring to His resurrection; “and [when I see you again] your heart” – refers to the lungs of the soul; “shall rejoice” – future passive indicative of xairw, the verb for inner happiness.
“no one [not man] taketh” – a)irw means to lift up and take away; “from you” – a)po, ultimate source, the ultimate source of you. Once you have it as a part of the ECS there is no way that anyone can remove it.
Verse 23 – “In that day” is a reference to the Church Age. After Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father there will be an elapse of ten days at the end of which the Church Age will begin on the day of Pentecost.
“ye shall ask not anything” – in that day they won’t want to interrogate Him. He is going to use e)rwtaw to start in on prayer. When He gets into prayer He is going to a)itew, which simply means to ask in prayer. The negative o)uden here means nothing. Literally, this is “you shall not ask me nothing” – bad English but good Greek. They can’t interrogate Jesus when He is in heaven.
“Verily, verily [point of doctrine], I say unto you”— for their benefit, this is dative of advantage.
“Whatsoever” – 3rd class condition. This should be translated “If” [maybe you will and maybe you won’t].
“ye shall ask” – now He switches from e)rwtaw to a)itew. Since this is a 3rd class condition it is a subjunctive mood. This is an aorist active subjunctive. Aorist tense: point of time when you pray. Active voice: you are a believer priest and every believer priest can do his own praying. Subjunctive mood: it is a 3rd class condition, maybe you will pray and maybe you will not. A)itew is used for intercessory prayer and for praying for your own needs; e)rwtaw can only be used for a petition in prayer—when you have a problem. Technically, e)rwtaw is not a prayer word, it means to interrogate someone. This is what happened to Paul when he was taken into prison and interrogated by the Roman. But a)itew means to make petition of someone who is absent. We now have a contrast in verbs to show the change in dispensation. A change in dispensation means a dramatic change in prayer. Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of the Father and from now on it is a)itew.
“the Father” – all prayer is addressed to the Father; “in my name” – Jesus Christ is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, so obviously we approach in the name of Christ.
“he” – not Jesus but God the Father. God the Father answers all prayers.
Verse 24 – “Hitherto” is e(wj a)rti, and it means “up to this moment.” Up until now the disciples had not approached the Father through the Son but the policy must now change to conform to the glorification of Christ, the change in dispensation, and the intensification of the angelic conflict.
“have ye asked nothing in my name” – they had to ask Him directly.
“ask” – present active imperative of a)itew, keep on asking; “and [in the future] ye shall receive,” present tense, linear aktionsart. This is the future tense of lambanw.
“that” – purpose clause; “your joy” – h( xara u(mwn, literally, “the joy of you.” This is much more personal. You are a believer priest in the Church. “The joy” is your possession. Joy is inner happiness.
“may be full” – perfect passive subjunctive of plhrow. Inner happiness fills up all the deficiencies of life—Philippians 4:11, 12; Hebrews 13:5,6. The word also means to fully possess. Inner happiness fully possesses the believer during the various functions of his priesthood. It also means to fully influence. Inner happiness fully influences the soul, including the mentality of the soul where a relaxed mental attitude co-exists with joy and inner happiness. Then, it also means to fill up with a certain quality. Inner happiness is the direct result of being filled with the Spirit—Galatians 5:22. And this is directly related to the capacity for love—Romans 5:5. “that the Father hath are mine” – the Father is the author of the divine plan and—present active indicative of e)xw— He had these things and He holds them forever. And Jesus says, “they keep on being mine.” They belong to the Son. In other words, what the Father planned the Son knows. So doctrine is both the Word of God the Father—Hebrews 4:12, and also the mind of Christ—1 Corinthians 2:16; also the voice of the Spirit—Hebrews 3:7. All members of the Trinity are involved in the canon of scripture.
“therefore” is literally, because of this—because the disciples were unable to understand at this time; “I said, he [the Holy Spirit] shall take out from mine, and shall report it back to you.”
Apparently the great vacillation and instability of the disciples does not disturb the Lord and in one very short passage which we will now see we see everything from His sense of humour to his sarcasm. Obviously, He is relaxed about the whole situation. As we go through this passage we see one thing constantly emphasised. Jesus Christ is there at that time as a part of the plan of God the Father, something that was designed in eternity past, something in plan which is older than any person alive the earth at that time; a plan that is so wonderful and marvellous that Jesus Christ now focuses His attention on fulfilling that plan and the fact that Jesus is going to the hour of His triumph—the cross—and the disciples are going to scatter in defeat and sublimation.
Verse 25 – “These things,” refers to the doctrinal briefing regarding the doctrine of the mysteries, the doctrine pertaining to the Church Age.
“have I spoken” – perfect active indicative of the verb lalew, which means to communicate: these things have I communicated. Perfect tense: they were communicated at this time with the result that they stand as a part of the canon of scripture. Active voice: the subject produces the action of the verb and Jesus Christ does the communicating. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that the disciples had been receiving doctrine for three years.
He also describes how he has been communicating to them at this time: “in proverbs” – literally, by means of proverbs, because we have the preposition e)n, and while e)n means in, when it is followed by the locative case it means by means of. Jesus has been using proverbs or analogies to communicate. The word for proverbs is paroimia [o)imia is from o)imoj which means word; para = alongside], which means to put a word by word to teach doctrine. For example, Jesus said in this same discourse, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” That describes one facet of the doctrine of the mysteries. The reason He has communicated to them through analogies (called here proverbs) is because this is the easiest way to communicate something that can be understood the first time.
“the time cometh” – the word for time is not time at all. The word for time is xronoj, but it is not used here; w(ra is used, from which we get our English word hour and this word means a limited portion of time. Some times it refers to an eventful season and it refers to that very short time when Jesus will teach after His resurrection, and then the very early Church teaching. Jesus will teach in a very special way the apostle Paul.
“when I shall no more speak in proverbs” – He will no longer use analogies; they will not be necessary; “but I shall shew plainly” – the word for “shew” is a)paggellw which means to carry back word, to present information from an ultimate source. The verb refers to the New Testament canon as it is formed, completed, and stands forever. Plainly means without any misunderstanding. In other words, the Word of God is so designed in a language that there can be only one interpretation.
“of the Father” should be concerning the Father – the preposition peri, and it has the concept of the Father’s plan designed from eternity past. Eleven of these disciples will go into the Church Age and they must be oriented to the Father’s plan because they are going to be apostles to the Church.
Verse 26 – “At that day” is a reference to the Church Age and specifically to that day in which they lived, the apostolic period.
“ye shall ask” is a future middle indicative of the verb a)itew, a prayer word which means to make a petition to someone who is absent. It will describe prayer in the Church Age. In the Church Age the Father is in heaven, the Son is seated at His right hand, and all prayer is addressed to someone who is, as it were, absent from the earth. During the Old Testament dispensations this was not true. Prayers were offered to the Father in the Old Testament and prayers were also offered to Jesus Christ while He was on earth. There are two Greek words which are used for prayer. One is a)itew which is to offer prayer to someone absent, and the second is e)rwtaw, which means to interrogate but also to ask prayer of someone who is present. Here, ye shall ask is in the future tense and means in the Church Age at a future time. Middle voice: believers will be benefited by prayer. Them indicative mood is the reality of prayer in the Church Age.
“in my name” – reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer approach for the Church Age changes radically. Never again is there going to be a prayer approach as there was in the Old Testament because for the first time in history every believer is a priest, and every believer-priest has the privilege of prayer.
“and I say not” – we have an apparent contradiction here, and there is a principle involved here:
1. “I say not” – present active indicative of legw plus the negative o)u. Here this means I do not promise. Jesus is not making a promise.
2. Jesus is removing the false impressions among the disciples that he Himself must process every prayer personally. For example, some people think that praying in the name of Jesus means that you shoot it up to Jesus Christ and He takes up the ball from there and goes to the Father with it. It isn’t necessary and Jesus is removing the false impression from the disciples who at this time are all mixed up. Their false impression is that Jesus must beseech the Father regarding every prayer that they utter. They go directly to the Father in the name of Jesus.
3. Every believer in the Church Age has direct contact with the throne of grace—Hebrews 4:16.
4. To pray in the name of Jesus must not be construed as Jesus must do the asking to the Father. Rather, this is a direct approach of the believer priest to the throne of grace.
5. It is also true that the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest will intercede for us—Hebrews 7:25. However, this verse (John 16:26) emphasises our direct approach to the Father as a priest, and this direct approach is through the Son. We can go directly to Him as a priest because we are in union with Christ.
6. “I will pray” – future active indicative of e)rwtaw which means to make a petition face to face. The fact that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and makes face to face petitions on our behalf does not in any way hinder a direct shot with our own petitions. During the Church Age the Father is the recipient of prayer from Jesus Christ—Hebrews 7:15; He is the recipient of prayer from the Holy Spirit—Romans 8:29; He is also the recipient of prayers from the believer priest. So Jesus says, “I do not say that I will not pray for you [I will].”
Verse 27 – “For the Father himself loveth you.” The word loveth is the present active indicative of filew—present tense, linear aktionsart, He keeps on loving
you all the time. Active voice: it comes from Him. Whatever God does to you He always does it, therefore it is in the indicative mood: the reality of the fact that God loves you when you are carnal, when you are spiritual, with scar tissue, with an ECS; He loves you no matter what. That is filew. This is a total love of His essence.
“because you” – prefect active indicative; “have loved me.” They haven’t seen the Father—John 1:18. But they have seen Christ—they haven’t seen Him yet, but they will because the Bible is the mind of Christ and they are going to take it in. This is hope for the disciples. When they get an ECS then they are going to respond with filew love. They are not mature yet but they will be once they get doctrine.
“and have believed” – perfect tense of pisteuw. This does not refer to salvation. Here it is used for the faith-rest technique—maximum faith-rest coming from an ECS. There are at leats three responses through the left bank of the soul when you get an ECS: a) Category #1 love; b) Maximum faith-rest; c) Prayer.
Verse 28 – “I came forth from the Father.” This is the beginning of the Father’s plan in the incarnation. Aorist tense: the point of the virgin birth. Active voice: First advent. Indicative mood: the reality of the first advent.
“and am come into the world” – perfect tense, He came into the world for a purpose. The perfect tense indicates the hypostatic union. Active voice: Christ executes the Father’s plan in hypostatic union. The indicative mood is the reality of the hypostatic union. And remember that Jesus Christ came to the devil’s kingdom in order to defeat the devil.
“and go” – present active indicative of poreuomai, which means to go from one place to another. After His death, burial and resurrection He was going to ascend at the completion of the Father’s plan. This is a futuristic present. Sometimes an event is so real and so close it is put in the present tense which means it is a future, a near future which is a dramatic and sure moment.
“to the Father” is proj plus the accusative, face to face with the Father.[1]
Verse 29 – “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb [no longer in analogy].” He was making it simple for them and they said, Now we understand you.
Verse 30 – an insult to the Lord. “Now are we sure that thou knowest all things.” What they actually said, was “Now we are o)ida, o)ida,”—twice together: Now we know that you know. Jesus Christ has been teaching them for three years and they have just decided that He knows what He is talking about.
“and needest not that any man should ask thee” – we won’t even ask you any more questions.
“by this we believe that you came from the ultimate source [a)po] of God” – we believe it now! Notice: They weren’t going to ask any more questions, so Jesus answers a question for them.
Verse 31 – “Do you now believe?” He now asks them a question. This is faith-rest, which goes hand-in-hand with learning doctrine. Well, isn’t that great; now you are going to fall flat on your face!
Verse 32 – “Behold, the hour cometh.” This is that short period of time. The word cometh is present tense for dramatic present.
“yea, is now come” – perfect tense: it is here, it is on us.
“that” introduces a result clause; “ye shall be scattered” – skorpizw, which means dispersed, but it means to be defeated and dispersed. Aorist tense: a point of time; the crisis; the crucifixion. Passive voice: they have received dispersal, they have already been defeated. They have said they believed with scar tissue and there isn’t enough time in 24 hours to get enough teaching to rid them of the scar tissue. You don’t get rid of scar tissue over night; sometimes it takes years of daily Bible study. They are less than two hours from the crisis and in two hours they will be scattered in defeat, running in cowardice.
“every man” – literally, each one of you; “to his own” – idioj, to his own little line of retreat. They all have their line of retreat and they are all going to run in all directions. And when they all run, who is going to stay behind? Mary Magdalene. She is the first person to whom the Lord will reveal Himself. Why? Because she has an ECS. Right now she is so far ahead of those disciples that they aren’t even close to being in the same league. She is the one who stands fast.
“and shall leave me alone” – the word leave alone means to desert. Jesus was deserted by all the disciples at the cross, with the exception of John. That is why we have the subjunctive mood of “ye shall be scattered.”
“and yet I am not alone” – I am is e)imi, present linear aktionsart, I am never alone. The word for alone is monoj. Why? “Because the Father keeps on being with me.”
Verse 33 – “These things I have spoken unto you” – perfect tense; “that” – purpose clause; “in me ye might have peace.” What does “in me” mean? This doesn’t refer at this moment to union with Christ because that did not exist. But they are going to see something. How does Jesus go to the cross and stay there? He does so on the basis of the fact that he has doctrine in the soul. He has an ECS and He fulfils the Father’s plan for His life. He has it; He uses it’ He goes to the cross, ands they will get encouragement from this because they will know that Jesus Christ stayed and all sins were judged. They will know after resurrection what fools they had been, and they will take encouragement from the fact that even though Jesus was deserted by them, while they were being defeated He was being victorious.
“In the world you shall have tribulation [pressure]: but be of good cheer”—qarsew, which means to have confidence; keep on having confidence, present active imperative. He is saying in effect, “You said you had confidence in me; you don’t have enough confidence now to get out of scar tissue, but keep on having confidence and you will eventually lose scar tissue and get an ECS. Even though you have failed grace is going to take up the slack for you. Why? Because I am going to win the battle for you—“I have overcome the world.” That is grace; that is the work of God; that is what Jesus Christ did at the cross, and that is the answer to your life right now.