Daily Devotions
John
John 16 : 1 - 15 "SETTING ASIDE FOR THE FUTURE"
Day 234 – John 16
SETTING ASIDE FOR THE FUTURE
Jesus had a number of reasons why He taught His Disciples as He did. Let us consider this statement that He gave to His Disciples!
“But these things I have told you, that when the time comes,
you may remember that I told you of them.”
John 16:4a
The knowledge that Jesus had imparted to them may be classified into two broad categories.
1. The Immediate
There was an immediate need to be met! Soon He would face the severest trial of His life. While He was fully prepared for the tribulation that lay ahead, the Disciples were not. The best way that He could help them cope with the dark hour that would soon descend on them would be to give them God’s Word. They may not fully comprehend all that He had taught them, at least not the minute details, but the truth that He had given them would strengthen their failing hearts! Thus Jesus said to His Disciples,
“These things I have spoken to you,
that you should not be made to stumble.”
John 16:1
2. The Future
There were future needs to be met! The Disciples were of course not able to peer into the future! Jesus could and thus He knew what needed to be done! He must teach them as deeply as possible. The knowledge that He was giving to them would be saved and set aside for future reference! The knowledge that they now possessed would prove invaluable to them in the future. Thus He said,
“…when the time comes, you may remember
that I told you of them.
And these things I did not say to you at the beginning,
because I was with you.”
John 16:4b
THE FOCUS OF JESUS AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS TEACHING MINISTRY
We now have a good idea of how Jesus planned His teaching from a study of this text. Jesus divided His teaching ministry in two parts. The first part of His ministry saw Jesus conscious of His Presence among His Disciples, and of course the multitudes! He performed many marvelous sign-miracles! He preached to the masses. However, this does not mean that He did not set aside time to teach His Disciples deep spiritual lessons.
THE FOCUS OF JESUS AT THE LATTER PART OF HIS TEACHING MINISTRY
The latter part of His ministry was set aside to teach His Disciples deep truths that would stand them in good stead years later. They would require the special assistance of the Holy Spirit to recall and to comprehend all that He had taught them. But the main thing was that they had stored away knowledge that could be recalled at a later date!
UNDERSTANDING THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IN THIS LIGHT
If we were to read the Gospel of John carefully, we would actually appreciate the way in which John wrote his Gospel. He followed Jesus’ outline. Thus the first part of his Gospel saw John describing Jesus in all His glory in His public ministry. This would span the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John.
The second portion of the Gospel of John saw Jesus setting special times to teach His Disciples. His public ministry was over. What remained to be done was His suffering on the Cross to complete the work of atonement. Jesus set aside time to teach His Disciples deep truths that He did not give to the multitudes. This part of the teaching ministry ended with John noting the intercessory prayer of Jesus in John 17.
The remaining chapters of the Gospel of John saw the author describing the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We must learn deep truths from these chapters, but they do not technically form part of the teaching ministry of Jesus!
THE POWER OF RECALL
Jesus was right in His focus! He banked on the power of recall, assisted by the Holy Spirit. Certain truths that had escaped the understanding of the Disciples would be understood at a later stage. Nothing that he had taught would be lost! Let us take a look at how John recorded the power of recall in his Gospel. Thank God for the power of recall!
“Then His Disciples remembered that it was written,
‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’ “
John 2:17
“Therefore, when He had risen from the dead,
His Disciples remembered that he had said this to them;
and they believed the Scripture
and the word which Jesus had said.”
John 2:22
“His Disciples did not understand these things at first;
but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered
that these things were written about Him and that
they had done these things to Him.”
John 12:16
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My Name, He will teach you all things,
and bring to your remembrance all things that I said
to you.”
John 14:26