A Day of Rejoicing

Singing was indeed exceptional
today, and obviously it had everything to do with the content, the lyric
line, and thank you to those who led us in song. If you would
take your Bibles and turn back to John chapter 16, I remarked
to my brother just briefly, to Steve who filled in for me last
week, just how perfectly His message dovetailed and folded
in between these two messages on the same text. We started
in John chapter 16, verse 16, two weeks ago. And in God’s providence,
this is how it falls out that we return to John chapter 16
on Resurrection Sunday. Jesus is still in the upper room. He is still trying to assuage
the concerns, the fears of his apostles. He is still trying
to comfort them, trying to explain some of the things that he has
said to them. They still don’t grasp what it
is that he’s doing. And now they are just minutes,
really, from his arrest, just hours from his crucifixion. And so Jesus once again is trying
to communicate to these men, his dear apostles, the overall
plan of what they could expect in the days to come. And that’s
what he communicates to them regarding the resurrection beginning
in verse 16 of John chapter 16. A little while and you will no
longer see me. And again a little while and
you will see me. Some of its disciples then said
to one another, what is this thing he is telling us? A little
while and you will not see me. And again a little while and
you will see me. And because I go to the Father, So they were
saying, what is this that he says a little while? We do not
know what he’s talking about. Jesus knew that they wished to
question him. And he said to them, are you
deliberating together about this? That I said a little while and
you will not see me in again a little while and you will see
me? Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament
but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief
will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor,
she has pain because her hour has come. But when she gives
birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because
of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore,
you too have grief now, but I will see you again and your heart
will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. The disciples were much like
us. It’s easy to sit and be critical
of them, maybe think them to be dull and dim-witted, slow
on the uptake of spiritual truth, but Jesus is so patient with
them. And he’s been leading them and
teaching them, teaching them last lessons, beginning with
the washing of their dirty feet. And right up until the very end,
Jesus will love them in the most practical terms. He wants them
to understand. He wants them to have hope. He
wants them to rejoice at the proper time. And so he tells
them, verse 16, a little while, and you will no longer see me.
He wants them to understand what he’s been alluding to for some
time. In John 7, verse 33, a little while longer I am with you, then
I go to him who sent me. He reminded them in John 13,
there in the upper room, little children, I am with you a little
while longer. He wanted them to know that he
was leaving. He wanted them to know that they
had a very short time left together with one another. And he reminds
them again in John 14, a little while and the world will no longer
see me. Jesus wants them to know and
he tells them once again of his impending departure, but he also
adds After he says you will no longer see me, he says again
a little while and you will see me. This is new. He wants them
to have hope. And he adds that there will be
a return after his departure. They will see him again. And
even with that hopeful statement, rather than dwelling on that
last and final and hopeful statement, they dwell instead on the enigma
that that is the total package of those statements. Look at
verse 17. Some of his disciples then said
to one another, what is this thing that he’s telling us? A
little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while
and you will see me because I go to the Father. They were rolling
it all in together now. Adding that statement in from
John chapter 16, verse 10, they were gathering data and they
weren’t making any sense of the data. They didn’t understand
even still what Jesus was pointing to. And so they’re murmuring
and muttering and almost criticizing Christ for not opening the floodgates
of revelation and letting them in on the complete and total
understanding of his plan of redemption. So in verse 18 it says that they
were saying, what is this that he says a little while? What
does that mean? Their curiosity is intensifying. They are stupefied as to what
Jesus means and Jesus in his graciousness allows them to stew. He allows the tension to build
until just the right moment. Then he steps in and he wants
to tell them the good news. He wants to tell them about his
departure and his return. The Lord wants to point to a
day of rejoicing after a night of weeping. Look at verse 19.
Jesus knew that they wished to question him. Jesus knew all
of them. Jesus knew everything about them.
Jesus knows what we’re thinking. Jesus knows our struggles. And
Jesus knew these men, not just from walking with them, but as
God himself, he knew their hearts. And he knew they wished to question
him. And he said to them, are you deliberating together about
this? This simple truth which for us,
we can look back and we read those verses, and without much
difficulty, we can determine within reason what those words
are pointing to. After a little while, you will
not see me. After a little while, you will
see me again. We’ll touch on those in a moment. But even those simple words,
Jesus says, you can’t grasp that. Are you deliberating together
about this? That I said a little while and
you will not see me, and a little while and you will see me? As
we saw last, or several weeks ago, those two sentences are
related. And what we do with the first
sentence has implications on what we do with the second. What
do they mean? You’ll note that there are two
elements to each sentence, as we saw. In each of those sentences,
there is a reference to time, a temporal element, a little
while, Jesus says. And in each sentence, there is
a promise. You will. And as I suggested
several weeks ago, we have to interpret those very carefully.
And they serve as checks and balances on what direction we
take. told you several weeks ago that
there were three primary views on those two promises. You will not see me, and you
will see me. And we looked at the first position,
one that we were able to set aside very quickly. What does
Jesus mean, a little while and you will not see me, and a little
while and you will see me? There have been those in church
history that tried to suggest that what Jesus is talking about
here is the period of time between Christ’s death and his second
coming. But I suggested to you that if you look at that little
time clause, remember that check and balance? If you look at that
little time clause, a little while, it seems quite unreasonable
and probably the idea was set aside within months, really,
after Jesus didn’t return in his second coming. We set that idea aside, but there
was a second option that we considered briefly. These promises, a little
while you will not see me, a little while you will see me. There
were those that suggested that this refers to Christ’s ascension
and a kind of a spiritual apprehension that we have of Christ after
Pentecost. You will see me spiritually is
the suggestion. We looked at this as well. And there are some plausible
arguments for this position. One of them is that Jesus has
been speaking about the Holy Spirit all the way along in John
16. And so to have a spiritual perception
of Christ certainly is a logical conclusion. But Jesus Jesus has
spoken of the Holy Spirit and certainly now seems to have changed
his subject matter looking at his departure and his return.
There’s another major problem that we reviewed several weeks
ago. Jesus goes on to say that whatever
this period of time is between his departure and his return,
It’s gonna be followed by a time of grief. Can you imagine 2,000
years of grieving? That idea is set aside immediately. But even 40 days of grieving? 40 days until the Pentecost,
until the coming of the Holy Spirit? I don’t think that’s what it’s
pointing to at all. There was a time of grieving.
And it says it three times in this section. Look at verse 20.
Truly, truly, I will say to you a weep and lament. The world
will rejoice. You will grieve. Look at verse
21. He likens it to a woman in labor. Whenever a woman is in labor,
she has pain because her hour has come. Look at verse 22. You
have grief now. One of the arguments used to
support the idea that Jesus is talking here about the Ascension
and Pentecost is the suggestion that the disciples became sad
again after the Ascension. They had been with Christ 40
days. Now he goes up to heaven, they don’t see him anymore, and
because of that they are grieved. The only problem with that is
that that’s not what the scriptures say. It isn’t what we see in
Acts chapter 1. There is no despondency. There
is no grieving. There’s no sorrow. There’s no
hopelessness. It isn’t what we see in Acts
chapter 2 in the giving of the Holy Spirit. There is no despondency. There is no 40 days of grieving. There is no 2,000 years of grieving. I think it points to something
entirely different. Because in fact, When you try
to liken this view of Christ to a spiritual view, the problem
with that is the disciples did see Jesus again with their bodily
eyes. They didn’t say that they just
perceived Christ spiritually. They beheld him. They saw him. During the 40-day period, they
saw him repeatedly. the spiritual vision of Christ
after Pentecost, that might be a plausible view had the disciples
not seen Jesus, but they had. And that changes everything.
In fact, that is exactly what the angel predicted when the
women came to the tomb and found nothing but an empty tomb. And
the angel said, go tell his disciples that he’s been risen from the
dead, and behold, he’s going ahead of you into Galilee. There
you will see him. They saw him. Finally, the apostles themselves,
they certainly embrace the ascension of Christ and Pentecost, the
giving of the Holy Spirit as spiritual blessings. They embrace
them as spiritual blessings, but you know what? The apostles
almost never mention those two fantastic episodes again. In Acts chapter one. Go ahead and turn to Acts chapter
one. In Acts chapter one, the apostles
are there with Christ. As I suggested to you two weeks
ago, there is no morose, downcast mood among them. They are not
grieving as Christ goes. But watch this. After he had
said these things, he was lifted up. That’s one word I want you
to notice. And it’s one Greek word, he was lifted up. While
they were looking on, and a cloud received him, that’s another
word I want you to notice, out of their sight. Look at verse
10. As they were gazing intently
into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing
stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee,
why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been
taken up from you into heaven will come just the same. That’s
the third word I want you to notice. He will come in just
the same way as you’ve watched him go into heaven. The two of the three words that
refer to Christ’s ascension here, and that’s almost how you have
to build it, there is no one word that points to his ascension. All three of the words could
be taken individually as suggesting his ascension. He was lifted
up, God took him up, and he was taken up. All three of those
words could point to the ascension, but those first two words, They’re
never even used again to speak of Christ’s ascension, never.
Now the third word, the one that we find there in verse 11, he
has been taken up from you, that third word is used one time to
speak of Christ’s ascension. We looked at this passage not
long ago, 1 Timothy 3.16, listen. By common confession, great is
the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh,
vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the
nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. That is the only place that that
word occurs in reference to the ascension of Christ. But the
subject of the resurrection? It’s an entirely different story.
The fact of Jesus’ resurrection was, as my brother said, the
very foundation of the apostles’ teaching. And so there was a
third perspective that we considered, that when Jesus says, a little
while and you will not see me, and again, a little while and
you will see me, he was referring to his impending death and burial
and ultimately, to his resurrection. When Jesus says, a little while
and you will not see me, he’s referring there to his death
and his burial. The first sentence, that first
promise, a little while and you will not see me, is talking about
Jesus’ departure, not his ascension. It’s talking about his death. and that temporal clause that
we talked about and said that it was so important it serves
as a check and a balance, a little while can only refer now to the
mere hours before the events of the following evening. Jesus’
crucifixion and ultimately his death followed by his burial. In just a short time now, a little
while, Jesus will be taken from their view. They will not be
able to physically see him anymore. But again, a little while, the
second promise is fulfilled. And as I suggested to you, the
first little while refers to about a 24 hour period of time.
And the second little while indicates approximately the same period
of time from Friday night till Sunday morning. And the second
promise points clearly to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And for the apostles, the resurrection
was enough. They didn’t need to wait 2,000
years for the second coming for their joy to return. They didn’t
even need to wait for the giving of the Holy Spirit just 40 days
off. Their hearts rejoiced when they
saw the Lord Jesus Christ raised. They saw him and seeing him with
their own eyes resurrected from the dead, repeating his visits
to them over those 40 days. It was enough to stop their weeping. It was enough to stop their mourning
and their grief. It was enough to instill in them
a perpetual and unending joy. It was proof enough that Jesus
Christ had vanquished death and that not only those 11, but all
who believe in Jesus Christ would enjoy resurrection for eternity. What a joy. What a joy is the
resurrection because the resurrection is proof that God is almighty. It’s proof that Jesus Christ
is absolutely God in the flesh. It’s proof that God accepted
Christ’s payment for sinners. And it’s proof that death is
not the end. What a joy. And the disciples
saw and believed and rejoiced in all of that. And although
the Apostles rarely ever mentioned the Ascension and Pentecost again,
only allusions, in comparison, consider the Apostles’ treatment
of the resurrection. God’s people are still in the
book of Acts, right? Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
2. Let me take you on Peter’s treatment
of the resurrection. This is what Peter thought of
the resurrection. It was no common viewpoint. It was no just a basic thought
that could be thrown in with Christianity. This was the very
foundation of his gospel preaching ministry. Look at verse 22. Men
of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested
to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed
through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this
man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,
you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men and put
him to death. But God raised him up again. Turn to chapter three. Turn to chapter three, verse
12. Peter is again speaking. When Peter saw this, he replied
to the people, men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or
why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we made
him walk? the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus,
the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate
when he had decided to release him, but you disowned the Holy
and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted you. But put to death the Prince of
Life, the one whom God raised from
the dead. Turn to chapter 4. This was no optional viewpoint
for Peter. The resurrection was the foundation,
not just of his ministry, the foundation of Christianity itself. Look at verse 8. Peter and John,
they’re arrested, they’re on trial. Before the rulers of the
Jews, Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and
elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit
done to a sick man as to how this man had been made well,
let it be made known to all of you and to all the people of
Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, The resurrection was
absolutely key and foundational to the apostles’ message. Turn
to chapter 5. These apostles are imprisoned
again and warned not to preach the gospel. Look at verse 29.
But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than
men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus. Friends, the doctrine of the
resurrection was absolutely crucial. It was indispensable to the gospel
message. Turn to chapter 10. Turn to chapter
10 and look at verse 39. Peter, again, we are witnesses
of all the things he did in both the land of the Jews and Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on the cross, The revelation
of salvation to the Gentiles, God raised him up on the third
day and granted him, granted that he become visible. The resurrection
to Peter was absolutely foundational to the gospel, foundational to
the resurrection. And he says in his first epistle,
Speaking of the glories of Jesus Christ, that he was foreknown
before the foundation of the world, having appeared in these
last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers
in God, who raised him from the dead. Peter could never let go
of the resurrection. Never. What about Paul? Paul wasn’t even there. Take Paul, for example. When Paul is converted, turn
over to Acts chapter 13. There’s no way that we can do
all of these, but I can give you an introduction. Paul is
converted. He has seen the risen Christ.
The risen Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus,
brought him to repentance for his sin. And in chapter 13 verse
30, the core of Paul’s message is that God raised him from the
dead. Jump down to verse 33 of Acts
13. He has fulfilled this promise
to our children in that he raised up Jesus. Look at verse 34. He raised him up from the dead.
Look at verse 37. Whom he raised, whom God raised. The resurrection was absolutely
crucial to the Apostle Paul. Turn over to Acts 17 and we’ll
be done with the book of Acts for this portion. Paul, you remember, is preaching
to the heathen. And he’s telling them about the
God that they did not understand, the God with no name. And he
finally rounds it out in verse 31 by saying that he has fixed
the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through
a man whom he has appointed, the Lord Jesus Christ, having
furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. And in almost every one of Paul’s
epistles, Romans 4, Romans 6, Romans 7, Romans 8, Romans 10,
1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 15, an entire chapter
dedicated to the resurrection. To 2 Corinthians, what a promise. He who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also. Galatians 1.1, Ephesians 1.20,
Colossians 2.12, 1 Thessalonians 1.10, The resurrection to the Apostle
Paul was absolutely crucial to the gospel. They took this doctrine,
the doctrine of the resurrection, as the very core and foundation
of the resurrection. Why? As I told you last week,
because I believe that As Christ went to the cross, those apostles
understood, they began to understand the significance of Christ’s
crucifixion. That He was taking their sin
to the cross, yours and mine as well. And when Christ was
raised, it was proof that God had accepted that payment for their sin. One brother said it this way,
the resurrection of Jesus is proof that death is not the end
of this life. Death is in fact defeated for
all who by faith are united to him. On the basis of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, the believer can have perfect confidence.
The only sure evidence of our resurrection is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ himself. Now for, one way to put it, that is all
review. But Jesus is not finished in
this passage. He wanted his believers, with
regard to his departure and return, he wanted them to understand
the cause and effect, where he was going and when, and how he
was coming back. but he also wants to forecast
the effect that it’s going to have on these men. He’s told
them already. Back to John’s gospel, if you
would, into chapter 16, and I want you to look at verse 20 for a
forecast of this effect that his departure is going to have
upon them and the effect that his return will have. Look at
verse 20, truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief
will be turned into joy.” It’s yet another one of these solemn
sayings that start with truly, truly in John’s gospel. And he says, truly, truly, you
will weep and lament and grieve. At Christ’s crucifixion, his
death, his burial, there would be weeping. That word weeping
is just a general word. It includes every kind of external
manifestation of weeping, sobbing, and tears, and sniffling, and
all the rest. Lament, it’s a more technical
word. You lament it at a funeral. You
lament for the dead. And often it’s translated to
wail. This is where you let it all
go. I spoke to a friend of mine yesterday
who lost a nephew. And he said, there is no grief
like the loss of a child. to weep, and to lament, to wail. To put them together, it’s used
of exactly what took place at Christ’s crucifixion. And then
that third word, grief, it just expresses the inward feeling,
the inward sentiment, deep in the recesses of the body, the
feeling of the heart. And all three of those words
are used to express the same idea that when Christ entered into
his passion, his followers grieved audibly, visibly. They grieved. Peter grieved. Before Jesus was
even on the cross, the Rooster crowed a second time, Mark 14,
72. Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, before
a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he began
to weep. Prophecy fulfilled. Mary wept
as well. Mary standing outside the tomb,
weeping. As she wept, she stooped and
looked into the tomb. The angel said to her, woman,
why are you weeping? Prophecy fulfilled. Luke records that a large crowd
was following Jesus while he was carrying his cross. Following
him was a large crowd of the people, the women, who were mourning
and lamenting him. Same words. But Jesus turned
to them and said, daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping. Stop
weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Jesus’ disciples did all of this. at Christ’s crucifixion and his
death and his burial. But you know what? Look at this.
In the context of this atmosphere of sadness and grief, there is
a contrasting emotion that Jesus introduces. Truly, truly, I say
to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. It almost seems unbelievable
that that would happen. But the world, the hostile Jewish
world that was so dead set against Christ would draw everybody in
by inertia so that even total strangers would be mocking Christ
by the end of it. They couldn’t wait to get rid
of this prophet that spoke against their sin. And that rejoicing
began almost as soon, almost as soon as they had Jesus in
custody. Listen. After Jesus was, pardon me, up
to the point when Jesus is crucified, there’s almost an upbeat, almost
jovial mood as soon as they take him into custody. If it’s not
an outright celebration, it’s certainly upbeat, it’s celebratory,
it’s a jovial mood. Listen as we just do a flyover
over some of the scriptures we read earlier. The Jews are now
clearly in control. They’ve arrested Christ. They
arrogantly begin to abuse him. In John 18, one of the officers
standing nearby struck Jesus. Is that the way you answer the
high priest? And you know that there were
chuckles in the crowd following a very intense interaction in
Matthew chapter 26. The chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders spat in his face, your savior, and beat him with
their fists. And others slapped him and said,
prophesied to us, you Christ, who is the one who hit you? You
can hear the mocking tone in their words. In Luke’s gospel,
the whole thing was something of a game to his captors. Luke
22, 63 says, the men who were beholding who were holding Jesus
in custody were mocking him and beating him. They blindfolded
him and were asking him, saying, prophesy, who is the one who
hit you? The civil authorities reveled
at Christ’s expense, Herod and Pilate. They became friends. It was a day of rejoicing for
them. They became friends with one another that very day, says
Luke’s gospel. In Mark chapter 15, Roman guards
likewise made a mockery of Jesus. The soldiers took Him away into
the palace. They dressed Him up in a purple
robe to mock Him. And after twisting a crown of
thorns, they put it on Him. They began to acclaim Him. Hail,
King of the Jews! They kept beating His head with
a reed, spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.
John goes on to record how they mockingly slapped him in the
face. They even ripped his clothes
to shreds, jokingly hung a sign above his head saying, this is
the king of the Jews. Even random citizens, civilians
joined in on the mistreatment of Christ. Mark 15, those passing
by were hurling abuse at him. Verbal insults, and to the end,
The religious leaders led the way. The chief priests, the scribes,
Matthew says, along with the scribes were mocking him. The
soldiers were mocking him. It was a party. It was a party
at Christ’s expense. And so when Jesus says, truly,
truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world
will rejoice. They’re just now minutes away
from that party starting. You will grieve, but your grief
will be turned into joy. You’re gonna watch this. You’re
gonna be sick to your stomach. Your hearts are gonna be torn
to pieces. And in a matter of moments, that
grief on my behalf is going to be turned to joy. And I want
you to notice, he doesn’t say here at the end of verse 20 that
they’re gonna have a moment of joy. or like the ticking of a
metronome, that they’ll have a moment of joy that then again
is gonna revert back to despondency. And back and forth it will go
until Jesus finally returns. That’s not at all what he says.
He says your grief will be turned, literally transformed into joy. There will be no more grief.
Not like there was before. It’ll be changed. And it was changed for them because
as soon as they realized the resurrection, as soon as they
realized that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, if that
was true, if Jesus Christ said that he would rise again in three
days, if that was true, all the rest of the promises that Christ
made are true. Now I limited myself only to
John’s gospel. Listen to just a quick swing
through some of the promises that Jesus gave these apostles
that now they could see and begin to rejoice. Whoever believes in him will
have eternal life. Do you think that resonated?
That if Jesus Christ said he was gonna raise in three days
and he did, they know that they have eternal life. The dead will
hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will
live. John 5.25. John 5.29, they will come forth,
those who did good deeds, to a resurrection of life. John
6.37, the one who comes to me, I will never cast out. John 6.54,
he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and
I will raise him up on the last day. He will live, he will live
forever. John 7.38, 8.32, 10.9, 10.16,
10.28, I give eternal life to them. John 12, 25, he who loves his
life loses it, he who hates his life in this world will keep
it to life eternal. And the apostles looked at that,
they looked at the resurrection of Christ and they rejoiced because
all the promises were theirs. It wasn’t a moment of joy. It was a settling in, a transformation
of joy in their hearts Thirdly, the Lord is informing his friends
about his departure and his return. He looks not only at the cause
and the effect of that departure and return, the forecast of the
effect, but I want you to see the illustration. The illustration
of the effect, look at verse 21. Whenever a woman is in labor,
she has pain because her hour has come. but when she gives
birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish. Jesus
is talking about his impending departure and the effect that
that is going to have on his friends. He says to them, it’s
going to be very much like a woman in childbirth. In a sense, he
tells them a parable, but it was a very well-known parable,
a very frequently used parable in the Old Testament. God gave
Isaiah this image in response to his coming judgments. Isaiah
21.3. Pains have seized me like the
pains of a woman in labor. Again, to describe Israel’s troubles. Isaiah 26.10. As the pregnant
woman approaches the time to give birth, she writhes and cries
out in her labor pains. Thus we were before you, O Lord. Micah. uses the same exact illustration,
Micah chapter 4. And that’s why I’ve said, and
I’ve gotten in trouble for it before, giving childbirth is
not such a big deal. Because, because of what the
scripture says. Look at verse 21. Whenever a
woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has not yet
come. But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers
the anguish. Can’t feel it anymore. It isn’t
a big deal anymore. And so Jesus uses this common
illustration to speak not only of the suddenness, the extremeness
of the pain that his friends will experience, but also of
its brevity, and when it is gone, it is gone. It won’t last forever. Jesus isn’t talking about his
own pain, his own pain on the cross. He’s talking about his
beloved friend’s pain the pain of their seeming loss at losing
their friend. Jesus makes the comparison that
the disciples grieving will quickly give way to rejoicing. Like a
new mother quickly forgets the pain of childbirth, the disciples’
anguish will completely subside. And not only is the pain relieved,
it is replaced with an exceedingly great joy. Thomas Watson said, Christ is
risen. Therefore the bodies of the saints
must rise. Christ is a pledge of our resurrection
as the first fruits is a sure evidence that the harvest is
coming. So the resurrection of Christ is sure evidence of the
rising of our bodies from the grave. We rejoice and we forget
the pain. Point four. not only the cause and the effect, the forecast
of the effect, the illustration of the effect, but the beginning
of the effect of Christ’s departure and return. Look at verse 22,
therefore you too have grief now. When he says you too, T-O-O,
he’s pointing back to the illustration he’s just provided. Just like
a woman in labor, you also are going to have pain. And it’s
already begun. Your hearts are already grieving. You’re already being torn in
two. Earlier in this same chapter,
Jesus acknowledged their sadness. John 6, or 16.6. Sorrow has filled your heart.
And he acknowledges that such sadness, this grieving is appropriate. You have grief now, and it’s
good and right and appropriate. Jesus is simply explaining to
them the deep inner emotions that have already begun to manifest
itself on his friends. They will grieve, but in a very
real sense, they are already grieving for Christ’s departure. But I want you to watch what
happens. Therefore you have grief now. Peter would end the night weeping
for the boasting and the feebleness that came with it at denying
his own master. You have grief now, but I will
see you again. And your heart will rejoice and
no one will take your joy from you. What an incredible promise
he gave to his friends, that the sorrow of his beloved friends
was going to undergo this sudden transformation, that their joy
was to not just to be an experience, but a fixed position of the heart. You see, these simple men, They
had seen the promises fulfilled in Christ. He had accomplished
their redemption. They knew that his sacrifice
on the cross was accepted in full because he did rise again.
And three days later, just as he promised. And the realization
of that joy flooded their hearts. And it would never fade. And if their sadness was largely
caused by Christ’s crucifixion for their sin, then his resurrection
would be a cause of immeasurable and unending rejoicing. Spurgeon said it this way. He
should rise again on the third day, it would be all over. a
few hours of bitter grief, a night of bloody sweat, a night of mourning
and mockery, a direful afternoon of deadly anguish on the cross,
and then a bowing of the head, a little rest in the grave, and
on the third day, light would break upon mankind, for the sun
of righteousness would arise with healing in his wings. If
our Lord’s record ended at the cross. It should drive us to
despair. But he has declared to be the
son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead. That
he was raised from the dead makes us see the merit, the power,
the great reward of his death. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. One whose death is the source
of salvation. and whose resurrection and eternal
glory are the guarantee and the foretaste of our everlasting
bliss. Would you bow your heads? Our merciful God, we humble ourselves
in your glorious presence and we thank you humbly for the gift
that we never could have demanded, for the salvation that we never
could have earned, for the righteousness that we never could have attained,
for the forgiveness that we never could have purchased. Lord God,
we thank you that in Jesus Christ we have all of those and more. And if there are any here, who
do not know the forgiveness that is available in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord move upon them by your spirit. Make today resurrection day for
them. Make this a day of salvation
for them. A day of forgiveness of sin and
of faith in Jesus Christ. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
amen.