We are coming to the very end of the Son of God’s earthly life. This is Yeshua’s last meal with His disciples. Within 24 hours He will be arrested, abandoned by most of His disciples, given several unfair trials, tortured and crucified. Yeshua knows all this, and so, these are His final words, His final Torah, to His chosen men. One might reasonably assume that these things are some of the most important things that Messiah wants those who follow Him to know.
Just as He told them many times before, again He tells His disciples about His coming death and resurrection. Let’s begin with verse 16: A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me. But even the men who knew Him best, even after all His efforts to communicate the reality and importance of His coming death and resurrection, still didn’t understand His words.
Some of His 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’?” (which Yeshua had said earlier – see 16:5) So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” The disciples were discussing Yeshua’s statements among themselves, but they were hesitant to ask Yeshua directly to clarify His statements and help end their confusion. In spite of this, Yeshua, full of wisdom and understanding, 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, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Truly, truly, I say to you with the utmost sincerity and truthfulness and reliability, that you will weep and lament – because your beloved Rabbi, and the One you believe to be the Messiah of Israel, will die an unfair and terrible and humiliating death, but the world will rejoice. There will many people who will be delighted about My demise; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy – because the reason for your grief will be reversed! I won’t remain dead very long! Your tears may last for the night, but your joy will come in the morning!
To explain the situation, Yeshua gives them an analogy: Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come – and the closer the time comes for her to give birth, for that baby to come out of her womb and go through the birth canal, which is quite small compared to the baby, the woman has pain; 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. Ladies, is that true?
Therefore you too have grief now – but the pain will only be short-lived, and then something fantastic will happen that will make you hardly think about the pain that you are about to go through. But I will see you again – I’m coming back to life, and your heart will rejoice – you will experience a new happiness, a joy that will come from deep within your innermost being – and no one will take your joy away from you.
No one will be able to take away your joy, even if they persecute you, and call you names, and make fun of you, because your joy doesn’t come from your circumstances. Your source of happiness comes from knowing that I the risen Messiah, and I’ve overcome the ruler of this world, and the powers of sin and death, and because I am alive forever, you too will be alive with Me forever, and that’s what the purpose of life is all about – finding Me in this life, and then being faithful to Me, and then living forever with Me in the World to Come. That’s a successful life! That’s a victorious life! That’s fulfilling the reason why God placed you in this world!
Not only will we have a new source of joy, but Messiah also promises us a new understanding: In that day you will not question Me about anything. In other words, Messiah’s death and resurrection will help everything make sense. We are able to understand the Scriptures, and especially the Messianic prophecies, and the things in the Word of God that points to Him. The things that Yeshua said while He was on Earth will make sense.
May I say that I had this kind of experience in my life? This new ability to understand reality that helps everything make sense? When I was nineteen years old, and started reading the Bible for the first time on my own, and understood that Yeshua was the true Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior, who had come from Heaven to Earth, and died and rose again, and that the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments were the inspired Word of God, suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle came together for me. All my various academic studies – science, history, art, music, all of the books that I read, all of the experiences I had, now had a coherent context. They fit into their proper place and everything made sense for the first time. I finally understood the big picture.
What a great blessing it is to have this new understanding! How sad it is for those who remain in so much darkness, who are always learning but unable to come to the knowledge of the truth, who think they are wise and understanding, who assume they know, but they really don’t know.
A new source of joy that can’t be taken away from us, a new understanding, that helps the Scriptures and life to really make sense, and now Messiah promises the disciples, and us, that we will have a new ability to pray.
Truly, truly, I say to you – with the utmost reliability and truthfulness, so that you can depend on this truth: if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. I want you to be full of happiness, and knowing that God will answer your prayers that are prayed in My name will add greatly to your happiness.
But, we must pray to God in the name of Yeshua. So what does it mean to pray in the name of Yeshua? It does not mean praying a prayer – maybe a bad prayer (Lord, help me win the lottery, and I’ll half to Shema), a prayer against the will of God, and then tacking on “‘in Yeshua’s name, amen” at the end.
When we pray in the name of Yeshua, it means that we are praying as He would pray. We are praying for the things that He thinks are important. How did Yeshua pray? What did He pray for? In the Sermon on the Mount He gave us “the Lord’s Prayer” which serves as a model pray for us to base our prayers on. That give us a good idea about the things that we should be praying for.
Our Father who is in Heaven, sanctified be Your name: We pray that God Himself would be treated the way His character and nature deserves – with holy reverence and fear.
May Your kingdom come: We pray that God’s rule would be extended to the lives of everyone who lives.
May Your will be done, on Earth as it is done in Heaven: We pray that God’s will would be done among human being quickly, eagerly, and with joy.
Give us this day our daily bread: we ask God to provide for the necessities we need for each day – not for wealth and luxury.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us: we ask the Lord to make us forgiving and gracious.
Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil! We ask His help to resist temptation and overcome evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever! We acknowledge that God eternally has the power and authority to answer our prayers.
In the very next chapter, John 17 there is a great prayer there, and we hope to study the Lord’s great prayer there, and see what concerned Yeshua, and what He prayed for. In the Garden of Gethsemene He expressed to God that if it was possible, He would prefer to avoid the suffering involved with the redemption of humanity, but then finally prayed, “Not My will, but Your will, be done.” On the cross He prayed, “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.” Right before He died He prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”
What characterized Yeshua’s prayers? Asking for greater material wealth? Additional creature comforts? A more successful career? Or did His prayers burn with zeal to serve God despite all opposition, for the strength to be faithful and obedient to God, for the grace to fulfill the mission God gave Him of world redemption? Didn’t He pray for His disciples to be strengthened and endure and fulfill their mission?
When we pray in the name of Yeshua, we are praying in agreement with His mind and will. When we pray in the name of Yeshua, it’s as if Yeshua is giving us “power of attorney”- authority to truly represent Him before His Father, praying for the things that He wants to have accomplished. We are praying as His disciples, His friends, His coworkers, joined to Him and the Father. We are praying because of our new position with God and Messiah, praying with a new measure of spiritual authority.
Let me say that it is possible to pray in the name of Yeshua, without adding the words, “in Yeshua’s name, Amen.” Adding the words, “In Yeshua’s name” doesn’t give added wight or power to our prayers, and rarely, if ever, are prayers found in the New Testament with “in Yeshua’s name” tacked on at the end.
A new source of joy, a new understanding of reality, along with understanding what is really important to God and Messiah, so that we have a new ability to pray properly, so that our prayers will be answered, and now Yeshua promises them a new clarity of communication: These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.
After Messiah came back to life, He fulfilled this promise. He spent almost 50 days on Earth with His disciples, answering their questions, and teaching them plainly about God, and opening their understanding of the Scriptures. And we are the direct beneficiaries of that plain talk about God. These special chosen men heard this plain truths about God, and then integrated those truths into their writings, which form the New Testament Scriptures. So, what we have here, in these writings, is Messiah’s plain teaching about God.
In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. In other words, because of Messiah’s mediation for us, His work of bringing us near to God, we will have a new relationship with God, characterized by acceptance and love. That new relationship enables God to hears and answers our prayers.
But you must understand that this wonderful new and intimate relationship with God rests on the foundation of our love and faith in Messiah Yeshua. We must love Him – having positive thoughts about Him, and appreciating Him, and obeying Him, because true love for Messiah means obeying Him. And we must believe that He came forth from God – that He comes from Heaven, with the blessing and the authority and truthfulness of God Himself.
Now, toward the very end of His Torah, Yeshua speaks to the disciples in language that is unmistakably clear: I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father. He is about to die, come back to life, and ascend to Heaven, to be with His Father, having successfully completed His mission of human redemption. By speaking in such a clear way, speaking directly to the confusion of the disciples, Yeshua reveals that He knows exactly what they are thinking.
Well, the disciples are impressed by Yeshua’s ability to know exactly what they are thinking, even when they haven’t expressed their thoughts to Him. His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”
The disciples believe that He came from God. They can say about Yeshua, “Baruch HaBa b’Shem Adonai – Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Yeshua, You are the Messiah who comes from God, bearing His power and authority!”
That’s good, but there is faith, and there is faith, and their belief is not yet what is should be, what it needs to be. If their faith was what is should be, they would not abandon their Rabbi to save their own lives within the next 24 hours! They would protect their King and stand by Him at all costs.
Yeshua knew their faith was lacking, as He likewise knows where our faith is deficient, which will cause us problems, and so Yeshua answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. Yeshua points out to them that they are weak in faith, and that their lack of faith will cause them to abandon the One who should never be abandoned. And, He will do the same thing to us.
“Loren, you are not where you should be in your relationship with Me. You are not as faithful, as dedicated, as committed, as you need to be. You are not doing some of the things that you need to be doing. You need to reassess some things, and return to your first love for Me, otherwise, I foresee trouble up ahead. Let’s change things before then. What do you say?”
Finally, Yeshua promises them a new peace. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” In this fallen, corrupt world full of sin, we are going to have troubles. They are unavoidable. There will be all kinds of troubles that come our way – big ones and small ones, long ones and short ones, physical troubles and spiritual troubles; troubles that we cause by our own mistakes, and troubles caused by the sins of others.
Some will have troubles in the work place, because they refuse to violate God-honoring standards of ethics and morality. Some will suffer with chronic illnesses that don’t seem to have an end in sight. Some are in love with somebody who doesn’t love them. Some will have troubles in their marriages. Some will have troubles with unemployment and uncertainty about being able to make ends meet. Almost everyone will be troubled by the death of somebody they loved very much. Some parents have a rebellious child who has brought great suffering into their family. Some will struggle with sadness, maybe even depression that they just can’t shake. All of us should suffer for proclaiming our faith in Yeshua, and being publicly identified with Him.
In the world we will have troubles. They can’t be avoided. But we can endure the troubles if we are in Him, which means joined to Him, properly connected and close to Him. We can have peace in spite of our troubles in this world – a peace that passes all human understanding, as we understand that just as Messiah has overcome all His troubles on Earth, and all the bad things in the world, things like Satan, sin and death, and is forever with God, in His glorified and resurrected body, we will be there too one day! We can have shalom shalom – perfect, complete peace, in spite of our troubles, in the midst of our troubles, because our well-being is not dependent on our situation in the world, but our union with the Son of God, which no one can take away!
A new source of joy, that can’t be taken away, a new understanding, that helps life to finally make sense, a new ability to pray, a new relationship with God, and a new peace – these are Messiah’s final promises to His people. Are you experiencing them? I hope so. Maybe the Son of man is speaking to you right now, pointing out areas that you need to work on, revealing some things that you may need to change so that you will be full of faith and faithfulness? I hope so.