Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, `In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and `Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by `a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
John 16: 17-18 (NIV)
Scripture: John 16
Those poor disciples. We give them such a bad rap. I mean, we have to take things on faith. They got to take things on sight. That wasn’t always easy for them. This devotion talks about how the disciples struggled — and how we struggle — to understand Jesus’ death.
In this passage, Jesus was still talking to the disciples after the Passover Meal and the Lord’s Supper. He was trying to prepare them for His coming death.
To read What Is the Significance of Jesus Observing Passover?, click the button below.
But the disciples weren’t getting what Jesus was saying. The disciples hadn’t really understood what Jesus was saying any of the times He predicted His death. Let’s take a look at the other predictions.
Jesus Predicted His Own Death
Matthew 16: 21, Mark 8: 31, and Luke 9: 21-22 all told of the first time Jesus predicted His death. Luke wrote, “And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day’” (9: 21-22 NKJV).
The second prediction was recorded in Mark 9: 31 and Matthew 17: 22-23. “For He taught His disciples and said to them, ‘The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day’” (Mk. 9: 31 NKJV).
Matthew alone described the third and fourth predictions. “Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again’” (Mt. 20: 17–19 NKJV). “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified’” (Mt. 26:1-2 NKJV).
To read Did Jesus Have a Goal?, click the button below.
The disciples just didn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them. This time, He not only talked about going away, but He also talked about coming back and going on a trip to see Dad with the time frame of “a little while.” That really confused them.
What Does This Mean?
If the disciples thought that Jesus was just talking about a trip, they were probably wondering why they weren’t invited. I mean, they had all been in each other’s back pocket for the past three years. It didn’t sound like any were wanting a break from the others.
But they probably would have understood that — if that had been Jesus’ intent. They might have understood what Jesus was saying — if the “die” part wasn’t included.
There was Jesus, laying right there talking to them, telling them the gospel truth. Had He lied to them before? Had He told them to feed the 5,000 and then not come through with enough loaves and fishes (Jn. 6: 1-13)? Had anything that He said would happen, not happen? And anything He said would not happen, happen? No, He spoke complete truth.
Jesus was going to die and be buried. He was going to rise again and spend some time with the disciples. Then He was going to ascend to heaven where He will live for eternity.
It wasn’t that the disciples necessarily questioned the truth of what Jesus was telling them. They didn’t understand how it could happen. They were just clueless in Jerusalem.
Yes, Jesus had told them this before. The disciples just couldn’t wrap their head around what Jesus was saying. Yes, they probably should have. They had witnessed Lazarus being raised from the dead.
To read What Would Have Happened If Jesus Hadn’t Called Lazarus By Name?, click the button below.
But they just didn’t get it.
How Does That Apply to Us?
So, here we are, sitting around our supper tables, sometimes just as clueless in our hometowns. We think we have to understand God’s plan of salvation — and creation, and His plan for our lives, and His second coming [add anything else you struggle with understanding]. We focus too much on our inability to understand and don’t just take it in faith.
We do exactly what Scripture tells us not to do; Scripture tell us to“…not lean on [our] own understanding” (Prov. 3: 5 ESV). However, we tell ourselves we can believe when we figure it out.
Flip side is we do not do what the Bible tells us to do — sometimes, we do not “Trust in the LORD with all [our] heart[s] …” (Prov. 3: 5 ESV). We don’t just take it on faith.
Instead, we need to realize that “Great and mighty is our Lord; his wisdom cannot be measured” (Ps. 147: 5 GNT). We aren’t going to understand everything about God.
So, what are we going to take on faith?
- Because Adam and Eve committed the original sin, the relationship between God and humans was severed.
- The consequence of the original sin was death.
- God sent His Son Jesus to earth to die so that the relationship might be restored and death could be conquered.
- Jesus’ death offers atonement for our sins and provides us with the gift of salvation.
We will remain in our sinful state until we accept this gift of salvation. - Once we ask God to forgive us of our sins and Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, our relationship with God will be restored.
No, it is not easy to understand how Jesus’ death can save us from our sins. We need to just believe.
Gracious Father. You devised Your plan to restore the relationship You have with humans before the original sin was committed. You sent Your Son to die for us. We don’t understand how You could do that or how His death could pay the price for ours sins. We just believe that it did. Help us to understand what we can and take the rest on faith. Amen.
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
What do you think? What is the hardest part of Jesus’ sacrifice to understand? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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