◄ John 16 Devotional Commentary ►

John 16:1

The gracious words of the Lord Jesus are light and life, health and wholeness, truth and love, and they are words of great comfort for all His children. The words of Jesus bring peace and hope, and His words keep us from stumbling. Would that we pay attention to the Word made flesh Who is the only One that will guide us into all through truth through His written Word of truth, by means of His Spirit of truth.

The Cross was read more...

John 16:7

The Lord Jesus was about to leave the little band of men who had come to believe that: "Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God." They had expected Him to set up the promised kingdom, but had discovered He was going away... and yet it was to their advantage. How confused they must have been.

With the Scriptures in hand, we know the supernatural happenings of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent to read more...

John 16:8

For much of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was teaching the gospel of the kingdom to none but the lost sheep of the house or Israel, but as the animosity and hatred towards their promised Messiah became increasingly evident among the Jewish leaders, Jesus began to prepare His little band of disciples for the significant changes that were about to take place after His Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

Jesus started to lay read more...

John 16:13

It is hard to imagine the grief that must have flooded the questioning hearts of Christ's disciples when they started to face the reality that Jesus was going away. For over three years He had been their Teacher and Protector, and His wisdom and grace was acknowledged by all, yet there was so much more that they needed to learn from Him.

He had clearly told them that He was leaving them and was going back to the Father in heaven read more...

John 16:14

The time for Christ's departure had come... and although the separation from their Master was a painful prospect for the confused disciples, nevertheless they were to discover an inner strength and receive extraordinary comfort that was not available to them during Christ's lifetime on earth.

As faith begins to fail so fear starts to overtake the soul, and the prospect of life without Jesus plummeted His disciples into utter read more...

John 16:15

Although the disciples had acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of the living God and hailed Him as their Messiah and Lord, there was so much that they did not know... and so much that they had yet to learn.

He told them He was going away to be with the Father and would return for them at the right time - but they expected Him to come back soon. They even expected Him to return and set up the kingdom in their lifetime.

read more...

John 16:17

The last half of John's Gospel is concentrated into the final days of Christ's life. The gospel of the kingdom had been preached and refused. The Person of Jesus had been identified as the Messiah and rejected. The incarnate Word of God had come to His own people and His own received Him not: "But as many as did receive Him to them was given the power to become Sons of God."

Everything seemed to be read more...

John 16:21

As the hour for His death and Resurrection loomed ever closer, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for their physical separation from Himself, with an illustration that accompanies the birth of every little baby.

For the mother in labour and the expectant father, the pain that accompanies those pre-birth hours and minutes appear to morph into the most intense anguish, accompanied by an eternity of time.

read more...

John 16:33

The Lord Jesus was to face the most challenging event in the history of the universe, for He Who had rested in the bosom of the Father and communed with Him throughout eternity, was to experience the most excruciating separation from His God and Father – an agonizing disconnection which is beyond the comprehension of frail mortal man.

Yet, He was able to communicate to His confused and fearful followers, both deep comfort and read more...

John 16:33

So often the comforting statements of the Lord Jesus are designed to link a wonderful promise of God to deep concerns that may surface within the heart and mind of believers, as we journey through life, in an increasingly alien world. This was true for the disciples too. As the shadow of the cross grew closer, Christ's little company of disciples became fearful of the antagonistic attitude of the religious leaders towards Jesus, which grew stronger as Calvary read more...