◄ What Does John 16:21 Mean? ►

When a woman is in labor she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.

John 16:21(HCSB)

Verse of the Day

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.

But the grief, apprehension, sorrowing, and suffering that accompanies those seemingly timeless labour pains, soon evaporate when the little baby is born into the world.

Jesus knew that for His disciples, the grief they were to experience due to their separation from their beloved Master, would quickly be replaced with joy beyond compare.

The sorrow that accompanied His departure would be short-lived by comparison with the everlasting bliss and joy that all who have trusted the Lord Jesus as Saviour will one day experience: "For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those that love Him."

In this world, we are surrounded by grief, disappointments, sorrowing, and suffering, but we have an eternal hope set before us, when grief will be turned into gladness and sorrow will be turned into joy.

Let us rejoice in the Lord knowing that the day is fast approaching when this present time of sorrow too will be turned into an eternity of joy, for He will wipe away every tear from our eyes when we behold Him face to face.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You that You have determined that the pain and suffering of this present age is but for a moment, in comparison with the joy that is set before us. Help me to look to that blessed hope, in the knowledge that You have promised never to leave me nor forsake me. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.