John · Chapter 16
John 16
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
Persecution Foretold
(Acts 23:12–22)
1“I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
3They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
4But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
(John 14:15–26)
5Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
6Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things.
7But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.*
8And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;
11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.
12I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it.
13However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
14He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.
15Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.
16In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me.”*
Grief Will Turn to Joy
17Then some of His disciples asked one another, “Why is He telling us, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
18They kept asking, “Why is He saying, ‘a little while’? We do not understand what He is saying.”
19Aware that they wanted to question Him, Jesus said to them, “Are you asking one another why I said, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’?
20Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
21A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
22So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
Ask in My Name
(Matthew 18:19–20)
23In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
24Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
25I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
26In that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
27For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.*
28I came from the Father and entered the world. In turn, I will leave the world and go to the Father.”
29His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures of speech.
30Now we understand that You know all things and that You have no need for anyone to question You. Because of this, we believe that You came from God.”
31“Do you finally believe?” Jesus replied.
32“Look, an hour is coming and has already come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
33I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
Source notes
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Isaiah 65:5They say, ‘Keep to yourself; do not come near me, for I am holier than you!’ Such people are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.
Isaiah 41:22“Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming.
Isaiah 41:23Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something good or evil, that we may look on together in dismay.
Psalms 68:18You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
Zechariah 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Isaiah 42:21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
Isaiah 45:24Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.
Isaiah 45:25In the LORD all descendants of Israel will be justified and will exult.
Jeremiah 23:5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Jeremiah 23:6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
Daniel 9:24Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
Genesis 3:15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”