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1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you." ~ John 16:1-4
1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you." ~ John 16:1-4
The emphasis in these four verses is on anticipating persecution from the world. Note the usage of the word "will" in these four verses. They say, "Ninety percent of life is how we respond to the ten percent that happens to us." It is not a matter of will these things happen but when. I find it quite interesting that the word for witness is the same as the word for martyr. Perhaps our best witness is being rendered when we are being persecuted or dying to ourselves.
In v.1, the Lord Jesus tells His disciples, "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away." Literally He is saying, "so that you will not be caused to stumble." When the world expresses a measure of hatred toward us, it will cause us to stumble, preventing us from keeping our eyes on what is most important. We are caused to stumble by the world's hatred when we are overwhelmed by it.
The Lord's goal is that we will love those who persecute us. We do this by resisting the flesh and feeding the Holy Spirit who lives in our spirit. He tells us through the Apostle Paul, "All things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purposes." Recently, I asked the Lord, "Why do you put it that way, it sounds as if we are earning the outcome that Romans 8:28 is giving?" The goal of the enemy is to get us to feed the flesh or the evil desires within us. When he gets us to do this, guaranteed corruption will come. The Lord responded to my question about Romans 8:28 by saying, "This is not a conditional promise, all things do work for your good, but if you are not loving me by giving your heart to me, you will not be positioned to see that all things work together for your good."
Recently, I spent the night with some dear friends in Savannah, Georgia. As I laid my head on the pillow that night, I had this tremendous sense of peace, not only outwardly but inwardly. I asked the Lord, "why is this home so peaceful?" The Lord said, "they do not feed the flesh."
In Galatians 6, we are told when we feed the flesh or the evil desires which remain in us, we invite corruption into our lives. The enemy wants to rob us of the Lord's pronounced presence in our lives by getting us to feed the flesh, and even though He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit til the day of our redemption, His presence and the benefits thereof can be limited to us. This is the cause of stumbling the Lord Jesus is speaking of here.
The Lord Jesus then tells his disciples, "They will put you out of the synagogue." The synagogue had become a special place for these eleven men, for the Lord Jesus had taught them how to approach the Father in that context. Due to the fact that the disciples had so fervently followed the Lord Jesus, they were looked upon as radicals by the common religious folks. Being cast out of a place of worship would be perplexing for anyone.
According to the latter part of v.2, these disciples experienced death at the hands of people who thought they were serving God. They will do this, according to v.3, "because they have not known the Father or me." They do not know God or His way of thinking and behaving. They do not know God's culture. If they did, they wouldn't do these things. If they knew the Father and Jesus, they would understand them to be their friends. They have no idea that fellowship with God is even possible. This should cause us to be compassionate toward them, and not hateful.
In v.4, the Lord Jesus speaks of the time "when their time comes." The Lord Jesus wants us to remember that He warned us about them, what they would do and why they would do it. Life consists largely of remembering what Jesus said. How easily we forget. The hatred of the world, expressing itself in various forms of persecution, is part of the normal life of faith in Him.
I turn your attention to the latter part of v.4. The Lord Jesus tells His disciples that He did not tell them about the world's hatred earlier because He was with them to shelter them from the world's hatred. Now that He will no longer be with them physically, they will feel like direct targets, and they need to know all about hatred.
Finally, He will protect us, as well, through the various stages of our journey of faith in Him, illuminating His word through the Holy Spirit in the right way at the right time so that we can withstand the hatred that comes our way. As a result, we will be armed to love them as He loved us before we came to saving faith in Him.
