There Is a Promise to Believe (16:23-28)
The central theme of this paragraph is prayer: “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). It is important to note that the text uses two different words for “ask,” although they can be used interchangeably. The word used in John 16:19, 23a, and 26 means “to ask a question” or “to ask a request.” It is used when someone makes a request of someone equal. The word translated “ask” in John 16:23b, 24, and 26b (“pray”) means “to request something of a superior.” This latter word was never used by Jesus in His prayer life because He is equal to the Father. We come as inferiors to God, asking for His blessing, but He came as the very Son of God, equal with the Father.
In John 16:23, what period of time did Jesus mean by “in that day”? I think He was referring to the time after the coming of the Spirit. He promised them in John 16:22 that He would see them again, and He kept His promise. He spent forty days with them after His resurrection, teaching them clearly the truths they needed to know in order to take His place and minister on earth (Acts 1:3ff.). “That day” cannot refer to the day of His return for His church, because there is no evidence in Scripture that we shall pray to Him after we get to heaven.
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him a question (John 16:19). He assured them that a day would soon come when they would not ask Him questions. Instead, they would pray to the Father, and He would meet their needs. This was the promise that they desperately needed to believe: that the Father loved them and would hear their requests and meet their needs. While Jesus was on earth, He met all the needs of His disciples. Now He would return to the Father, but the Father would meet their needs. Here is the wonderful promise and privilege of prayer.
Our Lord had mentioned prayer many times in His ministry, and He had set the example for prayer in His own life. He was indeed a man of prayer. In His upper room message, Jesus emphasized prayer (John 14:12-14; 15:7, 16; 16:23-26). He made it clear that believing prayer is one of the secrets of a fruitful Christian life.
In John 16:25-27, Jesus explained that there would be a new situation because of His resurrection and ascension, and because of the coming of the Holy Spirit He would no longer speak to them in terms that demanded spiritual insight for their understanding. He would speak to them plainly and reveal the Father to them. There in the upper room, He had used a number of symbolic images to get His message across: the washing of their feet, the “Father’s house,” the vine and branches, and the birth of a baby. In the days that followed, these images would become clearer to the disciples as they would be taught by the Spirit of God.
The purpose of Bible study is not simply to understand profound truths, but to get to know the Father better. “I will show you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). If our reading and Bible study falls short of this, it does more harm than good.
There would be not only a new situation in teaching, but also a new situation in their praying. He had already intimated this in John 16:23. Jesus would return to heaven to be with the Father, and there He would minister as our High Priest, making intercession for us (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). He would also minister as our Advocate (1 John 2:1). As our High Priest, Jesus gives us grace to keep us from sinning. As our Advocate, He restores us when we confess our sins. His ministry in heaven makes possible our ministry of witness on earth, through the power of the Spirit.
When you read the book of Acts, you discover that the early church depended on prayer. They believed the promises of God and asked God for what they needed. It would do all of God’s people good if they reviewed regularly what Jesus taught about prayer in this Upper Room Discourse. There is indeed joy in praying and in receiving answers to prayer. There is joy in meeting the conditions Jesus has laid down for successful praying. I think it was George Müller who said that true prayer was not overcoming God’s reluctance, but overcoming God’s willingness.
There is joy in prayer, and there is joy in realizing the principle of transformation. Jesus shared a third kind of joy, the joy of sharing His victory over the world.